Sorry I haven’t posted sooner but I feel like I have been on my death bed the past two days. We went to the Summer Palace on Monday and I was feeling achy. Then my stomach started churning occasionally and from there it went downhill quickly. I had a somewhat mild fever Monday night and then Tuesday morning I felt a little better and went down to breakfast. I decided to not go on Tuesday’s excursion because I was still feeling weak and I didn’t want anyone else to get it. By Tuesday night my fever jumped to over 103 degrees. I thought I was going to get a “special tour” of a Beijing emergency room. I probably should have gone – it was one of the few times in my life I have been that sick. It’s bad enough to be sick at home but really frightening to be that sick in a different country where you do not speak the language. Needless to say, it was a long night. I stayed in the room today too and have had a mild fever all day today as well. I do feel much better and most of the vomiting and diarrhea has ceased. I am hoping that no one else gets it and that my fever returns to normal soon. We are supposed to fly to Guangzhou Friday morning and we do NOT want to miss that flight!!! We should get Aiden’s passport tomorrow and then have to apply for his visa in Guangzhou. His American Consulate appointment is November 2nd. We cannot afford any delays and are anxiously waiting our return to the United States!!!
The Summer Palace was a beautiful place other than the bathrooms (I’ll include a photo). The lake there was very pretty and the buildings beautiful. The grounds also had what is known as the “longest corridor”. And it was long! There was also a longevity rock (boulder) and what is known as the “bankrupt” rock because it bankrupted the emperor who moved it there. I had already taken a photo of the bankrupt rock before our guide “highly recommended” that we not photograph it because it is thought to bring bad luck. So I am now blaming the bankrupt rock for my recent illness - I think I will delete that picture NOW!
My parents went to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City yesterday. There was a lot of walking and climbing stairs so I am glad I opted to stay in the room with Aiden. He was a really good boy while momma was in complete misery. I’ll admit I have already done the one thing I hoped not to do as a parent – I parked him in front of the DVD player all morning and replayed the same videos over and over again. Poor kid! At least it kept him entertained and he kept me entertained dancing to the videos!
Today we all stayed in and did not go on the tour. I had my second favorite meal since I‘ve been here – Ramen noodles this afternoon (the Fruity Pebbles I had this morning were not a big hit with my stomach). I believe they went to Beihai Park and saved the shopping trip for tomorrow so that I could hopefully go. It’s one of the things I was looking forward to – SHOPPING! I briefly thought about dragging myself out this morning, fever and all, just to go shopping. I hope and pray that I feel up to going tomorrow. And I definitely hope that I am better before Friday morning because the airports have thermal heat sensing devices to detect people with fevers. They are taking the swine flu very seriously here.
Wish us lots of luck over the next few days because we are really looking forward to moving on to Guangzhou and then home. Home sweet home!!!
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