Temples Galore…and a nifty Show
1130PM [redux]
Our taxi makes a snappy U-turn and pulls up in front of a very dark 4 story building. The meter spits out a receipt and an English voice says, “11 Yuan please… Thank you for using Beijing Taxi.”
“Nin dong bu dong, zheige shi United Hospital Na?” I ask in my poor Mandarin. [do you understand, is this the United Hospital?]
“Zhege shi” he responds. [yes it is]
Not too sure about this… I trot over to a dark guard shack where the young fellow is apparently holding a meeting with two friends in the darken guard shack.
“Emergency???” I ask.
He motions down the poorly lit alley and to the left.
I trot back to the cab, hand over 11 Yuan and help the gimp from the back seat.
Sound familiar? Yeah this is a continuation of yesterday.
Where we’re we… Oh yes… on the way for some cocktails while waiting for tickets to an acrobatic show.
We find a cute little spot a few blocks down from the theatre. This is one
of those “you pick it while it’s still swimming and we cook it” spots with multi levels overlooking the street. Since we just want cocktails, we are hustled to the third floor corner table and we settle in for some relaxation.Teng’s phone goes off at 20 Minutes to seven with King Fu driver panicking that were not in line for tickets so we head out at a brusque pace back to the theater. We are moving quite fast, and talking along the way and of course the Dragon Lady is trying to sightsee in the declining light… Of course walking and talking and looking elsewhere is not what the directionally and balance challenged should do... so of course as she is commenting on a nifty security gate, she misses spotting the stump of an ancient lamp post [smack dab in the middle of the sidewalk] and before Chucky and Teng can react she is face down on the side walk. We immediately grab her and help her vertical and try to asses the damages. She took the brunt of the fall on her right knee and left elbow but waves us off and insists on our hurrying, now at a more reasonable pace, to the ticket line.
The last time I remember her doing this was some 20+ years ago in San Francisco where we would be walking along and the next thing ya know I was talking to thin air because she had just sat down hard, again [the shoes she was wearing caused her and slip and fall all over San Francisco]. San Francisco was also the presumed sight of her left knee injury which resulted in knee surgery 6 months later. And since this incident reminded me of San Francisco… time for another song to the tune of “I left My Heart in San Francisco”. [Again, with apologies to Tony Bennett]
My wife fell down, In Beijing China
while we were off, to see a show.
she was chatting on the go
and Didn't see the bump,
she fell flat... with grace and style,
more in a while…
OK….OK….back to the tale. [Sorry Tony...]
We get to the theatre and Teng is only able to get 2 tickets and will try to sneak upstairs later,
if not he will meet us outside when the 90 minute show concludes.I send Illy to the ladies room to clean up a bit and go looking for some ice for the already swelling knee. Of course this
is a theatre not a saloon so the best I can do is a frozen fruit bar. I also manage to get 600mg of ibuprofen in her to aid with the swelling.We find our seats and spend the whole show holding the frozen fruit bar on the "Boo Boo", going for a replacement during intermission.
Medical emergency aside, the show was outstanding with those super flexible children doing unbelievable things with their bodies as well as the muscle men, hoop jumpers, dish spinners etc. the best acts in these shows usually wind up on the Chinese Olympic team or Cirqu de Soleil.
We find Teng after the show who had found a big band-aid for Illy and we head to a local restaurant near by for one of the noisiest meals yet and both the Kung Fu driver and Teng were able to join us this time. In spite of her objections, after what looked like a major united nations negotiation we were able to score some ice and a plastic bag that I could fashion as a sling to hold the ice on the knee through dinner.
We were seated right on the main aisle and were witness to an authentic “Chinese Fire Drill” [our guide did not understand the western humor but did understand the confusion
behind him]. They were apparently trying to set up a “You Pick it, We cook it” buffet for the late night crowd right in the main aisle. First the tables… put together combos of rolling steel cabinets and table tops, next the glass sneeze guards… glass panels erected on stanchions vertically, 5 panels… 4 stands… everyone waits for someone to find the other 2 needed stands. Next the top shields… more glass panels… still not enough stands to catch them on the other side as they lay horizontally… ok… now the missing stands for the top arrive but some one forgot the pins to attach them to the vertical glass…. First there was 5 guys standing around holding the verticals… now we have 8 guys trying to figure out what to do with the tops… finally after 10 minutes someone arrives with all but one of the missing pins. And so on. What is comical is that they apparently do this every Thu, Fri, Sat & Sun… for the PAST 5 YEARS… you would think it would be better organized.We all had a good laugh and enjoyed some very good food [at least they got that part right] Great noodles, VERY Excellent mushroom soup...very spicey curried chicken but good...beef dish with veggies good, beer VERY good… they get a ****+ rating.
Teng is very solicitous of Illy’s injury and on the way to the hotel offers to go with us to a hospital but she adamantly refuses. As they drop us at the hotel, he tries once more and we tell him if its still bad in the AM well call him early enough and he'll meet us at the Tongren Hospital next door.
1130PM
She is now agreeing to try and emergency room, and we call the Manager on Duty for Suggestions. He meets us in the Lobby and summons a cab to take us to The United Hospital that has an English Foreigner’s department in the emergency room.
Our taxi makes a snappy U-turn and pulls up in front of a very dark 4 story building. The meter spits out a receipt and an English voice says, “11 Yuan please… Thank you for using Beijing Taxi.”
“Nin dong bu dong, zheige shi United Hospital Na?” I ask in my poor Mandarin. [do you understand, is this the United Hospital?]
“Zhege shi” he responds. [yes it is]
Not too sure about this… I trot over to a dark guard shack where the young fellow is apparently holding a meeting with two friends in the darken guard shack.
“Emergency???” I ask.
He motions down the poorly lit alley and to the left.
I trot back to the cab, hand over 11 Yuan and help the gimp from the back seat.
We limp down the alley… of course they could have let him in the emergency entrance but no…the poor sap had to let us off in the darkened front of United Hospital Beijing.
We find the Emergency Entrance [“Just look for the ambulance,” she said].
I ask the cute receptionist if they have service for foreigners and she directs a guard to take us somewhere. Down the hall… right and down an even longer hall… close to the dark front door, up the elevator, and over to the desk where we fill out the paperwork for another cute little receptionist whose English is not as good as my Mandarin.
“You Pay Cashier, to see Doctor,” she says handing me a bill, [hmmmmm haven’t seen any one but already we’re paying… lets see how this goes]. We'll put it on plastic and try to collect from our medical plan when we get home.
The doctor comes quickly and her English is a bit better and after a poke and pull and twist, she writes out a radiology order and says, “Have the nurse call the radiologist.” The nurse in turn says…”go pay the cashier and I'll call. More plastic…
Fortunately the radiologist is already there and while I'm paying, Illy's on the table getting pictures of the Knee.
We have a seat while the film develops. I had brought the laptop just to record this while its all fresh. And maybe work on a NOWAT while waiting. [I should be finishing Ming Tombs but this is gonna be good fodder for the cannon].
The doctor comes back with a negative fracture report and deduces that she has a soft tissue injury, and I have to explain R.I.C.E. to her [Rest Ice Compression Elevation]
and she nods, “Yes”… “Do you have an elastic bandage for the compression?”
“No. You can buy in morning at pharmacy”, she says.
“Can she get some pain relief?
“Yes”.
“Something more that 100mg tylanol ?“
“No”
Well I'm glad we got that settled.
She writes a script and sends me back to the nurse... who sends me to the cashier before she'll dispense the drugs this is getting old fast] I ask miss “Pay the cashier please” to help me locate a taxi to get us back to the hotel. She sends the guard to round one up as I whip out the plastic and then she sends me around the corner to the in house pharmacy [that doesn’t have elastic bandages] and get some pills and ointment.
Back to the nurse for the films and the med certificate to take home for insurance and we're out the door.
The cab driver has no idea what hotel I'm talking about until I pull up the agenda on the Treo and remember the Chinese name and off we go.
The good news… the fastest E.R. trip ever…1 hour from door to door. The bad news… this is really gonna slow the trip down, but Hey… it could be worse and we’re still on track.
再见朋友
Zài Jiàn Péng-You
Chuck and the injured and fading fast
Dragon Lady
