I saw a Chinese Doctor
On Monday I bought some fruit, nuts and some sort of pumpkin bun at the market. Late this afternoon I returned to buy more fruit. I bought bananas as usual plus some lychees which are pretty delicious. I decided to buy some dumplings from a woman who I’d watched on Monday. After having a mouthful, it tasted like the green pancakes available in Xingtai. I returned for 2 more. They contain what seems like a mixture of scrambled egg, lots of garlic and something green like a spinach.
I then spied the pumpkin buns and bought one. I am now on nodding or “knee howing” (“ni hao”/”hello”) terms with a number of the traders.
Heading towards the exit I saw the spicy pizza like bread which a student had once bought me and bought some. The problem of what to eat for dinner and where was solved very quickly and easily. I sat in the park and ate. I knew before I reached the pumpkin that my eyes were bigger than my stomach. Tea cost less than a dollar. The fruit was about $2 for 6 good sized bananas and 2 serves of lychees.
On the return journey I passed a number of tiny medical establishments just before the hostel. I had called in on one of them on Monday and when I asked about cupping was told to return the next day. I was busy and didn’t. By the time I arrived all were closed except for one and the woman there recognised me. She told me that I had to wait as someone was eating dinner. After a while she made a phone call and while we were waiting she taught me 2 new Chinese words. Then a doctor arrived. He wanted information and the usual sign language was insufficient. A woman with good English was rung and we began a protracted discussion. I rejected all medical offers, at high prices, and settled on what I had gone in for, cupping. The recommendation was for 3 days. As it had taken quite a while to sort out, the doctor seemed a nice, patient bloke with a sense of humour and as I actually think it improves my flexibility and my ability to keep on keeping on, I agreed. A prescription was written and I was taken next door to another cubby hole.
The cubby hole had a treatment bed, a lounge, a small bedside locker and a stool or two plus a couple of drip stands. Immediately behind it was a tiny section housing a cupboard full of factory sourced drugs and so on. There were more in the bedside locker. A door led behind but all activity happened through the front entrance. A young woman who had arrived during the telephone discussion was now sporting an intravenous drip and languishing on the bed. She was turfed off to the lounge where she proceeded to chat with the nurse and cough. A clean sheet was placed over the bed for me.
There was no plastic bag of clanking cups this time. Just a small plastic bowl with 4 cups. They had to do double duty and then triple when I asked for my lower back to be done too. The suction was not strong so I will be interested to see if it increases with future treatments as I’m booked for 2 more before leave.
By the time I got off the bed the population had increased by three. The first woman was up to her 2nd bottle, a very small one into which many small ampoules of a colourless drug had been added. A newcomer was sitting on the lounge with her tiny bottle running too. Another seemed desperate to keep the bed warm and the third was busy sitting on a stool beside the bed and sewing something. It would all have been much more entertaining for me if I hadn’t had to lie on my side facing the wall.