Temples and the Chinese NHS - part deux!
Trip Start
Jun 30, 2009
1
29
44
Trip End
Dec 18, 2009
Beijing, China
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
It became obvious when we got there that we were never going to cover everything and seeing as we were all already suffering a little from temple fatigue, we decided that half a day at the Palace would be more than enough. The buildings and architecture was absolutely exquisite as per the Forbidden City and the setting round the lake beautiful, but as with everything in China you have to constantly jostle with the Chinese to get near anything and after a couple of hours this really begins to grate
Summer Palace
. We left the park at lunchtime and headed back to the hotel. In the evening Monica and I headed into central Beijing to try and find some supper and some shopping. Up until now, we had began to doubt if Beijing had any serious retail therapy, but after a quick taxi ride to the pedestrianized Wangfujing Street, we soon discovered the shopping! Beijing it is fair to say has better shopping than Hong Kong. We discovered department store after department store as well as plush shopping malls to easily rival Honkers. It's hard to imagine who these malls cater for as the shops inside them are wall to wall Cartier, Burberry, Armani and the like; definitely not for your average Chinese shopper or cash strapped western backpacker either! Sandwiched in between the malls were the traditional Beijing Hutongs, which are mini markets with stalls selling souvenirs or food. We decided to forgo the Scorpion kebabs on offer (especially as they were still alive!)
So that should have been where the adventure in China ended, but unbeknown to me my time in Beijing was just beginning!!
To cut a long story short, I ended up staying another 10 days in Beijing; as fascinating a place as Beijing is, if I ever go there again it'll be too soon
Summer Palace
! After putting off and putting off another trip to a hospital to get my still ridiculously painful arm looked at, I finally caved in and went to the Beijing Friendship Hospital across the road from our hotel (luckily!). The hospital was even worse than the previous one in terms of cleanliness; trust me you wouldn't want anyone sticking a needle in you in this place! It didn't help that I had to keep shuttling backwards and forwards between the primitive Chinese hospital and the incredibly smart International Medical Centre that could have given the Four Seasons Hotel a run for it's money in terms of decour and palatialness. Luckily they gave me my own bodyguard to stay with me while I had to rough it in the hospital! Anyway it turned out that the 'pulled muscle' in my left arm was actually a broken elbow coupled with a serious wrist injury. So after another round of Xrays and CT scans I left the hospital with a socking great big, heavy plaster covering most of my left arm. Ten days later after much agro from my insurance company, I was finally on a plane home and finally out of China (with just 2 days to spare on my visa. Eek!) 
