Just got word that my visa to Azerbaijan has been approved. Yippee! Two down and two to go. Still waiting on the Letters of Invitation for Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. With those done, the only thing left is to figure out how to get from Beijing to Ulannbaatar, Mongolia. Flying is the easy option, but I really want to take the train. Although it's a 22 hour ride, the whole "changing wheels on the car" thing at the China/Mongolia border intrigues me and I would really like to take some time to view the scenery east of the Gobi desert. Once I'm in Mongolia I'll be west of that region the entire time. The obstacle that stands in my way at this point is how to buy tickets in advance. They are limited and sell out quickly, AND they only start selling 30-60 days prior to the departure date. At that point I'll be in the middle of Kyrgyzstan and may have problems with phone and email. I'm researching the opportunity of having my Dragoman agent in the US do this for me in exchange for a reasonable fee. We'll see...
