So the other day I decided to get some herbs, the kind they
sell in those mysterious shops filled with weird substances arranged neatly in
glass jars and plastic baggies. Does
anyone actually know what any of these do? do they do anything? or is it all a
gimmick, some kind of twisted joke all the Chinese people conspiratorially play
on the foreigners. I surveyed the
customers of the sizable apothecary/pharmacy place I had entered, they seemed
genuine. I noticed a man in apron and spectacles
behind the counter very intensely chopping some ginseng with a shiny hatchet, from
his glance I could tell he meant business. I was suddenly sold on the idea that there is some sort of science or
medicine to this stuff, and I wanted to possess this secret knowledge. Unfortunately, I was baffled by the multitude
of options and my own ignorance and left the herb store completely unsatisfied,
with 2 packets of flowers, one yellow one red, some gord thing, and a really
tiny and expensive piece of ginseng - sliced.
I went home and brewed a whole pot of this mixture and drank
it all down. I waited for the magic
effects which turned out to be a stomachache. But the Chinese would not make such a big fuss over nothing would
they? I remembered the look of the
apothecary dude – he kinda reminded me of the key master in Matrix – he was the
herb master. No, I would not be
discouraged quite that easily. There was
only one thing left to do. I had to
Google “Chinese herbs”. To be continued
. . .