Above photo by Timo Newton-Syms

Today my seven-year-old daughter, Elisa, is a guest blogger.   On our recent trip to New Zealand this spring, her favorite activity was visiting the country’s caves and observing the glow worms.  Here’s what she has to say about them.

Have you ever seen glow worms?  I have!  I went to see glow worms in New Zealand with my family.  Some of the glow worms were brighter than others.  That means they were hungry.  A glow worm’s nest is like strings hanging down.  Glow worms live in caves.  They like it when it is wet.  They glow to attract bugs.  They trap the bugs in their nests sort of like what a spider does.

For more information on glow worms, click here.

Singapore, together with Penang and Melaka in Malaysia, formed a triumvirate of British colonial presence in Southeast Aia.  All were, at one point, trade centers for this vast empire, and much of their colorful past remains to be viewed by those interested in the history.   After a trip to Melaka earlier this year, we set off for Penang last weekend to complete the circuit.

While there is much to see in Penang, my favorite sight was the Cheong Fatt Tze House, sometimes called “The Blue Mansion,” because of its brilliant color.  Cheong Fatt Tze (1840 – 1916) built his awe-inspiring home in the 1880’s in traditional –albeit luxurious – Chinese courtyard style.

Arriving from China penniless, Cheong began his career at 16, delivering water to homes.  He later became so wealthy and influential that many referred to him as the “Rockefeller of the East.”  An entrepreneur, he also served as a Consul General for the Qing Dynasty, a Special Trade Commissioner for Southeast Asia, and Director of China’s first bank and inaugural railway.  Called “the last Mandarin,” for the title he was granted by the Empress Dowager, he was so well regarded that upon his death, colonial Dutch and British government offices flew their flags at half-mast.

The house, painted a deep blue, boasts 38 rooms, 5 courtyards, seven staircases, and 220 windows.  I especially loved the Victorian ironworks, imported from Glasgow, the art nouveau stained-glass windows, and the mosaics made with shards of old Chinese ceramics.  Cheong Fatt Tze’s home deservedly won a UNESCO award in 2000.  It’s not a surprise that producers “Indochine,” were also impressed, and chose the mansion as the setting for this fine film.

In 1989, the house was scheduled to be demolished.  A small group of businessmen stepped in to save this cultural treasure, and today, it is a sixteen-room heritage hotel.  Tours are offered twice daily by an engaging guide who shares the mansion’s colorful history and explains why it is an example of perfect feng shui.

Photos:  An iron staircase, imported from Glasgow, exterior of the house, Cheong Fatt Tze, doors to the front porch, rickshaws left over from filming of “Indochine,” and modern sofa outside two of the guest rooms.

For more travel photos, visit Delicious Baby.

In Beijing, it was popular –among westerners and locals alike – to be treated for a variety of ailments with cupping.  One of my neighbors, Hilde, was a practitioner of this ancient Chinese medicinal art when she lived in her native country of Norway.  While in Beijing, she became the recipient of cupping treatment when a massage therapist was unable to get deep enough into the muscle tissue to release the tension she was experiencing in her back.  The photo above is taken shortly after the treatment.

Cupping has many purposes, but the people I know who have undergone this painful remedy have done so with hopes of reducing back and neck muscle pain, relieving migraines and managing anxiety.  Another reason one may choose to undergo cupping treatment is to release the body from environmental toxins encountered in everyday life.

You may be wondering what, exactly, cupping entails? Hilde graciously explained it to me something like this: It is the practice of using suction to bring blood to the area of discomfort for healing and at the same time draw impurities and toxins to the surface of your skin so that they may be released from your body.  You may do this in two ways, either using a cup and heat (fire cupping) or a cup and small hand pumps.   In her practice, Hilde used the latter, which are pictured to the left.

For fire cupping, the practitioner briefly lights an alcohol-soaked cotton ball on fire under a small thick cup.  He then extinguishes the flame when the oxygen is depleted and quickly places the cup on or near the area of discomfort.  The result is suction under the cup that draws blood to the area so that localized healing may occur.  The method using hand pumps works in a similar fashion.  The pump draws out the oxygen and suctions the skin.

The dark spots that remain after the treatment are not bruises but rather the impurities in your body being discharged.  As Hilda explained to me, “If your body has perfect circulation and is free of toxins or other contaminants, the spots are quite different in appearance.  There is a red mark from the suction, but it quickly goes away after treatment. A therapist can easily see the difference.”

Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners will place the cups on the meridians that run through the back.  Many Chinese believe that cupping is able to restore blockages in “Chi” and restore the natural energy flow in your body.

For more travel photos, visit www.deliciousbaby.com