My camera fell again. This time it will out of my backpack while I was wearing it onto a brick floor about 5 feet below. My backpack was overstuffed and the zipper came open while I walked. At first I heard and saw my computer AC adapter fall on the floor, so I turned around and prepared to take off my backpack but then I heard my camera fly all the way to the floor.
My $400 lens is broken. Some of the plastic is chipped off at the end, a plastic ring cracked, and the outermost glass has been pushed out of line. I can still take photos, but the glass not being straight means out of focus photos. They look ok on wide angle, but when I start zooming in, half of my frame is out of focus. And when I zoom all the way in I can’t get a focus at all sometimes.
Hopefully insurance will cover this, but still I’m in the middle of visiting some of the most amazing parts of China and can’t take the photos I want to take. I’m thinking of finding a replacement lens in Beijing or something, maybe a 50mm 1.8.
I took some side trips outside of the city. One was to Sanxingdui Museum at the site of a once lost civilization of the Shu. I also visited the XinDu BaoGuang Monastery. Inside Chengdu, I visited Wenshu Temple. I stayed at Mix Hostel while I was there which I thought was pretty nice.
While in Chengdu, a friend took some money out of an ATM and then walked away leaving the card in the machine! Ten minutes later she realizes she forgot the card and fears all her money is gone now. However, we find out there is a 30 second inactivity timeout on the ATM so not much chance for someone to take your money out. She went into the bank and later was able to get her card back and no money was missing.
On my last day in Chengdu, I took the bus to Mount Emei.