Already Planning

This is probably your last day at work of 2010. Lucky you. I'm still here till the 23rd. Although already I'm getting frustrated by the lack of stuff to do. Which is great ordinarily, but not so much when you are responsible for billing 7.5hrs each day.

But, I am staying upbeat because I picked up my new lights yesterday during lunch and hung them when I got home. They're not quite as awesome as the originals, but are close enough.

And most especially what is keeping me happy at the moment is that I think I have decided on Holiday 2011. I know, usually I don't start thinking about it until the year has actually started but I decided to do just a little research in the meantime and it's now a fully grown idea :) There is still plenty to be figured out and expenses to be calculated, but it's looking pretty likely that 2011 will be the year of the Trans-Mongolian Railway and a bit of a visit round China!

I haven't figured it all out yet, but instead of doing a tour for the Trans-Siberian trip like I was thinking of in 2008, I think I'll just do the Trans-Mongolian trip on my own. I expect it'll be about 7 days on Train 4. This train crosses Siberia, cuts across Mongolia and the Gobi desert, then enters China.

Once in China, I only knew there were definitely 2 things I wanted to see: The Great Wall and The Terracotta Army. But have (rather obviously) added Giant Panda's to this list. Yesterday I was wondering if I was sub consciously working my way thru WWF's list of species (based on the menu on the left): Tigers, Giant Panda (potentially this trip), Rhinoceros (and plenty of other experiences, I do live in South Africa!), Polar Bear, Whales and Dolphins (have snorkeled with both in Mozambique), Elephants (African and Asian), Marine Turtles (a failed attempt), Great Apes. Guess it'll have to be Tiger's next! Hahaha. I wonder if anyone else can say they've done all this?

I was also thinking of adding the Hunan Zhangjiajie National Forest Park (the place where they filmed part of Avatar) to the list of must-do's, but after looking around for trips in China, I can't find any that go there. Admittedly it has only been one day of sporadic research so, who knows. But I've found a 15-day Intrepid trip that covers the first 3, so that's what I'm thinking of for now.

So yeah, now just to get thru today and enjoy the Public Holiday tomorrow :)