Traditional Chinese Medicine

Today we visited the area of Guangzhou where the people buy products to make traditional medicines. It is incredible to see the vast amounts of mushrooms, fungi, starfish, seahorses, and other items that are either ground up to drink in tea or cooked directly into the food to cure illness or guarantee health. The above photo on the right is of two women searching through large tubs of live scorpions and picking out the ones that they want to buy. (I'm not sure how you determine a good scorpion from a bad one. I didn't see them thumping their bellies or feeling for mushy spots, but apparently there is a difference). Some of the shop owners were very adamant about not having pictures taken of them or their shops, and when I asked our guide why this was, she told me that many of them fear that we could be undercover journalists who will use these photos to try and shut them down. While I am saddened to see the giant sacks of starfish when I know that they are declining in our oceans I would never try and force them to shut down because they would still secretly use these items. If we disagree with what they are doing, we should educate them as to why it is bad for the earth and show them that there are other things that can make them well. 

Today Audrey started trying to feed herself with a spoon for the first time. She certainly grasps the idea, but we haven't found any food items yet that will stick to the spoon long enough for her to find her mouth with it. It won't be long once we get home that she will be shoveling down apple sauce for herself. She has yet to reject anything that we have tried to feed her, and apparently both of her legs are hollow because she will eat and eat and eat until the food is either all gone or we think she is going to burst and make her stop. She is not much bigger than a banana, but she can eat an entire one at breakfast along with a box of yogurt, a bowl of congee, scrambled eggs, and whatever else we hand to her. It is no wonder that she has the Buddha-like figure of her Baba. She is a very good baby, happy most of the time and easy to entertain, even in a busy public restaurant. Hopefully this will not change once we get to the USA.