I always wanted to see China and the future capital of the world and the Olympics are an excellent opportunity to do so.
I have enough money for the trip and I have talked to my boss about securing holidays in September. Three weeks shouldn't be a problem.
The only thing left to resolve is company, which is very problematic to arrange, but I am working on it.
Now, here is my plan. I'd like to hear from Mercator who went to Mongolia recently but also anyone else who has any advice.
1. Get a Russian Visa
2. Get a Mongolian Visa
3. Get a Chinese Visa
4. Buy a train ticket to Moscow
5. In Moscow, buy a train ticket to Beijing
6. Find lodging in Beijing, somewhere in the center and near Olympic venues
7. See a sports match or two, do some sightseeing and enjoy the local civilization
8. Buy a ticket back to Russia, but only to the nearest city
9. Get back to Moscow hopping from city to city in Russia and stopping and doing sightseeing in those interesting enough
10. From Moscow get a train back to Croatia
Alternatively, I'm thinking of doing one leg of the trip (perhaps the return) by plane. This would be more expensive but it would give me more time to explore Russia and China.
My biggest concern at the moment is rail transport.
I've done some research on the Russian railroads pages and it seems that there are some quite good luxury trains doing the long transsiberian route. The problem with those is that by the time I'm sure when I'm going they're going to be booked by other pinko eurocommies going to Beijing (if you think I'm the only one with this idea, think again).
This leaves me with trains ordinary Russians use, which aren't nearly as good, but I don't mind. What I do mind is that they stop on every station and are considerably slower. Perhaps I can find an express.
Anyway, if you have any advice about China or Russia, drop it here. What to do in Beijing for a week or so?
I have enough money for the trip and I have talked to my boss about securing holidays in September. Three weeks shouldn't be a problem.
The only thing left to resolve is company, which is very problematic to arrange, but I am working on it.
Now, here is my plan. I'd like to hear from Mercator who went to Mongolia recently but also anyone else who has any advice.
1. Get a Russian Visa
2. Get a Mongolian Visa
3. Get a Chinese Visa
4. Buy a train ticket to Moscow
5. In Moscow, buy a train ticket to Beijing
6. Find lodging in Beijing, somewhere in the center and near Olympic venues
7. See a sports match or two, do some sightseeing and enjoy the local civilization
8. Buy a ticket back to Russia, but only to the nearest city
9. Get back to Moscow hopping from city to city in Russia and stopping and doing sightseeing in those interesting enough
10. From Moscow get a train back to Croatia
Alternatively, I'm thinking of doing one leg of the trip (perhaps the return) by plane. This would be more expensive but it would give me more time to explore Russia and China.
My biggest concern at the moment is rail transport.
I've done some research on the Russian railroads pages and it seems that there are some quite good luxury trains doing the long transsiberian route. The problem with those is that by the time I'm sure when I'm going they're going to be booked by other pinko eurocommies going to Beijing (if you think I'm the only one with this idea, think again).
This leaves me with trains ordinary Russians use, which aren't nearly as good, but I don't mind. What I do mind is that they stop on every station and are considerably slower. Perhaps I can find an express.
Anyway, if you have any advice about China or Russia, drop it here. What to do in Beijing for a week or so?
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