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**doc** · 07-11-2003, 08:13 AM

Well, now that it has been ascertained by the youngsters that I am the "fat old bald doctor", I guess that means I can act like a sage. So, I've got some answers for these very good questions. Bad ones, but still, answers.

1. January is not the best time of year to go. For, well, a few reasons. First, it's cold. Not exactly the best time to be training outdoors. And being in the cold weather, in an environment full of pathogens and viruses that you're probably not used to, the incidence of illness is going to be greater. True, there are few tourists, if any, and the temple itself is going to be far more peaceful, but, from my experience, the town of Dengfeng will be far more peaceful also. To the point of having great difficulty finding a restaurant to eat at. Or, finding stores and such for supplies. Being in Dengfeng during Chinese New Year is quite the experience; many people leave to visit family, and the town kind of "shuts down", even to the point of turning off street lights. The last time I was in a city that had the street lights turned off, was many, many years ago, before the Iron Curtain fell, in Romania. It's a bit bizarre. I kind of liked it.

January also brings a different situation. Most, if not all of the students, have gone home. The schools generally close. The teachers and the coaches also go home. You can go to Shaolin in January (into February), but unless you have some sort of training experience already set up, you're probably not going to find one. The hotels are generally open, well, some of them, but again, given the "closed" nature of the town, January in Dengfeng is not exactly a great idea. Your best bet is to pick another month, like March. The weather is starting to warm up, and all the schools are back in business.

2. As for getting to Henan, flying is not all that bad. It's nowhere near as bad as 1995, when I first did it. Back then, in Russian planes, one sort of wondered what cereal box the pilots got their licenses from. It was a bit disconcerting flying back then. But now, with all sorts of new Boeing jets, and obviously better trained pilots, flying is pretty easy, and very safe now. Well, that is, except for my journey to XinJiang province two years ago, but, that's another story (China Southern is a superb airline, stay away from Xinjiang Air). But, you have other options. The overnight train from Beijing to Zengzhou is really pretty comfortable, even if you do get the old train, and not the new one. It takes about eight hours, leaves at around ten PM, and arrives sometime after six. But, you must take "soft sleeper", which is four bunks, with decent size "beds" (that fit the average Chinese well, and the "fat old bald doctor" pretty poorly, but, hey, that's what happens when you get fat, old and bald...). It costs about forty or fity bucks, as opposed to the hundred the flight will cost you. You can take hard sleeper, which is a one inch mattress, sleeping forcibly in a fetal position with five other usually stinky men in a small compartment. Regular seats are a nightmare, and usually the old ladies will fight you for the benches. Anyone who doesn't get a spot on the bench takes a spot on the floor. From Zengzhou to Dengfeng is a two and a half hour taxi ride, which should not cost you any more than 250 Yuan (about thirty USD). Finding a taxi is easy; they usually find you. I've had them fight over me. Wish I had the video camera for that one.

3. The best hotel in the area is the Feng Yuan. I know the manager. Bring my picture, tell him you're my buddy, and maybe he'll give you a better rate. I don't bother with the other shit holes anymore; I just can't be bothered cleansing my soul while living with rats. It reminds me too much of my college years, which, according to the russbo.com tots, was a long ****ing time ago. The hotel is open in January. Some of the others are not.

4. If you can set up training, (see number 1), you can pretty much decide your own schedule. Typically, training for foreigners starts at nine, goes to eleven, starts again at three or so, goes to five. I usually fit more than that in each day. You can fit in less. Just tell your coach when you want to train. But again, remember, in January-February, your coach will probably be "home". As for training with Deyang, I'd forget that. He doesn't spend a lot of time with foreigners; he rarely teaches them, and when he does, it's usually for a short period of time, until he passes you on to one of his coaches. Besides, I think his school presently is in Zengzhou, and he spends a lot of time in the Fukien temple, for various reasons. I'd give up on that thought. I can arrange some training for you with DeCheng, but, then again, he might be home, or, he might be in the US with us at that time. Hard to tell at this point. Again, generally, January people are not in the schools. The schools tend to be closed. Bad month.

5. SARS. What an experience that was. Don't blame you for not wanting to get it. As for what it will do, well, that's a tough one. So far, my predictions have been correct. I said a few months ago that it will die down during the summer; this is what highly contagious viruses do, and this is what it did. But, highly contagious viruses also do something else.

They come back. With a vengeance.

I'd be careful about next winter. I really would. My prediction is that SARS will rear its ugly head next winter in China, once again, and, quite possibly turn into one hell of a world wide epidemic. No, I have no "in" on this issue; my crystal ball is cracked, my dog ate the tarot cards, and my fortune cookies are just not coming through. All predictions of love, glamour, fame, fortune, and hair regrowth have all fallen by the wayside into the sewers of life for me. No, when it comes to predictions, I tend to look at the past. And right now, I'm thinking about the Spanish Influenza of 1918.

It all started at some Army base, I think in Philadelphia, March 1918. A few soldiers got sick. It spread to some other Army bases, and then died out for a while, only to return the following fall and winter with a vengeance. It got into the cities, first on the east coast, and then spread westward, until, by winter of 1919, it had killed over six hundred thousand people in the US. Will SARS do something similar? Kind of early to tell, but, I will say this. It is a distinct and probable possibility. As to this issue, my advice, and it's only my advice, is to keep you plans for next winter "changeable". Keep an eye out for this SARS thing; I really don't think we've seen ANYTHING yet.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to run and change my Depends....

doc

**wall** · 07-17-2003, 04:31 PM

THANKS for the valuable advice! Looks like I better postpone to spring, perhaps Easter break.

Thanks again,

W

**doc** · 07-18-2003, 02:10 AM

Easter Break would be a much better time. As for the SARS thing, time will tell. It always does. We may have seen the last of it, we may not have yet seen the beginning of it.

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1st trip HELP:Training in Shaolin/SARS in the future

1st trip HELP:Training in Shaolin/SARS in the future

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