Blogs from Dongzhimen, Chaoyang district, Beijing, China, Asia - page 2

Well.. here I am. Arrived at some god awful hour this morning after the flight from Singapore had technical issues and we had to change plane. Ive unpacked, the apartment seems to be great for a family looking to spend some time in Beijing. Big enough for all of us... (when all of us arrive) and enough room for everyone to have their own space. Looking out the window of the apartment... It looks like there is a nice park down there.. Only problem is, it is surrounded by a huge fence, and I cant see any gates. I can also see a Bus depot. That has no fence and is easily accessable. :oP Its actually quite cold here. It was -6 when I got in last night, and still not over 0 degrees.. no snow ... read more

For many years I’ve been interested in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) or at least alternatives to Western medicine. In my other life I was a medical laboratory technologist. For that I studied physiology and various aspects of Western medicine, so I had that knowledge base to begin with. However it was a long time before I had a chance to have first-hand experience of Oriental medicine. I had an accident when I was trekking in Nepal two years ago, in November 2009. I tripped on the path and fell down a rocky slope. A few days later I met my niece, a Buddhist scholar, in Katmandu where she was acting as an interpreter for a Tibetan woman doctor. She suggested that I have a treatment from the doctor so I underwent “cupping” while my niece took ... read more

Hi, It’s Mid-autumn Day, a national holiday in China and a time when families get together to eat round “moon cakes” and wish each other long lives of good luck and happiness. 8th August was the first day of autumn, and I was told that it is often the beginning of the worst month of heat. Luckily August wasn’t paticularly bad this year. Before it ends, I’ll sum up summer in Beijing in one word - HOT! Ohmigod it has been unbearable. Ireland doesn't know the meaning of "hot". I would advise visitors not to come to Beijing in the summer. Schools are closed and all tourist sites are crowded with both Chinese visitors and foreign tourists. You become obsessed with trying to figure out how to escape the heat and the crowds. The stifling heat ... read more