Phase 4 trial of a traditional Chinese medicine

A few weeks ago, I noticed a few reddish splotches on my midsection. They weren't raised or itchy, so I figured they were just bruises (you know how much I frolic about). But they didn't go away. In fact, they've slowly multiplied across my body. (to clear up any over-exaggeration, I really only have about 15 spots)

Keeping it rated PG, here's a photo of one splotch on my arm:

splotch.

I've tried figuring out the cause, but I'm not allergic to anything (thanks for the genes and upbringing, mom and dad!). It very likely could've been bed bug bites from Jiuzhaigou. However, they aren't irritated at all, I don't see any bite sites, and I think a few developed weeks after Jiuzhaigou. I am getting pretty old, but I don't think age spots should set in this young.

Anyway, I sent above photo to my fam, and I was recommended antihistamine and hydrocortisone. An overnight benedryl didn't help, so I visited the pharmacy on campus with lab mate Jie.

No hydrocortisone- apparently you have to go to a doctor for that (maybe they thought I meant cortisone shots?). So after some fun translation games, we settled on a traditional Chinese medicine.

my tube 'o TCM with lab notes in background. I'm so studious.

I really have no clue what this is, except that it smells kinda like icy hot... which paradoxically makes the splotch itch (or is it "ironic"? someone text Alanis Morissette for me). Also, the pharmacist said "no spicy food", but considering my addiction fondness for gong bao ji ding, I'm not sure how great my patient compliance will be.

Beijing Halloweeeeen

It's 11:30pm and I have to present in lab tomorrow. I have no slides completed. But I had planned on spending three hours tonight doing flow cytometry until my advisor told me that an alternative--and much faster/cheaper--method for determining nanoparticle uptake would suffice. So it's like I have three FREE hours tonight --> I'm writing a blog post instead of finishing my presentation three hours early and actually sleeping tonight.

It's Halloween! I've heard that eastern Beijing (the international part of town) actually has festivities, but at Beida, I haven't seen so much as a fake cobweb. I don't even love Halloween that much (though my favorite costumes growing up include X-Men's Cyclops where I wore sweats and safety goggles, a homemade zombie outfit [it was awesome to rip up an old suit], the hiker guy from Double Rainbow, and "change you can believe in" where I glued coins to my shirt.) but it was a great opportunity to share a lil culture with my friends. and eat copious amounts of candy.

Kai and I rode bikes to the vast underground supermarket, Carrefour, in search of pumpkins. Not totally surprising, they had no jack-o-lantern-sized pumpkins, but just baby squashes for eating. Actually, at first we couldn't find those and considered carving watermelons (which actually might be awesome/more delicious). I also raided the candy section and got gummies and chocolate.

Ok, I'll just stop writing and just post the photos so that I can work on my presentation.

Lemon cake. "But wait," you say, "there aren't ovens in China!" Well this is a microwave lava cake!!!

Room mate Bobby (yes, the 2nd Asian Bobby room mate I've had), Tanu, Lab mates Kai and Jie.

spook.y.

Lab mate Kai.

Then we watched a scary movie. No, not The Grudge (for obvious reasons).

Happy Halloween!

dawn of the panda hat

When people make a to-do list for a visit to China, I think that the list goes like

1) hike the Great Wall and ponder the engineering feat

2) consider our quests for immortality while reviewing the Terracotta Warriors

3) OHMYGOSH PANDA EVERYTHING.

Well upon our arrival in Chengdu, we immediately booked our trip to the panda breeding center (in my opinion the video provided excessive details regarding techniques to ensure progeny). After ooh-ing and ahh-ing over pandas (!) for a few hours, we exited through the gift shop. A certain panda had quickly caught Tanu's eye and she bought it without haste. For me, however, Jim Carey's "The Mask" taught me to distrust any potentially enchanted masks/hats--and anything panda is most certainly enchanted.

True to Hollywood, for the next few days we had an Indian panda with us. Tanu transformed and would often speak in the third person--er.. animal: "panda is hungry" or "panda is tired" or "panda wants to do jump shot."

feed panda!

panda must hug prayer wheel!

panda loves cheesy Chinese poses (we actually did see this pose)

The hat eventually wore my defenses down and I tried it on. But hungry for my soul, it took me about three steps too far:

Not sure what I was thinking. Oh wait, I wasn't thinking- THE HAT WAS CONTROLLING ME.

I guess my parents'd trade me for a panda any day.

Just like my almost-was addiction to World of Warcraft, I was able to pull off the monster pretty quickly after this fiasco and returned to normal (for me).

Now it sits in Tanu's room, perched on the top of her book shelves, waiting for another host...

Jumpin' Jiuzhaigou!

Tanu and I are basically rock stars.

Proof:

Exhibit A: Amazing Jump Pic abilities

During National Holiday (where everyone in China goes on vacation for a week, making it impossible to import some cells that you really really need for research), my parents, Tanu, and I visited southwestern China, including the national park, Jiuzhaigou. It used to be home to nine (that's the "jiu" part of "jiuzhaigou") Tibetan-esque villages dotted among gorgeous landscapes of waterfalls and lakes of vivid colors.

At one lake, some hawkers offered traditional Tibetan clothing to prance around in. Initially we poo-pooed the idea, but after seeing how much fun the Chinese tourists were having in fur-lined garments, we donned the robes (much to their delight). And as ambassadors of awesomeness, we effected cultural exchange by introducing jump shots to our pictures.

Judging from the gasps in the crowd, this was an entirely new concept for them. Now, the Chinese are very inventive when it comes to poses, but we got similar reactions when we'd add some air into our shots.

this is a lil twist on the jump pic. think pairs' ice skating.

okay, so sometimes our timing is off. but even olympic synchronized swimmers make mistakes!

These observers came over afterwards to look at the pictures.

At one point, the crowd was especially interactive. First they observed.

Then one woman tried some herself. We jumped in for support.

This spawned others' jump pictures.

And one novice hopper requested I document her glee.

All in all, I would say it was a successful day: we got to see beautiful natural scenery and start a photographic trend in China!

entr'acte

Life has been very busy recently: in addition to being a full-time student, I've become a part-time tour guide for my parents who've come to visit. It's been fantastic having them here, but it means that my other part-time occupation as blogger has taken a back seat.

But rest assured that highlights of our experiences will be posted soon. To whet your appetite, here's my current favorite photo. It comes from the album, "When we mimic poses that others really actually do."

Also, Tanu may have brainwashed herself into believing that she's part panda.

But more on these things later.

Portraits of a hutong

Last weekend I visited Shique Hutong to try my hand at portrait photography. In case you don't know what a hutong is or how to wikipedia, it is a traditional community (especially in Beijing) characterized by winding, narrow streets and small communes where extended families would live. At least, that's my definition. They're where you can go to find pre-skyscraper Beijing, but they're becoming endangered as they're torn down in the name of modernization. However, there's also a movement to commercialize them for tourists and also the renovate parts with swanky new clubs, artsy spots, etc.

Anyway, I spent a few hours taking shots, practicing how to ask for permission to take photos, and looking not-at-all creepy. Here are a few of my favorites:

Six days of blue and counting

Beijing is notorious for its hazy skies. For the 2008 Olympic Games, I remember hearing how they'd temporarily closed factories and limited automobile traffic in an effort to improve athlete performance and public perception with cleared skies.

Unfortunately, however, the skies have returned to their hazy status. I know you're thinking, "But you're from Oregon! Shouldn't you be used to gray skies?" Well, there's a difference between cloudy skies and "mashed potato" skies:

"Mashed potato sky", livefrombeijing.com

I don't think that factory pollution has everything to do with the low visibility. Much of it is due (I think) to the sand and dust from nearby deserts (though we could get on the subject of desertification, I'll abstain) coupled with vast city construction (over 50% of construction sites don't meet environmentally friendly standards). Plus, Beijing has a fantastic public transit system with  subway trains packed much of the day and roads lined with bicycles and filled buses, so at least they're trying to reduce pollution output (though 1000 cars are added daily to Beijing streets). But Beijing (and China in general) is growing and needs to fuel that growth, so it's hard to demand that they cease production. And I hear that they're setting new environmental standards, though--like everywhere--setting standards is not the same as implementing them.

Back to the skies. In the last decade there have been only four 30-day stretches of clear skies. I'm not sure what is qualified as "clear" or what other metrics are used, but given my short time here, I can verify that the skies are usually mashed potato-y. The benefit to this consistently murky extreme is that when we do swing to the other extreme of sapphire skies, we enjoy it even more (you can tell, as I've mentioned that in here and have a photographical comparison here).

Which brings me to this week. We're on day six of our shocking streak of blue skies! It's wonderful! And we have had weather in the mid- to high-70s! To enjoy this special treat, Tanu and I visited a park on campus during lunch and shared the gorgeous weather with other celebrants. Here are some photos for your viewing pleasure:

Bluuuuuuuue.

Now scroll back up to the photo of the hazy sky for comparison. It's jolting.

Also, I found what could be a fair blog about Beijing/China's environment at http://www.livefrombeijing.com/. It's written by an American environmental engineer in China.