Traditional Chinese Medicine March 11, 2011

Blair and I went on one formal tour while she was here. We went to the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Museum and Pharmacy located near Yu Yuan Garden in the scenic "Old Town", which is not truly old, but I digress.

An exhibit in the Museum section.

Items no longer supposedly used as they come from endangered animals.

Oops!

Sorry! I read this after I took my "poto".

Items used in the making of TCM medicines.

A boy made out of ginseng.

Boy, they love their ginseng in China.

Ancient medicine chest

Each drawer held a particular herb.

It was arranged so that plants that have a detrimental 

effect on each other were placed at opposite sides of the chest.

Close up

The drawer pulls are old coins meant to bring good luck.

Cool!

Upstairs in the modern TCM room where they make up the prescriptions.

An assistant read the TCM doctor's prescription and then went to the different drawers for the various herbs. The most-used plants were in plastic basins on the counter. After each ingredient was weighed, it was put in a stainless steel basin. When all the ingredients were assembled, they were dumped onto a piece of paper and wrapped up for the customer to take home. Once home, the customer makes an infusion with the herbs and drinks it, following the TCM doctor's instructions.

Weighing the ingredients

Close up

I have no idea what this one was, 

except that it didn't seem to be as popular as the others.

Piles of paper used for wrapping the herbs.

 Wrapping, an art in itself.

 Blair getting a closer look.

If you don't want to make your own infusion, the TCM Pharmacy will "cook" your prescription for you.

This is one of the contraptions that does the cooking. These machines were on another floor.

Not every one gets to see this room. 

Lucky us and lucky you!

The prescription

Can you make out the steam? 

How about now from this angle?

After the machine cooked the herbs, it packaged the contents in these 

nifty little plastic packages for easy use at home. 

 Closer view of the plastic before it became a package.

On yet another floor

This is where they had the TCM doctors and some 

of the pre-packaged medicines.

Blair waiting to see a TCM doctor.

The examination

The young woman was translating.

Her doctor, himself 72 years old.

The prognosis? 

You'll have to ask Blair, but here's hoping for more years of health and happiness!

What a great way to end her visit to Shanghai.

Friday Funny March 25, 2011

Guess who got her old VPN up and running? I feel like Wile E. Coyote, Genius.

Don't ask me what the amateurs have to use

or how one becomes an expert.

Have an excellent day!

Elizabeth introduces Blair to Fuxing Park March 10, 2011

Hello everyone, I'm back! There's more than one way to skin a panda. I only have thirty minutes at a time on my new VPN, so even this brief post took forever! Now, where was I? Right, Fuxing Park.

Anyone who knows me knows I love Fuxing Park. Of course, a visit while Blair was here was de rigueur ( a play on Mr. Morris' nickname, perhaps?)

Here she is shakin' what her mama gave her

and attracting some young admirers, I might add.

The woman in the background is OK, really.

Another new friend

In the midst of the dancers

This woman's actions made me a little nervous, but Blair was game.

It's a short video because I was worried I
might have had to stage an intervention.

No blood, no foul!

It must be spring! 

The fountain was on.

Chinese water calligraphy.

Love it!

Wish I could read it!

Lion guarding the merry-go-round

What was that saying? A bird in the bush....?

We had worked up an appetite touring Fuxing Park.
We headed off to Mr. and Mrs. Bund,
where Blair graciously treated me to a
fantastic lunch.

My Caesar salad.
Bacon!

Another fabulous day.
Thank you, Blair.

Friday Funny March 18, 2011

Hello everyone! I am still experiencing challenges with my VPN. This post is coming to you courtesy of a guest computer and a guest photo contributor. Thank you. You know who you are.

Sounds like fun!

Friday Funny March 11, 2011

I apologize that this Friday Funny is being posted later than usual. Good thing we have that 13 hour time difference.

There are some China shenanigans occurring, as my VPN provider calls them, and I had to use all my "considerable" technical expertise to surmount them. Thank you, God, for giving me a good brain.

All that being said, here's today's Friday Funny. As I am so pleased at having solved the problem, I'll treat you to a whole bunch of photos on the subject of safety.

The proverbial slippery slope

I've always wondered where that was.

That first step is a doozy.

Speaking of climbing over barriers, this sign was on the LuPu Bridge.

I just don't get it.

On a revolving door at JW Marriott Hotel

Not quite sure what this is, but it

doesn't look like lingering to me. 

On another revolving door

What goes up...

...must come down

Run, Forrest, run!

This makes me wonder who discovered the difference...

So remember folks, be safe!

Aunt Blair at Yu Yuan Garden March 8, 2011

Most of you, dear followers, have seen Yu Yuan Garden, so I'll spare you the photos. For those of you dying to see them again, let me refer you to my fabulous post of September 15, 2010. What you haven't seen is Aunt Blair in the aforementioned Garden.

Aunt Blair in front of the famous zigzag bridge and teahouse

Hello, Shanghai!

A classic with a classic

Aunt Blair making friends, again!

Nothing like a wheeled-walker to get the conversation flowing.

I tell you, there is a market for these in China!