Well I did something a little crazy last week and randomly stuck my name down to do 5 months teaching English in China come August. (more on that later) but I thought I would extend the journey a bit. I'm having trouble planning my time in East Europe though!

Europe: all depends if this contract gets extended by another month, if it doesn't I won't be able to afford it.

Starting London at some point, not sure where flying to at the moment:

7-12 July : Novi Sad, Serbia – Exit Festival
Belgrade
Budapest
Kiev (Connection to get to Moscow via Train, will prob say a few days though)
Moscow (Connection to get to St Petersburg)
St Petersburg
Moscow (Must be there by the 3rd August)

Then it's on the Trans-Siberian!


Depart Moscow: 03/08/10 – 21:35
Arrive Irkutsk: 07/08/10 – 04:55
Depart Irkutsk: 11/08/10 – 21:50
Arrive Ulan Bator: 13/08/10 – 06:20
Depart Ulan Bator: 19/08/10 – 07:15
Arrive Beijing: 20/08/10 – 14:04

I'll then be meeting my fellow 'teachers' and Chinese contacts somewhere in Beijing on the 24th – my placement will hopefully be in the Shanghai region.

So that's the loose plan, the problem comes with Europe... I listed all the places I really 'need' to go to because that's the route I would go via Train to avoid Belarus (£120 just for a transport visa to cross the country!!!!!) and got from the 12th to the 3rd to spend in those places. Would prob do a week in Moscow, few days in St Petersburg, don't think I could spend a week in Belgrade but haven't really explored Budapest before..... hmmmmmm.

I dont think theres a weeks worth of stuff to see in Moscow (unless you like tower blocks).

Out of a week in Moscow I can see only 3 days being touristy, rest of the time will be getting things sorted for the trans-sib and recovering from always being on the move in europe. Its not like I wont have anything to do while in a location anyway as I guess Ill still being trying to cram as much Mandrin language into my head as possbile

Hmmm I hate planning so think Im just going to wing it.

Novi Sad, Serbia - 8 to 12th for Exit Festival
Russia on 29th (has to be specific due to Visa).

Fill the rest as i see fit or as I meet people. Worst comes to worse and Im running low on time i will have to Fly to Moscow from wherever I am.

Youre going to teach English? Oh my theres going to be hundreds of Chinese kids slurring their words isnt there?!

With what they will be paying us I doubt I will be able to afford to drink

Id go estonia, Latvia & make your way to St Petersberg & then to Moscow..

Moscow is a fantastic city... was going to ask if your getting the train.. then noticed in your map

Are you tefl qualified? somthing Ive been thinking about... Im not career driven & like dead end jobs,
so somthing like that before I get to old will help me see a bit of this odd ball we live on.

What is the pay actually like compared to cost of living?

also.. dont it take 2 weeks to get from london to singpore by train? better get yourself a kindle o)

Im starting my TEFL course next week, Im doing an internship of TEFL course here in the UK then as part of the training 4.5 months teaching in China.

The pay on this stint is pretty damn poor (£400 a month) but they pay living & weekly food and give you a bonus at the end.

In Japan you get close to £2000 a month and subsidised living which isnt bad at all. South Korea is meant to be pretty well paid as well however both require a degree to get a working visa.

Ive basically decided on my route and stopping now. Europe is just going to a case of winging it because thats easy enough... long as I get to Moscow on the 2nd

Updated Route: http://leonrtw.wordpress.com/

My g/f is teaching in Wuxi (not to far from Shanghai) at the moment. What company are you signed up with? EF?

Cool, she enjoying it?

The company Ive applied through is i-to-i but Im not sure who they are connected to on the Chinese side.

Quote from: DoomsCool, she enjoying it?

The company Ive applied through is i-to-i but Im not sure who they are connected to on the Chinese side.

Yeah, she loves it. Wouldent be for me...but then opposites attact as they say.

my little sis spent 3 months working in a wildlife park out there, she absolutely loved it. Hope it goes well for you!

Still a long way off and dont know if i will get accepted yet. either way Im still going to do the Trans-Sib part of the journey.

Really looking forward to a week in Mongolia and I want to get me one of those furry russian hats!