Ok, so there's Tibet and the Olympics. And now, China's push for order and control is affecting their visa requirements. Current rules for Chinese tourist visas require:

• A round-trip airplane ticket
• A hotel booking for the length of your stay

... neither of which I have, of course, since I was planning to enter overland from Laos and find guesthouses along the way. Additionally, rumor has it that China west of Chengdu is closed to tourists, which would make my overland trip to Kyrgyzstan difficult. Oh, and I may not be able to stay in the country longer than thirty days at a time.

If everything was easy, it wouldn't be fun, right?

• Holes in the net?
• A shortage of good news

Man, this sucks.