Xuanwu, Sichuan Dinner, the Great Wall

***UPDATE***

***In case anyone doesn't know, our trip to T!b3t has been canceled since China isn't letting anyone into the area***


(random picture near Wangfujing)

Okay, sorry for the long delay, but there have been some issues logging into and editing my blog. Most of the issues seem to have been resolved, and I should be able to post more frequently again. I'm going to try and add a quick update now to catch up to last Saturday, with a longer one to come tonight.

So last Thursday we had our 3rd day at Xuanwu Hospital in which we spent the morning with the Neurosurgery department. I'm not quite sure why we've had so much exposure to neurosurgery here, but it has been interesting. We sat through several lectures in the morning that involved no direct patient interaction and and dim lighting that put several people to sleep.

The afternoon was spent with the General Surgery department. For this, we went around on the wards and saw a two patients, both with breast cancer. The other two patient we were supposed to see were getting tired of being examined repeatedly (very understandable) so we just discussed the cases in a classroom.


(sign in the classroom)

That evening we treated some of the faculty from Capital Medical University to dinner at a Sichuan Restaurant which was very tasty. In Chinese culture, it is customary to toast your guests, which results in a another toast from the guests, then back and forth. This resulted in mass consumption of pijiu (beer).







We were in the Hohai area (lots of restaurants and bars) so some of us went out after dinner. We found a place offering pijiu for 20 Yuan/beer, but we talked them down to 10 Yuan, so we stayed there. The place was pretty cool, and the had a couple of hookah's sitting on the tables. Someone decided we should try them out, and the bar had several flavors of flavored tobacco... we tried orange and apple, very tasty and smooth.



Friday was our last day at Xuanwu, and another day for TCM. Since I didn't get to partake in acupuncture or cupping on Wednesday, I was one of the first volunteers for traditional Chinese massage. This sounded much more pleasant that it turned out to be, as I was massaged very vigorously, and it was quite painful at times.

We had lunch at the hospital and then headed off on a group trip to the Great Wall for the afternoon. I knew that the wall was not entirely intact, but I was unaware that it was in so many fragmented segments now. We went to the most highly visited and touristy areas at Badaling and this was quite obvious as soon as we arrived. Upon exiting the bus, we were surrounded by vendors selling all sorts of souvenirs and Olympics gear. A short walk up the street and we arrived at the entrance.

The view here was quite spectacular, but it was just the beginning. An enormous sign sat on the side of one of the mountains to the east proclaiming "One World, One Dream", the slogan for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. The Great Wall went off into two directions, one that was packed solid with people, and another that was much less crowded...so we chose the latter.





We had about 4 hours to walk around, which seemed like a long time, but we were all unaware of the difficulty of the walk, and the steepness of the stairs. There were hundreds of vendors spread out along the wall trying eagerly to sell t-shirts and other souvenirs. While they were quite aggressive, it was nothing compared to Hongqiao (the Pearl Market).




There was only about 1.5 miles or so of restored wall in the direction that we went. Beyond the last area we could walk to, the areas of unrestored wall were visible. Of course we all had to do the obligatory jumping photo.



And of course, there was a Starbucks at the Great Wall...



On the way back home we were treated to Hot Pot, the traditional Mongolian cuisine that I mentioned in a previous post. While it was quite good, I don't think I'm too big of a fan, as it seems somewhat bland and not very filling.




After our meal, we had our first experience with Karaoke in China. I think I chose the wrong room to be in, as our Chinese guide Peter was in the room next door singing in Chinese. We still had a lot of fun.



On Saturday we woke up early to leave to the Summer Palace at around 7am...

More on that to come...