Today was our first day in the wards of the hospital, we have been warmly welcomed by our hosts and started to get a feel for how the hospital works. It is very different from our own experience in the UK, it has over 300 hundred beds and both in patients and out patients. It is exceptionally busy, and the Drs and professors here specialise in their own field. They run research programmes and are very effective at what they do. Some patients have very similar complaints to those I see in the treatment room, while others are at the more chronic and severe end of ill-health.  for example there is a ward specialising in stroke recovery, and Drs who specialise in the treatment of tumours. The first thing I noticed was the amount of treatment a patient will receive on one visit. Often with manipulations called Tui Na, but is very much like high level and skilled osteopathic manipulations, followed by acupuncture, sometimes with electro acupuncture or with cupping or laser or heat treatments. these Drs are not frightened of resetting misaligned vertebrae, or given traction type treatments to compressed vertebrae. this level of intervention will be done by Doctors with years of experience.

I have had an extraordinary experience myself with the Tui Na specialist. Suffice to say there was a very loud cracking sound from my shoulder joint, after which I thought my arm would drop off, it felt so heavy and fatigued.  I am to give it two days and will report back on whether this has worked to fix my joint.  In the process the Chinese Doctors and interns were treated to an expletive they had not heard before!!

."nothing ventured nothing gained"....was one of my thoughts ........."No pain no gain"...was the other.

Well I am told that it wasn't a mushroom that I ate but something on the innards line.  I did think it looked reptilian, but it tasted mushroomy, very nice in fact. More amazing food today, we are being so well hosted that I think I will need treatment to clear accumulated damp. Our Acupuncture hospital gave us a lovely breakfast with little dumpling things and a rice porridge and a spectacular green tea. And then our sightseeing began. We visited a thought provoking excavation of the Second Nanyue King Zhao Mo's burial tomb. Which had his burial suit of jade in near perfect condition, and the belongings of his concubines who were also sent to his tomb on his death....... I think the tomb was finished 122bc

Then on to the Sun Yat-Sen memorial Auditorium, a lunch of Dim Sum, visit to The Chen Family Temple and Folk Museum and them on to the herbal market. Everything can be seen here from dried black goats tongues, dried lizards on a stick, live scorpions which are made into a soup, and all sorts of animal bits and pieces that i wouldn't want to mention here, as well as many different fungi and herbs. This is the main system of medication in China.

Tomorrow I begin my learning at the hospital, I hope to manage to get up in time. I managed to sleep through three people banging on my door and my alarm this morning.... I have put it on loudly..

I also hope to figure out how to put photos on the blog..

I left home at 2.00pm Friday and arrived at my hotel 8.00pm saturday, a full 24 hours travelling. The most strange sight so far was two women walking around Edinburgh airport wearing onesies. One dressed in pink the other as a leopard, they looked forlorn, I can only assume that they realised their fashion faux pas on arrival in the UK. Either that or they had lost their luggage and were stuck in nightwear. 

My travel companions are lovely and our hosts in China exceptional, we have just had an amazing banquet although I drew the line at goose foot. We had amazing mushrooms that looked reptilian and another that looked like a sponge, all very lovely though.

I really should go to bed, but I am of course wide awake.  This doesn't bode well as I am dozy at the best of times and am due up at 7.00am to go to the hospital for breakfast.

Any way I have managed to sort out the internet and am ready to absorb everything coming my way, more tomorrow.