October 5th, 2005 First we went to one of the Ming tombs. There are nearly 13 emperors from the Ming dynasty buried in the outskirts of Beijing. Many are restricted to preserve their structures, and we visited one which has been made available to the public (they all have the same basic layout anyway). They had a lot of beautiful architecture, and some of the buildings were as impressive as in the Forbidden City. The tomb was quite colossal, as they bury their emperor with everything he’ll need in the afterlife. This included his concubines, who would have the supreme honor of being buried with their emperor… while still alive. Nice folks eh? Next, we had a stop over at the Traditional Chinese Medicine Research Center. The Chinese still take their traditional medicines- such as acupuncture, reflexology, massage and traditional herbs- quite seriously, and the institute we visited was a state sponsored research institute and University where Chinese traditional medicine is studied and taught. After a brief presentation on Chinese medicine, several Chinese doctors came in and offered to give us free evaluations. Their diagnoses were based on taking our pulse (there are apparently several pulses in the arm which can be used to diagnose afflictions of various organs) and the color of our tongue. Afterwards they then offered to sell us rather expensive Chinese herbs to fix the ailment they had diagnosed. This led many in our group to believe that it was just another tourist scam. However, I have several ailments that Western Medicine has been unable to address. In the various times that I have sought help from Western doctors, I have alternately been told that there is nothing wrong with me, they don’t know what’s wrong with me, or accuse me of faking it, none of which have helped build my confidence in Western medicine. But, when I went to the Chinese doctor for the evaluation, he told me that the yin in my kidneys was unbalanced and this would be causing me lower back pain, he then offered to prescribe me herbs for Y900, nearly $112.5. Well, I have lower back pain that can get so bad, I have to pop my hips (sometimes in public) because it begins to hurt when I walk. And those of you who’ve been around me any period of time know that I have to use the toilet every 30 minutes. Thus, for me, the diagnosis was spot on, so I went ahead and got the herbs. Maybe I spent over a $100 on snake oil, and maybe I finally got the treatment I’ve been needing. I’ll let you know in 45 days when the prescription runs out (which the doctor said was sufficient to cure me). Besides, I spend nearly $300 a month on massage and chiropractic care for my back anyway, so if this finally fixes the problem, then it is well worth it. (Update, Shortly after I finished the 45 day prescription, my kidney stopped hurting, and I had a complete recover. Additionally, along with traction therapy and acupuncture- none of which western doctors would ever give me- my hip has nearly stopped popping, and my lower back feels much better. All of which has convinced me that there’s something to Traditional Medicine). Well, when you go to China, you have to see the Great Wall, and that afternoon we went to the Badaling section of the wall. Its one of the more famous sections, since it was one of the first, and has been extensively renovated in recent years. It also has the highest point along the Great wall at 800m (2500ft) above sea level. At first we all took the trolley to a spot near the highest point. It was extremely crowded, and at bottle necks, it might take 10 minutes just to walk 100 meters through the crowds of people. It was so bad at some points that it almost wasn’t worth it. But, I finally figured out what was going on. Everyone was taking the trolley, walking to the top, then taking the trolley back down. The walk way back down was nearly empty, so by walking back down, I was able to see a section with only a few people on it. In fact, after the walk way reached the parking lot, there was another section which went past it, and there was virtually no one on that. Over National Day, when 1.3 billion people are on vacation simultaneously, there wasn’t much hope that I’d find a clear spot. But fortunately, I did get to have a good look at the Great Wall, both packed to brim with tourists, and with a bit of space to stretch out. It one of those things you have to see while you’re in China, so I’m glad I got to. That night, I went to the Shaolin Monk Kung Fu show. I went ahead and paid the extra Y300 ($35) and got the VIP seat. (at my seat they gave me a pot of Jasmine tea and a bowl of snacks, I wasn’t sure what to think). The show was absolutely amazing. It tells the story of a young boy who is accepted as a Shaolin Monk. It then goes through the various stages of his training, including demonstrations of the various styles of Kung Fu (which they pronounce Gong Fu). At the culmination stage of his training, he props himself up on spears, and is carried around stage on the tips of three real, sharp, spear points. However, he is then tempted by a fairy in his mind and falls from his practice. To repent, he has wooden sticks broken over parts of his body (including his arms, legs, and head). Then he shatters 6 blocks of iron… over his head. But, the abbot demands more of him to repent, so he makes him prove his dedication by laying on three sword edges, with a block of spikes on top, and a person lying on top of the spikes while a concrete slab on his chest is shattered with a sledge hammer. The monk does this and emerges unscathed. After the show, they had the wood sticks, the iron bars and all the rest on display, so you could see that the wood was real wood, the blocks of iron where real blocks of iron, and the spear were real, sharp, spears which they really had broken with their bodies. The show was a lot of fun, and the demonstrations were quite impressive. Well, that about covers it. The next day I slept in and took the train back to Suzhou, which was pretty uneventful except for the drunken Germans in the next cart over. But, It was nice to get all the tourist crap done and out of the way. Hopefully next time I go somewhere a little more exotic, but this was fine for a first trip.