Saya Pergi Ke Beijing - Hari Pertama

HELLO, WORLD! I'M BACK!

I owe it to you to explain that I do not update on the actual date. Err... nope, what I mean is, I could be writing on 8th Nov for a 16th Sept's blog entry. I intend to archive my activities in Jinan as a diary entry. Of course, one which I didn't write on the actual day itself. :-) So you get it now? Me not lazy, me only being confusing. CHEERS!

Ya, I pergi ke Beijing hari ini (16th Sept). Bukannya I tak pernah pergi ke kota besar ini, tetapi ini betul betul satu travel experience yang saya tidak akan lupa.

For a start, I don't know why I feel like writing in Malay, maybe I was thinking about my siblings... we speak a mixture of English, Malay, Hakka, Cantonese and Mandarin. Weird, aren't we?
Y:"Ah Moi, mana itu buku saya?" (Malay)
S:"How I know, you always DAI TAO HA." (English + Canton)
Y:"BU YAO ZHE YANG JIANG WO LAH." (Mandarin)
S:"NGM DI DAO AH, cari sendiri." (Hakka + Malay)
Y:"HAO SHOI AYO, BONG NGAI CHIM LAH." (Hakka)

Sometimes, I truely marvel the special language we speak.

Anyhow, back to Beijing. :-)



I made a trip to Beijing to visit Beijing University of CTM and Guo Yi Tang 国医堂 (a well established TCM medical centre.) This would be my first time travelling in chinese railway system. I've told myself not to expect anything too high a standard just in case I'll be complaining too much in my blog again. But really, it wasn't too bad. The trip to Beijing, from Jinan, took about 4 hours. And the sight of railway station just made me miss London thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis much.



We've got the so-called cushioned seats. Not too bad, I'd say, it just that I was relieved that my mum didn't give me a butt too big. Anyhow, can you spot those people standing at the far end in the picture above? Yes, those poor people... have to stand all the way to beijing. You see, in China, if you didn't book your ticket early enough, you'll end up paying for the same price as others BUT without a seat.



This charming guy has got no seat as well. But he's not all so unhappy. For he found some weird accents and was interested in what we think of China and thus he joined in our stupid conversations and had the greatest time standing all the way to Beijing.

Maybe I'm just dumb but I really cannot comprehend why people need to take the train where air transport is a much more comfortable and efficient choice in terms of speed. The arguement always goes that, if you take the train you can see the beautiful scenery along the way. Err... HELLO, there's no beautiful scenery whatsoever OK! Just a vast of dried grassland and some unattractive rivers along the way. I'm as bored as a poo wrapped in cellophane...

And if you try to tell me taking train is more economical, try to think of the precious hours that you lost on rail.



We arrived at Beijing at 11:30 a.m. and was overwhelmed by the massive crowd blocking the exit.



And we were welcomed by a 'high profile personnel' of 国医堂 with the usual freaking eat-until-you-drop welcoming meal. Ya, all these for only 4 of us. Good lord. For the first time, I felt damn guilty for not being able to finish all the food. In China, you've got to learn to appreciated the phrase the more the merrier; i.e. it's not always the more the merrier!



After the torturing meal, we were escorted to Beijing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, where they were celebrating their 50th anniversary.



Doesn't look as impressive as I've anticipated, but I was damn excited when I visited their Museum of Chinese Medicine.



They've got all the amazing herbs on display. And one couldn't help but to wonder how on earth our anchestors had come to know the detailed medical property of all these naturally found entities. I have high regards to tradition and antient wisdom that has passed down to us for they've walked thousands of year. The magnitude of that is undeniably beckoning.



Calculus of the gasto-intestinal tract or the urinary bladder of horse is the first on display. Once again, one really had to be marvelled by how chinese name things. It's called MA BAO - treasure found in a horse. Well, it's not everyday one can find such a BALL inside a horse. A true treasure indeed. And holy cow, this is really huge. What could a horse has possibly eaten that made it to produce such a huge calculus? Imagine the pain of carrying such a stone inside you. I know our curious Sook Fan must be blinking her eyes with all the question marks now. Alright, horse's calculus is used for ..............

Damn it! ok, I admit it. I don't know. I've never used it before. But I did find something from the incredible invention of the 20th Century: the internet - Horse Calculus is used mainly for mental illnesses. And it's claimed to be effective in cases where your body is infested with EXTREME HEAT. Ya, highly recommended for all the single people out there... haha... just KIDDING.

It's also being used to 行血、消肿、益肾, aid blood circulation to reduce inflamation or water retention and, what am I not surprised, also good for your kidney.

So, next time when your friend goes a bit nutty you can tell him/her: "Hey, you need a bit of horse calculus."

You've heard this FIRST on jamieyeng.blogspot.com.

*smug*



And then we've got the dog calculus, called the GOU BAO - treasure found in a dog. It's a mystery how the chinese come to find stuff from sick animals to be useful. But all in all, animal's calculus seem to have the same COOLING property that can calm your YANG. And here's an article I found about it:

狗宝是狗的胃结石、膀胱结石和胆结石。天然狗宝由蛔虫带入大肠杆菌进入狗胆道形成；异物狗宝由异物在胆囊中形成；胆固醇狗宝因胆液中胆固醇过剩形成。
　　“狗宝”与“马宝”、牛黄齐名，合称“中药三宝”。“中药三宝”在祖国医学发展史上占有极其重要的地位，是祖国中医药宝库中的三朵绚丽多彩的花朵。
　　狗宝性平，味甘咸，有降逆气、开郁结、清疳积、解疮毒和止痛经等作用，能清心开窍、镇肝熄风，主治噎嗝反胃、胸胁胀痛、胸脯腹胀、痈疽疔疮等症。狗宝的化学成分复杂，至今尚未完全弄清，已知者为胆红素、胆酸、碳酸钙、碳酸镁和磷酸钙，及多种有机酸和多种活性酶等。
　　随着中医药走向世界，“中药三宝”成为供不应求的“热门货”，于是假冒伪劣品应运而生，很有必要学习真伪狗宝鉴别法。
　　真品狗宝呈类圆球形或卵圆形，大小不一，一般直径在1.5～5cm，表面粗糙，并有多数类圆形突起，表面灰白色或灰黑色，略有光泽；断面有同心环状层 纹，偶见细小杂物包裹，其间，近中心部较疏松。质重，坚实而细腻，以指甲划之可留痕迹。嚼之有粉性而无砂粒感，气微腥，味微苦。狗宝以白色、细腻、指甲划 之可留痕迹、断面有层纹者为佳品。
　　伪品有以水泥为原料制成的，外表不光滑，全无光泽，断面全无同心环状层纹，更无包裹杂物；略取干粉末，滴加盐酸，则有大量气泡（为二氧化碳）产生；指甲划之不显痕迹，更无气腥味苦之感觉。

资料来源：中国中医药报

And TADA: deer penis. Ain't it loooooong? And don't you tell me that you can't guess what it's use for. You don't really deserve to be reading my blog if you can't. I mean it. *SMUG*



Oh, the poo poo of some kind of flying mammal, as well. :-) Well, well, it's widely used as a pain killer especially for chest pain. I'm sorry, I found something in Chinese again:

五灵脂 五灵脂是哺乳纲、鼯鼠科动物复齿鼯鼠等的粪便。“灵脂”与“凝脂”二字同音。李时珍释其名曰：“其粪名五灵脂者,谓状如凝脂而受五行之气也”。鼯鼠形如松 鼠,比松鼠略大。体长2030 cm,体重250～400 g。鼯鼠头宽,吻部较短,眼大而圆,背部毛呈灰黄褐色,腹部毛色较浅,前后肢之间有皮膜相连。在我国,鼯鼠主要分布在河北、陕西、四川、云南和西藏等地, 生活在长有松柏的峭壁石洞或石缝中。窝的形状如鸟巢。鼯鼠白天躲匿在窝内睡觉,清晨或夜间出来活动,善攀援,能滑翔。五灵脂具有活血、化瘀、止痛的功效, 主治胸胁刺痛、跌扑肿痛和蛇虫咬伤等症。

Anyhow, I'm just trying to illustrate that, do not take things around you for granted. No matter how insignicant it may look. Even dung!



Snake penises are served on the table as well! Now, I know what's coming. Don't ask is deer penis better or snake penis. I don't know. Maybe Makas does. Or his father, Faiz. Argghh, just don't ask me.



And this weird looking thing is a plant that's good for people who lack YANG.



Aha, the ever famous legendary 天山雪莲 from Tibet! I've no idea why this wilted SNOW LUTOS is so famous, but I can imagine that if you happen to find such a big flower among all the snow, it must be some sort of rare species for it survives in the coldest climate. It must be full of YANG. A nice picture of it and some of the myths that goes with it can be found here in chinese.

To be continued...