At Beijing Capital Airport, Lily wanted to get me a wheelchair. I could walk. In fact, Dr Chen prescribed a little walking every day until I was up to speed. But Lily and Kevin reasoned that we would get through all of the airport bureaucracy faster with a wheelchair.
And they were right. Borrowing an airport wheelchair was easy. The attendants were genuinely concerned when they saw the bandage on my head. Lily brought a toque to Beijing for me to wear, but I was still getting used to it and taking it off regardless of how much it might have shocked the people around me. We all assumed that Lily or Kevin would push me around in the wheelchair, but the airport provided a skinny young man in a uniform. Maybe he was only there to make sure we did not steal it.
Getting through a Chinese airport is not especially difficult, but if you have their staff taking you, everything moves much faster. It was like being a celebrity. We never waited in any lines, everyone stared at us and more than a few people took pictures. I am bound to be on someone's Facebook page by now.
The only thing I had to worry about was the metal detector. Small plates were holding my skull in one piece. Being in a wheelchair and accompanied by staff would never make any difference at an American airport. The TSA will search a little old lady's colostomy bag. Beijing has a more efficient system, and they are not nearly as lazy when it comes to security. What I did not know at the time was that the plates in my head were made from organic thermoplastic polymers. There is nothing in my head that should ever set off any metal detectors. The true test will be the next time I fly to Tel Aviv. Their machines can detect a single titanium screw in your body, but their agents use common sense.
The downside to tearing through the airport at record speed is having entirely too much time before the flight boards. Beijing, like every other airport, is a shopping mall with planes parked outside. But I could not have been less interested in t-shirts and snow globes.
Waiting for the flight gave me time to think about a few things I never considered in the hospital. What happened to all of our things at the hotel? We left in the morning to go to the Great Wall and never came back. Did the hotel throw our clothes away? It was not a major issue. Buying a new toothbrush is pretty easy. But I was curious.
Did anyone ever tell the car rental company what happened to their car? We were only supposed to have it for three days. Obviously, we never returned it. We had insurance. You cannot rent a car without insurance. But who told them they were never getting that car back?
The Great Wall of China part 1
Have you ever thought about adding a little bit more than just your articles?
ReplyDeleteI mean, what you say is important and all. However just imagine if you added some great pictures or
video clips to give your posts more, "pop"! Your content is excellent but with
images and clips, this site could undeniably be one of the very best in its field.
Good blog!
This is a personal blog, not corporate. It generates zero income and I'm not trying to collect the most followers or get the most hits. I genuinely don't care if it "pops" or not. I'm here to say something, not razzle dazzle huge crowds with bells and whistles. But I have thought about changing the background template. There is too much empty space.
ReplyDeleteI add pictures when I feel like it. I know that posts with pictures get more page views, but I'm not going to add a picture just for the sake of adding a picture. I used to do more pictures, but Google made it harder when they bought Blogger. They want everyone to use Chrome.
So did the hotel throw away your clothes? Did you get a refund on the room? Did the rental car place find out about the car?
ReplyDeleteI don't know about the car rental company - they must know by now - but the hotel saved everything from our room and told us we could come and get it whenever we wanted. I told them to just throw it all away. It's only clothes and toiletries that we've already replaced anyway. The most valuable things - cameras, phones - were lost in the accident. We didn't get a room refund, and I never expected one. They didn't know we were never coming back until it was time to check out.
ReplyDelete