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October 02, 2005
Indecision
(Day 226) By winging it most of my trip, I'm bound to put myself in some bad situations. In 99% of the cases, money can smooth things over. It's just a matter of whether I want to spend it.
I travelled to Beijing in style. Not only are trains on China's eastern seaboard more luxurious, I also had a soft sleeper berth. Because of the upcoming holidays, everything else was sold out, and it was the only one I could book. Gray clouds and light drizzle plagued my first day in China's capital, but like I've said, it's unreasonable to expect blue skies every day.
So as to not waste time, I began looking forward to what comes next after China. The next logical step would be the Trans-Mongolian Railway, taking me through Russia and into Europe. I've been eyeing this portion ever since I've left home; The 7500km passing through siberian Russia seems like an exciting adventure to me.
The most difficult part of it all would be obtaining a Russian visa though. There are essentially two ways to go about it. Do it myself and deal with the headaches of Russian bureacracy, or sign up with a tour and have everything taken care of for me. Option A requires an invitation from within, obtainable, like everything else, with money. But as I'd find out, the Russian consulate in Beijing recently changed rules and now only issues tourist visas to Chinese citizens. My American passport needed to be submiited back in Shanghai. Furthermore, consulates in China required the original invitation and wouldn't accept fax copies. Waiting for the documents to be mailed over and then taking into account time for everything to be prepared, I was looking at possibly six weeks.
Had I forseen all this, I would've taken care of it all back in Hong Kong or Bangkok. It appeared I'd have to ask a travel agency to make arrangements for me. Because I'd be travelling east to west, my choice of agents are rather limited. Monkeyshrines, a company specializing in Trans-Siberian/Mongolian trips, was essentially my only option. Their Beijing office wasn't easy to find; Due to ongoing construction around the city, they were no longer located in the address listed in my guidebook, and now operated out of a hotel room.
Despite their questionable choice of office location, they have a good reputation for putting together good trips. Their prices certainly reflected that. For them to legally sponsor my visa, my entire itinerary, from entry to exit, needed to be booked through them. A package, including lodging and stopovers, would cost me US$1500 minimum. For that amount, I could return to Thailand and lie on a beach for two months. Do I really want to freeze my ass off in Siberia?
"Let me think about it," I told them, and went off do some more research on the internet. Until 5:00pm, I looked up other tour companies, compared prices, and pondered the practicality of doing it myself. Not once did I stray to espn.com, and instead studied regulations to see if there was any other way, one not too expensive and could be done relatively quick. Save for hiding myself in a piece of luggage and being a stowaway, there wasn't.
To clear my head, I went off in search of Peking duck for dinner. The crispy skin and meat cooked to perfection made me feel loads better, but did nothing to ease the hit my bank account may soon take. Sunny beaches or frigid plains... It shouldn't be that hard a decision to make, but it is!
Thanks to everyone for their support and comments! Knowing people are reading keeps me motivated to continue the updates!
Posted by markyiin at October 2, 2005 07:55 AM
Comments
so, help me make my decision... should i go?
tree: shanghai would be a nice place to live too, you really should visit some time!
katie: thanks! glad you enjoyed it, and hope you didn't waste TOO much time at work :)
helen tran: what'd you think of the garden's? I thought they were nice, but a bit on the dull side.
college roomie: it's not too late! you and tim could try and start your own label together!
Posted by: markyiin at October 2, 2005 08:08 AM
I'm not sure $1500 is worth it to go on a package tour! You're an independent traveller afterall. Why don't you submit the documents and go yourself. It'll be a lot more exciting exploring Russia on your own. During the six weeks of processing, can you head somewhere else like Korea or Japan?
$1500 just to get from Russia to Europe sounds kinda crazy. Europe will be very expensive too. Any interest in India? Europe will be the same and still be there when you're old and gray. India and Africa will be completely different in 20 years time.
Too bad we can't see it all... I'm trying to make an itinerary myself!
Posted by: Dave at October 2, 2005 08:51 AM
$1500 to see Russia. WOW.
it seems as though the theme of your trip is doing everything independently, and taking the tour and paying that exorbitant amount seems ridiculous.
oh, and i really hope you'll eventually end up going to africa!
Posted by: katie at October 2, 2005 10:25 AM
I like your friend Dave's idea. You're not exactly on a schedule anyway, so visting Korea or Japan sounds like a great idea. Korea is very beautiful this time of year!
Posted by: Seung Yun at October 2, 2005 11:37 AM
dude, $1500 seems like way too much for that trip. and you could lie on the beach for 4 months in thailand with that. here's a good site on trans-siberian railroad info: http://www.seat61.com/Trans-Siberian.htm
Posted by: mattloaf1 at October 2, 2005 11:40 AM
I agree with Dave and Seung Yun... you can totally take advantage of the wait time to get the visa by visiting other places in the meantime. It will result in you seeing more of the world, which is what you set out to do in the first place, right? :) I'm just not too sure how much it would cost you to go there from Beijing. Most likely not even close to $1,500! Enjoy your time in Asia!!! Take advantage of the fact that you're overe there, man! =D
Posted by: tree at October 2, 2005 05:29 PM
beaches...beaches....why not just fly to greece or turkey and then head into europe that way!
Posted by: matt at October 2, 2005 10:45 PM
Funny that I have a tough decision to make too. Going to Florida, or stay in California, both for jobs. By now you probably made up your mind. By the time you read this, I'll probably have made up mine.
I've tried different ways of making a decision. Making a pro/con list, thinking if I were to look back would I think that I made the right choice, or just ask a lot of people what they think. After all this thinking, it'll still be tough, but you will be surer of your decision
Posted by: Jack at October 3, 2005 06:45 PM
Mark - please tell Jack he should stay in beautiful, sunny, no hurricanes (only twisters) So Cal ! :)
Posted by: Lisa at October 3, 2005 07:10 PM
Oops, forgot. You have a dilemma, too.
I say, after all those tropical beaches, romantic islands, refreshing rivers, etc., it is definitely time for you to freeze your patootie off!
Put on those big boots! :)
Posted by: Anonymous at October 3, 2005 07:56 PM
Oops, again. Sorry, that last one was me, too!
Posted by: Lisa at October 3, 2005 08:10 PM
6 weeks! jeez. that sucks. well there's always more places in china to visit. u could kick it out here while that russia stuff gets sorted out. hope ur having a decent time in beijing. remember to visit "hou hai" and the back of the forbidden city at night!
Posted by: tim at October 4, 2005 04:00 AM
$1500 is way too much... find your own way in cheaper, and saunter around elsewhere in the meantime.
Posted by: Ray at October 4, 2005 11:24 AM