This morning we began our adventures at the Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. We met with a doctor who explained to us a little bit about the hospital. An acupuncturist had a patient come into the room and we received a demonstration of her acupuncture treatment. We walked through the hall and saw into each of the rooms where there were atleast 3 beds per room. In one room we saw that physical therapy was being done, and the doctor said that it was most likely being done by a family member.
We were then shown to their AMAZING pharmacy. So many things were going on at once and everyone was busy. There were hundreds, if not thousands of drawers with labels of herbal names (of course in Chinese so we have no idea what they actually were) that were flying open for prescriptions to be filled. They were weighed and placed in bags divided into doses and then the bags were all stapled together for the patient. This process and the speed at which these individuals were completing their tasks was truly amazing to see in action.
From there we then had a surprise visit to the Pearl Factory. We were introduced to the different kinds of pearls by a bubbly girl named Flower. Her English was so good that she could even joke with us--a nice change! :) After our introduction, we browsed around the many, many varieties of pearl jewelry and cosmetics. What a sight to see!
-Emily Nesheim
Blog
January 27th, 2010
Hello Family and Friends!!!
Today was our last day in Beijing! Everyone had a freeday where they could go out and sightsee, shop, and meet new people! A group of us went to a large shopping center to walk around and get those last minute gifts! It was beatiful and filled with the nicest people and a ton of different kinds of restaurants and foods to try! Near to the shopping center and Tienamen Square was also a free art show that displayed some students work.
Another group decided to go to the Beijing Zoo! They ended up mastering the hectic subway system and walked around for nearly 4 hours, not even seeing all the animals it was so big! They saw giraffes, tigers, baby elephants and some more exotic animals as well.
One group walked down the alleys next to our hotel. They were filled with shops, restaurants and cafes. We found a western style cafe that had the best hot chocolate in China. They would melt the chocolate bar right in front of you. Yummmmmm. Bartering with the store owners was an interesting challenge. Their prices start high, and the owners expect the customers to offer a lower price. For the most part, both parties ended up with the price they wanted!
It was amazing coming back and hearing everyones stories, sounded like everyone had a great last day!!!
See you all very soon!
Alyssa and Liana
Fwd: Jan 26th - Part 2
After our lunch today everyone headed to the Summer Palace. This is the place where the Emperor went to spend every summer. It was a huge place surrounding a very large (and frozen) man-made lake with an island in the center of it. One thing that was interesting was all of the gardens. There were many different ones throughout the area and many were replicas of famous gardens in other palaces throughout China. At one location there was also a very large boat made entirely out of marble.
After touring the Summer Palace we all went to an old hutong (alley) somewhere in Beijing. We took a rickshaw ride through it which was really fun. A rickshaw is pretty much a bicycle with two wheels on the back and a cool little carriage above the wheels. Two people sit in the back and someone pedals you around. The structure we were taken to was an old complex with several rooms and a central courtyard. This building was over 240 years old and had a lot of interesting history to it.The woman telling us about her house said it has been in her family since the 1930's and was actually taken away during the revolution and then given back to them at a later date. It was an interesting experience and the rickshaw ride was really fun.
From there we went to dinner and had some authentic Beijing duck. They sliced two ducks in front of us and served it on a duck platter. We wrapped it in rice tortillas with some onion and some sort of sauce. I think everyone enjoyed it because by the end of the meal it was all gone!
--
Nicole Aaron, SN
Senior I
Pacific Lutheran University
After touring the Summer Palace we all went to an old hutong (alley) somewhere in Beijing. We took a rickshaw ride through it which was really fun. A rickshaw is pretty much a bicycle with two wheels on the back and a cool little carriage above the wheels. Two people sit in the back and someone pedals you around. The structure we were taken to was an old complex with several rooms and a central courtyard. This building was over 240 years old and had a lot of interesting history to it.The woman telling us about her house said it has been in her family since the 1930's and was actually taken away during the revolution and then given back to them at a later date. It was an interesting experience and the rickshaw ride was really fun.
From there we went to dinner and had some authentic Beijing duck. They sliced two ducks in front of us and served it on a duck platter. We wrapped it in rice tortillas with some onion and some sort of sauce. I think everyone enjoyed it because by the end of the meal it was all gone!
--
Nicole Aaron, SN
Senior I
Pacific Lutheran University
January 26th-Tianamen Square, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, and Beijing Opera
Today's day started with a trip to Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City. It's amazing to see both in a culture so firmly rooted in its history. The square was much bigger than we imagined and we liked seeing the beautifully decorated front gate at the entrance. When we went to the Forbidden City we saw many different areas and rooms that in the past, were reserved only for emperors and officials. AN interesting room was one with two thrones-the first one was for the young emperor and then behind it was the emperor's mother who basically made all the decisions because she told the emperor what to say. The only thing between them was a curtain so that the people wouldn't know she was there making the decisions.
After we finished looking and walking through the city, our tour guide, Raymond, took us to lunch at a Chinese dumpling restaurant. They were delicious but we were all stuffed afterwards because the waitresses kept bringing plate after plate of different types of dumplings.
With a full stomach our class then traveled to visit the final temple here in China- the Temple of Heaven. Here we saw the Echo Hall, which was another temple within the entire complex. The tile in front of the temple if you clapped once it would echo once, if you go to the second tile and clapped it would echo twice, and if you went to the third tile it would echo three times. It was very cool, however some people didn't go to see it. Behind the Echo Hall was a marble that in the center was also an echo area. It was raised so we could also the temple the sceneries behind it as well. It was all painted so intricately and in the traditional ancient Chinese way.
Dinner was at a Muslim style restaurant where we weren't too sure what we were eating... Some dishes were good and others were interesting- it depended on each person's degree of adventurous eating! This was the first place with dessert served, which was new and very much filled with sugar.
To finish the day, we went to the Beijing Opera where we all sat in the front row sipping tea, and snacking on snacks while watching the performance. This opera was about a drunken man and Taoist priests who set out to sail the sea. There were some pretty intense fight scenes and skilled actors with batons. Overall, the day was a bittersweet day because it was not only our last touring day, but also many of us are ready to head back home. See you all on Friday!
--Zelynne & Megan--
January 24th, 2011
Today started on a high note we didn't have to get up until 9. Both of us guys were excited for we were told we were going to a Bird's Nest. However, to our dismay it didn't consist of birds at all, it was in fact the Olympic Arena. After a short bus ride we approached the Olympic BirdNest with the girl's shivering from the cold. We men were not cold (man grunt here). Rather than a million Chinese banging on drums the Beijing Arena consisted of a Winter Wonderland for kids that we could not participate in :(
We sat in envy of their youth and tickets to enter the majestic Winter Wonderland. Then we left. Next was lunch. It was here that we met Frederick the Fish. He was delicious. The rest of the food was surprisingly American compared to the spicy food of Chengdu. In other words, it was all deep fried.
Our next stop after lunch was the art district. This consisted of pipe shops, coffee shops (with nice restrooms for once), and many stores of family crafted art. Each store was extremely interesting and we spent a lot of time browsing, three hours to be exact. On our exploration we came across a talking bird that says "Ni Hao", a life sized Transformer made of real truck parts, and familiar music such as Beatles and Bob Dyan. The music was ruined by Taylor Swift. Pretty much everyone found some sort of rememberable trinket from this market.
We left straight from the market and excitedly went to the Chinese Acrobat Show. To describe the show to you the only things that come to mind were "epic" and none of us could ever do it. some of the attractions were bendable girls, spinning wheels with jumping dare devils, and fourteen girls one peacock bike. After this display of extreme athletism we went and feasted. We ate at a underground restaurant that had a huge buffet and even a gingerbread house. Everyone was excited for the spaghetti and desserts for it brought some variety to the diet. We ate so much that returning to the bus was a chore. Now we lay in our hotel room and are close to the food coma. The End.
Devon and Phil (The ChengDUDES)