After finding a small two pound sleeping bag online for $100, I again decided not to take one. For one, New Zealand will be cold. According to Lonely Planet, it will get close to freezing at night in Queenstown, so I don’t think I will want to sleep outside. Ahh, why didn’t I go to Fiji for a month first while New Zealand warmed up? Then there are cabins available on the tracks, but I’m not sure if they are open in the winter. So I may no be doing much tramping. As my Australia plans start to form, it looks like I will only be sleeping outside a couple of times: in the Outback, and Fraser Island. Fraser Island has 4WD drive tours where camping gear is provided, which sound pretty good. And the consensus seems to be that camping gear is absolutely unnecessary in Asia, where accommodations are so cheap, you would be silly to sleep outside. Then there’s the fact that there are no campgrounds.

Yesterday I went to Barnes and Noble to look at the Indonesia Lonely Planet, since I have no clue what I will do there. However, I saw the one for Tibet, which I couldn’t resist. It looks like it is theoretically possible to go there. But it won’t be easy. I would have to arrange my Chinese visa in Bangkok, since they don’t give them out in Katmandu. This is complicated by the fact that I would need a multiple-entry visa to get into Yunan province from Vietnam. Then, in Katmandu I would have to join a “tour,” to get into the country, and to get my travel permit. Then there are more permits (bribes) for travel within the country. I really want to go to Tibet. Whether I end up going will depend on if I am up for the red tape, and how I am handling the altitude.

Some of you may think my plan to go around South East Asia, up through China, then through Russia is insane. However, I just heard from someone who is doing exactly that. Guidebooks are good, but it’s better to hear first-hand information from somebody who has recently done what you plan to do. He says it’s hard to get tickets for the Trans Mongolian, but you can always get tickets to the next stop. This is fine, since I want to stop in Ulaan Baatar and Irkutsk at the minimum. He also said his tickets cost $100. I wonder if he left off a zero?

Tomorrow, for the first time in my life, I will be riding the dreaded Greyhound bus. I’m going to Chicago to visit a friend. Should be interesting, I’ll let you know how it goes on Monday.

Oh, and if you want to vote in the poll, you have to register. There’s a link in the top right to do this. It will ask for your email, but you could just make one up if you don’t want to give your out. But to be honest, I’m not even sure how to get to the emails that are entered. I assume it goes into a mySQL table, but I am to lazy to look through my database, so you don’t have to worry about spam.