Phew... thank you Saihnaa

We had an uneventful flight from Istanbul to Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, but we had the small issue that we arrived at 03:30 and needed to be out of the hotel at 08:30. After passport control, baggage collection, and a long car ride into town, we made it to bed around 05:30. So we had about 2 1/2 hours of sleep 😴.

Why did we plan to be out of the hotel at 0830 ? Simple, this was our one and only chance to get a visa for China. You can't get a Chinese visa through an agent because you need to submit your fingerprints. They only open 3 mornings a week. It takes 5 days to issue it. I should mention that the application is 10 pages per person, including your entire employment history and education. On top photocopies of airline tickets and hotel bookings are required. So, in total, we had 186 pages of documentation. Sorry, I mispoke. In fact, our documentation when we arrived was only about 90 pages, as I had only copied the travel bookings once. So we had to visit the Embassy twice. Total time taken 2.5 hours! But wait, we are not finished, we have to pay at a bank, and that's complicated too. So, finally, around 1300, we are done.

Phew! We got it done ✔️ 🙌

Stress level dropped from off the scale to relaxed 😌.

Now we go for some well-deserved lunch. On the way, we take our pictures in front of the parliament building and the statue of Ghengis Kahn.

Thank you to our guide, Saihnaa, without whom we would have had no chance. A true angel.Read more