Ticking all the Boxes

Barring breaking one of my as yet unbroken limbs, I think I should be prepared for any eventuality with all these ingredients in my personal medical kit - all except one (hint: not really a medical item) recommended by the tour guide people.

I might add my favourite cure-all medication, Maria Treben's Swedish Bitters, great for the gripes and even good when applied locally on mozzie bites! Hopefully they will work on camel flea bites as well.

Drinking plenty of water/Chinese tea should stave off whatever MSG reactions I get but, if not, I have plenty of pain relief! Headaches and holidays are definitely not compatible.

Thankfully China does not have that many nasty bugs and is free of most endemic diseases, but my GP has asked me to have the Hepatitis A and Typhoid vaccinations so tomorrow is pincushion day and I have to have my regular Vit B12 injection then anyway. I will get some chocolate to cheer me up after the ordeal.

Most of the other boxes have been ticked. Living in Canberra means it was easy getting my visa for China, although it was not through the spectacular Chinese Embassy but from a deserted office space on an otherwise empty floor of a city office block. Tickets all booked and paid for, insurance organised, reading up on Chinese history under way, fitness level elevated, expectations high, notebook and pen poised to record every notable landscape feature, cultural oddity and remarkable character trait of people met en route.

17 more days to go and I just need to get some renminbi, brush up some essential phrases, book a hostel in Beijing (an add-on to my journey which ends formally in Xi-an) and try to squash everything into my 40litre Kathmandu purple backpack. Let the count-down begin!