First Day

We awoke Monday morning in Hangzhou after a restful night's sleep to the typical sounds of car horns honking and birds chirping. An early view out the over-sized window shows a city of great contrast. Old meets new meets dilapidated, mixed with neat backyard gardens in perfectly straight seeded rows everywhere you turn. The standard is living is low, so most plant gardens to subsidize their family meals with fresh vegetables. We can see temples peaking out from mountain tops - well, we could, now the pollution makes them invisible.

My morning started with a shower in a walk-in type room attached to the bathroom. The floor is covered with non-slip material so there is no real safety issue there. The toilet is fairly low, but it has grab bars all around it which help. After a couples of tries, I was able to get up fine on my own.

A nurse came by shortly after my shower to collect my "samples" and do a blood draw after my 12 hour fast. No, Laurie, I did not pass out!! Later this morning will be a complete physical and a chest x-ray.

Now, we're ready for breakfast!