Chionggirl in Shanghai

You can take the subway and switch to a cab there, but because there were two of us, we took the cab from our office, which costs us about RMB44.

Before I went, I did some checks with some of my guy colleageus, who have been through the examination before. They described the experience as daunting, with odd practices such as male doctors will examine female patients, or that they make you change in the open spaces if the changing room is full. Well, we took these advices with us when we left for the centre.

We have arrived early and there was already a few persons ahead of us. The centre looks like a replica of Gleneagles, Mount E, Raffles Centre etc.. Very professional looking place.

Here is the first queer arrangement. Our admin girl told us that our appointment is at 1pm. But there were like 10 persons who had their appointments at 1pm as well. So when the nursing station declared that they are open, all of us have to queue in line to have hand in our application. Please note that you need to bring 4 2inch photographs, your company's official document and get ready to pay $702 for the checkup.

After paying for your checkup, the nurses will start to guide you to your rooms. They seemed to remember the order of the patients, and when someone leave the room, they will show the next one in and point the former one to their next station.

There were alot of tests that we took. Ladies, do be prepared to be examined without your undergarments. But, unlike what my colleague said, the female doctors does the examination, and don't worry, they are very professional and will not make you feel uncomfortable.

One of the queer things that happened was that for ECG, they stick me with suction cups. I felt like an alien while lying on that bed. And then there is the drawing of blood. I have always been fearful of the procedure, but I think the nurses did it well and it wasn't that scary, for me that is.

At the end of my tests, I went back to the first room to change back to my clothes and pick up my bag from the locker. The lady at the last station took my test results and asked if I would like to collect my results personally or have it couriered over. Of course it would make sense to have it couriered over, since travelling to and fro to the centre will easily cost me RMB80, when the courier charge is only RMB25. I paid the amount and was waiting for the lady to tell me if this is it. She didn't indicate anything and I guess it was the end of my checkup, as the intern was waiting for me so that we can return to the office. The whole process took about 1 and half hours.

Overall, I think the experience was not as scary as the thought of doing a Chinese-style medical checkup. The nurses and doctors were professionals when they do tests, though the younger ones who guide you along the hallways will tend to giggle at some wrong turns the foreigner make. They are a happy bunch though, it's easy to tell. Be ready that they can't find your job designation in their database when you do your registration. They will pull out the closest job position as their database has only a limited amount of general career description.

So that's all for this 'episode'. I hear that a few different groups of friends will be coming to visit in late September. I am so looking forward to it, more so that they could bring me some Singapore stuffs! :) Whoopee! :D