January Plans

The nature of my very sucky 90-day single-entry visa requires that I plan my China exit strategy now, instead of playing it by ear. So far, here's what it's looking like:

Dec. 28 Leave Beijing --> 2-3 days in HK --> 2-3 days in Singapore --> 5-6 days rent a car and drive to Melaka, then on to Kuala Lumpur, then possibly Penang and Johor Bahru --> back to HK for 4-5 days, with a day-trip to Macau --> back to the States.

This excludes the possibility of Korea and Japan, which really makes me sad. For someone who travels internationally as seldom as I do, it's hard to suppress the urge to go everywhere: India, Phillippines, Indonesia, Thailand, western Australia, even Brunei and Mongolia (FYI - according to the travel nurse at Kaiser Permanente, Mongolia has one of the the highest rates of rabies in the world).

I am already dreaming of delicious SE Asian food and buying batik cloth by the armload. If your travels brings you anywhere near these areas, please let me know and I'd love to meet up.