The Australians have left

Michelle has gone home for good. She only intended to stay for one year. It was rather fortunate that there was a schedule error that left her without classes for about eight weeks. This gave her the time to tour Asia.

She returned and within, what seemed like, a few short weeks was preparing to be on her way out again.

The Brown went home for the summer as have Des and Lynn. The result is that the Foreign housing building seems pretty quiet.

Shopping in Wuhan

06 Jan 07

As many of you know, I ended up working this weekend. The reason really made no sense to me, or the other westerners; however, it seemed to make perfect sense to the Chinese.

We worked Saturday and Sunday so that we could take Tuesday and Wednesday off, following the holiday on Monday. The thought, on the minds of all of us westerners, was, why not just take Saturday and Sunday off? Instead, this goofy approach messed up all of our schedules, their schedules, and, undoubtedly, the schedules of millions of people across the country. I really think that the reason was just to do something different; whatever the reason, I worked Saturday.

I would have also had to have worked on Sunday, except that I traded classes with another teacher. Julia has several of the same classes that I have.

Remember, the students are assigned to a class group at the beginning of their college life and that class group is given a number (easy enough, I have classes one through five). They then attend all of their classes, and many out of class activities, as a group.

Because she, Julia, also has classes one through four, we were able to make a trade in the classes. This left us both with classes on only one day, I did Saturday and she did Sunday. (And no, Julia is not her real name. However, her family name sounds a bit like Julia, it is a name that I can pronounce, and the students know who I am talking about when I say, "Julia." [Even if they do laugh when I say it]).

An example of the, out of class, activities, that are attended as a group include the Friday that immediately preceded this weekend, in which I had to work. The student classes reserved large rooms at the college and held various parties. As a teacher I moved between the groups that were, generally about two classes, or about a hundred students. Some of the parties focused on, student produced, skits and dances. There were a lot of song and musical instrument recitals. Some of the classes got together and watched movies on the large, projection screens (there is a… um… "Free" web site there in China that allows a person to watch any of hundreds of movies, there is a reason that this site is unusable for my classes; however, it allows anyone with web access to watch them. So, the students start the projector and the movie, and then they enjoy free theater.).

On Saturday I then showed Titanic. I used some discs that were purchased here in ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />China. So, to no surprise, they did not work well. They are copies and are not good ones. Toward the end of the movie the disc froze. The good part was that it really was the last scene, I still was irritated. One part of the movie was sort of funny. I have mentioned the disregard for heat in the classrooms; as it happened, there has been a bit of a cold snap and the classrooms never got above 40f all day. So, at the end of the movie, when everyone is in the water and freezing, I looked around the room and observed that everyone watching the movie was freezing, right along with the actors on the screen.

I ended up showing the film twice, this allowed me to show it to four of my classes; like I said, I was doubling up my classes. I first showed it at 10am and a second time at 2:30pm. It really felt like I was running a theater.

On Sunday, because I had made the arrangement, I had no classes. Instead I went to the usual meeting with some of the westerners, which we hold on Sundays and then returned to my flat in order to do some writing; I also did quite a bit of lounging around and reading. (Wow, it is hard to type this, my fingers are cold; thus I am producing a lot of typos. Therefore, my usual, very slow, typing, is slowed even more by the number of corrections I am making.)

Monday was a rather normal shopping trip. Ellen, a female student of Michelle's, went with us and provided quite of bit of help. It is always funny when you ask for help finding something. All I wanted was some spices and vinegar. I ended up being brought vegetables, soup mix, and other things that I can not remember or identify (they seem to be food), in the pile were my spices and vinegar; so, I did not complain.

It was at that time that Michelle and I discussed the possibility of an upcoming trip to Wuhan. We are both considering purchasing backpacks for our, upcoming, winter break. We were initially planning to purchase them when we arrive in Xian, while we are on vacation, and still may do that. However, there is some logic in purchasing them ahead of time so that we are not left carrying two pieces of luggage. I would also like to visit the museum in Wuhan. One thing that has disappointed me, in China, is the lack of museums. According to the travel guide that I borrowed from Debra, there is one there.

That night I went to dinner with He Zhi Qing and some of her dorm mates (There, a real name for those of you who complain that I do not include real names. She tends to ask me to call her HZQ because I often mangle her name so badly.). Even though her roommates are not English majors, instead they are majoring in Chinese, they speak English well enough to communicate.

We did not go where we had planned because the place was full. Instead, we went to another nearby restaurant. From her I am learning to identify restaurants (not always as easy as it sounds) and going to more "authentic" places. She is the same student that took Debra, for several hours, and showed her what the student dorms look like.

We (He Zhi Qing, her roommates, and I) made plans to go on Tuesday and walk around the city; however, it was snowing so we called it off. In all, the vacation was too cold to enjoy.

That night, I had a slight problem. The house phone rang, I differentiate that from my cell phone, which is used for almost all communication. The house phone is primarily used for calling people on campus, and in the dark, while stumbling to answer it; I stepped on the power supply for my computer. Not only was it a wrong number, as most of my house phone calls are, but I broke the power supply. Breaking the power supply prompted me to write this letter to my good friend from High School; and all around Mac Genius, Mike.

Last night when getting up to answer the phone, it was a wrong number, I broke the connector on my Macally power supply, I long since replaced my Apple supplied one.

This power supply has a plug in the end that connects to the supply; so, the cord that plugs into the computer also unplugs from the supply. It uses a non standard plug. However, I am first going to look for the plug, if I can not find it I will solder the cord directly into the supply.

My question is this; the cord that connects to the Mac has one strand and a shield (thus, two conductors). I am assuming that the shield is negative and the core is +24VDC@2A. Looking at the tip I see it as having three elements, a shield, as is found on an RCA audio connector and a plug in the center that is similar to a stereo headphone connector, just smaller. This very small plug has three elements. What should the voltage be at these various points? (Yes, I checked the apple site, it has no real useful information on this that I was able to find)<>

I got a response from him that advised that, seeing as the part is made in China, that I should replace it in China. He also included some helpful information. However, by the time that I received his response (remember, the time is almost opposite here [gmt +8]) I had already gone into town and gotten it, sort of, repaired; prompting this letter.

The really funny thing is that a lot of the stuff made here is not available. When it is, it costs more than it does, after conversion, in America. As an example, I saw an iPod Nano (4gb); after conversion (of course, it is priced in RMBs [aka, CNY]) it would have cost $280USD. What I was told is that the stuff is first shipped to the states and then shipped back to china, where it becomes an import and is subject to very steep taxes.

I did manage to get it fixed. There is no "do it yourself" culture and near all tools are only sold to licensed repairmen. As such, I took it to a computer repair shop and HE ZHI QING (my student, I can not pronounce or spell her name) was having trouble telling them what I wanted done because the idea of fixing something was totally unknown to her.

Finally I walked behind his counter (with permission, if he understood what I was asking) and picked up his solder sucker, soldering iron and Multimeter and started working on it myself. After I had it all positioned I let him solder the parts together (and he did a terrible job of it). She was laughing the whole time; it seems that this is not the way things are done here

I suspect that I will hear about this in class... However, it is now working.

That Wednesday, after we had canceled our plans to wader about the town on Tuesday due to the snow; He Zhi Qing, more of her roommates, and I went to go and get this done. To go into town she first tried to hire a three wheel cab; however, the driver would not budge on the price so we took the bus. We then went to get the repair done, which was the, afore mentioned, ordeal.

After we did that she insisted that I go and eat lunch. While I had not eaten lunch I could have done very well to miss that meal (I have lost about seven Kilos since I got here, then I pretty much stopped loosing weight). However she was very uncomfortable with my having not eaten (she, and her friends had eaten before we met) so I had some soup that she ordered for me at a lunch counter.

[Then people ask why I hate using windows. Here I was typing along and I get a message that the windows OS had encountered yet another error and has closed word. I only lost a little because I save often; however, this does not happen on my UNIX, a real OS, based Mac …oh where was I…]

After we did some shopping, I decided that I needed more long johns, we went for a walk. The only problem with wearing the long johns is that it tends to reduce my level of empathy with my students. After all, I am not freezing, there is no reason that they should be acting like they are (other, possibly, than that the room really is freezing).

The walk we took led through one of the larger city parks and a small bamboo forest that had several footpaths leading through it. It was, obviously, a popular place for young people to stroll.

We then walked along the river; stopping at a playground to enjoy the exercise equipment (me v. them on the teeter totter was funny, if not a bit embarrassing). I took some pictures of the old city wall and we also did a bit of other shopping (I needed some eggs, which are not sold in cartons as they are in the west) and I returned to my flat.

We had walked quite a bit, including the entire return trip, however, it was fun. Even better, when I plugged in my, newly repaired, power supply it worked!

This week was obviously a short one for classes, consisting of only two days. We talked about many of the terms used in Titanic. I discussed the, upcoming, exam in my class. However, I was not able to use the material that I normally use in the second half of my class. I normally use a podcast from a pair of Doctors in Linguistics in Los Angeles.

I use the audio skit in their program and then build more lesson material around that. I was not able to do this for one of the very reasons that you have not received these blogs in some time. The internet connection to China has been very slow as a result of a damaged cable in Taiwan. This is making the access to may websites, the sending, and receiving of both audio and pictures nearly impossible.

I hope that this is repaired soon and I will be able to send pictures of Wohan.

This afternoon, this being Saturday, I got a call from He Zhi Qing asking if I wanted to go on a bike ride with them. They are, of course, her and a couple of her roommates. One of her roommates did not want to ride and, apparently, claimed that she did not know how to ride a bike. So, she rode on the rack on the back of the bike. It is amazing, to me, to see how often people ride on the cargo racks on the backs of the bicycles. They are clearly labeled that they are not capable of holding people; however, many of them are padded and there are often handles and footrests on them. We are not talking of carrying small children, we are talking of full sized (well, fill-sized means something a little different when talking of Asian women) adults.

They generally ride on these racks by riding side saddle and mount after the bicycle is moving slowly. I have a cargo basket on my rear rack so I have not carried any passengers.

So, we rode the three bicycles, with one passenger, to the local lake. However, none of us wanted to pay the entrance charge so we then headed back on the other side of the river to see the construction on the Pagoda that has been in many of our pictures. When finished, it will be a temple.

While riding we noticed that He Zhi Qing's bicycle had a flat tire; so, as I rod off in search of a WC she went and borrowed an air pump from a repairman. I was under the impression that she had the tire repaired until we had ridden several blocks; only to discover that her tire was flat again. At that point we went looking for a repairman and were unable to find one and ended up back at the same person that had loaned her a air pump earlier.

By the time we returned, it was too dark for the repairman to see well enough to find the flat, he was completing the work he was doing by the light of nearby cook fires. I quickly dismounted the tire form the rim, it is normal here to leave the wheel on the bike while going the here, and located the hole by wetting my hands with water he provided me. I than roughed the area of the hole and he put the patch on for her. This was all done by the light of my torch (silly Brits' insist on calling a flashlight a torch). Instead of using the patches we are familiar with, he used a section of tube that one of the girls cut to the shape that we needed, he then poured some cement on the tube and used the cut portion for a patch. All I can say is that it worked.

While we were doing this it was getting darker rapidly. In addition, I received a phone call from Ilwn, a graduate student, reminding me that I had planned for him and Merry, one of my students, to have them over for dinner. So, once repairs were completed, we rode back, rather quickly, in the dark. I will point out that I do not recall seeing a single bicycle light in the country. Other bikers, in the dark, are the real scare when riding this way.

At that point He Zhi Qing and one of her friends joined us for dinner. They cooked, which made it a very easy night for me. However, I was getting a bit tired, and I expect that I was looking it. We also looked at the on-line train schedule and determined what train we wanted for the trip to Wohan.

Today, Sunday, I went to our Sunday meeting. After that, the Browns and I watched a movie, "The Bodyguard." I then went for a bike ride with Walik. I prefer to take my bike to the store and on local trips, instead of relying on the bus service. It just leaves me with a bit more freedom to do what I want.

After returning to my apartment and watching another movie, "timeline," Walik and I went to dinner. It was pretty much a slow day. Most of my Sundays are slow, which is just fine.

Back in Xinyang

I got up on my last day in ShangHai and decided to go for a walk before checking out of the hostel. The route I decided on took me to SuZhou Creek, which I followed to the first bridge that crossed the Huangu River. At this point I crossed in to the PuDong district.

This is a new district that is almost entirely post war. There is very little that is intended to be "touristy" in this area. Instead, following the streets and alleys took me to the real Chinese street markets that I have become accustomed to.

As it approached tome for me to begin heading back I happened to notice the China Post Museum. It was free and I wandered in. For something that is not in the guide books or mentioned anywhere, it was a very good museum. As one can guess, it was devoted to the Chinese postal system and had an impressive stamp collection. While there were many other displays I think it was that stamp room that stood out.

I left there, returned to, and checked out of, the hostel. Stopped for a café for lunch and caught a bus to the train station.

Like the rest of ShangHai, the train station is huge. However, it is well marked and easy to navigate (except for traffic barriers that seem to be placed to force pedestrian traffic into the street with the auto and bus traffic). I chatted with some students while I was waiting for my train, they were taking the same train, and they offered to show me the local bike shops if I return to ShangHai.

Once I was in my bunk I became an object of interest for my cabin mates, who I was not able to talk to. At one point I was asked if I spoke Chinese; but they then asked another question that I was not sure of that I did not have time to answer, "no," to the first one.

Finally, I got tired of the rapid questions that came to fast for my, real bad, Chinese to deal with so I phoned Merry. I then passed them the phone and let her talk to them. The trouble with that was that they did not speak the same local language and she left them thinking that they needed to take me to the bus station to get me a ticket to Zumaden once we arrived in Xinyang. I finally dot off be telling them that I was not going to Zumaden this week, but next week (I was not going at all but this satisfied them that I did not need help).

One really weird thing happened on the train. The two old ladies were sitting on the bunk across from mine and the first one yawned, at that point the second said, "You should go to sleep." The first then replied, "It is still early." At the point the second lady got up and climbed the ladder to her bunk.

You may ask what was strange about that. Here is the strange part. I understood every word. It was like they were speaking English. I, later, asked Merry to repeat the words of the conversation and they sound nothing at all like the English words. I write it off to a high context environment, but it was still a very weird feeling when it happened.

I then caught a cab back to the college and went back to sleep for a few hours, as the train had arrived at 05:30; prompting the conductor to wake me up (I was actually already up) at 05:00. That evening he teacher from South Africa, Merry and I went to dinner at his favorite café.

The next morning Merry and I played scrabble for a while and then did some shopping. Today has been equally slow. I posted the journal entries that you have already seen and Ellen came over and cooked me dinner (she cooked a lot more that I was able to eat; so, I will have leftovers for a couple of days).

Going to Xian

Thursday in preparation for my trip to go see Debra, and some travel in China, I went with Michelle and Ellen to do a bit of shopping. About lunchtime, before Ellen was available, Michelle and I went and looked at the various shops in the alley that is off the East Gate, the alley that we often call Diagon Alley (I have later learned that the correct name is Haiyuan). We located some things that we wanted, including mess kits and flasks. At that point we went and ate.

After lunch Michelle contacted Ellen, and informed Ellen that she was requested to come along for a shopping trip. There were several elements of this trip. First, Michelle and I wanted some sheets sewn in a particular manner that would make them more useful at the hostels. Second, we wanted to return to the alley in order to purchase the items that we had identified; which we did, with Ellen arguing the prices for us.

We then took a bus into town. It seems that when Michelle purchased some mp3 players she received some bonus points to use in the store. She wanted to go back for a mop. We also went to the supermarket for some snacks and breads. One other thing we were looking for were zip-lock bags. We have seen them in some places, containing goods for sale, so we know that they exist; however, we have not been able to find them.

We went to a pharmacy, where they have bags of potpourri for sale in zip-lock bags and asked them where they got the bags. What we were told was that there is a person who comes through the business district in the morning, on a three-wheel bicycle (This is differentiated from a tricycle due to the existence of a large cargo box, it is intended for hauling goods rather than a single person.) and sells zip-lock bags. The only advise that they, and the other shops that use the bags, had was to wait at a shop on the regular route, in the morning, and see if he rides by, selling bags, that day.

We then took a cab and returned to our block. Shortly after we arrived back in our flats Ellen cooked dinner for us. And the teacher from South Africa also came up and discussed a laptop computer that he was looking at. It was somewhat low end. However, all he wants to do is use MS Office and email. For under $400usd it looked okay. That amount does not get anything special. It had a 1.8g Pentium processor, 256 Mb of memory (which I advised him to have upgraded to 512), a 40gb HD (upgradeable to 80 for about another $8usd), and a 14.1" screen. I am not sure what a similar computer would run in the states; however, I expect that, if purchased used or closeout, it would be about the same.

Friday I rode my bicycle to the bank and withdrew some money. Part of the reason that I did this was to make sure that I would have no trouble making withdrawals using my ATM card from China Construction Bank, the bank in China that I use. I then went for lunch at a place that I am a bit of a regular and returned to carry my bicycle, the five floors, up to my flat. It is now sitting in the bedroom. While I have taken to chaining it to a tree in front of my stairwell I did not want to leave it there for almost three weeks while I am gone.

Shortly after that, some students started showing up. Ilwin arrived and while he was there Michelle came over to see what I had packed. She, of course, wanted to insure that we did not double pack anything that we only needed one of. Walik came over and visited for a while and, shortly after he left, Merry arrived. About the time that HZQ arrived it was getting time to leave. She finished checking to insure that everything was turned off, in order to conserve energy, and we left for dinner and the train station.

Dinner at the restaurants near the train station are always more expensive that is reasonable, and this one was no exception. After we got out of the cab Ilwin insisted on carrying my pack, I think he was surprised on how much it did weigh. One thing is that it is hard to find much lightweight stuff here. The almost all packing information says not to bring jeans; they just weigh too much. However, there are no real good alternatives, it is jeans or polyester dress pants. After dinner I put the pack on, correctly, and it was much easier to pack.

Going to the waiting room was somewhat funny, HZQ was trying to steer me to the waiting room that she typically uses and I was going to the VIP lounge. So, it was the picture of us, at the entrance, both pointing in different directions with her telling me that we go that way and me insisting that we needed to go the other way. It does not help that that VIP room is not even marked. Like many of the students, she had never been in that room and was not aware of its existence.

While we were waiting Ilwin and Merry wandered off and got some snacks. During this time we worked on some of our other plans for the vacation. After Debra and I return to Xinyang, it is likely that we will then head for Kaifeng. This is not far from Zhengzhou and is considered to be one of the more interesting historic cities. As it turns out, HZQ is familiar with this city and I made plans to contact her, at her home city of Xin Xiang, when we get to that stage of our trip.

About that time Merry and Ilwin returned and a short time later the train arrived. It was a short run to the correct car, one must remember that the trains only stop for a few minutes at the smaller station and there is boarding in cars all along it's length. As I was stowing my baggage, HZQ was writing something, in Chinese, on a note, with my passport number, for the conductor. At that point she left, Merry and Ilwin had already gotten off the train.

Once the train was moving the conductor came and wanted more information. This was a problem due to language issues; however, I gathered that, in addition to my passport number, and whatever HZQ had written, he needed my county of origin and full name written down. I made it that far when he through the hard one at me; it needed to be written in Chinese.

When it was clear that I was not able to do this the conductor went and got someone else to assist. He brought a Chinese Air Force officer. This resulted in the person who had been in the bunk next to mine being moved so that the officer would be able to stay nearby (and, presumably, keep me out of trouble). He was helpful and stated, the next morning, that he enjoyed a chance to practice his English. There is no doubt that he was very helpful in giving the conductor the information that he needed.

It was well after dark when I boarded and by the time that the paperwork was completed, it was well after 10pm; so, I was pretty quick to go to sleep and stayed that way well into dawn. I then got up and made myself a simple breakfast. About this time, the officer woke up and we chatted for a while. The conductor then came and switched my bunk card back for my ticket and I made my way to the doors.

Debra had described the Xian as having a huge train station; compared to Zhengzhou and Hankou it did not seem to be much at all. As soon as I exited the station I saw Debra. I was surprised by how close to the city walls the station was. We then went to the bus stops and rode back to the Hostel that Debra stays at.

From there we walked around town for quite a while and finally went through the Moslem quarter and visited the Grand Mosque, one of the oldest Mosques in China. From there we returned to the hostel and rested. Then we went on a long bus ride and walked back (never finding the shower slippers and pajamas, for me, that we were looking for). On the ride we saw a foreign language bookstore and, after again resting at the Hostel, walked back to it. I have to say that in this area, around the Hostel, the number of westerners that I saw amazed me. I saw more westerners here than I saw in any other place in China.

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At the bookstore we both purchased a set of textbooks to help us with our Chinese. Later that evening we walked through some of the alleys and went to a small restaurant for dinner. I noticed that in the city center there are not the number of small shops and vibrant alleys that are seen in other places in China. It is almost as if there is an effort to make Xian look like a western city. The only places that approached looking like the China that I am used to seeing were the streets outside of the tourist portion of the Muslim quarter.

At some point during the day Debra purchased a new battery for her film camera. It came as no real surprise that the battery that was sold to her was dead. This is a common problem in China. The batteries are sold so seldom that they die before they are sold. If a person were coming with something that uses an odd size battery I would recommend bringing the spares that you will need. Other than that, for frequently used batteries, plan on using rechargeable batteries. The NiMh batteries are widely available, as are the chargers.

The next day involved walking to several outdoor shops in Xian. Debra was looking for some camping gear. A large portion of that camping gear that is available is imported; thus, it, by Chinese standards, is very expensive. We still looked at several places and walked along the moat, that runs outside of the city wall, for a ways. We were also getting some food to eat while on the train.

About this time it was necessary that we begin preparing to head for the train station. So, we returned to the Hostel and picked up our bags, that were being stored there, and started hopping on buses in order to head for the train station.

We had soft seat, or first class, tickets so we waited in the lounge, which was somewhat filled. This is the time of year that many students are returning home and families are traveling for the holiday so even these waiting rooms are nearly full.

The train ride from Xian to Ankang was uneventful. I did notice that there were some rather long tunnels on the route. The entire ride was about four hours.

Upon our arrival in Ankang we took a cab back to Debras Apartment. At that point we had dinner, which was, largely, the food that we had not eaten on the train, and pretty much called it a day.

The next couple of days were generally just me puttering around the flat while Debra was in class. We went for dinner together on Monday evening and walked to a market.

Tuesday I went for a bike ride by myself and found a small, nearby, shop for dinner. So, other than doing laundry, sitting around and some bike rides, I am doing very little in Ankang.

Touring the Hospital

14 Jan 07

Yesterday was the day of the planned trip to the famed city of Wuhan. To say the least, it did not go as well as expected.

The trip started well, except that the day before, Friday, I was not feeling too well in class. I ascribed this, mostly, to my not getting enough rest. That evening I went to dinner with Michelle, Ellen, and He Zhi Qing. The plan was for them to stay the night at Michelle's so that we would be able to all get up and get going early. This was necessary because the only tickets that we had been able to get were standing tickets; and then, on a train scheduled to leave at 5:30a.m.

As is normal for me, I did not sleep well that night (yes, all of this mentioning of how I was feeling is leading up to something). As a result, I was awake long before I needed to be and ascribed all ill feelings to the lack of rest.

The ride itself was uneventful. The train was late; however, it made up the time and we arrived in Wuhan on schedule. I do not have a lot of pictures of Wuhan, at this point. However, it is a much larger city that Xinyang. The main reason for our coming to Wuhan was to visit the large market districts. The desire, all around, was to get backpacks so that we would not need to do something with the extra bags after meeting Debra in Xian.

The market districts in Wuhan were similar to the pictures one sees. The streets were crowded with small, busy, shops. After getting directions near where the bus, from the train station, let us off, we began walking through several kilometers of this large market area.

Finally, after working our way through a series of streets that were too narrow for motor traffic, we arrived at a section, covering several blocks, which sold nothing but luggage. I saw several that I liked; however, there were a lot that I didn't. I was being pretty picky. I wanted something with a rigid frame in order to keep the pack form pushing on me as I walked. There were also some other features that I wanted.

After finding a style that I liked, it became Ellen's show. She aggressively bargained on the price and had us walk out of several shops that would not give her a price she considered fair. The final price was 140 RMB, which seemed fair.

The problem was that by that time I was feeling a bit ill. Michelle wanted to go for lunch and I was not feeling well enough to eat. About this point I realized that this was not a simple case of exhaustion. They wanted to do more shopping (which I had also wanted to do); however, I had reached the point that I wanted to take a cab, rather than a bus because it would be faster, to the train station and get a sleeper back to Xinyang. It was only a three hour trip; however, I wanted a bunk, I needed to lay down.

Things went wrong very quickly. This short letter I wrote pretty well says it all.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to tour a hospital In Wohan, China. It was a pretty good deal, everything included: ambulance, ER, EKG, chest x-ray, and recovery room came to less than 400 RMB (about $50 USD). Basically, I was not feeling well and had to sit down, then some big Chinese guy was carrying me, then I was in an ambulance (I was in a maze of alleys and motor vehicles were not able to get in).

The medical care was very good 1970's grade. After an hour in the ER they remembered to take my temperature, I was feeling better at that point; it was only a bit over 104f.

One thing that really surprised me was that they had He Zhi Qing stay with me nearly all the time, even when I was getting the x-ray taken. In the US a person would never be allowed in the room while someone else was being x-rayed. The thing that Michelle noticed, and commented on, was that the IV bottles were made of glass.

I checked out of the Hospital in time to get to the train station, I already had return tickets with a seat reserved. I was still pretty ill on the train back to Xinyang. However, I am now back.