We didn’t have any idea where the hospital was, and the ambulance we were supposed to be following was long gone. The man in the back of our Jeep was not giving any directions unless I turned to him to ask. He refused to answer how he is related to the injured man. He kept calling people telling them about the accident, saying that old Li was hit by a car, but nobody in his house is picking up the phone.

I was in the front passenger seat, amongst glass shards from the smashed windshield, fingers bleeding from the ones I didn’t notice when getting back into the car. The stranger in the car was irritatingly gruff, mostly non-responsive. After 30 minutes we got lost and waited at an intersection for 10 minutes while the stranger called the woman that was with him at the clinic. Finally, after about 50 minutes, we made it.

We arrived at the orthopedics hospital, parked, and rushed in. We were received by Doctor X, head of emergency care unit, after we paid 260 yuan for the ambulance. He told us not to worry, that it’s not very serious, that all we have to do now is PAY, and everything’s going to be fine. Here’s what we found out after the MRI, CAT scan and X-ray results were brought in. The injured man had 1 rib broken, and there was liquid accumulating under it. His leg was fine, the gash was already operated on, and turned out to be the least of our worries. He also had a broken collar bone that would need to be operated on in a few days when his condition stabilized. He’d need to stay in the hospital to recover. The emergency treatment came to about 2800 yuan, and that we had with us. But the hospital stay deposit was 10000 yuan, and that we didn’t have.

Injured man’s condition: Stable.
People present in the doctor’s office: Doctor, us, the woman from the clinic, who is now claiming to be his grieving daughter.
Suspicion levels: Medium.
Expenses to this point: Appr. 3000 yuan.
Combined remaining bank account balance: 800 yuan.
Mood: Angry and confused.

Now, here’s a tiny little piece of info regarding our ‘new’ vehicle. We bought it 4 days before the accident. With expired insurance we were careless enough (some would say stupid – and I’d be one of them) not to renew. Funny thing – we talked about it the morning before the trip and decided to do it ‘tomorrow’. Wrong, wrong, wrong! Turned out that within the minimum mandatory insurance package, regardless of blame in the accident (us – 0, man – totally his fault), the driver/car owner is liable 100%. So whether we had 10000 yuan or not did not matter, because we had to pay it just the same. Which we did the next day.

In the meantime, Doctor X tells us and the ‘daughter’ that it’s best to still inform the police. She calls the police department. The police – located about 5 minutes away, arrive in about a half an hour. They briefly interrogate us – literally in just a few words, then head into the room where the injured man has been moved to. After they come back, they tell us to get in the car and drive behind them to the police department. And we drove.

To be continued…

Date: June 29th, 2008.
Destination: Shi Du rapids, Fangshan District, Beijing.
Means of transportation: Our newly purchased 1995 Jeep Cherokee.
Traveling accessories: map, directions printed off Baidu and a huge bag of snacks.
Weather: A slight drizzle.
Mood: Upbeat.

After an hour and a half of driving, we almost reached our destination. Another 20 kilometers, and we’d be there. Anticipation, excitement, you name it. And then, less than 10 meters ahead of us, from between the bushes on the right side of the road, came a man on the bike. He paused on the side of the road, and kept going. It was momentarily clear what was going to happen next. To tell the truth, I blanked out for a second. Screeching tires, sound of a body hitting the windshield. Silence… I opened my eyes (I wasn’t the one driving). The corner of the windshield was smashed in on my side. I opened the door and jumped out. The bike, twisted, lay on the side. Then came the straw hat. Then the man. He lay on the wet ground, moaning. From the gash on the inside of this right ankle black blood was coming out, in unison with his heartbeat.

Time: appr. 12:10.
Surroundings: fields as far as you can see, tall bushes on the side of the road.
People around: 0 (hence no gawking crowd).
Road setup: 2-lane freeway, cars whizzing by, nobody stopping to my frantic waving.
Weather: drizzle.
Mood: freaked out.

We didn’t know what to do. We didn’t know where exactly we were. No pedestrian traffic in that part of the universe. Somebody slowed down and told us: call the traffic police, 122. I called. They picked up. I said, in Chinese: “Please help me, we hit a man on a bike, what do we do now?” Reply: “Do you need an ambulance?” Me: “Could you please tell us what we are required to do by law, please!” Answer: “Do you need an ambulance?” Me: “Urgh!” I hung up. Somebody else slowed down (mind you, nobody would pull over), saying: call the ambulance, 120. I did. Me: “There’s been an accident, we need an ambulance!” They: “Where are you?” Me: “Oops, I have no idea”. They: “So do you need an ambulance?” Me: “Urgh!” I hung up.

We tied a sweater above the bleeding gash in the man’s leg to stop the bleeding. Nobody in the passing cars knew either where we were (all tourists like us), or where was the closest hospital. Nobody pulled over to help out. There were some concrete buildings about 300 meters away, so we lifted the man into the back of the Jeep, and headed in that direction, hoping to find help. I sat next to the man, applying additional pressure above the bleeding gash on his leg. Before we left, we moved the bike off the road to the side (rain, overgrown bushes, limited visibility, there could easily be a second accident if we didn’t).

We reached the concrete buildings, there was a little shop there, and the shop owner’s daughter agreed to come with us and show us to the nearest hospital. For the first time, the man spoke to the people around him. I didn’t hear what he said, but they responded, “You can’t fully blame them, you know”.

We drove to the hospital (clinic), me still in the back of the car, clutching his leg. We drove into the front yard, the only people there being a woman and a man.

Time: 15 minutes after the accident (seemed like hours, though).
Medical staff rushing out to us: 0.
Weather: slight drizzle.
Mood: still freaked out.

Me and the shopkeeper’s daughter rushed into the clinic yelling “Doctor! Doctor!” In a minute or so, a man dressed like a doctor came out. Turned out that the clinic did not have an emergency care unit, but could send an ambulance to the nearest hospital (40 minute drive away)! The doctor was in no rush to look at the bleeding man. We waited for over 10 minutes in the front yard till the ambulance driver was located. Finally, the bleeding man was put on a stretcher and lifted into the back of the ambulance. All this time I was sitting in the back of the Jeep, holding the man’s hand, telling him everything was going to be all right. The man and woman in front of the hospital were standing idly by, no participation whatsoever. Assumption at the moment: idle bystanders.

To be continued…