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Calm Spirit / Ying Yu Jade China Trip 2009 |
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| A day of travel from Beijing to Guangzhou. We didn't have a ticket for Air China, and we were supposed to get it at the airport, so we got up early to get to the airport early hoping it would work out. The date was April 4, a very unlucky Chinese day, 4-4, the word for "4" is the same as the word for "death", so of course working with Chinese people so much I was a little superstitious and apprehensive. But everything worked out very well: the ticket reservation was there, our seats were "good ones", the flight left and arrived on time, our luggage arrived with us, and the taxi driver who didn't speak any English took us to the right hotel, where our reservation was easily found, and we were in our rooms by 5PM. The only problem was the internet connection, we had trouble connecting at the hotel, and it was a real problem. But after a dinner at Lucy's Café, my favorite place to eat on Shamian Island, fried noodles and vegetables and Tsingtao beer, watching the local people enjoy the park, we realized how relaxing it was to be away from Beijing. Although we have to deal with almost no English speakers here, this being our third time staying on Shamian Island was very comfortable. | |||||||||||
 Lucy's American Diner is a popular place for both Chinese people and Westerners, a great place to relax, eat on a weekend on Shamian Island |
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 Fried noodles with vegetables and a glass of Tsingtao beer, one of my favorites at Lucy's Diner in Guangzhou |
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| After dinner, I went to the Shamian traditional Chinese medicine center for foot massage. It's 90 minutes for about $10 USD. While the feet are soaking in a wooden tub of hot water with Chinese herbs, and you sip a special tea, the massager is doing tuina acupressure on your back, neck, arms. The massager is a TCM doctor, so the type of massage is different for each person. In my case, I have chronic severe fibromyalgia and he worked on treating that for almost an hour, then did the foot massage. It's always amazing to me that these Shamian medicine practitioners know exactly where to treat me, and every one, every time, has done treatment more helpful to me than I can get anywhere else. The benefit from this massage is worth the trip alone! Tomorrow is a busy shopping day we apprciated a day of rest today, which we don't usually take because there's so much to do, and so little time to do it. | |||||||||||
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