Yes I did ,, I survived of course , but paid to have fish nibble away at my body in the hot spring baths on Hainan Island. It is classed as a AAAA rated ,China No.1 hot springs.

This tourist spot is a series of hot spring baths ( really piped hot water) spread over many hundred of MU ( chinese acres) varying in temperature from 32 degrees to 45 degrees centigrade.

One of the mosaic-lined pools , no deaper than 1metre is filled with small fish , about the size of a mans' thumb. Once you submerge yourself and settle down , the fish in their dozens come and start nibbling at the skin on your body. If they start on your feet i guarantee you will giggle and squirm with delight , it really tickles like mad.

Baggy trunk/shorts are not allowed , just the tight , revealing ,clingy types , I suppose to avoid any nasty mishaps during the feasting.

Overall quite a pleasureable experience and restful after a fashion.. I would go again ..

If you find yourself in City of Hangzhou, China and want to see a spectacle, take yourself to the Songcheng Grand Theatre , about 30 minutes from the West Lake ( itself a beautiful place where most Chinese would like to be laid to rest, but that is for another time), and see a stage show with over 300 hundred actors in a variety of ever more spectacular outfits , playing out stories from the Song Dynasty .( That was one hell of a long sentence!!) . Hangzhou was the ancient capital city during the Song Dynasty.

Learn about the story of th green snake and white snake that look after normal mortals , but when then become human and the white snake falls in love with a human , all does not have a happy ending. The white snake is eventually banished to the depths of the West Lake and a huge waterfall  and cascading rain appears on the stage at the same time sprinklers spread a water mist mist over the entire audience. Or the tragic story of the wronged Great Warrior Yue Fei , with horses galloping across the stage.

There are countless stalls and resturants on this themed area, temples , the chance to dress up androle play.. A real must for the family. It is not a sophisticated show but it is great fun.

In the evening , the Banana Leaf restaurant ( downtown) serves the most stupendously delicious Thai food. It is indeed 'to Thai for' ( groan)

Bye For Now

Babylon.

Babylon in Shanghai

There is a ‘festival’ here this week , commonly known as The Qing Ming Jie, or Qing Ming Festival, which occurs in the middle of Spring, shortly after Spring Solstice. It is in  fact a mixture of 2 festivals. The Qing Ming Festival ( Pure Brightness)  and the Cold Food Festival (Hanshi Jie) of ancient times. These have combined into a single ‘festival’. On the Cold Food Festival, people could only eat cold food or pre-cooked food. Heating by fire was not allowed. On Qing Ming people visit the graves of ancestors.

Origins of the cold food festival

The story takes place in the Jin Kingdom (770 – 475 BCE), one of the King's sons and the Crown Prince ,was called Chong Er . The King , was fond of having concubines. Concubines however are not always trouble free and the Kings choice of concubine did not always focus on her personality. One concubine of the King wanted her son to become Crown Prince and therefore plotted against Chong Er . This ‘evil’ woman falsely accused Chong Er of rebellion against the King.  Chong Er had no choice but to flee .

Jie Zitui, Chong'er's loyal retainer, smuggled him out of the state of Jin in the middle of the night together with a small group of royal officials.

    Chong'er had always shown concern for his people's welfare, and Jie being a very principled man  tried his best to take care of Chong'er during his exile. They hid themselves in the mountains. Mountain life was hard and they endured life of shivering and hunger. Jie , not wishing to see Chong Er starve , made the seemingly obvious choice to cut some flesh from his thigh and cook it for Chong Er. Jie had high hopes for Chong Er, that after this exile he would become a benevolent leader and thought it worth the sacrifice. When the young master found out what had happened ( premably saw Jie hobbling in great pain and blood oozing from his thigh) he was moved to tears and knelt down in gratitude ( or maybe he was sad at becoming a cannibal?~). Jie said his best repayment should be that Chong Er would be a just king .

They lived out this life of hunger and cold for three years until the ‘evil’ concubine died. Many soldiers were then sent to look for Chong Er  and to escort him back home. Eventually they were located and as they were stepping into the carriage to take them home, Chong Er saw an official pack an old mat onto one of the  horses.  'What on earth is the use of that? Throw it away!' Chong Er laughed at the man.

Jie Zitui heard this foolish comment and sighed, 'It is hardship that can be shared with his majesty but not prosperity.' Throwing away something because it was old did not sit well with Jie and reflected poorly on the character of Chong Er. So he limped away to live a quiet life of seclusion in the mountains , accompanied by his old mother.

    More than a decade later, Chong Er finally became Duke Wen of Jin. He then rewarded all those who had given him assistance during his exile. However, he forgot all about Jie. It took someone else to remind him of his duty to Jie .Chong Er  immediately sent for Jie so that he could get his reward. However this invitation was refused and the duke became somewhat riled at such a rebuke. Soldiers were despatched to set fire to  the mountain to force Jie to come out of hiding. Jie was a canny guy and it was thought he would surely escape the blaze with his old mother.

 The fire burned for three days and three nights but Jie still did not appear. After the fire died down they found Jie with his mother, scorched , lying on his back under a willow tree. Both had been burned to death. Jie would not yield to Chong Er’s power. Chong Er was so overwhelmed with regret that he ordered people hold a memorial ceremony for Jie.

So every year on that day the people mourned for him and the day before ate only cold meals, which avoided making fire. Later the custom of inserting willow branches on gates was also added. Chong Er decreed that this day be the Day of Cold Food a day to honor Jie Zitui's loyalty.

In this way the festival of Qing Ming underpins Chinese family values
Chinese society has been organized , for many thousands of years ,  on lines of respect for elders and the recognition of rights and responsibilities of the individual. Observing respect to ones ancestors is in fact an integral part of this Chinese belief system .It is a natural extension to respect living people who are older than oneself. It is the obligation of descendants to show respect to their elders (in this case the deceased ones), but equally, it is the responsibility of the living to teach the younger such values. So, although the festival has a focus on the dead, it is very much about the living, and of the family.

   Sweeping the graves of one's ancestors is something descendents do as a sign of respect. A proper sweeping consists of three steps:     Cleaning the grave -  just what it sounds like - removing weeds, making necessary repairs, and repainting the gravestone engravings.

Quite often "Bank of Hell" money will  be burned at the same time. This money distracts the evil spirits who will, given half a chance, intercept the goods and have them for themselves. While the evil spirits are chasing the Hell money, the valuable goods pass safely to the dead.
This is a family event, and there is an expectation that the whole family will make the trip to the gravesite. It is common for families not to have a gravesite – in this case there may be a "Hall of Remembrance" somewhat similar to those found in crematoria. A plaque is placed on the wall, usually with a picture of the person on it

After visiting the graves the whole family take a walk in the countryside. In earlier times graves were outside the city gates and it is thought that the custom of walking in the countryside as a whole family has it roots in those times.

People love to fly kites during the Qingming Festival. Kite flying is actually not limited to the Qingming Festival. Qing ming kite flying is peculiar in that people fly kites not during the day, but also at night. A string of little lanterns tied onto the kite or the thread look like shining stars, and therefore, are called "god's lanterns."
The origin of kite flying on Qing Ming is thought also to come from the  period 770 – 476 BCE. Story has it that Gongshu Ban created a wooden bird that he flew like a kite over the capital city of the State of Song in order to spy on the city. The kite was used to lift a person off the ground! By the Western Han period ( 206 –24 BC) paper had replaced wood
By the Five Dynasties (907 – 960 AD) a new addition had been made to the kite, a bamboo tube was placed on the kite by Li Ye. When the wind blew through the tube, it created a sound, similar to that of the Chinese musical instrument, the zheng. From that time the Chinese have called kites "feng zheng" - wind instrument.
Qing Ming is kite-flying season, and in many places the festival is used to hold kite competitions, with individuals and groups vying to create the most stunning and imaginative kite.

  Garlands
Although not practiced today, willow blossoms were plaited into wreaths, and worn by young women on their heads, whilst on the family countryside walk. The belief was that this would ensure the woman kept her youthful looks. There was a saying "A woman who does not wear a willow garland on Qing Ming will soon grow grey."

        In ancient times, the Cold Food and Qing Ming Festivals were both observed. The Cold Food Festival preceded the Qing Ming Festival by one or two days. In time, the Cold Food and Qing Ming Festivals merged into one.