Chinese medicine requires much more personal interaction than modern medicines. It’s not simply a matter of taking a pill after a meal, or just before bedtime. First, there is a strong visual and aromatic interaction with the medicine! Then, there is the whole cooking process which involves waiting 30 minutes after each meal then adding water and boiling/simmering the concoction for 30 minutes before drinking. This process must be repeated (consistently)…
Read MoreAncient Chinese Secret
No, I haven’t gone “native”…but this experience puts me one step closer! I’ve been experiencing a very strange nerve-related pain in my leg for the past several months. Basically, it’s like a burning, numb sensation along the outer surface of my lower left leg. Oddly enough, very strong electrical pulses can be triggered in this same location by simply touching the inside surface of the left leg, just below the knee. While…
Read MoreMighty Ducks!
No, I’m not referring to Oregon’s football team or Anaheim’s hockey team! I’m talking about real ducks! I recently traveled to Tengchong, the last real Chinese city before reaching Myanmar on the Old Burma Road. Tengchong’s ancient town is less commercial than Dali or Lijiang and it’s a great place to visit. To get a feel for how simple and quiet this ancient town is, check out the video (above) of…
Read MoreWinter – South of the “Border”
Where do you typically set your thermostat in the winter? Having just survived our first winter in Yunnan Province, we now have a much greater appreciation for the luxury of simply having a thermostat to set! Turns out that China can be grouped into the “North” and “South” in several respects. One way of grouping China is related to whether central heat is available for buildings. There are differing opinions re: whether…
Read MoreHigh Maintenance Horticulture
Have you “wrapped” your Ficus today? Ficus trees are very popular here. Not just as indoor plants, but also as outdoor trees along boulevards and in parks. It’s interesting for me to see the effort and attention to detail that goes into caring for these trees. As these photos illustrate, these trees are wrapped in an elaborate and carefully applied organic fabric at the beginning of the “winter” season here.…
Read MoreSeeing Red
Did you celebrate the Chinese (Lunar) New Year last week? Well, you can be sure all 1.4B people here in China did. In fact, this holiday (aka “Spring Festival”) is China’s biggest and most important holiday of the year and dominates the local culture for at least 1 entire month…something like Christmas and New Year’s holidays on steroids! Spring Festival represents the world’s largest migration, with more than 3 Billion passenger…
Read MoreSomewhere in China…
Do you ever feel like the rules keep changing faster than you can keep up?! For me, it’s a matter of first learning the rules in China, then keeping up with the pace of change! As you may have noticed, things have been pretty quiet on this blog lately. Two primary factors: 1.) My main focus has been on Job #1: Language Learning, and 2.) I was trying to decide how…
Read MoreRule #1: Watch Your Step
How comfortable are you with safety risks? Some cultures place a high value on protecting their citizens…from every conceivable safety risk. Other cultures tend to rely more on individual responsibility and self-awareness. We have observed that our local town belongs in the latter category! For example, the university recently removed the man-hole covers for a couple of weeks while performing seasonal maintenance. It was striking to see these pits exposed (night…
Read MorePecan Pie – A New Global Sourcing Challenge?!
What’s your favorite Thanksgiving dessert? One of my personal favorites is Pecan Pie – Texas style. However, as we learned from our language helper last night, it might be a long time before we get Pecan Pie in China. Turns out her dictionary (with tens of thousands of Chinese words) did not even have a word for “pecan”. Our electronic dictionary also failed to find a Chinese word for “pecan”. …
Read MoreHand-Made Noodles!
Have you ever had fresh, hand-made noodles? Have you ever seen them being made?! Well, as much as I’d love to…I can’t offer you a bowl of noodles, but here’s a great video that shows how noodles are made-to-order, on-the-spot in a small street cafe in Dali Old Town. As you watch, I hope you’ll be patient and realize that this is the age-old process of turning a lump of…
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