China

Afternoon on West Lake

The picturesque West Lake, late afternoon in Hangzhou, considered one of the beautiful cities in China.

The Eagle has Landed

A Kazakh hunting eagle hooded with a tomaga and tethered to a pole called a tugir in Gorkhi-Terelj National Park, Mongolia.

Sur le Garde

Chinese guard on the steps leading to Chengguang Hall, Beihai Park, Beijing.

Beijing International

The entrance to the massive Beijing International Airport on a hazy afternoon.

Woohoo, amongst all the Worldwide controversy of whether double and multiple entry visas would be issued or totally denied in the lead up and during the Olympics, the Chinese embassy, either as a result of something in the stars or numerology, has pleasantly surprised me by granting a double entry visa! ;-)

Due to the Olympics, the Chinese official's have stopped issuing multiple or double entry visa's to Australian citizens... this has thrown a spanner into my plans to fly into China, take a train to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia from Beijing, then back into China and back home via Thailand... as a result, I need to acquire a new Chinese visa on my arrival in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia... the risk is that the Chinese will stop issuing all new visa applications and I'll be stuck in Mongolia, with no way to get back into China to connect with my Beijing flight home...