Zambuk-ing into the new year!

On the 2nd day of Chinese New year, via a freak `accident' at home, I slipped and fell, hitting down hard on my kneecap. The pain was surprisingly excruciating and my family had even thought that I had cracked my kneecap. Perhaps it was due to the whole weight of mine, which accumulated to one point, and pressed down at that very second on my poor left knee cap. In fact I fell kneeling down on one knee in that infamous position for proposals! It was a painful experience, yet on hindsight, appeared pretty hilarious as well.

My older bro immediately jumped up and whipped out his wonder ointment, Zambuk, and advised me to slowly apply and rub into the affected part.

I went like `duh? Zambuk ? are you sure?"

What exactly is Zambuk ? as far as I can remember, it had always been around ever since I was little. My grandparents used it like a `cure-it-all". Zambuk is in fact a dark green ointment, with a distinct aromatic herbal smell. It comes packaged in a dark green tin, and has that `classic' look. The fact that this little gem is still around after so many years (I had forgotten all about it until this moment!) piqued my curiousity.

Upon googling, I discovered that the name is actually a town in South Africa, and thats where it supposedly originated from. There are many uses for Zambuk, be at as an antiseptic, for minor cuts and burns. In this case, my brother and his family has also been using it for mozzie bites, or like in my case, "to rub away the formation of a bruise"(is this even possible??) when the kids had a fall.

Did you know that Zambuk is also a nickname for a first aider in Australia? the story goes that the St Johns ambulance men used to carry Zambuk in their first aid kit bags, and when neccessary, whipped it out to immediately treat injured rugby and football players on the field. The name has since stuck esp with the older generation Aussies.

And so, I followed my bro's advice, and gingerly applied on my wounded kneecap, slowly rubbing and hopefully to rub away the pain of the fall. Feeling the heated sensation (is it from the ointment, or is that from my rubbing?) somehow did help to dull the pain

The next morning, the bruise that was starting to form wasnt apparent anymore!

And so, Zambuk, really lived up to its name of being the `cure all'!

Meanwhile, I brought back the ointment with me to KL since am not sure if I can buy it in the local pharmacies here and hey, it seemed too wonderful to let go...:P (Sorry bro.. but saw that you already have a backup at home, a brand new can! :D )