Cupping

We had a nice day off today for once. We've been really busy lately and days off have pretty much been a wrote off.. We went and did some shopping and then went for a massage. The massage was great. one and a half hours for me and 2 hours for T. After her massage, the lady suggested that she get this treatment. It's called cupping in case you don't know.

I didn't have my camera so I couldn't get pics of the process but the lady came in with a box of glass containers. She then dipped a wad of cotton on the end of a stick into some flammable liquid and lit it. She placed the fire inside the glass containers which expels most of the air and put the containers (20) on T's back. (You can't see 20 because modesty prevailed but a few of the lower ones were deep, deep purple. The vacuum inside the glass pulls the skin into the glass container and after a while the blood comes to the surface and makes these huge welts. Chinese people swear by it.. I quite often see people with cupping marks on their back or legs. Looks a bit too painful to me.