Am in London first thing in the morning. The Mongolian visa application process is quick and painless. I descend to the basement in Kensington Court, hand in my application form, £40 and my passport to the friendly girl and get told to come back on Monday for it.
Look for travel gear at the Nomad shop at Russell Square. Am coveting a Gore-Tex jacket and a new rucksack, both in the region of £160. Business expenses, it's all business expenses. Get the insect repellent for my clothes, at least. In the Amazon, I discovered that mosquitoes can and will bite you through your clothes, so I shan't let the Siberian mosquitoes get a piece of me. Speaking of bites, I call up the MASTA and find out that a tick-borne encephalitus jab is £65 a pop, and you need to have two. At the Nomad clinic, it's only £55, and you get 10% off all travel gear. Hmm. Pass on the info to my travelling companions; I know that I'm light years behind my friends when it comes to using high-tech mobiles, but today I've discovered that mine will let me access and send emails.
Sushi and a jaunt around several modern art installations with Jacob. He shows off his latest gadget - a vintage Yashica camera. I went through a vintage phase too, taking square pictures with a Leica - including some really atmospheric ones which captured the darkness of San Diego. I need to get a multi-purpose lens for my Canon before the Russia trip because Trailblazer have commissioned a few photos for the guide.
There's a floor-to-ceiling poster on the underground featuring a grinning man in a wheelchair; he's an optimist who'd got Motor Neurone Disease, apparently. Feel like I've been sucker-punched in the stomach; one of my friends, too, was an optimist, and he died of MND last year.
Have used the train journeys to and from Cambridge to roughly plan our time around Lake Baikal. We'll visit Okhon Island and Listvyanka before moving on to Ulan-Ude from Irkutsk. Plus, I want to do the Circumbaikal Railway, which means going to Sludyanka, taking the train to Port Baikal, and then doubling back to Irkutsk. It'd be more logical to take the train the other way, but it only runs at night, sadly.
Looks like I won't have the time to explore the eastern (and less touristy) side of Lake Baikal; I'll have to save the Barguzin valley until the next time.
The five-hour nights have caught up with me. I don't have the energy to go to Milton Keynes tomorrow to legalise my deed poll certificate before it can be ratified by the Russian embassy to explain the two different names in my passports; I'll send it by post instead. It may take a few more days, but as long as it's sorted out before the departure, it's fine. More importantly, I need to chase up my Russian passport.
Due to my befuddled mental state, I concentrate on the part of the Chile chapter that doesn't require much brainpower. Almost finish the Torres del Paine section; email my Erratic Rock friends to chase up a few details.
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