Well, I thought I would be in Hong Kong writing this poste, but I had some noteworthy experiences that I thought I'd share. Rod has sprained his knee or pulled something that has making it difficult to walk..then when he did walk on it, he favored the knee, and consequently, now his ankle is hurting. One of the ways I learn new words and how to express myself to the driver is to tell him what's going on in our lives...so of course Rod's pain situation was a topic of conversation and led to many words I didn't understand! Bottom line, when the driver was out with Rod, they went to a Chinese Pharmacy and got a bandaid type thing and explained to put it on his knee. Rod put it on (smelled really bad!) and it seemed to really help the knee...so this morning, I put one on his ankle...and have been trying to get him to stay off of it (I'm not very effective in that area). At the sametime, we were sent a bunch of bananas, cherries and mangos and they told Rod to eat these and drink lots of water. They advised him not to eat meat or eggs while he was sore because it would make the pain worse...so we figured, what do we have to lose! I mean, who doesn't love banana's anyway!?
Here are some photos of the of the Pharmacy...really thinking of my cousins here!
 |
| The outside and entrance of the Pharmacy |
 |
| The inside aisle of the Pharmacy, clean and well organized |
 |
| This yellow box is what Rod is using which has the 5 bandaid type things in it |
 |
| This is the bandaid thing. It's embedded with herbs, then you add an oil before applying it. |
 |
| The bandage applied on the knee...we had to really make sure the bandaid adhesive was well sealed...otherwise the oil can seep out. |
Onto more pleasant news!
As you may know, this is week is the Dragon boat festival here in China. The origins of the festival are legend (since it dates back to xxx BC, it's understandable that the exact truth is not known!). The one I was told about when we moved here goes like this account from Wikipedia (I shortened it!):
In the year 278 B.C., upon learning of the upcoming devastation of his state from invasion by a neighbouring Warring State (Qin in particular), Qu Yuan is said to have waded into the Miluo river holding a great rock in order to commit ritual suicide as a form of protest against the corruption of the era. The Qin or Chin kingdom eventually conquered all of the other states including Chu and unified them into the first Chinese empire. The word China derives from this first dynasty of empire, the Qin (or Chin) Dynasty, under imperialist unifier Qin Shi Huang.
The common people, upon learning of his suicide, rushed out on the water in their fishing boats to the middle of the river and tried desperatedly to save Qu Yuan. They beat drums and splashed the water with their paddles in order to keep the fish and evil spirits from his body. Later on, they scattered rice into the water to prevent him from suffering hunger. Another belief is that the people scattered rice to feed the fish, in order to prevent the fishes from devouring the poet's body.
Since then, the dragon boat races have been going on...and people eat a traditional rice dumpling. This is a clump of rice, mixed with a type of sweet bean powder, making it all stick together. This is then wrapped in a lotus leaf. It is eaten every year at this time and you see them for sale in the markets.
You put sugar on the rice and eat it (not the lotus leaf) and Rod tells me it's good (I havn't had mine yet!)...(our Driver gave us some that his mother cooked, and the hotel staff sent some up for us as well, so we're full up on rice dumplings)
 | |
| 3 Dragon boat rice dumplings in a bowl. One is untied so you can see the rice inside. It's kind of slimy when you unwrap it because of the sweet bean sauce |
 |
| The Dragon Boat rice dumpling...those you don't eat, throw in the water with the dragon boat races! |
So, when we go to Hong Kong, we hope to see the local Dragon boat races (you'll know if I do...there will be photos!)
Have a great day everyone!!
Sarah
Sarah, Looking forward to hearing about your trip to Hong Kong. David and I are hoping to go in July for our 25th Anniversary. Have lots of fun!
ReplyDeleteAnna