Visas out of the way
I finally managed to get all the necessary visas for the trip. The first of the rank was the Chinese visa, which was the easiest to get. Filled up the application form, paid the fees and provided all the documents, and had to wait for 5 days and the visa was ready. The embassy staff was also relatively friendly in checking the paper work and making sure that I have all the documents I needed.
Next visa was the Mongolian visa. That was also relatively easy. The consulate in Wellington is run by a husband and wife team and they were not Mongolians as I thought they would be. They were new Zealanders and they were operating out of their home. They were very friendly. I spoke to them on the phone before going over and they told me what I needed. I went with the paper work. The wife saw my documents and said it was approved but I had to come back in a few days to collect the stamp.
The last visa was the Russian visa which was the most complicated and the most difficult. I had to provide almost a dozen documents including a letter from a Russian company inviting me over to Russia and detailed itinerary with every stop I will be making in Russia and a long letter written in Russian (which I had no clue what it was). The embassy was like a fortress – very unfriendly. Going to the section where they processed visas was like going into a bank vault. The metal door reminded me of a bank vault with no handle. If they did not want you to leave, there is nothing you could do. Even the staff had no smile on their faces. On their website, they sais they do not entertain phone calls. When I applied for the visa, the consular looked at the paper work and told me it was not correct. I asked him what I should do, but all he said was it will cost you $110 and come back in 2 weeks.
I was not sure if I should start packing given what he said so waited till last week until I had the stamp on my passport before I started to organise everything else.
From Beijing to St Petersburg 