Sunday morning. I obviously have been pretty tired by the Saturday excursion because I went through the IVs while mostly sleeping… The coffee makes me a bit more aware of the situation right after.
I got the Hyperbaric suite and I try to drown myself in water to make sure the headache; if it comes; will be light.
We asked the van/bus to pick us up at 10:00AM and there it was. Same truck it seems; different driver. The driver was also as smooth as the previous one. We have taken a serie of highways, freeways and no any small road; there is an exit right at the Juyongguan (Juyong Pass) Site of the Great Wall.
I haven’t made much kilometers on the freeways or city inner roads, but I have to say that the Beijing area traffic is smooth; drivers looks educated and respect regulations as far as I can tell. It is not Japan; but it is not what we often see in videos of crazy driving in China… I might just be lucky but I report what I see.
We arrived a bit before noon. Traffic was not heavy; a bit jammed at a pay toll. Strangely; there is an access to a freeway to Lhasa (Tibet) and the other side to Hohhot; Capital of the inner Mongolia autonomous region. I guess it goes further to the Mongolian town of Ulanbatar and perhaps further. It is funny to notice that the drivers (both of them until now) do not know what is at the end of the freeway; just that “it goes far in the North”…
The place is splendid. The sun is with us; but the pure mountain air and the stronger wind makes it sweet and warm. What a beautiful day.
I was able to stay on the plateform that is a junction of a descending path and of an ascending pass (I know; it is called in the middle). I watched the people leaving the stairs in front of me and I watch them getting smaller and smaller as they climb the “stairs” that lead to the top tower of the pass. I spot a well-fit guy with a very visible orange shirt and I followed him going up for more than 30 minutes. He did not make it to the top; turning back at about 70% of the full ascension. Perhaps he was late, or tired, or pissed… Or all at once; who knows…
Mikalina tried to go up but was back after the first fly of stairs. She described the steps as being sometimes higher than her knees height. We are now sure ancient Chinese Guards of the Great Wall had strong legs.
Tho I could not go round the place the view in itself was gorgeous. Many tourists; it was Sunday. I guess if all people would paint their country on a world map; a huge percentage would be covered. I distinguished Germans, Australians Sri Lankans and Egyptians who arbored their nationality on their gears. And many others; the anecdote is that the Russian patient I met at the hospital arrived; also in a Van/bus; as we were leaving the place. I will also make a separate post for the Juyong Pass with most of the pictures we took.
Mr.Yang has been again very useful for this trip. We head back to Beijing and stopped by at a restaurant because we were pretty hungry. We found a nice place but it was on the second floor. Our driver talked to them and an army of waiters grab my chair; went up two fly of stairs to land me in the restaurant.
Great food again. The Goddam headache started again when we were on the road back; but I was thankful we made it up to there. The traffic was a bit heavier entering Beijing; but nothing serious, no any jam. Just a lot of cars bus. Very few construction trucks compared to Taiwan but they probably have different regulations for working hours traffic etc…
I again put myself in bed when we arrived and had an extra pain killer for the evening. I did not get an extra IV of Sodium Chloride this time. It was probably un-necessary.
I also started a rash in my back and my front arms; the nurses said they’ll ask the Doctor to see me first thing in the morning.
And I fell asleep again like a baby…