Exit Strategy

After getting back to Ulaanbataar, I began prepping the documents needed to apply for a Chinese visa.  I was intending to cross through Tibet by train and then catch a bus to Nepal in time for one of the best seasons to go hiking there.  However, my plans changed drastically day by day as I encountered new obstacles.  The first was the clusterfuck that is the Chinese embassy in Ulaanbataar.  They opened 15 minutes late on a -20 something degree morning with thick coal smoke lingering in the air and then people slammed themselves into the line to get in front.  Once we got inside, we get issued a ticket with a number.  Somehow I got issued ticket #9 that was already invalidated and by the time I realized what was happening I was issued a new ticket: #62.  I eventually made it to the window and the lady quickly rejected my application due to not enough validation documents, especially after new visa application requirements went into affect January 1^st. This embassy is only open for three hours three times a week so I had to prepare new documents and return the following week.

I carefully trimmed passport photos that were printed in the wrong sizes and made up a fake itinerary and bookings and then adjusted an exit train ticket from China to Vietnam.  This time the lady accepted the application documents but I was now leaving the city for a week so I wouldn't know the outcome until I returned.