Today we have a 510 km drive to Beijing on the highway (tollway). We have been driving for about 1.5 hours when Maja puts a call over the radio that Henk has pain & they have to stop so she can take over driving to our morning tea stop that is about 20km away. She says it sounds like kidney stone pain as it is a very sharp intense pain in his back & side. We immediately contact Brett to see if he would be available for a consultation when we stop in about 15 minutes which fortunately he is as he’s on his way to work. Michael & Henk speak to Brett at length and Brett agrees with Maja’s diagnosis that it is most likely a kidney stone, recommends the pain relief schedule, water intake and says to get him to an international hospital once we get to Beijing. Great to have our own personal paramedic on call thanks Brett.
Maja continues to drive their car, Kay goes with her and Michael drives with Henk in Shiraz. Henk is very uncomfortable and in a lot of pain as we continue to drive into Beijing swapping drivers & passengers around between all the cars.
On this major highway into the capital there are many advertising signs & wind turbines.
Just on the outskirts of Beijing we have to stop at a Police check point that takes us 1.25 hours to get through! It is very hot but there was nothing that we can do other than sit it out & drink our water.
The drive into the hotel is much better than we expect it to be. The traffic isn’t very heavy and seems to be flowing at an acceptable pace. Down the middle of the divided road we are driving on there are roses in yellows, oranges & red, they’re beautiful. We are certainly seeing a lot of luxury cars in China including models of Maserati, Bentley, Mercedes Benz, BMW, Audi, Porsche, Range Rover & Jaguar. At about 8 km from our hotel the Garmin shows an intersection that looks a bowl of noodles has been tipped over.
Once we have checked into our hotel, Green takes Henk & Maja, less than 1 kilometre from our hotel, to an international hospital. After much talking and persistence by Green, Henk is seen by a doctor who orders an ultrasound, which confirms that Henk has many kidney stones but 2 large ones around 1.3 cm each. They recommend that they blast them using ultrasound, but this has to be done in a private clinic. Bookings are made & the stones are blasted so that Henk can pass them.
A group of us catch a taxi to Tiananmen Square which is all locked up as its after 5:30pm. There are many people walking along the footpaths and the city has a really nice feel about it. We find a restaurant nearby that has no other Westerners in it, so 4 of us, Peter Paula, Michael & Kay go in and order Peeking Duck. Not long after another 4 of our group walk past, so they come in & order Peeking Duck also. The duck comes out & is carved on a trolley, first we eat the crispy skin which also has some meat on it, it’s delicious & not at all fatty. Next they carve up the meat which we have on pancakes with cucumber, melon & hoisin sauce, yummy. Then they take the carcass away & bring us back a soup with the duck bones & some greens, which is also delicious. What a great meal and very cheap at less than $10 AUD each including beers.
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