trip to china

Jiuzhaigou valley- from here

My trip to China is slowly taking shape and I am crossing fingers for my vacation to be approved-will know next wednesday- and get an affordable quotation from the agent in China. So far the itinerary includes Tian Jin where my brother's wedding will take place, Chendghu-to go to Leshan Mt and Buddha, Mount Emei and Huanglong-Jiuzhaigou and Datong-hanging monastery and Yungang grottos.

So far the pictures I have seen are really nice and lots of hiking and nature which is something I really need. Once my vacations are confirmed and the trip, I'm planning to purchase either a Teva Omnium or Keen hiking sandals. I tried the keen whisper model today and it was so comfortable. They have a soft-flexible heel as my Arcpro birkinstock sandals and are closed but with mesh adding more protection to the foot. The sole also looks good enough not to slip. I do love my Arcpro but need something that is closed. I'm also thinking of travelling light, that is not bring a suitcase. I'm not planning to buy much in china, maybe tea and souvenirs and don't want to carry a 23 kilos suitcase from train to bus to train to airplane.

I'm also saving to buy a zoom lens for my canon dslr. will get a third party one: Tamron since I can't afford a canon one. I'm not good enough to handle pro lenses anyway. woohoo let's hope next week will be a good week. My brother is also coming back on the 4th. June.

So ipad is out of question for this year. I might wait for ipad 3 as well. If I was not going to China I would have purchased it without blinking but unfortunately there're other priorities. An average estimate for the trip is 3200 including tours and air tickets. We are going to Chengdu for a tour then 2 days cruise on the Yang Tse River and maybe 2 more days in Beijing. We'll see. I;m sure other costs will add up *le sight*

So instead of ipad 2, here comes Kindle 3! It is 1/3 the price of ipad 2 and since I was planning to use the ipad mainly for ebooks, the kindle will do for now. The downside is no colours but it has a nice selection of ebooks over other ereaders and managed to find a source of free ebooks so another reason too buy one. Reading ebooks on your macbook in bed is very uncomfortable.

The reason why I am moving to ebooks is due to the lack of space. I have 5 books boxes back in Mauritius and 3 in Canada plus a bookshelf. Some books are duplicates as they are second hand books purchased to replace the ones I left home. Yes I am one of these people who can read the same book over and over again and I do have a pile of favourite authors that I am never fed up of reading and rereading .

I still love the feel and smell of paper books but need something more practical for my current life style which at this point is "less is more". I guess it'll also help to reduce my waste footprint as long as i don't change ereader every year! can't wait for amazon delivers it.

Jeez head hurts. Happy Easter to everyone although for me it's working day :/