Please Help: Little Mark Salazar

Brave Little Mark Salazar

With nothing to waste but time, my usual "facebook lurking" stumbled upon a picture of a child named Mark Salazar and shared with it is a link about his story. 

Only 1 year and 8 months old, he was unfortunately diagnosed with Biliary Cirrhosis when he was just at his 7 months. The youngest child of Dennis V. Salazar and Maritess B. Salazar from Sampaloc, Manila. He was in and out of PGH and UST hospitals since his 1st birthday. Due to his congenital problem, the common cough and cold progresses to pnuemonia. His young body is susceptible to complications and infections, and has suffered from measles, diarrhea and sepsis.

Travel Asia: Winter in Beijing, China Part 6 (Great Wall of China)

"He who has not climbed the Great Wall is not a true man" - Mao Zedong

Despite the cold weather and heavy snow, we're finally off to pursue one of my long time dream -- to climb the Great Wall, the symbol of Chinese ingenuity, enlisted as a UNESCO Heritage site in 1988 and also considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World in July  of 2007. It was set to fortify the borders of China against Northern nomadic tribes.

The closest gateway to the Great Wall is the Badaling gate which is situated in Yanqing County, around 70 kilometers from Beijing Central. The Badaling great wall is strategically reinforced a lot of times during the Ming Dynasty to defend the capital against Mongolian intruders. Standing in it actually made me feel like I'm Mulan. LOL :)

Me and the Great Wall

Travel Asia: Winter in Beijing, China Part 5 (The Summer Palace)

Oh Summer Palace! This is one place that I felt we could have explored more, said to be the largest and best preserved Imperial garden in China and was designated a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1990. It was meant to be, as the name implies -- the Summer vacation home of the emperor or empress during ancient times.

The dominant structure here is the Yu Feng Pagoda that is set on top of a hilly ground facing Kunming lake, the lake itself was actually extended in 1750 by the Emperor QianLong to imitate the famous West Lake in HangZhou. 

As an extensive traveler, the Emperor took notes of every beautiful places he's been in China and incorporated it in the construction of Summer Palace.

view of the Yu Feng Pagoda over a courtyard

Travel Asia: Winter in Beijing, China Part 4 - (Where to eat)

When it comes to food, Beijing surprisingly felt like heaven to me, It's just like eating at Northpark every single day (Northpark is a famous Chinese restaurant in the Philippines) and being the rice lovers that we are, we were not disappointed with the many food viands that are really similar to Filipino dishes so we really felt at home. The price though might be a little expensive than Northpark especially if you're eating at those chinese restaurants or mini "turo-turo" near your hotels so sometimes, it's more practical to just grab a bite at Subway or Mcdonalds or at a food court if you're tight on budget. Or just buy some food from the many convenience stores in the area and stack some food in your hotel room for those midnight cravings like we did.