The bus ride will last about an hour, first taking the A12 expressway and crossing over to Pudong, and then taking the newly built freeway (Changjiang Tunnel-Bridge Expressway) to cross the Yangtze river. Buses are operated by the Chongming Dazhong bus company and the fare is a reasonable 12 yuan. The bus station on the island, located near the Chenjia township,  will have buses going in all directions, and also taxis if you don’t have much time. Beware though, the last bus going back to Shanghai leaves at 7 pm, so don’t be late!

That’s the How, and here is the Why…

Really, why would anyone want to go to Chongming island?  The journey has long been on my mind with lots of tantalizing information to consider… First, this is the third biggest island in China, behind only Taiwan and Hainan islands. The island was formed by sediments of the Yangtze river several hundred years ago and is host to huge flocks of migratory birds every season. It is also part of Shanghai municipality, yet previously only accessible by ferry, taking a very long time. But the biggest draw for me was to escape the crowded city and finally find wilderness that I crave so much.

I started doing the initial research on how to get to the island in early November, right after the bridge-tunnel opened on October 31, 2009. The perceived convenience of taking a bus was the last straw that finally motivated me to get off my butt and go for it. Boy, was I wrong – eventually having to spend much more time to figure out the Easy route, rather than just taking a ferry!

The main difficulty was the lack of English-language information on the transportation to the island. There is some pretty good info on how to get there by taking a ferry, but only confusing and contradictory information on how to get to the island by bus. One source suggested going to the bus station near the Shanghai Stadium and taking a direct bus from there.  Upon arrival to that bus station and talking to several bus drivers having lunch in their break rooms (great way to practice Mandarin :-)), it quickly became apparent that there are no regular buses departing from there. There is a tourist line operating on weekends only, round trip prices of 50 to 90 kuai, depending on the destination on the island. Unfortunately, that’s not what I was looking for, since the plan was to go to the island during the work-week (study-week), ha!

One bus driver supplied directions on how to get to Chongming Island using Shen Chong Line 2, starting in Pudong from the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum. She wrote it in characters that I didn’t figure out until getting back from the island! Having spent a few more hours doing research online, I somehow became convinced that the bus line to the island starts from the Shanghai Circus World subway station, which should have been the location of the North Long Distance Bus station. Unfortunately, Shanghai has too many long distance bus stations and no good info on where exactly they are located. Either way, I decided go get to the island no matter what, even if that meant taking an expensive taxi ride. Sometimes you just have to go for it, overcome the difficulties, and find the real truth yourself, when no amount of online research will do the job…

So one sunny and warm late November day me and my girlfriend packed our lunches and took off. Dongping National Forest Park was the final destination on the island, in hope of finding a real forest in Shanghai.  After getting to the SH Circus World station and spending around half an hour walking like clowns to find a bus station, I decided to listen to my girlfriend’s advice and go to the Zhongshan road station instead, where her own research indicated direct bus line would be. Now wandering around that station began again… There are several bus stations in that immediate area that we stumbled on until we finally found the right one.

The line to Chongming was pretty easy to notice – it was a crowd of elderly people looking like village peasants, mixed with young college students like us. The line was around 100 people and we missed two buses (going every 20 minutes) until getting good seats on the third one. Somehow being in that line, on a noisy and dirty street, felt like being a sheep about to be herded somewhere. Me thinks Shanghai is still at least 20 years away from becoming a world-class city!

The ride itself was pretty comfortable, with the bus not honking too much and not exceeding the speed limit. Upon arrival to the island, we were surrounded by the taxi drivers wanting to take us to the forest park, at a cost of 90 kuai. We declined and took another two buses to get to the forest park, which took approx. another two hours… Next time will take a taxi! Spending more than half a day to get there, we only had 2 hours of daylight to walk in the park itself, and of course missing the last bus back to the city and having to take the ferry instead! But as they say, the journey is more important than the destination

Am I writing for the money? Am I writing to become famous? Am I writing to reach a higher state of consciousness?

Should I write for others? Or should I write for myself? To me that’s the equivalent of the question: to be a teacher of life vs. to be a student of life.

After long contemplations I realized that writing, first and foremost, is important to ME. There are moments when I enjoy writing, and it brings amazing clarity to my thoughts. If my articles ever provide value to anyone else, that’s great. If not, that’s fine too, because at least I had a good time writing them.

How often do you see bloggers who are trying to game the system by writing posts in a specific format that caters to popular tastes, or deploying multiple SEO tricks that bring more traffic to their site? I caught myself doing it just recently, when writing the “Fighting Internet Addiction” article. After starting to write that article, I became concerned about the title and decided to rename it “How to Fight Internet Addiction” in the future. The former article would describe my own journey on the path of overcoming internet addiction, the latter would give advice from the position of a teacher.  Of course, the “How to” article might become more popular, since people like receiving advice from a teacher, a Guru, and not from someone who is just beginning to struggle with a problem himself. The original article, however, would describe my early ideas, what worked and what didn’t, my progress and the whole journey on the path of liberation from the internet from the position of a student, not a teacher.  To be fake or to be authentic, that’s the question!

It’s a pity to see so many people imitating each other like monkeys, creating blogs with similar layouts, style of writing and monetization schemes… How can they not understand that just copying other people will not bring them fulfillment!

I don’t want to write for the money. I don’t want to write to become popular.  For me writing is not about trying to become someone else, but to discover my own inner essence. I am writing to improve my life, not the other way around.

I thought taking an airplane would help me escape the train station madness, but the airports were almost as packed. It was hard to get around anywhere and the waiting line to pass security check took over an hour to get through. In Beijing itself though, the streets were fairly empty in the preparations for the October 1^st parade to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China. Of course, ordinary people were not allowed to get anywhere near the real parade and we watched it on TV, just like the rest of the country…

The real craziness began after the parade was over and people were finally allowed to flock to the center of the city. I have never seen such huge crowds in my entire life! It was nearly impossible to navigate around the center of the city. All of the central subway stations were closed too, so that people would not get crushed by the masses. This insanity continued day after day after day for the entire duration of the holidays. It seemed like there was no escape from the cacaphonic flows of humanity in the city. Until I found one!

The best place to get some rest in Beijing is the Beijing Urban Planning Exhibition Hall. It is located right next to the Qianmen subway station (to the east), not too far from Tiananmen Square.

The peace and quietness inside this huge modern museum-like building is hard to describe in words, but let me try to point out some details:

– this place is a huge new office building with 4 floors, designed to accommodate probably a thousand people at a time, yet I never saw more than a couple dozen during my several visits there

– each floor contains exhibits relating to the past, present and future development of the city. There is a gigantic cardboard model of the city on the 3^rd floor and also an IMAX theater on the 4^th. You will not be bored!

– very few tourists (or locals) visit here, since it is not a historic place and therefore not on must-see list in Beijing. It seems like one of those show-off projects to please foreigners, and it does its job well!

– there is a cafe and lounge to drink tea/coffee & eat some ice-cream. Prices are reasonable.

– it is really cheap to get into (regular ticket only 30 yuan, and just 15 yuan for students)

– toilets are spacious and clean, the visit is worth the money even if you just go to the bathroom

– lots of comfortable chairs and couches to rest or take a nap. In fact, it’s not just the visitors but the staff too who are taking naps. Can’t blame them, with so few visitors there is not much to do. Talk about a comfy government job!

Definitely the best place to escape the crowds in Beijing. Just don’t tell anyone about it

TITLE: An American looking for language study partners

Hi,
my name is Andrei and I’m a new student here at SJTU (Xuhui campus).

To complement my language studies, I want to practice conversational Mandarin
Chinese. In exchange, I will teach you how to speak American English.

It’s a win-win deal.

If you’re interested, please call me 137-6443-0514 (or email a*****.g*******@gmail.com) to schedule a meeting on campus.

Thanks,
Andrei

Why are language study partners such a good idea? 

Well, firstly, it’s a great way to practice all of the textbook material that gets poured at us in the classroom. To tell you the truth, the classroom environment itself is really boring and predictable. Instead of having alive face-to-face conversations, we are confined to practicing pre-written monologues and dialogues. Of course, you can always hire a private tutor to help you along, but it is fairly expensive (RMB 100/hour) and too business-like. Language exchange involves direct exchange of value without money being involved, making it more informal.

More importantly though, language exchange is a great way to meet new people and get to know real Chinese people and culture. What I’ve noticed a lot in interactions with my classmates is that they tend to hang around people of their  origins. For example, Russian students here mostly socialize with Russians and other westerners. As a consequence, they do not become immersed in this country’s language and culture. This is not really what I want from my China adventure.

As a result of my language exchange search, I’ve already met several cool people who are likely to become good friends in the future. They pursue various degrees, have different interests and hobbies, and come from all corners of China. I’ve learned a lot about their life and their aspirations. This is the kind of invaluable learning that you can never get with a textbook or a classroom. Staying on course!

1^st day in China, or rather the 1^st night

– can’t fall asleep because of jet-lag, feeling shocked and overwhelmed. Really didn’t expect the culture shock to be so severe.

– I guess the difference last time was:

a) I was just traveling

b) going from Russia to China is not the same as going from USA to China!

– Noticing more dirt and pollution in comparison

– Smells and sounds are different, cars driving like crazy

– At night, the city looks more foreign and unfamiliar

Guess it would take a few days to get used to my apartment. It’s not a bad apartment, but still not up to USA standards. It is:

– a lot smaller, with a bedroom bigger than a living room, why?

– only has a shower with no bathtub

– old building with no elevator to 5^th floor

– sliding kitchen door that blocks the bathroom when you open it

– feels like a studio, not a 1–br, but the furniture is wooden and sturdy

– dirty common areas in the building that remind me of “pod’ezd” in Russia, but no graffiti

On the bright side, what’s important is that the apartment is fairly quiet and doesn’t have any toxic chemical smells. It also has a small washer so that I can do my own laundry.

Really surprised at the initial shock, but the CSA (http://chinastudyabroad.org/) staff has been tremendously helpful:

– Program Manager meeting me at the airport and driving to the apartment in his car

– PM speaks good English, his assistant passable English

– check-in to the apartment and showing how appliances work, taking me to the store to buy bed sheets and water

– apartment is right near the entrance to the university campus, which is great

– “welcome pack” with a dictionary, Shanghai map, travel guide, and a working cell phone!

To tell you the truth, I am feeling some anxiety and depression at the moment. Guess it would take a few days to get used to the new environment…

With just two days before the flight, I haven’t even finished moving stuff out of my apartment. Also, just began packing my suitcase… It seems like as soon as one big thing on my to-do list gets done, a few smaller one’s magically pop up from nowhere. Last minute shopping, packing, social occasions, arguments with parents, phone calls, etc. create a hurricane of activity that seems like it will never end.  Damn it, moving to another country takes some effort!

Oh well, at least all of the must-have items are completed and the rest will, hopefully, take care of itself.

Here’s my China Packing List,  where + means the item was completed, – means not yet completed, and crossed out means I decided not to bother with it at all:

Must-have items

+ Chinese visa

+ Cash $5000–$9000 $1000

+ 1–way air ticket to Shanghai

+ Summer clothing and shoes

+ Laptop

Nice-to-have items

– arrange Car shipping

– electronic translator

– favorite books, - DVDs

– winter clothing and shoes

– camera & mp3 player

– new binder, pens & daily organizer

+ Amazon Kindle

+ 4 passport photos

+ photo copies of important documents and credit cards

+ printed relatives and friend’s phone numbers

And here’s my St. Louis Departure To-Do List:

+ apartment lease termination notice (30 days in advance)

+ cancel Auto insurance

+ cancel Health insurance

+ cancel Electric service

+ cancel Sirius radio

+ change of address to my sister’s apartment

+ quit my Job!

+ start the Master Cleanse

– heal my arm (cast?)

+ trip to Alaska with parents

– trip to NYC to hang out with friends

– trip to LA to ship my car

The goals of this experiment include:

– to accelerate my learning of Chinese language and culture

– to experience a different view of reality

– to reduce information consumption and overload

– to overcome the need of an authority to confirm my beliefs

– as with any other experiment, to have fun

Let me discuss my thinking on the concept of subjective reality in more detail.

All areas of human knowledge can be roughly divided into two parts, subjective or objective truths. Discovering objective truths is the realm of science, where people try to discover how the universe actually works. For example, scientists discovered that earth rotates around the sun, and not the other way around, by combining results of multiple observations into a logical system that makes sense. 

Subjective truths occupy the small world around each of us, comprising the areas of our health, our relationships, and our business activities. These truths are subjective since no one can fully explain them using the current scientific framework because of their complexity and lack of scientific knowledge. For example, no doctor can tell you why you are having a headache because there are literally millions of reasons why you might be experiencing one. It could be because of the food, air pollution, noise, solar flares, drugs, etc. or a combination of any number of factors….  

Because of the complexity of subjective experiences, it doesn’t make sense to try to figure out exactly what is going on and put it into a coherent logical framework. It could take you a lifetime and might not be worth it. The best way to find subjective truths is not by trying to discover what the world actually is and how it works, but instead by directly experiencing it. Direct first-hand experience gives you subjective knowledge that is invaluable in solving your own subjective problems. For me, solving a subjective problem of chronic headaches that I struggled with for years only required a change to my diet. For someone else, the solution might be totally different because of the subjective nature of the problem.

Starting the SR experiment, I have to accept that much of what I know about subjective truths in my life could be false, since it was not acquired through direct experience. Instead, it was acquired through TV, internet, books and the advice of others. Why do I read books anyways? There is no point in reading books to discover subjective truths. It is self-evident what needs to be done. Action. Direct experience and action. I don’t need to read books to improve my health. It’s obvious that to improve it I need to eat healthier and exercise. No more objective knowledge is needed, only action! 

Some other details and expectations about the experiment:

– letting go of TV should be the easiest, since I didn’t subscribe to cable in the last year of living in St. Louis and only used it to watch DVDs

– I expect it to be difficult for me to let go of reading books, since I’ve been doing a lot of that since purchasing Amazon’s Kindle this summer!

– I plan to check email once a week, just like with regular mail

– I will still let myself use the internet in certain situations where it is the best tool to use (like buying air tickets on expedia.com), but never to browse any kind of news or forum websites. Total internet usage should not exceed 10 hours per month, which hopefully would completely eliminate my internet addiction.

It’s been over a month since I wrote the first article about internet addiction and implemented several steps to fight it. Now is a good time for an update of how things are going.

Of course the irony of blogging about fighting internet addiction does not escape me . However, the blogging process itself is not information consumption, but rather information production. And that makes all the difference, since consumption is at least 10 times easier than production and therefore results in 10 times more wasted time.

First of all, it’s been a lot easier for me to take most preventative steps, like the sticky note routine, than I expected. That said, some things still took me by surprise! I’m really used to using sticky notes right now. I don’t stick them on top of my laptop as originally intended, but they always lay right next to it, making it impossible to forget about the procedure.

I thought removing Google Toolbar would make me go crazy, since I used it so much before. In reality, I didn’t miss its absense at all. I do miss not having access to Favorites and Bookmarks though. It’s weird to realize that I now remember only about half of all the websites I used to visit from day to day. There’s still a nagging feeling that I’m missing out on some important info by not visiting those sites, but I just don’t remember what they are! From this it’s safe to conclude that they weren’t that important to begin with. This clinging to existing thought patterns, expressed as a desire to visit a web site, is a sure sign of an addiction.

Don’t miss the iGoogle homepage at all. Still checking email more than once a day though, since my Gmail account acts as an archive of all kinds of info for me. Maybe it’s better to keep that info in an archive on my hard drive instead, so that I’m not distracted by email whenever I need to research something from my past?

Really getting used to the premium version of Gmail without the ads. It does feel simpler and a lot less cluttered than the free version. Highly recommend it. Also, I’m always processing my Inbox to empty (by either archiving or deleting all incoming emails), that really makes it feel squaky clean!

In addition, I’ve set up more restrictive filtering rules for my new inbox, only allowing personal emails to come in. That way, I can check my new inbox more frequently than my old one, but not miss any important emails. To think about it, can any email be that important? If it’s something really urgent, people can always just call me on my cell…

As often in life, sometimes it’s the little changes that generate the most impact. For me, it was hiding the browser status bar. Wow this was a big one! It turns out not seeing the URL of the link makes me very uneasy, it’s like I associate the domain name to something like a brand in my mind… I realized just how often in the past I hovered over a link and analyzed where it was pointing to, somehow always processing parts of that information in my head. Right now, without having that information, I question whether I should click on it at all. I really craved having the status bar back the first few weeks, more than I craved anything else that I’ve eliminated. It seems like the status bar was, in some peculiar way, in the center of my internet addiction! How bizzare!

WorkTime Discovery

A few days ago I was searching for an app that would let me track the time spent online. I stumbled upon a cool little app that’s called WorkTime that lets you track not just online, but any application usage time.  Ironically, it seems like WorkTime was developed for companies to spy on their employees (it has smartly configurable Offline and Hidden modes), specifically what people are spending their time on the whole day. Well, I use it to spy on myself! WorkTime reports my computer usage by day, week, month, and application. For example, it tells me that I spent over 40 hours in front of the computer just this week alone, including over 25 hours online! It also tells me exactly how much time I spend browsing particular websites. This is an awesome app to keep my internet addiction in check and to observe progress. At only $30 for the home edition, it’s worth every penny.

Two other little changes that I made was to create my own browser search provider and disabling URL autocomplete. Most browsers have a search box toolbar that’s associated to a default search provider, usually Google. You can override that fuctionality to search any website (eg. your blog) by creating a custom search provider. I’ve set it up to search i2china.cn, creating a closed system information-wise, so that I don’t accidentally fall back into my old surfing patterns. Disabling browser autocomplete for web addresses forced me to memorize the important urls and not be distracted by suggestions from previous browsing history.

As a result of all of those changes, I’ve been spending less time in front of the computer per day. Definitely enjoying more reading and walking outside. Experiencing higher alertness and awareness even in the evenings, which was unusual before.

I realized that I should never start my day by consuming information (both online and offline sources like books). Just one day of delaying my daily walk until the evening and starting reading/surfing the web in the morning threw my whole day off and made me really restless and depressed. I realized how much I missed my morning walk, how much meditation/relaxation it gives me each and every morning, and how much energy and clarity I have throughout the day after it. It’s worth getting up one hour earlier than necessary to have this enormous boost in my day.

Let’s start by going back to the fall of 2003, to my college years at Moscow State University in Russia. I was still a junior, studying for my Computer Science degree when my good friend Dmitry told me about a cool new language called C# that was rapidly gaining popularity. He was already working as a programmer at the university library at that time and invited me to do some part-time work for them, developing a new electronic reader registration system using C#. Result: I got a job without having a resume and the required skill-set. All that mattered was that I had an existing relationship (friendship).

When I started looking for my second job in September of 2004, I was already armed with a good-looking resume, listing my previous job experience and my supposed expertise in the new programming language.  The job market in Moscow was hot at that time, and it was easy to line up the interviews. However, I was failing the tough technical interviews one by one, since my resume looked far better than my real skills and knowledge at that time. In some way, it was my resume that was failing me, telling me that I wasn’t standing up to the perfect image it projected.  Finally, I got a job after my 6^th interview. Even though I did pretty bad on that interview in the technical sense, I got hired because the interviewer himself was a graduate of the same faculty of the same university I was studying in! He even asked me how things were going at the faculty. Result: I got a job not by having a good skill-set, but by being in some way related to my boss.

In the summer of 2005, after graduating with a Bachelors in Science, I moved back from Russia to the good old USA and started looking for a job again. This time I had an even better resume and more experience, but I didn’t know anyone in the IT industry in St. Louis. The technical interview for my coveted position at Reuters was really tough, and I thought I probably failed it. To my surprise, I was still hired, even though none of my professional references in Russia were contacted and I wasn’t asked a single question about my two previous jobs. It’s like my previous experience didn’t matter at all. Result: I got a job without having any relationships and could’ve written anything I wanted in my resume!

By the fall of 2006 our team at Reuters was slowly disintegrating since the company management in New York decided to transition the website operation from C# to Java. It was time to search for a job again… Except I didn’t have to! A couple of months earlier, one of my colleagues, sensing a change in the wind, moved to a different company across town called Maritz. He e-mailed me, saying their department was starting a new project and they needed someone with my skill-set. I quickly went through all the necessary bureaucracy (agents, HR department, and a formal interview) and was hired within a week. Result: I got a job just by having a good working relationship with a colleague.

Consistent with my flip-flopping behavior, I quit my job after about a year and moved to California to start my own online business. After the spectacular failure of that venture, it made sense to move back to St. Louis and to start the job-hunt one more time. Only this time, having learned from my previous experiences, I e-mailed everyone I knew in St. Louis about my return from California and about my availability. And guess what, in just a couple days I was offered 2 jobs, without having my resume or my technical skills tested at all! The job that I ultimately chose involved a project manager who was one of my bosses two years before at Reuters. Result: I got a job by having a good working relationship with a manager.

As you can see, in all of the cases my resume was absolutely useless in getting me hired. After lots of thinking and talking to people who were actually responsible for making hiring decisions at some point in their lives, I came to a conclusion that a resume is really just a worthless piece of paper. Nobody, except the person writing it, will ever look at it longer than 10 seconds. Not only is it useless, but it can actually harm you by projecting a false, non-authentic image of yourself. The absolute worst way to look for a job is to start sending out a lot of resumes to people who’ve never seen you.

My technical skills, however, did matter a lot more than my resume, helping me pass some interviews and get my foot in the door. Nonetheless, it is the personal relationships that really turned out to be the key to open great career advancement opportunities. Without utilizing relationships, you will rarely get noticed, most of the time your resume thrown into the trash. Even if you do pass the initial screening, you will be faced with more competition, making your quest for the better job very difficult.

Moral of the story: the best way to get a job is not by finding it, but rather by establishing good relationships that will get you a job. A good lesson to be learned for sure, one that I will definitely remember in any future endeavors.

These are the claims about the Lemonade Diet made in the original “Master Cleanser” book by Stanley Burroughs:

– dissolves and eliminates toxins and congestion that have formed in any part of the body

– cleanses the kidneys and the digestive system

– purifies the glands and cells throughout the entire body

– eliminates all unusable waste and hardened material in the joints and muscles

– relieves pressure and irritation in the nerves, arteries, and blood vessels

– builds a healthy blood stream

We’ll see.

It’s the first time in my life I’ll be doing a cleanse like this, so really have no clue of what to expect. Bought organic lemons and maple syrup from Whole Foods yesterday and ready to start.

Day 1

Feeling a little tired today from all of the 4^th of July celebrations, which food-wise included eating lots of pizza and drinking lots of beer. Talk about healthy nutrition! The perfect time to start cleansing and getting rid of toxins from my body.

Only got hungry and prepared the lemonade at noon. It turned out to be really concentrated with lemon juice and not sweet enough, will try to add more maple syrup later on. Feeling a little twitching in my left eye after drinking three glasses straight. I guess my body is adjusting to a new life! Also, my level of alertness increased a lot about half an hour after drinking it.

Started to feel really hungry in the evening. The foods that I never really considered as enjoyable, like sunflower seeds, now look and smell really amazing…

Day 2

Woke up with some pain in my stomach. Must have been that herbal laxative tea I drank before going to sleep. Started the morning with my first-ever salt water flush. Drank 3 glasses of water mixed with salt and about an hour later started “eliminating” it. Felt like I was peeing with my a**. The weirdest feeling ever!

Decided to go for my morning walk an hour later and felt really weak and dehydrated. Also feeling mildly depressed. I guess I need to have some lemonade for breakfast too, after the salt-water flush. 

Day 3

Started adding Cayenne pepper to the lemon juice and syrup mixture yesterday, as the original recipe stated. The taste of the lemonade with pepper in it changed a lot, but I actually like it more since the drink feels more filling in the stomach. Started adding more pepper per portion today after getting used to it.

Had “breakfast” of 3 glasses today after the morning flush. Felt pretty good during the morning, but became really weak after taking a short 30 minute walk to the newly open CityGarden. Drank another 3 glasses and feeling fine now.

Still experiencing feelings of hunger. My sensations of smell are a lot more vivid than before and I also started to notice how much leftover food is left on the plates after people are finished eating at outdoor tables of restaurants and cafes.

Day 4

Feeling a lot more energetic and not hungry at all today. I guess the detox period lasted 3 days for me and is now over…

I noticed that I am not as willing to read books as before the cleanse. Internet usage is still huge though.

Days 5–7

Feeling pretty stable the last few days. My energy and alertness levels have been maintained at good levels. Still feeling some hunger in the evenings before going to sleep.

One noticeable thing is the weight loss. Since I’m really thin, I didn’t expect to lose any weight during the Master Cleanse. However, my shorts started falling off of me in the last few days, forcing me to wear a belt all the time! Definitely lost a few pounds.

Days 8–10

Not much to report here. Cruising through the last few days like on an auto-pilot. Experiencing excellent alertness and energy levels. 

Kinda getting used to the cleanse, it is hard to imagine I will be eating solid food again in just a few days. It seems like I could go on like that for a lot longer…

The salt-water flush, however, will not be missed!

Breaking the cleanse (4 days)

Day 1. Drinking orange juice (with pulp) the whole day, as recommended. Feeling crappy, weak and cold. The stomach is growling. Even though each glass of OJ has twice the calories as lemonade, still feeling somewhat hungry.

Day 2. Cooked a delicious vegetable soup first thing in the morning. Ate five bowls of it during the day at regular 2–hour intervals. Feeling much better today as the food digestion has begun.

Days 3–4. Went to the parents house for the weekend and started eating lots of salads made of home-grown vegetables. Yummy! Also started eating soups with meat and other foods like sweets. Got very full of overeating all of it, especially the fatty stuff. My digestion is back to normal though. Just need to slow down and get back to a 3–times-a-day eating schedule. Also noticed that my book-reading power came back to me the last couple of days. The Master Cleanse is complete.

Conclusion

To tell you the truth, I didn’t experience any of the medical benefits promised by the Master Cleanse. My long-time hand and recent foot injury did not become any better during and after the cleanse, but they didn’t get any worse either. The main benefits experienced were entirely psychological and spiritual. I definitely felt more connected to nature and the external universe. It’s easy to understand why fasting became a part of many religions. Being a little hungry a few times a year can’t hurt!

I’ve really come to appreciate the role of food in my life, and what an abundance of food choices I have (when not on the cleanse!). The cleanse brought me focus on how much I DO have in my life, versus focusing on the things that I haven’t achieved. It made me reassess my attitudes and feel greatful for my existence, despite all of the problems.

Definitely a valuable experience that I’ll be willing to repeat every year.