Wow my second post... yeah I'm not good at this diary type stuff.

I've spent the past 3 days in Manchester hunting for the Chinese embassy... it's in the middle of Rusholme, in case you need to know. Not in Chinatown, but Rusholme (the Curry Capital of the North-West). So having found it, I still can't get a visa cos that has to be done within three months of the date of travel. Since I aim to be travelling through in December, now is not the time to get a visa. Bah.

I suppose I should explain myself. I'm a languages student at the University of Durham, studying French and Russian. I've just finished my second year, and next year is the fabled year abroad... so I'm off to Russia (Krasnoyarsk in Siberia) in September, with the aim of getting the Trans-Siberian train across Russia, through Mongolia and into China at the end of the placement. Hence my need for visas.

So far the organisation for this is not going well. I never claimed to be organised, but it seems to be expected...