Day 4: A silver bullet
I always thought when in China, you eat cat in disguise.
Well, it didn't quite get this far (not yet at least), but close enough for my liking.
After a long journey on the bullet train from Beijing to Wuxi, I was pleased to find a reasonably priced room service menu and ordered a comforting (and safe) Shichuan style spicy chicken noodles. I received chicken stomachs floating in noodle soup...
Never mind, I had some pringles and beer.
Earlier today, we were treated to a visit to a large herbal medicine centre and given a lecture about the benefits of Chinese medicine over Western Medicine. This centre was apparently 350 years old and was used to treat the emperor. I'm already a great believer in natural remedies so I was lapping it up. Apparently, in the earlier times, doctors were paid by their patients to keep them healthy and as soon as a person got sick, they got their money back. What a great philosophy - it's all about prevention. There is very little high blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes here. Chinese never heard of Prozac. In part it's thanks to the herbal medicines they take, and in part their regimented diets and lifestyle. Most drink a glass of warm water with a little salt in the morning to flush out the system. They do not eat dinner, walk to work, exercise each evening (mostly tai chi) and eat lots of goji berries and seaweed at least twice per week. Or maybe it's because women retire at 50, and men at 55?
Each member of the tour group received a free consultation from the Chinese doctor, which was also very interesting. The doctor checked my tongue, eyes and pulse and diagnosed me with low energy and slow circulation. Based on that I'm supposed to be anaemic and very tired (I'm neither for the most part), in fact if nothing else the opposite is true - I'm mostly edgy hehe. They prescribed both mum and I, a number of herbal medicines at a value of nearly $3000 for 6 months. The scripts was written in Chinese, and we were assured that with only one phone call to this Chinese clinic, we can get more supplies when we run out. Ummm....no thanks.
After another delicious shared lunch, we took the 5 hour trip South-East to Wuxi by bullet train. The train ride itself was a bit of a non event, to be perfectly honest. I was glad for having some Netflix shows and a good book to kill the time.
Tomorrow, another early start to visit the local lake, the big Buddha and the pearl factory (don't worry Jake, there is only the silk factory after that, so no need to refinance the house just yet ☺️).
Well, it didn't quite get this far (not yet at least), but close enough for my liking.
After a long journey on the bullet train from Beijing to Wuxi, I was pleased to find a reasonably priced room service menu and ordered a comforting (and safe) Shichuan style spicy chicken noodles. I received chicken stomachs floating in noodle soup...
Never mind, I had some pringles and beer.
Earlier today, we were treated to a visit to a large herbal medicine centre and given a lecture about the benefits of Chinese medicine over Western Medicine. This centre was apparently 350 years old and was used to treat the emperor. I'm already a great believer in natural remedies so I was lapping it up. Apparently, in the earlier times, doctors were paid by their patients to keep them healthy and as soon as a person got sick, they got their money back. What a great philosophy - it's all about prevention. There is very little high blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes here. Chinese never heard of Prozac. In part it's thanks to the herbal medicines they take, and in part their regimented diets and lifestyle. Most drink a glass of warm water with a little salt in the morning to flush out the system. They do not eat dinner, walk to work, exercise each evening (mostly tai chi) and eat lots of goji berries and seaweed at least twice per week. Or maybe it's because women retire at 50, and men at 55?
Each member of the tour group received a free consultation from the Chinese doctor, which was also very interesting. The doctor checked my tongue, eyes and pulse and diagnosed me with low energy and slow circulation. Based on that I'm supposed to be anaemic and very tired (I'm neither for the most part), in fact if nothing else the opposite is true - I'm mostly edgy hehe. They prescribed both mum and I, a number of herbal medicines at a value of nearly $3000 for 6 months. The scripts was written in Chinese, and we were assured that with only one phone call to this Chinese clinic, we can get more supplies when we run out. Ummm....no thanks.
After another delicious shared lunch, we took the 5 hour trip South-East to Wuxi by bullet train. The train ride itself was a bit of a non event, to be perfectly honest. I was glad for having some Netflix shows and a good book to kill the time.
Tomorrow, another early start to visit the local lake, the big Buddha and the pearl factory (don't worry Jake, there is only the silk factory after that, so no need to refinance the house just yet ☺️).
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