Summer Palace, Crazy Buildings & Chinese Acrobats

Ok, finally another all new post! Hooray!

So last saturday, we all got up early and headed to the Summer Palace, 颐和园, which is about a 45 minute bus ride to the northwest of Beijing. The weather was not ideal for photos, as it was very hazy most of the morning, and it was also about 45 degrees! (it was up to 80 the next day) The weather here seems a lot like West Texas...dry, freezing cold one day, and then sweltering hot the next.

In spite of the poor conditions outside, the Summer Palace was amazing, and a sight to behold. It is not just one building, but a series of temples spread out across a large area, with a man made lake in the center. We started off heading with Dr. Strobel to the south of the palace, across a bridge onto a small island. Most of this island was closed off due to maintenance, so after spending a little bit of time there, we decided to take the ferry across to the other side to see the Marble Boat and the Tower of Buddhist Incense.





As soon as we pushed off from the dock, the engine died! We spend about 30 minutes floating aimlessly while the crew tried to start the engine to no avail. Finally another ferry came and we had to abandon ship. While it did waste a little time, it was pretty funny (except it was still freezing outside).



When we finally got to the other side, we were able to explore Longevity Hill. At the top is the Tower of Buddhist Incense, and the most spectacular view of the whole Summer Palace. I took some amazing panorama shots, but those will have to wait until I get back home.





That evening, our new friend Victor Freeman took us out to another night of Karaoke. This time we went to Party World. While the name sounds very cheesy, it was very nice inside. We spent a couple of hours there before calling it a night.



Sunday we all slept in and got a late start on the day. I decided to go with Chuck & Tanner to Walmart. Chuck spent some time looking up the Chinese characters, and it seemed that we were prepared to get there via cab. Unfortunately, what we didn't know is that "Walmart" to them means Sam's Club, and the nearest one was way on the west side of town...about 20 minutes with no traffic. So 20 minutes later, we ended up at Sam's Club, with no membership card. We learned that we have to say Supercenter if we want to go to Walmart, and the nearest one is only about 5 minutes or so away.



We headed to the Pearl Market after that, and after I made the one purchase I needed there, I headed out on my own to meat some other people. I hadn't taken the subway yet, so I decided that was better than cabbing it by myself. I've been on the Paris subway, but that did not prepare me for this. I felt like I was in a can of sardines as people just continued to cram in the subway car, even as the doors were shutting. A couple of stops later and I was able to squeeze out and meet up with Laura & Caraleigh at the Silk Market.

After grabbing a bite, we headed west to see the CCTV building. The CCTV is the government run TV station here, and the new building is really amazing. After taking a bunch of photos, it was time to head home for the day.



On Monday, we started at a new place, Beijing Friendship Hospital. We started out with the Emergency Department which was way overcrowded. That afternoon we spend some time with the physical therapists.





Monday night we headed to Sanlitun area and went to a local bookstore called the Bookworm. Lindsey was really excited because they had real wine there (Chinese wine is a little different). We spent a couple of hours perusing books and reading before heading home.



Tuesday & Wednesday, we were back at Friendship Hospital. We did cardiology on Tuesday in a small hot dark room that put most of us to sleep. And then Pediatrics in the afternoon in a small hot room that put most of us to sleep. They don't seem to be too keen on air conditioning here. Wednesday we had some excellent case presentations from the orthopedic department and then were able to go to the OR. We even got to see some anesthesiologists putting an LMA in (intubating the patient).







Wednesday night we all went to see a group of traveling acrobats. The performers ranged in age from about 8 to 18, and they were really amazing. I'm not sure how many child labor laws they would have been breaking, had that been in the US.









We are going to a new hospital today, and some of us are taking Friday off so we can finally go see the Forbidden City, one of the can't miss things in Beijing, that we have somehow missed for almost 3 weeks. Since blogspot seems to be working now, I'll try to update more frequently.

再见,
Adam