Zhengzhou & Dengfeng Shaolin Temple

travel time: October 2024

After arriving at the train station in Zhengzhou, we were immediately struck by the city’s modern vibe. Surrounded by a massive plaza, LED walls, and towering skyscrapers, the city greeted us with a sense of magnificence. As we walked to our hotel, we noticed countless clothing shops lining the streets, many of them even spilling their merchandise onto the sidewalks. That’s when we found out Zhengzhou is home to some major clothing factories. Judging by the sheer volume of packages being unpacked and repacked, it seems the city also serves as a distribution hub for online retailers.

Shaolin Temple

Early the next morning, we made our way to the long-distance bus station, conveniently located across from the main railway station. After a brief moment of confusion while searching for the entrance, we asked a security guard for help. He kindly directed us to a police station for a quick security check before showing us where to buy our bus tickets. In hindsight, finding the entrance would have been much easier if we had just paid a little more attention! With only minutes to spare before the bus departed, the driver himself came to find us, looking a bit stressed as he tried to communicate—though we couldn’t quite make out what he was shouting. But hey, we made it onto the bus just in time!

Arriving at the tourist site, we were greeted by huge parking lots packed with cars and buses. But we didn’t let that faze us and eagerly made our way toward the temple. The first thing we saw was a large open space where students were practicing their Kung Fu skills—quite the energetic introduction! Inside the Martial Hall, there are hourly shows where students display their impressive Kung Fu techniques, and we couldn’t help but be captivated.

The expansive grounds of the Shaolin Temple are the main attraction, with numerous temples, statues, and areas for burning incense sticks. While exploring, we stumbled upon a monk guarding a door, letting people in after they presented a special ticket. We couldn’t resist—our curiosity kicked in, and we were eager to uncover what this "secret" was. After some quick translation app magic, we found out it was for a special Kung Fu show that sounded too good to miss.

The only catch? It wasn’t included in our ticket. To complicate things, the Alipay code the monk provided didn’t work with our international bank card, and we were cashless, having failed to find an ATM in the days leading up to this. But Alex was determined to see the show, so we brainstormed how to get those tickets. Just as we were running out of ideas, help arrived - a tour guide entering with her group. We asked her if she could buy tickets for us, and we’d send her the money via WeChat. A few minutes later, success! We were seated in a large hall, eagerly awaiting the performance. The show was absolutely incredible - watching the students demonstrate their Kung Fu skills left us in awe.

We wrapped up our visit with a stroll through the Pagoda Forest before heading back to the entrance to catch the bus back to Zhengzhou. If you have more time, you can continue past the Pagoda Forest and take one of the two cable cars up the surrounding mountains for some hiking, which looked like a great adventure!