Leaving HK

I was completely sleepless that night, a lot of Chi around, after Master Chu demonstration, also meditation didn’t work.  I stood up before dawn to write the last e-mail, which is not the last one any more, now. A little, but very significant event remains to be told, our meeting with a Chinese doctor.

Our flight was due late that night, Dario and me had a whole day to spend as perfect tourists; just that morning we met one of the biggest differences from our western culture, “Medicine”: the last day of our training, Dario had hit his arm against a wardrobe – Helmut, 212 cm, had fallen above him… -
His arm hurt and we went to a multifloor bookshop, near our hotel, in whose windows we saw some bandages; sport and health department is at the 2° floor, to run it, mum, dad and a little girl (it wouldn’t be possible to find a family running a store department at us!).

Our taxi stops before a very bad looking building, the doctor is on time, we go up with him, every door, his too, is locked by an iron rail, like a prison. We enter an unbelievable single room, full of any thing, at us no patient should stay a minute in such a place… but it’s really oriental, the perfume of Tiger Balm, miracle drug, witnesses for it.

The doctor, who is silent and smiling, touches Dario’s arm and says immediately that it is not broken (Dario will check it when he is back in Italy, and that will prove true). “Our” doctor starts some operations on the injured arm, a compress is rhythmically pushed on some places, than a poultice is applied and the arm is patched with extreme cure, always smiling calmly, while us, transformed in perfect Japanese photographers, were taking pictures one after another-; going away, Dario is told that it will take some time for his arm to heal, on his coming back to Italy <another check is needed> - alas, probably he does not know that in Italy a patient couldn’t find the same cure and attention…- Dario will keep the bandage for other 36 hours, with very little pain.

I quickly finish, but our way back wasn’t quick at all, our cheep flight was a “local” one, from Hong Kong we landed first in Bangkok and then in Dubai, where we leaved the plane for a couple of hours, then we boarded due to Italy, but…little stop in Rome before the arrive in Milan! Almost a 24 hours journey, but we heard that many flights preceding ours, were diverted to Genova, because of the fog: “only if something is to be done, all the doors open…”

Carlo