Another entry from Myanmar is up. Read about my adventure getting to the golden rock at Kyaiktiyo here.

I just checked my bank account and the $67 check I wrote to The U.S. Department of State has been cashed! This means that my beloved passport has not been lost in the mail and I am on my way to getting a new one (hopefully sans the microchip that’s being introduced this year).

Other than that, I am working on getting a plane ticket to Beijing. I am 99% sure that I’m going to splurge and buy a continuing ticket on to Ulaan Baatar, Monolia instead of messing around with the train. Chicago to Beijing (or ORD > PEK as I think of it now), should be under $700 with taxes and Bejing to Ulaan Baatar (PEK > ULN) should be around $350. It’s possible that there’s only one flight a week to UB–hopefully it will connect with my incoming flight and I won’t have to buy a Chinese transit visa to stay the night.

I have read all of the books my library has on Central Asia, China, Tibet and Nepal and watched any travel videos as well. I’ve moved on to the African section of the library. Every time I check out books I have to wonder what the librarian thinks. Yesterday I checked out 4 normal movies, books on textiles, a guide to writing CSS, African travel guides and a guide to selling hockey cards. Twelve items in total, and that was me holding back.

It snowed 11.5 inches at my house last night. Chicago barely saw any snow at all. Needless to say, I spent the morning shoveling. It gave me an excuse to test out the new jacket.

• Waterproof: check.

• Windproof: check.
• Toasty: check.

Preparations for Phase 2 have been coming along. I still haven’t confirmed my route for the first few months but I have ruled out a lot. Surprisingly, airfare to Beijing is cheapest directly from the airlines’ websites. Beijing, rather than Seoul, appears to be the cheapest place to fly into to get to Mongolia. I could book a train ticket from Beijing to Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia, which takes something like 36 hours–including border formalities and switching the train wheels to a different gauge. I thought this train ticket would be under $50 but it looks like it may cost more like $100. Considering the flight from Beijing to UB is $350 it might not make enough sense to go to the trouble of getting into Beijing, buying a ticket and sorting everything out. On the other hand, I wouldn’t mind seeing The Summer Palace again and it may be cheaper to pick up some visas in Beijing rather than sending my passport to Washington.

Speaking of my passport, it expires in 2007 and I need six months of validity to enter most countries. I sent it away for a replacement earlier this week. Hopefully it will return to me in a timely manner because I need to apply for visas before I leave. I have been trying to figure out what visas I need in advance besides China and where I can get them the fastest, cheapest and with least amount of extra paperwork. Americans often pay more for visas than every other nationality because the U.S. charges so much to enter this country. But sometimes it’s cheaper to apply for visas outside the U.S., for instance I got my Cambodian visa in Vietnam and Myanmar visa when I was in Thailand. 

I’ve also been watching the post-holiday sales for a few things I need like silk pajama pants (they fold up really small), and a jacket. This trip is going to be a bit tougher on my back than Phase 1 since I’m going to more climates and need to carry more clothes. I will be traveling through 14,000 foot mountain passes and spending time in Tibet and Nepal so I definitely need a coat this time. A lot of people insist that the best packing technique is to buy everything for cheap in Asia. But in my experience nothing fits me in Asia and fake stuff falls apart within weeks so I’m going to pay the extra money to be comfortable and prepared. The jacket I bought has two jackets that zip together, hidden pockets to hide money from Maost rebels in Nepal and an obnoxiously large hood–all for 50% off! It should protect me against the elements as well as all of the bodily fluids that one usually encounters on a Chinese bus (I can think of at least five!).

The third Yangon post is up… check it out here. The next post will be about The Golden Rock!

Although my family is usually very supportive of my travels they have gotten more concerned as I get more adventurous. My brother warned me to take a gun to China and told me he would never speak to me again if I went to Lebanon. I never planned on going to Lebanon but I understand where he’s coming from, having watched too many Chuck Norris movies as a child.

Over dinner last night my mom and brother agreed that I was going to be kidnapped on my upcoming trip. I suggested they see the bright side–they could write a book about it and make a lot of money. My brother said that he wouldn’t write a book, that he would hire a team of ex-Army SEALs and come after me. I suggested that such an operation could cost over one million dollars. He thinks that he could get each team member for about twenty thousand but a helicopter could be pricey. I hope all of my loyal readers will chip in for the helicopter if the time comes!

A second Myanmar post is up! This one is about my time at The Shwedagon Paya, Myanmar’s most important Buddhist temple. Check it out here.