Today we have a short drive of 300 km to our overnight stop in Shijiazhuang en route to Xian. We are given the morning to ourselves with the plan to leave at 12:30 pm as checkout time from the hotel is 12 noon. Michael does some work on the car early in the morning before breakfast and catches up with Henk who is in a lot more pain than the day before. Over breakfast we discuss with Green what the options are for Henk & Maja when Peter suggests that we call the Australian Embassy to find out if there is another hospital that Henk can go to for a second opinion about his kidney stones. The Embassy suggest an international hospital on the other side of Beijing, so Michael & Henk catch a taxi there & they present to the emergency department. After a consultation they order a CAT scan and discover that Henk has a large kidney stone blocking his ureter and it needs to be surgically removed. They meet with the urologist who schedules the surgery for 4pm as it is an emergency.
Meanwhile back at the hotel China Television has discovered that Tony Wheeler is staying in the hotel and is driving the “Silk Road” with a group of people in their MG’s. A TV crew turn up to the hotel to film us leaving and they supplied morning tea for us. So while Maja and the rest of us are sitting in the hotel reception we have a TV camera in our faces. There are many phone calls back & forth to Michael who is at the hospital with Henk and Maja who is talking to her insurance company in Australia, with legal assistance from Peter and the whole time the TV cameras are filming us.
Paula & Kay go for a walk around the back of the hotel through the Hutong’s (original narrow streets of Beijing) which is fascinating.
Some of the houses have been restored and have lovely new roofs.
Finally when the calls to the insurance company are finished, Maja, Kay & Green jump in a taxi to go to the hospital, which is about a 40 minute drive. By the time we arrive Henk has been admitted, he has a room and has been given some pain relief. The doctor is talking to him about the surgery which he will have in about 15 minutes. Michael, Kay & Green catch a taxi back to the hotel with the intention of leaving 15 minutes after we arrive back.
The architecture in Beijing is beautiful & really interesting with many new buildings being constructed.
This means that Henk & Maja will be staying in Beijing while the rest of the team along with Henk’s car continue onto Xian.
We leave the hotel just after 5 pm with an estimated arrival time of 9 pm at our next hotel.
Michael has a few phone calls to Maja during the afternoon and we get updates on Henk’s condition. The surgery has been a success and they will both spend the night in the hospital.
We stop on the highway for a quick meal before driving to our destination. It’s quite different driving in the dark, we can see the fireworks that are happening as we drive through the various towns. The lights of the cities are also bright & colourful, but best of all by the time we arrive the traffic is much lighter which makes getting to our hotel easier & quicker.
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