Kara's Blog: January 2008

December's Adventure . . . I started in Mongolia to get my visa, but they encouraged me to go on to Cambodia (my holiday stop w/ Paul, Larissa, & Ian Dobson) where I'd have more time.

Here's a letter I sent to a friend in Dec . . .

"Well, I flew in to Phnom Penh yesterday, got the tourist visa, went to the Russian consulate, met a REALLY kind, helpful guy that told me I must have a Cambodian visa that allows me to be in the country for 90 days to get any Russian visa. I simply had to go extend my Cambodian visa to 3 months and voila . . . but since I had a tourist visa, those can't be extended, and we couldn't switch to a business visa since it was already done (although you should have seen Larissa bowing and begging at the airport - I think they would have if they could have :)). So I hopped on the bus and crossed the border to Vietnam for $12 (plus $5 to come back). The Vietnamese visa cost like $35, and both Cambodia visas together comes to $45. The Russian visa will be $100, so I'm still ahead on the cost of my visa and saw some countryside too :) HAH!

Tomorrow I will submit my Cambodian visa for the 2 month extension, and then Monday I turn the whole ball of wax into the Russian embassy. Since I've already been to the consulate, the days it takes to get the Russian visa have already started ticking . . . he said I could have it within 5 or 6 days. The man actually gave me his cell phone number if I had any problems, so I was able to call and tell him about the extra days wait.

Beyond that, I'm nice and toasty - Cambodian winter isn't a bad deal - hallelujah it aint a Cambodian summer :) This is more my speed!"