House cleaned, deposit refunded, friends fare-welled, cats returned, possessions sent, motor bikes sold, visa’s organised, money transferred and we are ready for the next adventure.
This trip had been on the agenda since I left my home town in Western Australia in 2004. I was originally heading to the UK but wanted to travel overland. I really don’t like flying. Having stopped off in Thailand, plans changed and the trip across Eurasia was put on hold while exploring other parts of the world.
Our main motivation for moving to Taiwan was to pay off the credit card and save money for this journey from Shanghai to Minsk, then onto Canada, where I now sit in a robe and slippers with snow on the ground outside and the tropical heat of our former home, just a memory.
Overview:
Shanghai-Xian-Beijing-Ulaanbaatar-Moscow-St. Petersburg-Minsk-Ottawa
“The hardest step of any journey is the first”
-Chinese Proverb
The first step of this journey was hard; and involved about forty-five steps rather than just one. Normally travelling on an Australian or Canadian passport they just open the doors and wave you on through. Not so much for China, Mongolia and Russia who seem to have immigration laws left over from the darker days of communism.
Letters of invitation
Apparently we needed to be invited to enter these countries. Do you know anyone in Mongolia? Well, I wish you would have told me, because we ended up having to pay a travel agent for the letters. Having got those we filled in application forms, had photos taken and even made up business cards. In China you don’t exist unless you have business card.
Embassy Mambo
Unfortunately, Taiwan is not (technically) a country, so it was very difficult to organise visas. We hired a travel agent to send our Chinese visa application to Hong Kong. The Russians had the forms issued in Bangkok. We called up the Ulaanbaatar Trade and Economic Office in Taipei, as they didn’t have an email address or website. They didn’t trust R’s photo so she had to make a special trip to the capital to prove her identity.
Itinerary
Lonely Planet books or “The Book of Lies” as they’ve become known, are about the size and weight of a house brick and are usually about as useful. If you really do need one, you’re more than likely to find some other sucker who has carried it to your destination and will be happy to lend it to you. They seem standard reading material in almost every hostel as well.
Still it’s good to know directions to your hostel when you first arrive in a foreign town, before the sun comes up, after a crappy night’s sleep on a train. With all the online resources, I made my own with maps, directions and hints to all the places we planned to visit. It was a light lighter, cheaper and specific.
One book that we did seek before leaving was “The Trans-Siberian Handbook” as it provides a mile by mile description of all the routes and provides interesting background reading for a ten day train trip. Unfortunately, this could not be found in Kaohsiung and would cost a fortune to have sent over. More about the search for this weighty tome later…
Packing
Travelling has become another arm of commodity fetishism. The dedicated traveller must have the latest lightweight doo-dad and foldable thing-ama-jig. Screw that I say and hit the road with a 9kg backpack. It really is surprising how little you need as long as you’re willing to do some hand-washing in the shower. See http://www.onebag.com/ for how this is done.
Off
So at 5 am we got in a cab with Handy Andy, our ever-reliable English-speaking taxi driver and headed through the dawn light; past breakfast places opening and pre-rush-hour traffic; to KHH International for the next leg of The Odyssey.
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