Travel plans

Before I go into our Mongolian adventures I thought I'd update you on our travel plans (though I may get onto the adventures too - it's 10.30am and my travelling companions show no signs of waking up, but don't worry they're not normally allowed such a luxury...).

We came up against a problem that I'd been worried about - we needed a second Russian visa to get back into Europe, even though we didn't actually want to get off the train. I have failed in that mission and was finally persuaded I'd spent enough time battling the system and could accept that we're going to have to fly. Once we'd accepted that fact, there are no limits - we just need a flight from somewhere in Asia to somewhere in Europe in time for Christmas. So on the bus home last night I was (more easily) persuaded to be impulsive and abandon Kazakhstan plans, which was no doubt the right decision.

So the plans don't really go beyond this afternoon, but we intend to stay in Southern China, going wherever takes our fancy. Xi'an, Chengdu and Kunming are the largest places on our agenda, but we intend to visit some more rural areas too. The danger is that we are having too much fun and too much of a relaxing time here in Shanghai (and we've all been ill - particularly Suzannah) but we will get round to moving on soon...

Hope you're all well!
Becky

PS In my 'important things' folder there are pages of hand written blog posts that Suzannah did on the train - maybe they'll find their way onto the internet...