Bejing - Imperial Way

Our last Tuesday in China turned out to be a spectacular day. We began by visiting Tiananmen Square and ended with a visit to the Western medical section of a Chinese hospital. But I get ahead of the story.

Tiananmen Square is enormous.

It can hold one million people. We visited Tiananmen Square on the 18th anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre. Unlike the US there was no one selling tee shirts celebrating the event. The Square is situated at the center of the ancient city. The north-south meridian connects many major sites in Beijing, very much like the Capitol – White House line in D.C. At one end is Mao’s mausoleum at the other end is the Great Hall of China [where Bush lost his lunch]. The nicest sculpture were two larger than life tributes to the Great March.

Continuing down the meridian we reached the Forbidden City.

At the entrance is a gigantic painting of Mao. It is replaced every three years, so it will never look faded.

The first several gates and squares are the military and political portions. While the buildings are nice I quickly got tired of beautiful golden roofs [the temperature was 36 degrees and sunny]. The back portions which were the living quarters and the back gardens were much nicer.

M & M under the Tree of Eternal Love in the back garden of the Forbidden City.

After lunch, we went to the Summer Palace of the Ming dynasty. As you might expect, the Summer Palace is somewhat cooler and has a better breeze. The trees and lake make for a nicer experience on a very hot day. We walked a good portion of the Palace, but actually took only one of three available tour routes. We ended with a pleasant ride across the lake on a dragoon boat.

The main entrance.

A female lion is always displayed with a cub under her paw.

The summer pagoda.

Relief, we are going for a ride on the lake.

With our guide, Tom.


Our trip back to the hotel was too adventurous. Our driver plowed into a car stopped at a red light. Fortunately he cursed and braked hard before the crash, giving us time to brace ourselves. He hit hard enough to break the car radiator. No serious injury but after 10-15 minutes we were stiffening up in our neck, shoulder and, for Marsha, wrist. To not take any chances we took a taxi to a Western medicine hospital in downtown Beijing, around 30 km from the accident site. The care in the emergency room for foreigners is as good as anywhere we have seen. We were seen in around 10-15 minutes, had x-rays taken and read within an hour. And made it out of the hospital in less than three hours. Total cost for the two of us, 3,000 Yuan [under $400]. While we are taking some topical cream to keep the muscles loose, we are okay.

Things to note about the Peking Union Medical Center.

-Foreigners are not treated like locals. A separate section with experienced nurses. It is overstaffed by US standards. At 3:30 PM when we arrived, there were gigantic lines at the local side.

-For X-rays there are no safety shields placed on the body. Also there are no hospital gown.

-Sanitation does not seem as good. E.G. An empty soap dispenser in bathroom, and no sign of doctor washing her hands.

-All service is paid for before service is given. Pay for evaluation, pay for x-rays and pay for medicine before each service. The costs were paid for by the local travel agent.

More unusual were telephone calls by the driver and the car rental company expressing regret. The local travel agent manager came to the hospital to make certain we were happy with our care and apologizing for the agency. Also our personal guide was most helpful. We were very happy for all this help in a foreign land.

The next day, Wednesday, was a planned off day. We used it to recover and to pack for the trip home.