28th Dec
 
Saturday went to a hospital trying to get my vaccinations completed, no luck.
most of this morning calling a number of hospitals for hours and getting very frustrated, eventually ended up catching a subway and when I get to my detination I　realised Iwas at the same hospital as on Saturday! But this tine I see the International Medicine Clinic reception. Contrary to their name the only vaccinations they have is for Hepetitis A and B which I dont need. The nurse makes a afew phone calls and has similar probnlems to me getting through to some numbers. This is pretty incredible that you can t get some basic travel vaccinations in Beijing, apparently renound for Disease Control.  The nurse keeps giving back my slip of paper saying she cant get through, but I am not budging, I cant do anything else either. Eventually she directs me to Internationsal SOS Medical Centre. The taxi drivers dont know where this is but eventaully a kind and clever one that takes me on board makes a few phone calls and gets me there. ＡｓＩwalk in suddenly I am bombarded with good English being spoken by everyone I come across, this is a private clinic, very clean and smartly run in comparison to the hospitals I have seen since Saturday, and also less populated of course.
 

I am expected to be seen by a doctor prior to prescription despite having already had the first 2 parts of the medicaiton before (this is usually done by travel specialist nurses in the UK). The charge for this service alone is 1100 RNB, the cost of the vaccines are comparable. I am paying for my own lack of planning.

he receptionist is kind enough to give me another number to try (and waits patiently while i wait for a human voice on the other end of the line)　and ｉ　having waited on the line for what seems ages, the prices are marginally less but no appointments for 3 days. I decide to stay where I am and write it down to experience which continues to be gained expensively both in terms of time and money.   I  thought i was a patient person but i am being stretched to place I never knew existed and learning to ask for help or sometimes what feels like grovel to people to get what I want. My sense of false independence is being truly challenged. My purpose of travel was not only to stretch the horizons i would visit but also to strectch the limitations of my own mind and it seems i am getting just that .
 
with the new cultures as well as the density of population there seems there is very little room for physical space, over inflated egos observing others from ivory towers and pontificating about people and lilving conditions.
 
I initailly wrote these lines at the reception of the clinic, might as well.

When they billed me they only charged 550 RMB for my social chat with the non chinese speaking Malaysian doctor who gave me travel tips and directed me to Wangfujing where I could be good tourist books.

Travel back cost me 46 as i was supposed to meet Eva (hotel manageress from my first night stay).

What the dear doctor did not tell me that where she sent me was also heavily frequented by the ladies of the night accusting me for their services and eateries where you could get things like starfish and sea horse fried on a stick. one girl approached me under the guise of just wanting to practice her English but found my charge of $20 for my services "rediculous" I guess her English was quite adequate then!