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.