Travel Diary - China July 2019

This has been in draft mode since the trip. Publishing a bit late

C was teaching a summer course in Shanghai and the three of us joined him for three weeks to explore and experience a new country.

July 5

Flight was from Boston to Atlanta and then to Shanghai. Boston to Atlanta seemed rather long already after the hectic travel preparations, work wrap up and chores around the house prior to vacation. The  4 hours stop over at the Atlanta airport made it feel that much longer. We were dreading the 15 hour long flight on the second leg, but surprisingly we fell asleep for the large part of the second half and it just seemed to fly by (pun intended :-)

July 6

Arrived in Shanghai, Pudong International Airport. C had come to the airport for pickup using Metro for  the first time. It was hot and humid and the air felt thick. We learnt very quickly that language would pose a barrier. A person caught hold of us and brought us out as he co-ordinated with the taxi driver on the phone. We played tourists 100%, paid the said amount and arrived at our Air b’n’b. C had figured out by now how to use Alipay. Quite convenient. We were told that carrying cash had its downsides, getting stolen, short-changed for fake bills right under your nose etc.

July 7

Disney. This is a much sought after destination for the locals here. We would hear about this from many people in other cities/towns that we visited later, about how it is their dream to visit Shanghai Disney Land. Quite comparable to the Disney world here in the US. We put the most steps in one day during this entire trip. We averaged more than 10K per day. Getting accustomed to the heat plus all the walking left us completely exhausted. Then trying to finalize plan for the next couple of days according to our draft plan that we had put together prior to the travel, turned out to be a bit stressful in that state late that night. But after a goodnight's rest we were good to go again.

July 8

Everyday after C returned from the university at noon, we would head out for sightseeing, which worked out great for the girls to sleep in and rest, and for me to cook a little something, laundry etc. We visited The Bund and East Nanjing Road (Both of which we ended up visiting a few more times during our stay in Shanghai). Tried the Shanghai Museum but was closed that day. Lack of our due diligence as we hurriedly planned the previous night. We really needed a day to recover in the apartment with some much-needed comfort food cooked at home and stay indoors with the air-conditioning.

July 9 - Rest Day

July 10

Spent the day doing the walking tours at the East and West French Concessions. Got a feel for the Concessions backstreets, upscale shopping strips and historic architecture amidst the lush green trees laden roads. Once again reminded us of Bangalore. Fuxing Park, our first stop on the walk was nice even as it rained while we walked.  Last stop at Shanghai Library! It is a huge building with great ambience. We enjoyed a cup of nice coffee.   

July 11

Train ride ride from Shanghai to Beijing. We first took the metro to the Shanghai Train Station, last stop on Line 10. The size of the train station and the crowd was mind boggling. We could navigate our way since there were signs in English as well. After collecting the tickets at the counter, we took the escalator yet again to the topmost floor to enjoy a Subway sandwich lunch before boarding the train. This was a six hours journey to Beijing with about 6-7 stops on the way. Very comfortable seats with sufficient legroom and vendors making frequent rounds (wished there were some palatable choices to purchase though, couldn’t help but reminisce maddurvaDa). Tried to capture some country-side views and sunsets with the camera but couldn’t do justice because of the speed.  We arrived at Beijing South Station at around 8:30 and took a short subway ride to the Happy Dragon, R J Brown Hotel. Checked into the hotel and we were too tired to venture out to find any dinner. And since we had an early start the next day just retired for the night early.

July 12

We had booked tours through a travel agency called China Heights. 

Key Sights: Summer Palace,Temple of Heaven,The Forbidden City,Tiananmen Square.

Our full day tour of classic Beijing began with a visit to Tian’anmen Square after being picked up at our hotel at around 07:00-08:00. Tian’anmen Square, the largest city square in the world, holds the Monument of the National Heroes, the Great Hall of the People, the National Museum of China, and the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong. We then enjoyed a short walk from Tian’anmen Square to the Forbidden City. Between 08:30-10:30, we visited magnificent imperial palace. The Forbidden City, with over 500 years of history, is supposed to be the largest and best-preserved ancient palatial structure in the world.

At around 11:00, on the way to our next destination, the Temple of Heaven, we had a chance to visit traditional Chinese medicine outlets where there was a presentation about the various herbs and their medicinal values, while we soaked our tired feet in a basin of warm water with medicinal herbs in it. The presentation was followed by a traditional Chinese foot massage, just what we needed at that hour. Very refreshing! 

The Temple of Heaven, considered the holiest place in Beijing, is the largest ancient imperial architectural structure for worship in the world. Here we learnt about the prayers by the emperors for a great harvest. Our tour guide had us do a special gesture while we exited out the “door”to the heavens ... we had to scream out loud the words “Wak way laila” in order to leave behind all the evil spirits as we entered the earthly world again! 

After enjoying a traditional Chinese lunch with our fellow tourists at a local restaurant we got an opportunity to shop at a pearl open market. Some information about fresh water pearls, salt water pearls, their nature and value, and about how to distinguish between real and fake pearls etc was offered prior to enticing us to buy various types of jewelry made of these pearls. 

A 30-minute drive later, we reached the Summer Palace, supposed to be the best preserved and largest imperial garden in the world. The Summer Palace is regarded as a museum of gardens in China. This is apparently a park thatlocals use for regular walks and exercise with monthly passes to the park. A walking path around the lake with breathtaking views of willows trees and temples and with people boating in the lake.

July 13

Not much of an explorer in terms of food, plus being a vegetarian I was finding it hard to find options to stay satiated. Luckily, within 10 mins walk from the apartment, there was a local vegetable market. We found fresh vegetables and some rice and peanuts. I was glad to have packed a box of spices. Every once in a while I cooked a familiar meal of tomato rasam, rice, bisibeLebath, shallow fried vegetables, mixed vegetable sambar etc.

July 14

Train ride back to Shanghai.

July 15

Rest day . . . 

July 16

I went vegetable shopping in the morning. We made a quick stop at Jing’an Temple that afternoon. There were lots of interesting little roadside shops. We did not go inside the temple. Enjoyed strolling around outside. We took a taxi to lunch at a restaurant called Vegetarian lifestyle. Although it was a relief to know that it was all vegetarian without a doubt, I am not sure I liked the taste. Another taxi ride to Jade Buddha temple, where we spent some time in the serenity of the temple ambience inside. We then walked to the Contemporary Art Museum. It was very interesting to visit the artists in their spaces, with artwork on display for sale while they worked in their nook on whatever was their current project. They were actually setting up a stage for a music show later that evening, in the open space at the center, which was surrounded by all the artist's studios.

July 17

Made moolangi saaru and anna with fried potato for lunch. We went to Shanghai Art Museum along with C's collogue Prof. Susan who is an Art's Appreciation Professor. I remember thinking that must an interesting subject to be working on. She brought her perspective and shared some of her thoughts as were walked around the museum taking in everything we were seeing there. On the way back we went shopping on E. Nanjing Rd. We were bummed to find that Forever 21 was closed, hopefully not forever. We shopped mostly at H&M for M and S. 

Side story: C came home from the university one day and mentioned how Susan had a two books from the Taj Mahal Trilogy Series "The twentieth wife" and "Shadow Princess", that she had finished reading and was looking to see if there was anyone interested in reading them and would take them off of her hands so she didn't have to lug them along during  her travel. I said I’d love to. I finished reading most of it during the trip. During the day we would visit all these historical places and hear stories about the Chinese emperors, their harem, their wives and concubines and at night I was reading stories about the Moghul Emperors in these books. I couldn't help but think how similar human stories are regardless of the place. I noticed the stark similarities in experiences, struggles, mindsets etc especially for women.

July 18

Rice and left over mulangi saaru for lunch. Some house-keeping chores in the morning. Then we caught the 2:40 train to Xi’an. Arrived in Xi-an 8:35 PM 

July 19

Guided tour at Xi’an. We were picked up the TravelChinaGuide representative at 8:00 AM. The day included visit to the Museum of Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses, the Small Wild Goose Pagoda and the City Wall. Lunch along with our fellow tourist from Europe. Lunch also included the tea ceremony, tasting a variety of teas. It is here that I bought a couple of boxes of tea, Ginseng Oolong and Lychee flavors. I got used to drinking chinese tea, having learnt of all of its benefits. Just the fact that it does not include cream and sugar is already great. Although sometimes there is nothing quite like our good old hot cup of adrak masala chai. So I continue to enjoy that once in a while as well. At first was a quick stop at the store at the entrance of the museum of terra-cotta warriors, with the customary picture with the person who first found these hidden treasures. Then the three different sections of the museum with terracotta structures of warriors, horses, chariots etc, with amazing details. There was a crew still at work excavating more of these and carefully restoring them to their original glory since many of them are broken in the process. We then visited the Small pagoda before lunch break. After lunch it was a visit to the City wall. Seemed like it is a common concept for the Emperor's to mark their territory!? This town had a wall build around the city lined with typical red lanterns. There were bicycle rental places, we saw a lot of people cycling around on the wall. We noticed this wall was much wider than the great wall of China. After resting for a little bit at the hotel room, we went to the Big Pagoda in the evening. They had spectacular water works with lights and music at 8 as it got darker.

July 21

Early morning train to Hang Zou. We got Tiramisu biscuits on the train and started using my tea bottle! The hottest  we have seen so far here. We decided to call a taxi instead of walking 20 mins to the hotel room. We also had to stop by the bank on the way from the subway station, so we were already toasted. Rested a couple of hours in the hotel room with AC. Then walked to Hefang Ancient Street. A very happening street with vendors of all kinds of eateries, and a variety of things. A fun place to shop. 

July 22

We took the guided tour of Hang Zou.

The day started with a boat cruise on the Westlake. West Lake has 2.2 square miles and is the symbol of Hang Zou which lays on its banks. This boat ride gave us what we were told one of the ten best views of West Lake - Three Poles Mirroring the Moon, which by the way is printed on Chinese currency. The occasional pagoda and Chinese-style arched bridges added unique character to the tree-lined walkways. Verdant islands and hills make Westlake a very special part of China experience. Next up was Fish watching tour at the flower pond, a 22 hectare area with many varieties of trees and flowers, featuring a peony garden which apparently blooms in April so we missed that, and a gold fish pond, a famous site  for fish watching, which were in plenty.

We were then driven to the beautiful Longjing Green Tea plantation and village (Meijiawa), known for its famous tea. The scenery here was breathtakingly beautiful! There were many tea houses where you could taste the local tea. Lunch was unique at one of the local tea farmer's restaurants. We ordered the usual vegetables and sticky rice. We tried Lotus Shoot for the first time and felt that it is something that you'd have the acquire the taste over-time. The eggplant dish was very tasty.Post lunch we took a walk in the Bamboo lined path at Yungi, a quiet place away from the crowd. It was a nice gentle stroll through the picturesque Bamboo forest. We ended our day with more walking along Qinghefang Old Street (aka Hefang St), an epitome of historic Hangzhou with well-preserved old buildings. Quite interesting with lots of small shops, street foods, musicians, painters, and  lovely boutiques.

Found out at China’s second largest train station Hang Zou East train station that we had mistakenly booked the  6:30 am train instead of 6:30 pm. So, we had to rebook the tickets to a later available one at 9:44 and wait at the station, which meant more games of cards, more bites to eat, search for ice cream etc. Quite an exhausting day with 20k steps!

July 22 

Chilled at home. Made bisibelebath. Girls went out to get some water and vegetables etc. Had some cucumbers  and corn for late afternoon snack and finished the day with a little chitranna for dinner. S seemed to be coming down with a cold.

July 24

Took it easy at home again during the day. Tomato saru, rice and eggplant fry for lunch. We played cards while  C caught up in his sleep and in the evening went to Yu Garden and Market finishing off with another view of the Shanghai Skyline from The Bund. We headed home again by the metro. Mind boggling crowd!

July 25

Dropped M at the metro station. She is flying off to Seattle today to meet with her Purdue friends. I stopped  by the vegetable market on the way home. Cleaned the house, put a load of laundry, had a little left over bisibeLebath for breakfast and sat down to read. S is still fast asleep.

This too shall pass . . .

...or dissolve I guess. A blood clot. Here is the story, while I was working on this shawl in blood red (Red Velvet)

One Monday evening recently, on the way back from work we picked up some Jalepeno poppers and onion rings for a tea time snack with all four of us at home. My single most weakness are these fried goodies, since childhood. Street food, mirchi bhaji (meNsinakayi bonDa) and onion pakoras were a regular at home growing up. We enjoyed it with murmura (puffed rice), and finely chopped raw onions aka manDakki kara. So every time we make do with the alternatives here, I am reminiscing, sharing stories from cool summer evenings, enjoying the almost ritualistic endeavor of sharing those with family sitting on a mat (chApe) out in the front porch of the house.

When I developed a heart burn that Monday night, (Jan 13th, 2020) I went down the guilt trap of having relished these, albeit just a couple, earlier in the evening. I have had acid reflux episodes before so did the usual, took antacids, slept in a reclining position for most of the night etc. The heart burn seemed unusually severe though. My left chest continued to hurt throughout the day on Tuesday and I kept thinking that the heart burn was so severe that it is taking longer to feel completely back to normal. Wednesday morning as I was driving to work, I distinctly remember the moment, at the intersection of Tadmuck Rd, feeling like I needed to clear a little something that was stuck in my chest and as I did that feeling the pain spike. And thinking that I should probably get it checked. And every time I took a deep breath it continued to hurt on the left side of my chest. I got engrossed with work all morning and picked up the phone at around 2:00 PM and called the doctor's office to speak with a nurse to see if I should make an appointment to get checked or just wait till my previously scheduled annual physical at the end of the month. They don't take any kind of chest pain lightly, she booked an appointment with my doctor for later that evening, so I stopped by there on the way back home from work. After examining and hearing about my symptoms, the doctor suggested that I get a blood test and a chest X-Ray immediately. I said to her that the insurance considers the lab at the facility at the hospital as out of network, so I'd do it in the morning when I found a free standing lab that I could get this done at. The look that followed on her face as she said to me that she was suspecting a blood clot in the lung and that it was important to get that done asap, made me rush downstairs, the lab was to close in 30 mins. Got the X-Ray of the chest and had blood drawn for testing and drove back home.

Fixed up dinner for everyone, and enjoyed a game of cards which we have been doing a lot lately now that the girls are more accessible and we got hooked to it during our China trip last July. The doctor called around 9:45 saying that my blood results were not normal and that I should go to the emergency room immediately. It felt so weird, I anxiously got ready in just a few mins (trying to figure what to bring to the ER, maybe the book I was reading at the moment, "Becoming", or my hobby bag, toiletries etc, joking with M if I needed to pack makeup) and all four of us headed to Emerson Hospital in Concord in two cars, just in case we had to go back and forth, not knowing what the treatment plan would be, whether I'd have to stay in the hospital, and if so how long, and whether there was surgery involved etc. Hadn't heard of Pulmonary Embolism up until this point, so had not looked up or done any research to learn more about it yet.

I was thinking how the last time I was in the hospital was when I delivered my second (and last) child 20 years ago. Oh wait, there was one other ER visit after my wisdom teeth extraction, when the children were very little, but that was all my doing, forgetting completely to nourish myself throughout the day, busy caring for the little ones and catching up on weekend chores before heading back to work on Monday. And had ended up with the worst headache ever, as I was dehydrated. Huge doses of pain killers and IV fluids and a solid 6 hours of sleep at the ER and I was fine and back to routine upon return from the ER.

So, back to this ER visit, after another ECG, repeat blood test, chest X-Ray and a CAT Scan with contrast, they confirmed PE in the left lung and started me on blood thinning medication and was released to go home at 4:00 AM. I am grateful and relieved that I got this looked at in a timely fashion. The things they tell you that could go wrong otherwise is very scary. Glad that the treatment plan this time is non disruptive, with no surgery, hospital stay etc. And most importantly jalepeno poppers and onion rings had nothing to do with this, so I can still enjoy these ;-) Yet another jolt to remind how things can change in an instant, to not take anything for granted, and realize what a miracle this human body is and how many zillion little things go right every single day for us to wake up and love life.