Separately, Grace and I spent hours over the weekend researching a trip to Lanzhou and Dunhuang (ancient Silk Road), and our desire to upgrade our digital camera.
First the Silk Road. It was a toss up between the Silk Road or Li Jiang in Yunnan. The deep arifare discount tipped the scale to the Silk Road. She booked the tickets at 65% discount in the morning. The tickets arrived within 2 hrs. After more research on itinerary, she booked our return tickets, also at 65% disc in the evening. There is no surcharges now.
We mentioned to some friends that we wanted to squeeze a trip in before the peak season starts in April. One replied there wont be a peak season this year with the financial crisis. We shall see.
My challenge was deep and wide, crossing models and crossing countries. I started with an intention to get an SLR (Canon 450D) and a Canon EF f1.4 USM. After much checking on the internet, the prices are somewhat similar buying online in China, the US and Australia. In fact, for the Canons, they were cheaper in China!
After hours and hours of reading up on user feedback, the internal debates intensified between an SLR with wide aperture (f1.4) but bulky, or a narrower aperture (f2.8 for Canon G10) but pocket size. In the end, Panasonic Lumix Lx3GK took the chequered flag, with the widest aperture (f2.0) for a pocket size digital. The widest in its class. It also costs as much as an SLR. For this model, Amazon.com is about US$40 cheaper before state taxes, plus Jiatian's effort to bring it back from the US after his next trip there. So we placed a call to an online seller in NW Beijing, placed the order and it was delivered on COD basis 3 hrs later.
I asked the shop assistant who delivered the camera to our home if there was any risk of imitation product. He said China does not have the technology to copy a Lumix LX3 yet! Photo taken with the new toy, with ceiling lights on, but no flash.
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