Travel Blog
Friday, May 23, 2008
Lao Tse's China
The Tao, or the one. Produced the two, yin and yang. Produced the ten thousand things, everything in nature. China, ruled by this ancient philosophy has a backbone of history and support. Along with Confucianism, there is a wealth of tradition that keeps the society together. The Chinese live in harmony with the natural world. They have for thousands of years, basing many of their practices and say to day activities on the seasons and what is around. This can be understood when one walks among the ancient palaces and temples, with names like " Hall of Preserving Harmony (保和殿)" and Palace of Earthly Tranquility(乾清宮). There is an understanding of the place that man is within the universe.
The intake of food follows this same understanding of nature and the body. People wake early and take rice porridge for breakfast, warming with a proper balance of all the 5 tastes. On an early morning for us, we tried to practice this with Marley, who was not quite in tune with the principles of dietary harmony. After scoffing down a big bowl of all bran and yogurt, she quickly put down 3 glasses of grapefruit juice which I think she inhaled. This left her asking for more! After refusing her requests she made a little noise from the inside of
her belly, and immediately spewed all the yogurt-bran-grapefruit concoction all over the table and herself. Needless to say the 4-star hotel staff were not impressed, nor were the other quests of the hotel. All was tidied up in typical Chinese fashion, and we were given a new table. Sad to say that this was not the only experience we had of this nature as it happened in Shanghai as well, under similar circumstance. I guess the lesson is that western children might not have the same internal balance as their eastern counterparts, and need to be monitored.
¶ 5:47 AM 0 Comments
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The Tao, or the one. Produced the two, yin and yang. Produced the ten thousand things, everything in nature. China, ruled by this ancient philosophy has a backbone of history and support. Along with Confucianism, there is a wealth of tradition that keeps the society together. The Chinese live in harmony with the natural world. They have for thousands of years, basing many of their practices and say to day activities on the seasons and what is around. This can be understood when one walks among the ancient palaces and temples, with names like " Hall of Preserving Harmony (保和殿)" and Palace of Earthly Tranquility(乾清宮). There is an understanding of the place that man is within the universe.The intake of food follows this same understanding of nature and the body. People wake early and take rice porridge for breakfast, warming with a proper balance of all the 5 tastes. On an early morning for us, we tried to practice this with Marley, who was not quite in tune with the principles of dietary harmony. After scoffing down a big bowl of all bran and yogurt, she quickly put down 3 glasses of grapefruit juice which I think she inhaled. This left her asking for more! After refusing her requests she made a little noise from the inside of
her belly, and immediately spewed all the yogurt-bran-grapefruit concoction all over the table and herself. Needless to say the 4-star hotel staff were not impressed, nor were the other quests of the hotel. All was tidied up in typical Chinese fashion, and we were given a new table. Sad to say that this was not the only experience we had of this nature as it happened in Shanghai as well, under similar circumstance. I guess the lesson is that western children might not have the same internal balance as their eastern counterparts, and need to be monitored.
¶ 5:47 AM 0 Comments
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Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Yoga on the Summit
So thought I would check out the Yoga Summit, one of the popular yoga schools here in Hangzhou. It was a lunch time class and I strolled into the school 10 minutes before the class. The man at the front desk asked if I had a booking and I told him no. He told me that I had to have a booking to attend the class. 
After a little negotiation and dropping Emma's name, the man invited me to join for 200 Yuan or about $30. I walked into the class and must have been quite an unusual site for the 15 or so Chinese women all stopped their gossiping and stared at me as I lay my mat towards the back of the bright room. I don't really think Yoga is very popular with Chinese men as it is new here and men must regard yoga as a soft sort of practice. It all started to calm down as I assumed a seated posture and focused on my breath.
After about 10 minutes the teacher Arun entered the class. He greeted us in Chinese and English and began the class. It was quite a flowing class as Arun lead us through a constant flowing practice with numerous lunges and warrior poses. My Ashtanga body was not ready for all the lunges and holding and I definitely felt a bit weak. The class finished with a lovely sivasana with scented oil applied to the temples. I spoke with Arun a bit after the class he was quite well trained and had a lot to tell me regarding helping my knee heal from a meniscus tear. As we came back to the reception. A gentle old women offered me a bowl of rice and red bean porridge which hit the spot after the class.
It was interesting doing a yoga class half in English and half in Mandarin. It is amazing how the practice of yoga has spread from India to all parts of the globe and has come to china as a "new" sort of fad. I see advertisements all over the place describing the benefits of yoga. It seems to be the in way for women to stay healthy and happy, if they can afford the price tag. ¶ 5:25 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
After a little negotiation and dropping Emma's name, the man invited me to join for 200 Yuan or about $30. I walked into the class and must have been quite an unusual site for the 15 or so Chinese women all stopped their gossiping and stared at me as I lay my mat towards the back of the bright room. I don't really think Yoga is very popular with Chinese men as it is new here and men must regard yoga as a soft sort of practice. It all started to calm down as I assumed a seated posture and focused on my breath.After about 10 minutes the teacher Arun entered the class. He greeted us in Chinese and English and began the class. It was quite a flowing class as Arun lead us through a constant flowing practice with numerous lunges and warrior poses. My Ashtanga body was not ready for all the lunges and holding and I definitely felt a bit weak. The class finished with a lovely sivasana with scented oil applied to the temples. I spoke with Arun a bit after the class he was quite well trained and had a lot to tell me regarding helping my knee heal from a meniscus tear. As we came back to the reception. A gentle old women offered me a bowl of rice and red bean porridge which hit the spot after the class.
It was interesting doing a yoga class half in English and half in Mandarin. It is amazing how the practice of yoga has spread from India to all parts of the globe and has come to china as a "new" sort of fad. I see advertisements all over the place describing the benefits of yoga. It seems to be the in way for women to stay healthy and happy, if they can afford the price tag. ¶ 5:25 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
Thursday, April 24, 2008
TCM in China
July 2007 /
August 2007 /
October 2007 /
December 2007 /
January 2008 /
February 2008 /
March 2008 /
April 2008 /
May 2008 /
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.
¶ 5:26 AM 1 Comments
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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.
