June 7 - Forbidden City

Woke up feeling weak, and my heart was fluttering. Initially, I didn’t think much of it, but after getting ready for the day thought that this probably wasn’t normal, especially since I also felt breathless. Since I still had an Internet connection, I looked up my symptoms and got back the result of “extreme dehydration.” If I didn’t do something about this, the web doctor said that the next stage could be convulsions. Realizing that I hadn’t actually had very much to drink the day before, I grabbed my purse and walked to a nearby “convenience” store, where I bought a 2 liter bottle of water (now that we were in Beijing, I couldn’t find Evian to save my life. I would have to do with Chinese water. Sigh.), some 7-Up and some Pepsi Max. The total cost was less than $2. I took them back to the hotel room, and guzzled them. Even after a few minutes, I still felt ill.

Today, we were slated to go to the Forbidden City. It was hot, and the FC is HUGE. I didn’t know if I was up to the task of walking around. I asked to see Ah-Yen, who is a nurse. She came to the room, and I explained how I was feeling. She took my pulse, and told me it was normal. I asked her if I might be dehydrated, and she said that without knowing my medical background, she couldn’t say. Hmmm. Then I was told that I was probably having a panic attack. Hmm, again. The suggestion next was that maybe I was having nutritional issues because of the way I’d been eating. Grrr. Had I been in better shape I might have said something about the fact that being a vegetarian means actually eating something other than a few stalks of broccoli for a meal, but that’s hindsight. People really should get a clue what vegetarians eat, and realize that there are different types of vegetarians, and if someone in a group has dietary restrictions, maybe you should let them buy a separate meal and not make them pick through the wreckage of everyone else’s. Moving on …

I contemplated staying behind in the hotel, but since this was the one and only time I would have in the Forbidden City, I decided to drag my dying ass along. As this was our 11^th day together, everyone was keen to split up and go our own way. We would meet back in a few hours. Normally, I would happily split up, but being as I felt like I had one foot in the grave, I didn’t really want to be alone, especially when you looked across one of the courtyards and saw hundreds upon hundreds of people. If you collapsed in the middle of this throng, who knows what would happen next. Plus, I had no way to contacting anyone. Because I had consumed so much water, I had to find the lavatory. Lovely squat toilets. Be sure if you ever go to China that you bring plenty of toilet paper AND hand sanitizer, because neither are in abundance. Also, get used to the idea that you cannot flush your toilet paper, but are supposed to throw it into a small trash can next to the bog. How sanitary is this? On the plus side, if there is a plus side, the toilets are usually well staffed with someone making the rounds to empty the trash cans. Shudder. When I came out of the toilets, I wandered over a bit to look at a bunch of lion dog statues all huddled together. Was this a deliberate arrangement or was this where the surplus lion dogs went? Coming around back into the courtyard, I looked around. Everyone had buggered off. For a moment, I was overcome with dread. I really didn’t think that in my condition, I should be alone. Luckily I bumped into our tour guides and one of my fellow travelers.

We walked along as slowly as was humanly possible, taking in every nook and cranny. I don’t really think it’s possible to see the Forbidden City in one day. It’s essentially one section nestled within another one with many side areas for exploring. Remember this was a city within a city, and the emperor lived here his entire life. He didn’t leave, which is why Pu Yi, the “last emperor,” had no idea what was going on in China during his reign. He was blissfully oblivious to the changes taking place – from the Japanese occupation to the eventual Cultural Revolution. I would imagine it wasn’t unlike the life of the Dalai Lama, who only very rarely left the Potala Palace. It’s all well and good living in a dream world, but how do you cope when real life comes crashing through your door? The only thing that really annoyed me about the Forbidden City is the fact that all of the buildings are closed up with glass windows. To see what’s inside, you have to press your hands up against it and peer inside. The few areas that aren’t glass encased are so crowded with pushy tourists that you have to become super pushy yourself just to get a look, and then it’s bloody dark inside. Thank goodness I had my camera with me. Once I had jostled my way forward, I pointed the lens inside and took a (flash) photo. It was only later that I could see what had been inside.

Everyone was getting a bit hungry – I had had a trusty Clif bar – so we stopped at a small restaurant. One look at the menu told me that I would be going hungry again. I don’t remember all of the options, but the one my companions ate was beef curry. No beef for me, thanks, and eating curry when you are sick … well, that’s just asking for trouble. Just thinking of another unpleasant encounter with a squat toilet was enough to put me off of food. I got a drink of green tea instead. After lunch, there wasn’t much time left, so I decided to brave out on my own. (These guys were going way too slowly.) I at least wanted to reach the gardens. I bid adieu and took off. The gardens weren’t really all that spectacular, but they did present me with a fantastic surprise. At one of the various food stalls I found someone selling Lays original potato chips. Not tomato or cucumber flavored. Not chicken or curry flavored. ORIGINAL flavor. I savored every bite. I think I washed them down with a 7-Up. On the way back, I was beginning to feel sick again. That didn’t stop a few Asian women from stopping me so that I could take a photo with them. Two fingers up, smile and cheese.

Back at the hotel, we got our new room assignments. No more bed sharing. And then everyone decided that they wanted to go out for another bout of shopping. I know my limits. I had exerted myself enough already – and shopping was really the least of my interests – so I stayed behind in the hotel. This would give me a chance to rehydrate. I drank water until bed time. I woke up in the middle of night shivering. My teeth were chattering and I couldn’t stop moving involuntarily. My mind immediately thought about the next step of dehydration, and I panicked. My skin didn’t feel cool to the touch. I woke up my roommate and asked her if she was cold. She said that it was cool in the room. (The thermometer was set at around 21 C, which is high 60s.) I crawled back into bed, wrapped myself up tightly into my comforter and tried to warm up. At some point I fell back asleep.