In my last post I mentioned that I carried someone on my back up the temple run, but did not do so during the heavily staired portions so I felt like I hadn't pushed myself as much as I could have. The following Friday, I carried Kegan from Canada in a piggyback during the temple run, but this time I carried him the entire way, including up all of the stairs, so I felt more challenged and fulfilled when I was done. Master Xu was at Yanxia Cave and gave me a thumbs up when I reached the top.
During my last Sunday at Kunyu Shan I went to Nine Dragons Pools, which is about an hour and a half walk from Kunyu Shan. On the way back, a street vendor offered me a small sip of scorpion liquor. The bottle was about 60% full of dead scorpions, and entirely full of extremely potent alcohol. He was also selling live scorpions and explained that eating them is good for the joints. Of course I just had to eat a live scorpion to preemptively ensure that I don't develop any joint problems, so now I am infused with scorpion superpowers.
In the courtyard at Kunyu Shan there is a slab of stone that weighs about 150kg. A couple of people laid this slab on top of me while I was laying on my back, and Andre from Germany, who weighs about 80kg, then stood on the slab. 150kg stone + 80kg man = 230kg = 507lbs. A couple of days later, I figured I'd see just how much weight I could take. The first 150kg slab was placed on me, followed by two 55kg stones. At this point breathing was becoming a bit constricted and I decided to err on the side of caution and call it quits at 260kg, which is just over 570lbs.
I left Kunyu Shan Saturday afternoon and arrived in Henan Sunday morning. Today I begin my first day training Shaolin at the temple.
