Chinese Medicine

Today I tried to hit as many site in Xi'an as possible. I made it to the Stone Tablet thing another site where I was refused by some old men, the Temple of the 8 Immortals,some huge park whose name I cannot remember, the 8th Army Headquarters, the Great Mosque, and the City God Temple. In there I also went to the train station to book my ticket to Beijing, and went to the Chinese Doctor... twice.

I would like to make note that my Shantou University Student Card has now probably saved me 250 RMB, or $50ish CAD. I expect it to save me much more before this trip is over. People have been having issues getting their student cards accepted (foreigners), but since mine is a Chinese card it has been pretty easy. I have had to really push it a few times thought to get their discount. This discount is quite substantial, as usually Students only pay 50% of the full rate. That is nice.

As for the sights, I did not see all that I wanted to, but that is some incentive to return. The 8th Army Headquarters was very interesting to see. That is Modern History for sure, and amazing to think of the role of the Xi'an office when the Communist Party was still fighting for control of the Country. Incredible.

Now onto Chinese Medicine. Yesterday the Doctor came to see me. Today I went to see the Doctor. He said that I should try for three treatments, a different one for each part of the spine. Today in his office I started by laying on a steamer thing. My back was thus thoroughly heated and spiced with herbs or something before I moved onto acupuncture. Acupuncture was painless again, which is so so nice, but to spice it up the Doctor connected some wires to the needles and sent a current through. That was... special.

After that there was something that I have never tried before and never heard of. It is called Cupping. In cupping the Doctor uses a glass jar and then creates a vaccuum inside it with the use of fire then sticks it to the skin. It will suck up the skin and make it look bruised. If it is pink that is ok, but if the skin is dark purple it shows toxicity and that the blood is stagnant. Of course my skin was dark purple. This can also be combined with acupuncture for a special painful treat. Then massage. Then I was done. That was this morning.

This afternoon was similar treatment, but without the steamer and with the focusing on a different area. I have now had my back cracked in more places then I knew I had, and for the first time in a very long time I am relatively confidant that all of my vertebrae can move freely of each other. So, I am hoping that this treatment will keep me going, or at least decrease my pain some until I can get stronger pain killers on my return to Canada, but for now my back is mush. There are swollen patches all over from Cupping, and the muscles have been demolished by massage. Gah.

Tomorrow I will climb the mountain, and then it is time to go to Beijing. I still do not know if I am going to Shanghai or not. I had better decide soon.

Anyways, for now, I am going to drown my sorrows in prune juice and rebuild my muscles with beef and mutton in kabobs.

Peace.