So my big day of fame in rural China has come and gone. My speech went well, I was surprised at the big round of applause after I began the speech with “Zun Jing de Lai Bin Men, Nin Men Hao”. This means Welcome, Honoured Guests. I decided to scrap the joke about the moth, it didn’t seem quite right.

For those of you who are interested, a transcript of my speech is posted here: http://www.tcmtreatment.com/images/diseases/Pauline-Speech.htm
Before and after the ceremony a humongous amount of fireworks were let off. The sound was deafening and it formed it’s own smoke cloud. Good thing the ambulance was neaby in case anyone had some bronchial problems! Hopefully they are offering a deal on tinnitus treatments this week!

The debris; note all the red in the background, both left and far right; that is literally THOUSANDS of the small red loud ones:

Afterwards the patients of the hosptial and the visiting dignitaries were invited to a fancy lunch at a nearby banquet hall. They pulled out all the stops, the meal included turtle soup, spicy toads, pig’s stomach with garlic scapes, black-skinned chicken and other assorted dishes. This is just the beginning of the serving, there were MANY more dishes.

I made the mistake of asking the translators if that was a type of mushroom in with the garlic scapes, they burst into fits of laughter so I knew I would probably not like the answer. It was, indeed, the pig stomach. I finished my bowl, it wasn’t actually that bad (It’s in the foreground of the photo).
Simon was first to try the toad. I liked it, and had a few pieces, it was cooked in a very spicy fashion.