My initial plans for a trip next year were fairly grandiose - take the train to Beijing, stopping off en-route in Moscow for a few days and in Ulan Baator for a while. Then from Beijing to Qinghai, where I would spend a substantial amount of time visiting the Qinghai plateau, and many of the tourist sites there. Then back through Beijing before dropping down through Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia to Singapore. There I would use the massive amount of Airmiles I have accumulated over decades (enough for a round the world trip) to fly to New Zealand and on to the Americas (Canada, or the USA) where I would spend time, before returning across the Atlantic.
Contact with reality has soon made significant changes to this.
Firstly, Airmiles are only usable for return trips, starting and finishing in the UK. As without them I cannot afford the airfare across the Pacific, the Americas, and the Atlantic; bang goes the latter half of the trip. The best I think I can do is to get a return ticket from somewhere like Singapore, or Hong Kong, or Japan, and not use the outward leg.
Next, the visa situation in China has changed. As a result it looks as if I cannot get a visa for more than thirty days, with a possible extension for another 30 days. It used to be the case that one could get a multi-entry tourist visa which covered 90 days (with possible extension to 180 days). Nowadays, this is only available as a business visa, which is much more expensive, and requires the applicant to prove, by means of a letter from a Chinese company sponsoring the applicant as a bona-fide business trip. So this changes the shape of the middle of my trip.
Clauswitz's quote springs to mind "No plan survives contact with the enemy".
Contact with reality has soon made significant changes to this.
Firstly, Airmiles are only usable for return trips, starting and finishing in the UK. As without them I cannot afford the airfare across the Pacific, the Americas, and the Atlantic; bang goes the latter half of the trip. The best I think I can do is to get a return ticket from somewhere like Singapore, or Hong Kong, or Japan, and not use the outward leg.
Next, the visa situation in China has changed. As a result it looks as if I cannot get a visa for more than thirty days, with a possible extension for another 30 days. It used to be the case that one could get a multi-entry tourist visa which covered 90 days (with possible extension to 180 days). Nowadays, this is only available as a business visa, which is much more expensive, and requires the applicant to prove, by means of a letter from a Chinese company sponsoring the applicant as a bona-fide business trip. So this changes the shape of the middle of my trip.
Clauswitz's quote springs to mind "No plan survives contact with the enemy".
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