After some time in a Chinese hospital, I’m home…

I spent three days in a private international hospital in Tianjin.  After days of infusions, a CT scan, multiple ultrasounds, and lots of antibiotics, I was deemed medically fit to travel back home for medical treatment.

The people (doctors, nurses, staff, liaisons who spoke English) were so wonderful.  They wanted a picture of me.  Before I left, they toured me around to see where the actor Chuck Norris spent his time with them (he was there over a month a few years back).

After being released from the hospital and spending a night at the Beijing Airport Hilton, I boarded the flight from Beijing to Dallas-Fort Worth.  The flight arrived about 1.5 hours late, and we were late leaving.  I missed my connecting flight, but the airlines put me up in a nearby hotel for the night. 

I arrived home on Sunday afternoon.  I’m off today for a visit with my own doctor to determine the best course of treatment of my left foot.

Here are few photos I took of my time in Tianjin and Beijing.  

LuLu is on the left.  She went to school at Loyola in Chicago.  That's a nurse beside LuLu.  The other three are MDs.  The one to my right was the one who examined and gave me news about my health through LuLu's translation.

The dietician visited me my first evening.  Western or Asian diet was his question?  I got soup, hamburger, and salad for lunch each day.  That's ketchup in the owl.  

That's a look at my hospital entry door from the 11th floor patio.

Tianjin is a booming city of skyscrapers.  My hospital room was on the 11 floor and had a courtyard for patients.

The morning sunlight glows off of the new tower being constructed.

I had a "VIP" room.  Here's the presidential hospital suite where Chuck Norris and his wife stayed for over a month.

This hospital room has its own kitchen.  Chefs prepared the meals for the Norris' during their hospital stay.

I guess listening to a grand piano in your hospital room has curative powers.

The presidential hospital suite had a hospital room and a private bedroom for the accompanying spouse.

Shower or dual person tub?  

LuLu is with 3 of the nurses who attended me.  They worked 16 hour shifts!

I was in VIP #22.  Here's the living/family room area outside my private hospital room.  Each room had a big sceen tv, but only 3 channels were in English.

Chuck Norris with the CEO (a vascular surgeon) that examined and dressed my foot on Day 1.

Chuck Norris, his wife and team of assistants with the folks who cared for them.

A look at one of the terminals at the Beijing airport from my hotel room.

How can something so small create such big problems?

This little piggy is not too happy!

😠The saga of the left fourth toe got a little more complicated yesterday.  The soft tissue of the toe is healing, but it appears the infection, as confirmed by x-ray, jumped to the bone.  I’m supposed to have a CT scan in a Chinese hospital tomorrow and if it’s still localized in the fourth toe, to fly home to take care of the issue. 

🔮Oh well, this gives me an opportunity for a future trip to Asia to see the sights I’ve missed.

😃I’m almost finished packing for my disembarkation tomorrow morning.  I’m so glad I purchased the platinum trip insurance coverage! 

A day in Fukuoka, Japan

I’m still on the mend, and I want to be ready for my next excursion to the Great Wall of China on Wednesday.  So, I didn’t do any excursions today.  My only venture was to take a few photos of sailing into Fukuoka and to a local “family mart.” 

I will have to go through Japanese immigration tonight after dinner along with all of the passengers on the ship.  The ship moves to China next, but we’ll be back to Japan for a few more stops at the end of the month.

There's a Shinto gate, so there must be a shrine on this small island.

This area is a beach resort.

This is an interesting looking building right on the harbor.

I've never heard of "Peach" airlines, but it was one of many jets landing near the port.

 

The Amsterdam pulled into position around noon.

One of our neighbors in the port.

Interesting looking building.

I ventured ashore to this store.  It was a combination pharmacy, convenience store, and small electric appliance store 

The Kanmon Strait

The Kanmon Strait separates two of the four major islands of Japan.  We moved from the Pacific Ocean through the Kanmon Strait toward the Korean Peninsula.  We will be docking in Fukuoka at midday.

I took these shots from my room as we passed through the strait early this morning as the sun was rising.

The local pilot boat approaches our ship.

The local pilot will guide us through the strait.  He's getting ready to transfer over to our ship.

The transfer of the pilot was a success, and the pilot boat moves on.

It's a beautiful morning, and you can tell the leaves are getting ready to show amazing color.

The local lighthouse has lights that show direction symbols and numbers.

You can cross the strait between Honshu and Kyushu islands by bridge, ferry, or tunnel. 

Japan is known as the "land of the rising sun."  The sun came up at 6:28am this morning, and we embarked through the strait at 6:30am.

The ship began blowing its horn, and many of the local fishermen moved to make way for the Amsterdam.

This city is on the Honshu side of the strait.  It seems that everyone has a Ferris wheel in Japan.

The Kyushu side of the strait.

Boat traffic moves in an orderly fashion through the strait.

I'll have to research it later, but that looks like a stadium on the Kyushu side of the strait.

Seeing the sights of Kochi from the ship

It's a beautiful day today, and the temperature is in the 70s. 

I was able to get a few photos of this beach town from my veranda and the sports deck.  I was supposed to go to the beach and Kochi Castle, but I'll have to see those sights in the future.