Travelogue Beijing (part 3)

We set off early today as it was public holiday and the crowd would be much bigger.. The first destination was Tiennamen square and Forbidden city. I was really amazed at the number of local people flooding the places which we dont get to see in our country..Tiennamen square was built in memory of Tiennamnen Square massacre that happened in 1989 when the government use army tank to crackdown the Tiennamen protest. Read more on Tienanmen Square Protest

After that we walked into Forbidden City. The tourist guide warned us over and over again that the crowd would be bigger than the any other day and it's almost impossible to find us back should we got lost in our way. Yes, imagine the language barrier and all that..

The Forbidden city was an immense territory with more than 9000 rooms altogether to cater for about 1000 mistress..The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is was built in 1406-1420 and located in the middle of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum. For almost 500 years, it served as the home of emperors and their households, as well as the ceremonial and political center of Chinese government.We decided to tour over the first layer of the area to save on time and the rest of the place if about the same built.

It was noon by the time we reached our bus again. We then performed prayers at the Niujie mosque, the largest and oldest Museum

Our last destination before dinner was Acrobatic show. These kids were really good in their performances, i have no doubt why China managed to be to top gold medalist in gymnastic sports

Ya Allah, bantu mereka..

It was 10am-10pm shift for me yesterday in green zone. Yes, it means extra money for the additional 4 hours but by 6pm, i was already exhausted from this seeing patient non-stop..

So I called in the next number. The boy came in with his mother, but also with another 3 siblings of hers. My houseman who's sitting in front of me blurted out ' Eh, ramainye masuk (dalam bilik)...' To which the mum replied in slow tone " Nak buat macam mana doktor, takde orang nak jaga..ibu tunggal'

My heart cringed. So I went on with the usual clerking and examination. With premorbid of childhood obesity (weighed 59kg at tender age of 7 years old), bronchial asthma and OSA(obstructive sleep apnoea), one day history of viral fever and dizziness already made him looked more ill than the average kids i've seen so far. He just looked unwell and sleepy, all the reason for me to offer for admission.

The mother had to politely refused. She mentioned about her aging parents who need to be told earlier if she wanted to leave her children with them while taking care of her son in the ward. "Sayalah ibu, sayalah ayah pada budak2 ni..kalu saya jaga dia dlm ward, takde sape nak cari makan..' and she could still smile. Apparently, she did odd job for living and came all the way from another town (an hour's drive) with motocycles to seek medical attention for his son, with the help of her relative (thank god for that cos carrying 4 children with you on a motorbike simply means child neglect..) She then turned to his son and asked if he wanted to be in the ward, to which he replied ' Tapi nanti mak tak jaga...' So she said to him " takpelah, kita balik dulu makan ubat..nanti esok tengok macam mana..'

I totally could relate to her situation. Honestly, i didnt go on persuading her to get the child warded cos i understand how it would be having 4 kids around in a ward...The nurses would be very harsh for bringing in too many relatives (yes, some ppl can be biatches towards others) and i dont want her to go through that.

In the end, I made her promised to bring the child again if he got worse at home..Then only i browsed through the old notes in the computer system, he was once been seen by dietitian and  from the history notes, its obvious that they're living in poverty.

When i came back home and shared the story with my husband, I wondered if the mother had left any contact number in the system for me to call back today to ask about the child's condition. I feel bad for allowing him to go home but at the same time, i dont want to put his family in much more trouble becos of that. When husband pointed out the fact that their living condition might not allow the mother to own a handphone, I couldnt help shedding tears. I really prayed that the child will recover well and his family will make ends meet..

Until this morning, i still silently pray that Allah will keep him healthy and their family safe.

Thank you Allah for reminding me to be grateful of what i have and keep my humility checked..Please make my job as a mean to help more of these people..

Travelogue Beijing (part 2)

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We set off as early as 7.30am to Summer Palace. Weather was superb (as always in spring). Our first destination was Summer Palace which existed since 17th century during Qing dynasty. It was built as luxurious royal garden for the royal family to reside and entertain. It stretched up to 300 hectars complete with man-made bridge and lake (we didnt get to tour the whole area, it was toooo big!) . It was destroyed once by fire and rebuilt again in 1888. Summer Palace was ranked as World Heritage by UNESCO in 1998

Our 2nd destination was Pearl Centre. Earlier, we were given tips by our relatives that to shop in China, we must ask for discount of at least 70% off ..So at the Pearl Centre, I thought of buying pearl necklace but since I've got a few from my Sabah trip, i had a look at the pendant made of oyster's shell and there's one that caught my attention. I was just trying my luck for asking 80% discount because it's an emporium shop not the usual stall or market but suprise, suprise! we did a little bit of bargain and i got away with a pendant and a free gift of pearl ring for 70% discounted price..ehehe..

After that we went to Dr Tea shop-there were demonstration on different types of tea and how to serve and drink each of them. It was fun and we bought 2 sets with tea set as a free gift..

After lunch and prayed at local mosque, we went to Silk Center.. yes, one of the main aim for me and hubs is to buy few pieces of Chinese silk to sell back in Msia..We had to wait until they're done with (yet another) demonstration on how the silk was produced before we were brought to the 2nd floor where the clothes are sold. We bought 10 pieces with a good bargain..

Then we dropped off at the Bird's Nest Stadium that served as the main stadium of Beijing Olympic Games 2008. There were flock of local people there as well as it was public holiday..One of my early observation in Beijing was that Chinese really took care of their cultural heritage well and support local tourism..

Last destination was foot massage. We were warned earlier by our relative that during his last visit to Beijing, he was tricked by the so-called-doctor at the centre into buying medicine that cost thousands.. He said we should just say no to that. At first the person there greeted us the usual manner and ushered in masseaur to do foot massage. Later a few so-called-professional with assistant's translator came in to the hall and start taking our hand and telling all the disease that we had. I had to be blunt saying that I'm western doctor and would do my own check up if i need to (because once you're into the deal, it's hard to back off). I whispered of the same thing to my mum as the 'doctor' was doing palm reading towards my dad.. we got away altogether..

Later that night after dinner, there's local Muslim who came to our hotel to sell t-shirt, bedsheet, table cloth, table runner and souvernier bags..It was pretty convenient doing shopping in own's pyjama and all items sold at cheaper price..

Travelogue Beijing 2012 (part 1)

Early this year, one of my personal goals are to travel to 3 different countries before 2012 ends..I went to jakarta earlier in february so Beijing is my 2nd destination. Went there with Al-Quds, travel agent that offer Muslim package with ground ticket as low as RM260 per pax for 6 days 5 nite (plus about RM600++ for the flight ticket which total up to about RM1000 for everything).  It was Allah's plan that i had my miscarriage (sobsob) 3 weeks prior to the trip so it's like i really look forward to go away to somewhere else where i can have a fresh new air..

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We departed from Alor Setar airport around 8pm. Earlier, i was working morning shift but already set aside all the necessary things to be packed. Yeah, out of excitement i installed PackingList app on my phone to make sure i bring everything i needed but as usual, it was left unchecked..so when i returned home, I took some time for mix-and-match session before putting everything in the bag..It was all fun until we arrived at the airport ..I already checked ourselves in via iphone but didnt read the instruction to be there 45 mins before departure for luggage drop off...the smartypants me convinced hubs  we can leave half an hour before flight as our house is just 5mins away as we already checked in..thank God that the AA officer there was rather forgiving to let our luggage in cos there's flight delay, otherwise.........oh well, let's just not think of that, heh. we arrived earlier than the rest of the kelantan's group so we wandered around for a while..later my parents's flight landed safely and we started finding spot to sleep..it was past midnight and the LCCT was still bustling with ppl apparently.. I brought along my trusted travelling blanket and laid them down for my parents..later I joined them while hubs had good chat with our relatives.

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Wow, never knew the eye cover would works wonder to sleep. I literally dozed off the minuted i put it on and woke up 4 hours later...went for brekkie and solat then it's time to depart..again the eye cover did very well to put me to sleep..Pre-ordered nasi ayam was so-and-so, luckily there's minisize chillisauce from last night..

6 hours later, we landed in Tianjin airport and gretted by Mrs Cheng..ok, it was really difficult to understand her English and she thought we're just like Buddhist who can go for prayer the next day when the group enquired about pray's time cos we'll be in the bus for 2 hours journey to Beijing .. it was spring approaching summer there so weather was nice.later we splitted up with the big group and relieved to hear our guide, Maggie speaking fluent Indomalay.. dinner at Muslim restaurant (exited back in 1672) then we arrived at the Ming hotel...