Under the weather
Jul 21st, 2007 by Peter
17th July 2007 Harbin
Slept like a rock. Or on one. The last statement being the more accurate.
I felt like shit when I woke up. During the night and early morning I woke up many times and each time it felt like my back, neck, hips and shoulders were hit by a car. Sleeping on the floor didn’t help my already tired body much. Actually I felt worse than when I went to sleep. My head was spinning and I had an enormous headache. C felt ok but also had a slight headache. We both ate some painkillers, since we knew the day was already planned for us and we needed to feel fit.
We had some breakfast which was some steamed bread with some sweet stuff inside. Then there were fried eggs, some warm milk and leftovers from the restaurant the day before. Yet again I had to disappoint some Chinese hosts for my lack of appetite. All I could squeeze down was a bread and half a bottle of water. I wish I could eat and eat to make them feel like good hosts, but my stomach and body really wouldn’t help me. I fear that I leave Harbin looking like a picky weiguren instead of how I really feel: very very welcome and always surrounded by good food.
9.00am we jumped into C’s friend’s car and headed to a spot here in Harbin called Sunshine Island. The weather was cloudy, but that was cool as the heat didn’t feel as bad as yesterday. It was windy to and I didn’t have to sweat through all the day as normally.
Sunshine Island is a big park with small different areas. There’s a spot made like a marsh, one with beautiful flower arrangements, a closed area with squirrels running freely and so on. You guessed it: A real tourist trap. All of the park was artificial which to me is a bit of a downer. I like real nature, and even though I find it cool that someone had invested so much time in making the park beautiful, I would rather have been taking a walk in the forest or another non-commercial park. Anyway our time there was great. C’s friends are really cool and friendly people and we enjoyed walking in the park together. I shot a lot of pictures of C’s friend’s child and C’s friends. I’m sure they will be happy to get those at a later date.
We walked there for 4½ hour, and I was feeling my level of fatigue to be near the max. The lacking sleep in the night and strain on my body during the last days (weeks?) had made its impact. We only sat down a few times so I was ready already after the 3 hours.
When we finally left the park, it was time for dinner. As usually I was nowhere near hungry, but some food is needed and we headed for a restaurant. I told C to make it perfectly clear to them that this one was on us and there was no discussing it. It’s so hard to be able to spend money on restaurants here. C’s family insists that they pay every time and so does C’s friends apparently too.
At first I needed to drop by a bank to use my credit card. We only had 500rmb or so left and later the same day C would need 850rmb for our train tickets to Beijing on our way home. We stopped at Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (not sure it’s the right name, but it’s close). This bank not only wouldn’t accept Visa, but worse of all, wouldn’t even exchange dollars. Idiots. So we left again and found a Bank of China, which I know normally can help out with both. Success.
Then off to a restaurant where I as expected couldn’t eat much. C’s friends really think that I don’t like Chinese food, or so they told C. C had to do a long explaining about my stomach, foreign bacteria flora and an exhausted husband before they let me off the hook. So sorry to be a bad guest, but I’m not master of my body these days. At least we were allowed to pay this time. It took some semi-wrestling, but together C and I managed.
C wanted to go and buy train tickets, but also she wanted to get here nails done for free. The school where she bought some nail gear the day before had offered her to come back and get her fix by some of the students. Free is C’s favorite word and she and her friend went there alone while I drove back to our temporary home to catch up on some sleep. I slept 2½ hour without waking up. I was that tired. When I finally woke up, it was only because I was sweating from the heat and possibly the many days strain on my body. Nevertheless I felt much better afterwards. 10 minutes later C and her friend came back home and I was placed in the daughter’s room with my laptop to catch up on my writing. Good stuff.
Turned out that my feeling better was just a short one. Before dinner I was getting all warm and my headache was returning. I was lend a thermometer and checked out my numbers. 38.5celcious. Not dangerously high, but surely an explanation to why I felt like shit. I had already diagnosed myself. I had pushed my limits too much. Too little sleep, too much walking, too little relaxing and too bad bed/floor. It’s just hard to control these things sometimes. I already knew I was riding the edge when I woke up this morning, but C’s friends had both taken a day off to show us around town.
We went to bed/floor early and crossed fingers for a quick recovery.