Just got back at lunchtime from the magic convention in Southport and I'm now getting packed to fly off to China tomorrow for the festival that starts this week. Have my visa and fingers crossed that all the documentation is in order for next week. Plans at the moment are a bit vague but it looks like we will be performing the act twice a day along with two busking sessions with another 14 balloon acts. Looking forward to the event and meeting up with others that I've not seen for a while but not looking forward to the flying as for some reason things never quite go to plan  

Hi G,

Wishing u a safe smooth easy journey,have a great time a look forward to hearing how it all goes at the convention,just get there first

Have a safe trip

Normski


http://www.izzywizzyparties.com

Hey Graham,

Have a great time, I hope the travelling goes better than you expect.

Just remember you can get a nice cup of tea when you arrive!

have fun,

Danny  

Have a great time graham

Here I am in China now and for the very first time everything went OK with my flights, we were 20 mins early arriving in Amsterdam and then the plane took off on time and we arrived 45 mins ahead of schedule in Shanghai with my ride picking me up 20 mins after touchdown. The most scary moment was the taxi ride to the hotel, wow the driving is amazing  
The food on KLM flights is very good with plenty of food and drink being brought around throughout the flight. The bestpart of the journey was when we flew up over the clouds and then we seemed to be in between two lots of clouds below and above us and then flew up higher so that we could see the lower clouds through the gaps of the higher ones. It was worth the journey just to see that, I was so impreessed by this that I took some pictures but they just dont do the view that I saw justice, will try and post them when I get a few minutes.

Some fluffy clouds somewhere up above Amsterdam;

Enjoy, Graham. Good to see you and Thelma at Southport.

I wonder if Thelma has wakened up yet  :lol:

Dave

Dave, she also fell asleep during the gala show, making it every evening show that we saw she fell asleep, that could be a record  :lol:
I think I made her work too hard on the stand during the day.

The food is a bit hit and miss but we had a more european style dish tonight which is the best food so far. It seems best to avoid lunch as no one knows what we are getting, below is a picture of an omlette in some soup? we think.
Prepping for the start of the shows tomorrow and a parade to help sell the tickets for the evening gala and fashion shows.
1, Koen and Marie Dadow
2,The omlette?
3, My flower and pot, the idea is I will wear the pot and have two flowers coming out the top while walking.
It stands about 7ft tall, the colours could be so much brighter but as yet we are still waiting for the balloons to arrive and we are using what was left over from last years event.

1, Bidou and myself
2, Sofie and Debbie Stevens

The first day of the festival was a bit of a washout with torrential rain all day, we sat backstage for 3 hours till the powers that be called it off for the day. Here's hoping the sun shines tomorrow  

1, Bidou with a picture for the publicity which is of him from last year, this is our small open plan stage.
2, The barbie shop in Shanghai
3, Chinese bamboo scaffolding

1, The main evening gala stage
2, Torrential rain being cleared from the roof
3, It never rains but...............pours

1, Guido who is the main organiser for the event having some fun under the rain, this was very funny as he was completely soaked through from head to toe.
2, The motley entertainers
3, The main gala stage

The rain has passed and we had a nice sunny day today. Did the first show this afternoon after walking around Shanghai as a flower pot for 30 mins in the parade, the things we do  :lol:
I was pleased with the show as I did it silent which is the very first time ever I've not pattered. I slowed the act right down and gave the props out and got some interaction going and was fairly pleased with the results, I ned to re-work one of the effects as it just does not work here. I have an idea for tomorrow so will put that in the show. I tried out a few new moves today as I was thinking if they don't work I'm in China and who's going to know. I was very pleased with the cut and restored balloon that I cut three times but had a little hick up with a new move in the linking rings. I met a friend of Billy Wiz today called Kelly who is a body painter, as they say it's a small world.
The gala show seemed to go down OK for the first one but my short spot was a bit of a disaster, I was planning on getting inside the big balloon but for the first time ever, I cant recall this ever happening but both the balloons as I always have a spare popped while inflating??? I didn't even get around to attempting to get inside  
We are putting it down to the humidity out here and plan on pre-inflating tomorrow to gently stretch and ease the balloons into size. Will try and post some pictures later as there were I think about 12/15 dresses in the show but I never got pictures of them all.

Our dresing room for theday for the promotional stage could possibly have been a brothel as the name is "The Comfort Club the rooms are all very small for a bed? Others with much more experience of life than me have assured me of this fact, I was shocked.
1 & 2, There is also a body painting festival going on at the same time, the rose was in 3D and was very effective but didn't show in the picture
3, Asi Cohen and his second dress