MAKING A PLAN...AGAIN

We were sitting quietly in our little reading/tv room in early March, and I said to Linda that I was getting restless.  A little later in the week, we ran across an ad from Dallas Meyers, Lambourne Travel, here in Bakersfield, offering his annual tour of China for a very good price.  Linda said that I should go and talk to him...and take the checkbook.  

 So, I did, we booked and now, we have about six weeks to get ready for a trip that has loomed larger and larger in my imagination the past year.  After spending just a day in Hong Kong at the end of our trip last year through parts of Australia and Brunei, I really wanted to see the interior of China and some of its "Wonderous Sights".  But we couldn't do it then,  and I was doubtful that I would get that chance. 

But now, it is going to happen and I am thrilled.   I downloaded a site from Google that offers phrases that travelers might like to know, and a voice pronounces them.  I practice a bit with the lady at our "gas n go" who speaks Chinese.  She is tolerant of me. :-)

I am also spending some time learning about China's geography, surrounding political units and some characteristics of its population and history.

All in all, this is the ideal kind of trip: six weeks to prepare; two weeks to travel; six weeks to create albums/narratives and remember it.  By then, it will be time to go see some children in the mid-west.  

• Mai wen ti

The Yangtze River makes several 180 degree turns in its path to the sea.  On a clear day, from a mountain top, or in an airplane moving slowly, the sight is pretty impressive.