It was a quiet day in the hospital clinic, at least until the toddler with facial palsy came in for another treatment and filled the room and corridor with heart rending cries. There was another chance to see the amazingly young looking Dr Jong doing facial treatments with great precision. Brief flights of fancy dallying with the notion of asking her to do one on me were dashed when she made it clear via an interpreter that treatment would have to be three times a week and accompanied by facial massage, not very practical given that we return home in four days. Some of the medical students were doing final exams at the end of the corridor. I met one of the students who had helped us in Dr Sun’s clinic, he was hopeful of passing although he had a patient with five different problems and wasn’t sure of the needling method for all the points. I hope he succeeds.

During the lunch break we collected the train tickets for Shanghai and discovered an enormous book store beyond Xinjeikou. The sort of place where you could spend an entire day.

Book Mart 1

 

Book mart 2

We were hunting for acupuncture texts in English, but there was nothing available other than a few pocket size acupuncture charts. The store is a bibliophile’s must see.

The afternoon was spent with Dr Tao in the Jian He Tang clinic. This is a rather upmarket establishment where people are seen as outpatients, stylishly decorated and kitted out. We were told that the patients who attend here are better educated, yet while they may pay more Dr Tao gave exactly the same level of care to the patients in the less well off hospital clinic. Curtains around each bed provided privacy, and the decor and fittings were of hotel standard.

Dr Tao’s desk Jian He

The venerable Dr Tao at work

 

 

 

 

Dr Tao’s desk and chair, Jian He Tang clinic

Wall decoration Jian He Tang clinic

Hi tech extractor

The equipment was very modern, including a very hi tech extractor fan which dealt extremely effectively with the moxa fumes. One patient had moxa applied in a spectacle frame (for facial palsy) with the treated eye protected by a walnut shell.

Ancient acupunture needle

View of Jian He Tang pharmacy

Jian He Tang entrance

Interesting to see a different side of Chinese medicine, and to speculate whether the better off patients are more demanding than the poorer patients attending the hospitals as they are better informed and might have higher expectations of the doctor.

Once the clinic was over we headed to Fuzi Miao near Confucius Temple. We set out to look around the vast Aqua City shopping mall, arranging to meet up in an hour. There is a huge water feature on the lower floor of the mall but it had been drained presumably for maintenance and cleaning. The place was so enormous that an hour would allow you to see a small fraction of it. There were a lot of Western chains there, Mango, Zara, H&M and so on with Western prices. After a rendevous we trawled through the bustling shops and stalls near the temple. We ate in one of the many restaurants in the basement of the Aqua City complex. We ordered fish, cabbage with pork, deep fried pork dumplings, sweet potato with cheese and green beans with garlic and seaweed.  A busy place, the food was nice though the potato dish was sweetened potato and not sweet potato which made it inedible.

Deep fried pork dumplings and ‘”sweet potato” with cheese

Pork and cabbage

Fish

Garlicky green beans, each one tied in a knot

Walking back to the station we noted street traders and shops selling “designer” bags, purses and wallets,  Vuitton, Chanel, Burberry and several others. The price seemed to be subject to the time honoured tradition of haggling. Bargaining is rather more complicated when neither party speaks the other’s language, but calculators can be used as an intermediary!