Caravanistan

I have heard that VPN use is strictly forbidden in Xinjiang, and that your SIM card will be blocked if you're detected using a VPN there. Myself, I did not test this: I kept my VPN off in Xinjiang. But no problem using a VPN elsewhere in China. Yes, you need to download, signup and pay for a VPN bef...

A 10kg package to Germany is 315RMB by sea, 544RMB by sea/air combo, and 816RMB by air, plus some miscellaneous fees. http://zf.chinapost.com.cn/gj/zfQuery.do?method=enterGjBgzfQuery (in Chinese) Only a few post offices in a city handle international shipments. Best to just ask at any post office wh...

Any UK citizens reading this post should be aware that if they apply in the UK they will normally get a two-year multiple-entry visa permitting a 90-day stay per entry.

Since it's a two-year visa, it works well for those who don't plan on entering China till quite some time after they leave the UK

In the past it was quite easy for foreigners with tourist visas to open bank accounts in China. A couple of hours of paper-shuffling at the bank and you'd walk out with a working debit card. But this has become quite difficult recently, and it might take a lot of legwork to find a willing bank. Non-...

Just to be clear: there's nothing illegal about visiting Iran from an American standpoint. The crime would be lying about your trip to Iran when you enter the US or apply for a visa. Given the no-stamp policy only works if you fly in, and given the way in which airline reservation systems are tied t...

I found hostels and hotels completely unhelpful when it came to registration. They obviously did not want to be bothered.

But I assume the poster wasn't surprised by the extraordinary time and hassle involved. His experience is essentially the same experience reported by others for years here and on other forums.

I don't know about the through bus, but this is a year-round crossing: there's no mountain pass involved.

And my point is simply that those are current policy decisions of those offices. They aren't rules locked in by law. So in future they could become less, or more, strict.

Don't waste your time with Julia.

She first told me I could buy the ticket at her office with a credit card on the day of departure.

Then when I showed up to buy the ticket, she sent me away to track down Hamid. Utter waste of time.