[China]

What brings a place or location into the scope of my attention? My earliest enthusiasm for travel was through pictures in a book about Guilin, China. I got it at a garage sale when I was 20. I looked at the pictures about once a year. But with the exception of London, I didn’t leave the United States until I was 33.

But at 48, I finally got here. The place had been in my mind for 25 years. Funny though. Other locations just suddenly swing into view. For example, Bolivia was no part of my consciousness until three months before I went.

Either way, every place I’ve been becomes a small, yet permanent part of my psyche. Years later, I perk up at any mention, at any news….