Extrait de mon blog dédié à mes séjours d’entrainement en Chine (séjour de 2015)
Reportage 1
It is the 24/08/2015
It is 06:00 in the morning, the alarm-clock quacks happily around until the moment that I notice it is form e indeed. A quick get up, eat something from yesterday’s courses, finish what has to be finished and plug the back bags and I am exactly at 06:30 checked out and on the way.
It has been foreseen driving again with the public bussed to the station; However, suddenly I said to myself that I am really not in the mood at all using these “pork – mass – transporters” and stop a taxi. – And yes, once again I am quite satisfied with myself having managed written in Chinese the words for Xi’An railway station and telling that to the taxi driver on Chinese on my own.
Arrived at the station I pass everywhere and as prevented in the Internet, different queues for different controls. There are checks like at the airport. But with difference that the security officers just take care that you pass your baggage through the scanner however they do not really take care on what is inside of the baggage. After that they manually check yourself. As for me there were three ladies who, at the beginning, looked at me like I’d be an alien (indeed Chinese do call us like that…)and didn’t know what to do but finally took all effort to grab all over me where they could.
The main – station Xi’An is not worth to write much about. Quite old and scruffy. Only something like a little tiny supermarket inside. No Starbucks or else. When the platform finally opened the very usual chinese crush came back to live, on the everybody pushes and is pushed but nobody complains. Nothing like order, but the perfect chaos stoically supported by everyone. My cabin is quite ok, the so called “soft sleeper”, a kind of first class: a four – bed cabin. I am going to have round about a 07:40 hours ride until arrival in Wudangshan.
During the entire way from the hotel till Wudangshan the every lasting slurping, drooling, burping, sniffing of my Chinese compatriots…
The reception by and at the school (http://www.daoistkungfu.com/) has been really excellent. Ok, the site is a little bit aside the town of Wudangshan. However these are 10 minutes (15 RMB) by taxi only. Even my room is correct, or what can be said it is in this region. After having unpacked my baggages and a shower I have lunch at 18:30, also quite acceptable. in the meantime my Taiji fellow of the last year, she has renewed straight away her stay, contacted me. So we went for another lunch and drink in town. – One of those open sky street food events….. Fortunately neither her nor I have progressed our English or Chinese, pending from which side you want to see it. Great that smartphones do exist! After that she invited me together with another guy for tea and we tried to make music together, i.e. with the traditional bamboo flute. A really great evening, despite all linguistic issues!
