After passing 5 days in Hong Kong, we now find ourselves in Hangzhou China. I spend my days at the Zeijang Province Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital learning how they practice TCM in China. It is really part of the culture here, people simply go and get acupuncture and herbs as they have been doing for thousands of years. The clinic environment differs from that of the west, especially in the acupuncture department, where the doctors see upwards of 30 patients and hour. It also lacks a lot of the intimacy and counseling that we see in back home as the doctors simply does not have the time to get into the reasons for the problems. The treatments are also much more aggressive then what I am used to as they use very long needles and lots of stimulation. They also practice several techniques that I have not seen before including injecting a protein called catgut into peoples bodies, which dissolve in about a week. They also inject Chinese herbal decoctions directly into peoples bodies.
The hospital combines Western medicine with TCM with certain illnesses being referred to Western medicine and others to the TCM department. Many people combine Western drug therapy with traditional herbal medicine at the same time. It really is integrated medicine at its best. I'm thinking that this is the direction that it will be going in the west in the coming years.
We have been searching out yoga schools here in Hangzhou and have found a few scattered around. It has really become a trendy thing for the young Chinese women who can be seen carrying their yoga mats around the city. It is quite interesting that here in China, which has such a strong history in traditional healing arts and philosophies, yoga has emerged as simply a powerful form of exercise. In fact, one has to search very deeply to find the ancient teachings of China as it seems most of the ancient culture has been destroyed, replaced by Nike and Adidas!
It has been a really good experience trying to communicate with the locals as I have been studying Mandarin for the past month. They really appreciate when I throw in a few words and it definitely makes it easier to get places and buy things, if not discuss the meaning of life. It is also quite important for the hospital as pretty much no one speaks English and why should they? I bought a bike at the local department store for $45 and was so happy cruising around the place for the afternoon. Unfortunately, the next morning I woke to find the bike had been stolen. This is the problem with new bikes, but alas I am not attached.
The girls are having a fantastic time exploring the richness of Hangzhou, which is famous for it's west lake which is supposedly the most famous lake in China. It is said that one must glimpse the famous lake in ones life. When I am not in hospital, we are exploring actually becoming a tourist destination ourselves as the girls are like rock stars. Everywhere we go, we find a crowd forming to watch the crazy antics of the Grant girls. I think we should put out a hat and ask for donations.
Not much longer now as we are off to Shanghai and Beijing in a week to continue the travels.