2nd November: Chengdu, China
Looking down from our precipitous seating area felt as if playing a game. Kids showed off their tricks on the rooftop skate park, still 60 or more metres below us. Smaller blocks of flats all had water tanks on their rooves and cars moved on the lanes between them. People looked like ants from up here.
Eventually, we decided to pop out to grab some food and to explore the main square, Tianfu. It was full of families playing on this Saturday afternoon. Not far away is People’s Park. This really shows off the foliage of the mid-south – bamboos, palms, ferns, and the deliberate ivy which is allowed to grow on buildings and bridges and gives the city a green feel.
As well as the usual dancing sessions, one other item caught our eye. This was a giant dating board, with thousands of listings! Some of them were quite demanding, talking about income and parents’ care arrangements. Most had a phone number for their parents, even if in their 30s. In fact, it seemed like most of those reading the boards were groups of women looking for partners for their children.
When we were leaving the park, some groups were playing ti jianzi. This is a group game, a bit like what is often played with a football, a but instead using a weighted shuttlecock. The skill level was extraordinary! One group of middle-aged women were relentless doing flick behind their heads and reeling off dozens of these trick plays in succession around the circle without losing control of the jianzi. They were streets ahead of the footballers playing such games at half-time on pitches up and down the UK. One of them came to let me have a go with her, which was lovely. My skills were a little mixed!
At this point, things took a turn or the worst. I started to feel quite nauseous, so we left the jianzi players, turned down two people who wanted to interview us about love, and headed back. Before we’d even got on a train in the metro station though, I’d slumped to floor and very shortly had to be sick. This happened 3 more times before we could make it the 4 stops back. I was feeling so weak and dizzy, with my vision and hearing coming and going. I decided to lay down for a couple of hours, but it didn’t help and Kaja took me to hospital. I don’t remember too much apart from clambering out of a taxi and laying on the pavement. I think Kaja almost carried me into the emergency department of the Chinese Air Force Western Theatre Hospital. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt so rough. Soon, I was in a bed but was still throwing up every few minutes. Immediately, they took some blood tests. I didn’t realise at the time, but Kaja was running around the hospital arranging things, paying for tests, and getting paperwork signed. At some point I moved beds but am not sure how. Apparently, I had some sort of infection, which they acted on immediately by giving me multiple injections and putting me on three different drips. I was in and out of it through the night and we were eventually discharged after about 10 hours.