My Escapes Singapore Return to "Lion City" Wicked Traditional Medicine Shop

Wicked Traditional Medicine Shop

We all heard about strange Chinese wonder medicines...
This time I was lucky enough to see with my own eyes what they sell at weird medicine shop in Singapore: animal horns, weird plants, even a birds' nest!

I tried communicating with the sellers, but they were (unusually to Singapore) quite rude, arrogant...

They allowed me to photograph, but they had some second thoughts afterwards... anyway, here are some of the most wicked products...

I found the bird's nests especially interesting.

But I'm unsure whether these are used an abandoned nests or, whether birds actually suffer when their homes are being collected.

Bird's nests on average sell for over 2,500 USD per kg in Asia and they're mainly used as ingredient for soups.

They're said to have various beneficial health-related effects... first of all, they're aphrodisiacs!

They improve the voice, treat asthma, contribute to sharp thinking (like improving the memory), they also strengthen the immune system and stimulate good digestion.

I don't know whether the effects are scientifically-proven or just beliefs, rumours.
I never tried.

Most bird's nests are swiftlet-made and I hear they're over 30 days old.

The male birds use their saliva to construct the nest, which is generally built on a cave wall.

The nests contain potassium, magnesium, iron and calcium in high amounts, therefore the nutritional benefits...

A bowl of soup costs 30-100 USD, but a kg of nest is between 2,000-10,000 USD!

Besides the birds' nests, there's another wicked thing: the cordyceps fungus, which lives on insects or anthropods.

Imagine: it's a parasite living on creatures like scorpions, ants, spiders... Seems horrific and disgusting.

Eeek!

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