NEW ENTRIES NOW AVAILABLE! Check out April 3rd and 4th. More will be posted as they become available. Pictures will be posted throughout May when I get back to the States.

I hope all of you are well. China is incredible, as you will learn in the coming days. I've met people I'll never forget, seen places over 500 years old, eaten food better than anything in America, made new friends, and even learned a few words in Chinese. My hospital rotations have now ended, so I have a one-week excursion to a few cities on Wednesday, then on to Shanghai, then back home to Texas on May 11th. It's all going by so fast!

Today we began our “clinical practice” at Anzhen Hospital. This place mainly specializes in cardiovascular medicine but is also a full service hospital. We all gathered in a large meeting room on the 11th floor. There we saw several portraits of previous UT-Houston delegations to the hospital. In fact we saw a picture from 1985. They were number one. We are number twenty. After the intro, we visited the pediatric floor of the hospital. I took a picture with a really cute kid with her dad. While in each room, crowds gathered at the door. It was like the Chinese patients and families had never seen American’s before. Even the staff got all excited. The nurses giggled like schoolgirls. It was quite the spectacle. Remember this word spectacle. I think it might appear a few more times before this is all over. Then we visited their cath lab, which is like any cath lab we have in America.

Because the hospital is so far away from the Capital (with interesting/incorrect spelling “Capitol”) University of Medical Sciences (our home), we had lunch out. After being seated in a private room, we got the cold dishes. I’m sure I will see many of these as the days progress, but there were things like duck’s feet (the webbing mind you), pickled egg, plant roots, and all sorts of stuff. I sampled most of them (including the duck foot) just to say I did. We don’t eat any kind of pork in China, because a disease called cysticercosis is endemic here. Basically parasitic worms form spores which won’t die even under cooking conditions. Once you eat them, they go to your brain and put up shop. It probably would be rare for us to get the disease, but we have no intention of tempting fate. We eat everything else.

Then we returned to the hospital for a talk on the epidemiology of common diseases. The Chinese are beginning to experience hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease due to several things (most notably smoking, high salt diets, McDonalds and KFC moving in, and others). They are beginning to have diseases of the West. Look out China, here we come. Then we talked about America. We talked about the cost of medical school, our enormous debt, and a bunch of other stuff. It was a pretty cool conversation. Then we went home.

Dinner was incredible again. Oh my goodness it was good. Then Byron and I played ping-pong and drank six bottles of beer (in addition to the several we had a dinner). We also played ping-pong with Theresa, Erich from Buffalo and Tony. I didn’t lose a game.

Well this is the first day of the China trip. Yesterday we got in late then had to wait while Byron went to figure out his bag was still in Detroit (pronounced deee-troit for all of you related to Kayla). Upon arriving, we were required to have “first night noodles”. I wasn’t hungry at all and still a little queasy from my emetic episode a few nights earlier, but I had some noodles anyway to make Dr. Strobel happy. I’ve been told there will be many other opportunities for first night noodles, as it’s given every time a new person arrives on the trip. It’s funny how he’s been saying we’re going to lose all this weight on this trip due to his experience. However, he is very insistent that we eat, and he’s always telling us to try this and try that. Plus we drink TONS of beer. Beer at Lunch, Beer at Dinner, Beer with Ping-Pong, and maybe Beer when we wake up. Then we went to bed, concluding my 30-hour trip.

Sunday we got up, had breakfast, and went took a walk. I have no idea what part of town The University is situated in, so I can’t tell you anything about where we walked. However, it was very pretty and enjoyable. We are right next to a bayou, just like the manmade one on Braeswood at the Medical Center. This is basically all sewage, but it’s lined with pretty green trees, pretty cherry trees, flowers, people out playing games and Thai Chi, and many buildings. April is absolutely BEAUTIFUL in Beijing, because everything is blooming. Every major highway is lined with cherry trees (blossoms). They are white, red, pink, and everything in between. I’m totally amazed at how manicured the shrubs are along with the grasses and everything else. It was sensory overload for quite awhile due to the vast amount of people, cars, and buildings. The condo high-rises go on forever. This makes sense, because over 20 million people live in Beijing. So we looked at all the shops, the street vendors, and nonstop people on bikes and on foot. It was overwhelming.

Then we had lunch and it was off to The Bank of China to exchange money. It is approximately 8.2 quai (or yuan) to the American dollar, so I exchanged $200 and got 850 quai or so. Then we went to “The Friendship Store” which is a 4-story department store like place with everything from pearls, to paintings, to Starbucks, to silk, to whatever. We didn’t purchase anything, because that is where all the tourists go to buy that stuff, and everything is way too expensive. We did however get ideas for what to buy in the coming days and sort of began to gauge prices. Then we of course concluded The Friendship Store visit with Starbucks. Wherever you go, there will always be Starbucks. My caramel frozen frappachino tasted just like the one I might drink in the U.S. Maybe it was a little better.

The day was completed with dinner which may be the best Chinese food I’ve ever had. If things go like this there won’t be any way in God’s green Earth I’ll lose weight as Dr. Strobel has promised. The food melted on the tongue. I think I’m in heaven.

I’m sitting here on the airplane sort of bored, but also not really. The people here at Northwest Airlines are doing fine for such a long flight. I’m not accustomed to actual meals during a flight, free beer and wine in coach, and beverages whenever I want them. Of course, I’m on a 12.5 hour trans-pacific flight from Detroit to Tokyo so entertainment is at a premium. And I guess the $1,000 ticket entitles me to my “free” beer, wine, and food. I’m pretty content so far. Pat the flight attendant is very nice. Because we’re sitting on the exit row, I have nothing but space in front of me, and the flight attendant’s chair is in front of me. It’s fun to chit chat with Pat while she takes a break. Plus she’s hooking me up with beer and such, so that’s a plus. According to this computer, it’s 8:52 PM Central Standard Time on April 1st. We are scheduled to land in Tokyo at 4:30 PM local time April 2nd. I think they’re 9 hours behind Houston but ahead a day. So really they’re 15 hours ahead. Shit, I have no idea what I’m talking about. It seems I’ve been in the air for about 8 hours, so that means we have 4.5 hours until we land. That would put me at 1:30 AM Central Standard Time, which is 15 hours behind Tokyo and everything works out. That’s why they pay me the big bucks. (I’m delirious you see.)

The day began at 5 AM (all CST for future reference) with a shower and some queasiness. After the shower, I made the coffee, got dressed, and got in Kayla’s car to pick up Byron, a classmate on the trip. Last night Kayla came over and helped me pack. I had everything in the room, but it still took me about 4.5 hours to pack everything the way I wanted it. I managed to pack everything in my large suitcase, including a big duffle bag I’m taking on our 11-day backpacking trip at the beginning of May. My smaller bag contains all the little “presents” I’m giving to the medical personnel in Beijing. They are mostly pens, staplers, and other office stuff provided by drug reps. The drug’s name is plastered all over each item to let you know who’s shelling out the fun stuff. I filled that bag to the brim with this stuff, plus all my toiletries, toilet paper, and everything else I could fit in there. In addition I have a backpack filled to the brim with CD’s, a CD player, a travel backgammon set, two decks of cards, my “dop kit”, my camera charger, a medical jurisprudence book, a few research papers on the surgical treatment of Parkinson’s Disease, and other things I can’t think of right now. You should see the mobile pharmacy I have in my bag. We are ready for any ailment that might come to us in China including allergies, bacterial infection (five different types of antibiotics), diarrhea, insomnia, extreme pain, and inflammation. Oh, and I have my laptop with computer, Kill Bill Volume 1 and 2, and my current leisure book “North Dallas Forty”, which is about professional football in the late sixties.

So anyway, we lugged this stuff to the airport and got on the 2 hour 30 minute flight to Detroit. Then we walked straight to our waiting Boeing 747-400 and got on. I’ve never been on an aircraft this big. Seriously, this thing is HUGE. It’s incredibly big. My eyes were popping out of my skull just walking through the main cabin checking this thing out. I can’t even imagine what first class upstairs looks like, but I think I would like to experience it someday (maybe on the Dreamliner when it’s eventually completed). So we sat down and proceeded to look at Michigan, a big lake, frozen mountains in Canada, Alaska, and now I think we’re over the Pacific but I can’t tell because everyone has the windows closed to simulate darkness and make it easier to watch the movies. The whole simulating darkness thing is required, because we’re flying west and the sun will not set during this flight. I think that’s pretty cool. The first film was the fantasy with the long name starring Jim Carrey. I skipped that one and read my book. The second movie was Ocean’s Twelve. It was sort of the same formula as Ocean’s Eleven, with a cool plot twist at the end. Julia Roberts (who plays Tess) ends up playing Julia Roberts, which was fun. There was also a cameo by Bruce Willis. So the movie was fun. It doesn’t match the first film, but it’s worth seeing especially since it’s available for rental (isn’t it?).

Two evenings ago, I watched I “Heart” Huckabee's starring everyone in Hollywood. It was a very strange, thoughtful movie, but I enjoyed it. I don’t want to get into the plotline, but it deals with existential detectives who help solve people’s life crises and help them achieve inner peace. What they really do is cause nothing but trouble. I really enjoyed the film in the end, and it’s worth watching if you can get over the weirdness. Lilly Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman are great, as is Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore), Jude Law, Marky Mark, and the cute blonde girl from The Ring.

Back on the HUGE airplane, Kevin Spacey’s movie “Beyond the Sea” (or something like that) is on. It also stars John Goodman, but I can’t seem to get into it. It’s on as I type this, so maybe if I paid attention I would enjoy it. However, it’s too late now, so I’ll just finish typing this thing and get back to reading. I look forward to my breakfast omelet and maybe a mimosa? Yeah right. I could con them into some white wine and mix it with orange juice I guess…or maybe I should just let it go. I’ll give you more later.

Sweet! Now I'm in Tokyo Airport using the wireless internet for 500 Yen. I think that's $5 US. I hope. A pint of beer here is 800 yen, so I think I'm ok. It's 5 PM April 2nd here in Tokyo...or 2:00 AM April 2nd there in Houston. It appears the time change in Beijing will be CST plus 13 hours. I’m starting to get excited about all of this! I already took a bunch of pictures of the airplane and scenery, and I'll try to get that up ASAP.

Hello, it is 12:19 AM CST, and I'm packed and ready for my China trip. Later this morning, I will board planes that fly to Detroit, Tokyo, then Beijing. I really don't know what the internet access is like in China, so I don't expect to be blogging very often. However, I will try and write something each day and at the very minimum post all of the entries when I return to The States. Everyone enjoy your month, and send me lots of e-mails so when I check at the internet cafe, I won't feel too homesick. Have a super April!