Tibetan Medicinal Bathing Hotel 2006 When I was planning my first trip to China I asked the Fairy Godmother to find me cheap accommodation in Beijing. She chose the Tibetan Medicinal Bathing Hotel on the edge of the Asian Games Village. She told me not to worry too much about the name. I had a great visit (you might say life-changing) and returned another three times before I learned anything about Tibetan bathing. The bathing is closely linked to Tibetan traditional medicine. Traditional medicine is hugely popular in China and is practised in parallel with western medicine.- often dispensed by the same practitioners. In fact most of the casual visitors to the hotel arrive by the busload to get a conducted tour including the Tibetan Medicine displays in the foyer, the bathing centre on the 8th floor (where I stayed in 2006) and culminating in the Centre for Traditional Medicine on the 10th floor - which always pulls the biggest crowds. Tibetan medicinal bathing is an external clinical treatment in Tibetan medicine. The treatment is carried out according to the principles of Tibetan medicine. All clinical departments of Tibetan medicine often use it to both prevent diseases and assist in recuperation. Its rich medical history, special clinical benefits and prospects for wider application have drawn attention from medical circles at home and abroad. Thus, Tibetan medicinal bathing is a moderate external treatment of Tibetan medicine. Clinically, it is used not only in surgical departments, but also used as an important medical treatment for internal diseases. Generally speaking, Tibetan medicinal bathing refers to bathing in medicinal water, which is mainly a decoction of five sweet-dew ingredients. The Decoction of five sweet dews consists of the following five ingredients: Caoshan sweet dew azalea-leaf, Yanshan sweet dew shugpa tserjan (leaves of a cork tree), Yinshan sweet dew Tibetan ephedra, water sweet dew onbu (a decoction of braches of a cork tree), and earth-dew wild wormwood. The decoction of five sweet dews is supplemented by some other medicines that prevent vomiting, diarrhea or poisoning - such as rock essence, jongshi (cold water stone) and decoction of three yellow ingredients, jema (puncture vine), musk deer's droppings, and bul-tok (alkali crystals). The medicines used for bathing are ground, mixed with water and boiled. The boiled, ground medicines are mixed with boiled grains - the weight of which is about one third of that of the medicines. Then yeast powder is added to the mixture. When the mixture is leavened, it is boiled again. Finally the medicated water is ready for medicinal bathing. Other medicines will be added according to requirements. This is Tibetan medicinal bathing in its narrow sense. Tibetan medicinal bathing in its broad sense includes bathing in medicinal steam, bathing in mineral water and tie-in bathing. Medicinal bathing does not need special and expensive instruments. The medicines it requires are mostly widely available. So bathing is simple, easy to adopt and to popularize. Besides, the bathing medicine has direct effects on the focus of a disease through the skin and openings of a patient's body. Owing to the low concentration of medicine in the water bathing will cause less bad effects on the liver and kidneys by avoiding absorption of the medicine directly into the body's circulation. The Tibetan Medicinal Bathing Hotel in 2006 is no longer a single commercial entity but each floor is a separate business with shops and restaurants as well as budget- priced accommodation. I think it could be a wildly popular backpacker hotel. After I married Meixin on the 10th August 2006 I asked the 8th floor management for a bigger be. They dragged in another single bed and pushed them together - no extra charge.