One More Day

Final Days...

Drama in Russia. Yesterday I went to Russia. For tbe second time. The day before I went to Russia and the USofA, but after finding out that I needed more pages in my passport and sorting that out, it was too late to apply for a visa so I went back yesterday. Basically, it is not an easy thing to apply for a Russian visa. You need to have lots of paperwork and a fully planned itinerary to even apply. Or you can buy a travel voucher and other paperwork saying that you are part of a tour and that you have your lodging pre-arranged and paid for and that you are on someone else's schedule, even if you aren't. It is essentially a huge scam but it makes it much more flexible to travel in the country without having your trip planned out to the T. So I bought my paperwork and copied my documents and went to apply for the visa. Everything was in order (hopefully I still have to pick it up tomorrow!) until I went to pay for the visa. There was a big sign on the wall in English, Chinese and Russian saying the prices, but when I got my money, the woman told me it was two times the posted price. When I asked her why, she gave me a dirty look and put her hand to the glass in a "talk to the hand" motion. I was a little shocked so asked the other woman what the deal was. She said that they changed the prices, with a piercing stare that told me to not ask anymore questions. So I coughed up the cash and walked out, wondering why the hell I wanted to go to Russia in the first place! I expect to get scammed when I am there, but to get scammed at the EMBASSY! AH! I have heard horror stories about getting your visa at the Beijing Embassy. Apparently you must have working papers if you are a non-Chinese citizen, which luckily I still have valid ones. Another guy was there from Scotland trying to organize his visa and was hitting a lot of walls with the employees.

Terrifying. I wasn't nervous before, but hit reality hard yesterday. It might be good though because now I will be UBER cautious. But I am sure that I will make friends and have people to hang out with so I don't have to do it alone there. Just planning on buying some fur and walking around like a disguised foreigner that is poor and dirty... The poor and dirty part will be pretty easy at least!

Taking the train on Saturday. I got my Trans-Siberian book from Tara today after a great reunion with her. She is my friend from Suzhou and is back in China for 6 months but in Beijing for work this time. We had dinner and chatted for awhile and it was cool to catch up.

Picking up the visa tomorrow. Wish me luck.
A few pictures from my week in Beijing...


The Summer Palace... in the dead of Winter.


A panda at the Beijing Zoo *otherwise known as animal hell*
Animals in the States live better, posher lives that most people here, so you can imagine the dire straights in which you find the animals. The hippo was in a room slightly larger than the hippo itself... so it could just pivot in a circle and eat. And the pandas had the best digs, but even they were pretty miserable