planning

a trip always starts somewhere- a discussion, a photograph, an article....

for years we have been discussing returning to China to see something new- it's a big  country and there are lots of options.

on our first trip we did the whole touristy China- we went specifically to see the Three Gorges before the dam on the Yangtze flooded the region and they were forever changed... and before we got that far we of course did Beijing (great wall, summer palace, temple of heaven, forbidden city, Tienanmen square, hutongs etc...) Xian (terra cota warriors) Chengdu (panda preserve and gate way to Tibet) Tibet (three days in Lhasa and surrounding area) River Cruise to Wuhan (through the Three Gorges and Lesser Three Gorges) Hong Kong (loved it- went back on our own twice since then to Hong Kong)

and we have been talking for a decade about returning so when we started to nail down destinations of choice for 2013 - it came up (again) and so I got in touch with my go-to gal for trip planning- Heidi at Nature Expeditions....

for the last week or so we have been refining the itinerary for a trip in 2013- sorry folks you'll have to wait for the actually trip because 2012 is already taken up with other locales....

here is where we will be headed- Lijiang

Shangri La

Guilin

Li River

Yangshuo

Shanghai

and last but not least - Hangzhou

so we are closing in on a final itinerary - but if anyone has any ideas about China travel in the areas outside the usual tourist circuit - let me know... comments section is attached to every post....

death defying

a bunch of years ago I read a really good book called "Carter Beats the Devil" about a magician in the early 20th century.  I was reminded of the book (and how much I liked it) last night when we went with Sheila & Mary to a performance of Death & Harry Houdini a production of the House Theater Company. the play, a revival, was staged in honor of the ten year anniversary of the company and had been their first production a decade ago.

the evening's entertainment was broadly staged (in the style of the era) with a lot of hyperbole in introductions of the characters and the various feats of prestidigitation and other acts of "escapologist"  Harry Houdini.

basically it gave a bare bones overview of Houdini's life and career intermixed with magic tricks and escape-artist acts. I personally would have like to have seen more tricks and spent less time with Houdini's horror of a mother but everyone else seemed enchanted with the mix as it was.

however, in general- an excellent evening of entertainment- and recommended (but go now as the show has been held over and won't last forever)