Beijing to Shaolin Temple
12/24 Day 4: This is the day we leave Beijing. It was a very interesting day. It was freezing- not snowing but windy so probably a below-zero (F) wind chill factor. We went to the Temple of Heaven and did 12 Spring Legs and Tai Chi. The temple was for the Winter Solstice (although it was 2 days after so we missed some big celebration).The one interesting thing about the temple was the layout of the stones. The number 9 means good luck or something like that and there was a round marble building which you can walk to the roof of. The roof was tiled with 9 rings of blocks- each containing a multiple of 9 blocks. So the inner ring had 9, the second 18, etc.. until the last that had 81. I imagine it was very difficult back then to determine the right size for the stones as they were basically all the same size. Our tour guides were inflexible so we had to stay there the whole hour and a half even though it was freezing. This is the first of many days of being cold.
Temple of Heaven
Then we go to airport to fly to Shaolin area. Turns out our plane gets delayed 4 hours supposedly due to weather where it came from- although they didn’t say where. So we hung out in airport that was also cold or hot depending on where you were (central heating seems to be unknown in China). Then finally we board. We take off to turbulents but I didn’t think much of it then. About 20 minutes later we hear a curt announcement that we were returning to Beijing and landing immediately. I guess we had been circling Beijing the whole time. So it starts to get a bit scary- but I thought the problem was weather in town we’re going to (that’s what they told us). I close window shade and sit with head forward trying to ride out turbulents. We finally land and I look out to a bunch of fire trucks and emergency vehicles. Then I start hearing scary stuff. N said the turbine kept stopping and others said the landing gear never went up. But I was still thinking it was the weather that was the problem probably because I guess I wasn’t ready to accept that there was something wrong with the plane. Most people were pretty shaken up. Later they tell us that they were getting another plane. At this point it hits me and I started crying. I don’t know how close to having a serious problem we were but it was close enough. B was doing her rosary while on the plane as she thought she was going to die. Interestingly enough before the plane took off I was talking to G and M about if we were to die then would we have any regrets. G and I said no and M just said that she would regret not finishing the Fellowship of the Ring (which she was reading). I joked that if the plane was going down I’d tell her the end while it went down. After a little while back in the airport some people in the group started singing Christmas carols and I joined in for a few. It felt good to sing. Some of the Chinese people around us were trying to sing along and were clapping. The other plane finally came and we flew to Shaolin area without anymore problems. Except that I lost my boarding pass (they had recycled the passes from the previous boarding attempt and given us new ones) and the guards yelled something in Chinese and made me stand around for a while. I knew they would let me on- I had the stub from the previous boarding pass and it was obvious I was with the group- but I think they just wanted to make me wait for a couple minutes while I made a futile attempt to find it. Then we take 3 hour bus ride to Shaolin and go to sleep at hotel. When I thought back to earlier at the airport- there was a plane at our gate but not connected to the walkway when we were supposed to board and then it was gone. I believe they took the plane away to fix it and brought it back but obviously it wasn’t fixed enough. At least the pilot had the sense to go back.
Back to the Great Wall On to Shaolin Temple