China, the promised land of scientific conferences

A gap year in Asia has been a dream for a long time, but now that it's around the corner (take off is in a week!), I'm getting scared. What if I can't cope with the different cultures? And what if I don't like it? I guess it is worth finding out!

The travel preparations are almost done: I got my visa for China, some local currency, flights booked and rucksack mentally packed. What I'm still missing is travel insurance and set of slides to present my work at conferences in Shanghai and Beijing. Obviously all good gap years start off with a couple of work-engagements, preferably ones where you need to dress up smart and present yourself nicely in the hopes of finding a future employer... So the packing list includes a fresh pile of CVs and some nicer clothes too!

In a week, I'll be boarding a plane to Moscow, where I'll change into an Aeroflot plane to Shanghai. The flights were about £200 cheaper that way, but now I'm starting to worry about them cancelling or re-routing my flights due to the forest fires in Moscow area. Hopefully I will make it to Shanghai in relatively good time, as the conference starts two days after my planned arrival date. Also, I'm hoping to get those two days for sight-seeing Shanghai and visiting the Expo as kind sponsors have already donated me tickets! The Shanghai conference is a satellite meeting for the big Beijing conference, but it is the specific field I worked with for my PhD and I'm really pleased to give an oral presentation in a meeting where mainly group leaders are presenting. After a week in Shanghai, I'm taking a 12-hour sleeper train to Beijing for more science fun. The Beijing conference is probably the biggest one in the field, so it will be lots of interesting talks and lots of people to meet!

After Beijing, I'm not too certain where I will be heading. My visa allows me to stay 2x 30 days, so maybe I will spend the first 30 days in the Beijing area and then do a trip to Mongolia. I'm expecting my travel companion to catch up with me at the beginning of October, so I maybe I'm aiming to start my second stay in China then, and we could travel southwards together from Beijing (or wherever it is the cheapest for him to fly to). The general travel plan is to go with the wind. I think we'll end up spending a fair amount of time in the South Eastern Asia after China, but nothing's certain yet!