Mongolia, oh Mongolia...

So... I've come to the conclusion that while the fine folks at Visa Connection are wonderful in their attempts to help me, they're not always the best at figuring things out...

First off, I received a call at the end of last week telling me that my Mongolian visa would have to be sent in as a "Double Entry/Exit" visa, valid for 180 days, because the Single Entry/Exit visas are only good for 90 days from the date of issue, and my entry into Mongolia is more than 90 days away... The *PROBLEM* is that Mongolia, apparently, is pretty picky about double entry visas and normally reject applications for them.

It took me until today to actually think about the numbers and realize that someone in Vancouver can't do basic math. If I apply for my Mongolian visa in mid-May, that means I'll have until mid-August to get into Mongolia. That's just fine, as my PLANNED date of entry is August 4... ... A couple of phone calls later and now Visa Connection will hold my British passport until May 15, then send it off for my Mongolian visa.

Again, I don't want to sound like I'm saying bad things about them... They've been wonderfully enthusiastic about helping me get what I need. Language barriers have been... problematic... with their staff though, and I seem to think that they're not used to having to do multi-country visa applications too often.

On the up-side of things, my friend Deddeda Stemler has told me that getting a Vietnamese and Cambodian visa at the border shouldn't be a problem at all. I just need to show up with cash and passport photos and it should be all good. This in itself is somewhat encouraging, and I'm finally becoming a *BIT* less worried about ending up in a Chinese or Vietnamese prison for inadvertently trying to enter a country illegally.

Also worth noting is that I've gone and signed up for my SCUBA refresher course through the Ogden Point Dive Center. It's been nearly 10 years since I went diving, but I've got 250 dives, for a total of over 200 hours of underwater time logged. Hell, I used to be a certified Rescue Diver, a-way-back-when, so I'm hoping it should all come back to me pretty quickly. My old Advanced / Rescue instructor, Erin Bradley, owns the store, so I'm looking forward to saying hi to him and catching up a bit too.