Busy relaxing days

Wednesday (yesterday) we climbed a pagoda. It was horribly hot and humid. Felt like Houston!  It was a long walk and we had to cross a treacherous wobbly bridge, but we made it. Then we climbed the 99 stairs in the 12 story pagoda. Beautiful views!  It drizzled on us off and on, but really started pouring on the way back. Of course, I didn’t elect to take an umbrella, so I was super wet. After returning to the ship, I showered and got ready for the welcome happy hour before dinner. It was nice. We have a nice table we made up of a portion of our tour group-George and Carol, Todd and Alison, Dave and Diane and Dad and I.   After dinner, Todd and Alison came over to our room for a nightcap.

This morning, I awoke at 5:30 and am starting to feel poorly again-ears have never fully cleared and now feeling like I have a sinus infection. We watched a pretty neat demonstration yesterday by the resident Chinese doctor where he performed cupping on one gentleman with a significant shoulder problem as well as an acupuncture demonstration on a woman with arthritis in her hands. He had a whole list of things acupuncture can help with—including sinus and ear issues. Diane and I had already scheduled an acupressure massage and foot rub for this afternoon, so what the heck-I’m meeting with the doctor later to see if he can resolve my other issues. Keep you posted on that. So after my massage today at 2:20, dad and I were invited to tour the bridge at 4, my doctor appt is at 5:20, then cocktail time at 6, dinner at 7, etc. It’s a busy life!  Oh, and this morning, we had a shore excursion to view the Yangtze tributary by Sampan.  Very pretty views!!  We also sailed through 2 of the 3 gorges and tonight we’ll begin our passage through the 5-stage river locks of the Three Gorges Damn.