Chris Hrabik’s SCI Blog

Day 13 - So what is wrong with Chinese food?

October 4th, 2006

Tony and I continue to make new friends. For the last several days, a Chinese military communications officer has been sharing the oxygen chamber with us. His English name is Bobo, but he goes by Bob. Bob has come by our rooms several evenings to visit and look at websites, and he has taken Tony and Tom out to eat a couple of times. It is pretty cool to have a member of the Chinese military sitting in your room freely discussing just about any issue. This has been a great experience for us. Bob has gone home for a few days, but he plans to be back and promises to spend more time with us.

The holiday celebrations, at least near the hospital, have been rather mild. We are hearing more and more fireworks and there are plenty of people in the park exercising, meditating, playing games, flying kites, etc. Many people were supposed to be off this week, but the city is still very busy and a lot of people appear to be working. Schools seem to be out and I guess some major businesses are closed. We have not gone to another large city park or other gathering places to see if any celebrations are underway.

Mom and dad went to Wuhai Market not too far from the hospital and the Forbidden City. Talk about shop until you drop. Two or maybe three large 5-story buildings contained hundreds (probably over 1,000) of small shops where one could buy, well, anything. This is a place where one could haggle (they call it bargain) with shop owners to get rock bottom prices. Dad haggled with a clerk for a cheap pocket watch and ended up buying it for 100 RMB (about $12 US), but I am sure I could have purchased it for even less. Mom bought a magnifying glass for about $4 US and some other gifts. We will probably go back to find other good deals (gifts for folks back home).

One can find any kind of roadside shop or service. Near Wanquan Park on most nights are masseuses and barbers. Right next to them is someone who will sell you condoms and sex toys. Further down the road you can buy aquarium fish in small jars. Just outside the hospital you can buy ice cream bars from an old woman. Now that I am wheeling round the area near to the hosiptal, I am starting to see more of this.

For a second night in a row, I ventured into Wanquan Park. This time I wheeled past the old zoo to the exercise area. I also saw the slums and at first didn’t believe that people lived in them. Later, a middle-aged woman who was riding a bicycle stopped to talk to me. I had a piece of paper written in Chinese characters that explained why we are in China. She told me that she uses the exercising equipment because it free and it makes her back feel good. I told her that I was very glad to meet her and that I hope to see her again.

By the way, Altavista.com has a language translator. So, we used the translator to write Chinese characters to help us communicate with our hosts. Tonight, we used the translator to write shrimp, pork, and vegetable dumplings, which looks like this: