Well I have had my first visit to a Chinese doctor and thought I would share the experience. The lady doc I saw was lovely and gave a thorough examination of my throat chest and ears. She decided I had a chest and throat infection and the flu to top it all off. I was given antibiotics and 2 other packets of tablets. I looked them up on the internet to see what they were and one was a Chinese herbal remedy containing: Honey,ginger,cardamom and cannabis..... not sure if the ingredients list was correct!
After taking the course for a couple of days it was not getting any better so my friend went back to the doctors for me to ask for something stronger.....she came back with an arsenal of tablets! I have to take 21 tablets 3 times a day! 63 tablets a day for 2 days....omg plus some revolting cough medicine.... Some foods we eat everyday at our school. As you can see this is not the Chinese food you get used to in the west. School dinner costs between 4 and 8 RMB (40-80 pence in old money)
What a great sports meeting. Each class started with their procession and opening ceremony, all well rehearsed and performed in front of the school and select judges. This is where I was asked to join in with class 3. They came second place. Saturday and Sunday was running, high and long jump and shot put. At the same time each class would dance and sing on the stadium and cheer their fellow class mates on. Monday completed the events with more dancing, presentations and lots of photo taking. It was our penultimate day off so we planned to visit the zoo in Chongqing the capital of Guijhou. Chongqing is the fourth largest city in China after Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.
We went specifically to see the Pandas but also the other animals there too. They were lovely, see below, however the general zoo conditions left us feeling a little sorry for the rest for them. The enclosures were quite small which this was evident in the very despondent looking beasts and we wondered at times who should be caged, the animals or the spitting, banging and throwing Chinese people! You could sense a definite atmosphere of superiority and contempt at times although,of course, not for the Pandas ... Here are a few pics of the beautiful temples we found after climbing hundreds of steps up the side of a mountain. It was definitely worth it to see the amazing buildings and the panoramic views. Here's the story of the temples origin: Xiang Long Si Temple Twenty years ago an ill person in Taiwan had a dream. He dreamed about a temple in Tongzi and God told him to go. He had never been to mainland China before so he followed the God to find Tongzi. There he gave a lot of money to rebuild the temple. After that his illness was cured. Well the time had come when my last bra that fit me broke and I had to face the task of buying a new one in Tongzi. Now its bad enough buying shoes or food but something as sensitive as underwear....
went into walking street first to show Josh around and brought some new shoes.... while the boys waited outside the undies shop I braved it and went in. In my best Chinese i asked for 36 D in any colour...I figured this would give plenty of scope...she showed me 3. Nude, black and blue... that's your lot! Having lived here for a while i know its best to try stuff on as the size is never the same as UK, so I asked her if I could. She showed me to the back of her shop into a room,smiled and closed the door for my privacy...all good except the door was made of GLASS and her little girl sat grinning up at me....OMG luckily I was the only person in the shop and the boys couldn't see me from the street! I hid in the darkest corner and tried the bra on....didn't fit... cup was too small... I walked out and asked for an E....she burst out laughing and said no, no, no! Needless to say.... they didn't go that big! Walked around a few more but there were no E's in sight....finally found a shop that sold E size but only in Nude colour which looks more like my great grandma would wear in Victorian times! After spending 15 mins being grabbed, groped, poked by most of the sales staff and watched by half of China I finally decided to just buy it and get the hell outta dodge! I walked to the cash till and there was one of my students watching with her little brother...I was mortified! In true China style she said,'Hello teacher, please let me use my card for your underwear and I can get you discount'. AWESOME! So in summary, I have a new bra (38 E) one that would be used to throw boulders at an advancing army... I can wear it under any colour as its nude and i got a discount!!! Needless to say...Jaz and Josh are going back to the same undies shop tomorrow to buy boxer shorts.... :) 34 degrees and we climb a million steps up the side of a mountain but WOW the views were spectacular!
At last we have found somewhere we can cycle to that has some beautiful scenery albeit all up hill on the bikes (and no gears). It's baking hot and we decide to go shopping in the nearest city, Zunyi. This was in search of cheese for Mel as it is approaching her birthday. Any way, two different Wallmarts later and all we could get was processes sliced cheese. Not a great outcome. But on the positive side we manage to find tea bags and bacon so it's brecky fo
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April 2016
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