We arrived safely in China and I finally take the time after the mad rush of the final preparations to take stock of our itinerary and the expenses incurred even before leaving.
It is definitive without really being so. We have important appointments not to be missed such as the arrival of our friends in Bangkok for the end of year celebrations or the month of March that we will spend in India for professional reasons (and I will tell you about it) . In the meantime, nothing is programmed, nothing is reserved, just a vague idea of the route thought out and considered according to flight opportunities, land border crossings or the weather.
So we arrived in China on October 23 to spend almost a month there:30 days is the time allowed for a classic tourist visa in China. We chose to start with this country for meteorological reasons, the climate can be very harsh from November in the mountains of Yunnan. We will pass by obligation by some large cities but will generally seek the calm of the villages and the countryside. I have always dreamed of going to Tibet one day, our journey will take us to the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Dequen, at the gates of autonomous Tibet.
We do not know yet if we leave China by air or by land. Either to land in Malaysia or to reach Laos via Vietnam. Big suspense!!
We will reach Thailand at the beginning of December. to gently return to the capital, Bangkok a few days before Christmas and welcome our friends at the airport. We have planned a 15-day Thai trip together.
The Thai visa allows us a 30-day stay, so we will leave Thailand at the beginning of 2020 by land to reach Siem Reap and its famous Angkor temples for a few days in Cambodia .
We will leave Cambodia by air to reach Indonesia and Bali for a month. We will probably visit other islands nearby but nothing is established yet.
Finally we will reach India by plane for our 4th trip to this country, in the middle of the holi celebration and for a project that was close to my heart.
The end of our trip as our return date are not fixed at all. One certainty, the girls are going back to school on April 27, 2020, 6 months after our departure.
We obviously forget the washing machine and the dishwasher which left us a few weeks before our departure but which we had to replace despite everything for our tenants.
Some expenses are sunk costs, others are long-term investments. Here is the list of expenses made before you even leave.
A new backpack for my husband from the Osprey brand. The old one he was wearing was 10 years old and hurt his back:160 euros . It is a new long-term investment.
In terms of clothes, this year, I didn't have to buy any outfits for fall or winter, neither coats nor shoes, and this summer's clothes will continue their life in Asia for another 6 months! Simply a down jacket fine for each of the girls and for me, found on Vinted:100 euros in all. I bought quality down jackets for the girls (Jott and Waxx), which I can resell for the same price as I bought them as soon as we get back. I also bought them a new pair of versatile sneakers each still on Vinted for 30 euros . These are purchases that I would have had to make anyway if we had stayed in France.
A steripen Ultra . It is a UV lamp that sterilizes tap water to make it drinkable. The idea is to buy as little bottled mineral water as possible:110 euros .
Rabies, Hepatitis A, typhoid fever and Japanese encephalitis, i.e. 7 vaccines in everyone who is not covered by social security, i.e. 1200 euros in all. The good news is that our mutual takes care of all the care (and this is far from being the case for all!)
Visas to travel to some Asian countries are not free. The Chinese visa that we had to obtain before our departure in particular. If we count our 4 visas, the processing costs delegated to an agency, the emergency costs that we had to subscribe to and independent of our will, the round trips to deposit our fingerprints in Paris and to recover our 4 passports we have some for 1400 euros !!! We will say that the price of plane tickets to China (1000 euros for 4) and life there compensates for these additional expensive costs. Visas for Cambodia or India will fortunately be much less expensive.
We subscribe to Chapka, a repatriation health insurance for our trip. Indeed beyond a trip of 90 days, the insurance of the Visa card no longer covers the costs related to health concerns. We made the choice to take out health insurance from the 1st day of the trip, i.e. for 6 months (we could have done it only for the last 3 months). Why this choice ? Because the medical procedures for coverage on the other side of the world and for reimbursements via Chapka, seem much simpler than via Visa. And especially that in the conditions of guarantees Chapka specify that will not be supported the consequences or after-effects of a pathology which occurred before the subscription. In other words, Chapka will not take over from Visa in the event of a relapse of any pathology. It costs us 1400 euros for all 4 for 6 months of tranquility.
To further the education of the girls, I made some personal purchases. We leave with the French (Kimamila) and maths (Picbille) textbooks of A. who is in CP. These manuals belong to us, they are complete and fun, we will use them mainly and will especially be able to tear out the pages as the work is done to lighten up. I also bought her a "Graphiletter" booklet for her to work on her writing for 5 euros. In addition, I found on various online sites (including Lulu the mole) games and activities such as magic coloring in math or crosswords adapted to his level. For R. who is in CM1, I find her French and math textbooks much too heavy both literally and figuratively and not playful enough for her. We will "work" differently. I bought "All the program" from Boscher editions. I have been buying these textbooks as a supplement to their classroom work for several years. It is comprehensive and covers the entire program. If she is having difficulty with a particular subject, then we will only deepen it with online exercises and a few pages from her math textbook which I have photocopied. I also bought her the ORTH CM1 textbook, which she uses in class but which did not belong to her. For once, I find it well done, in the form of short spelling and grammar lessons, with illustrations. For the 2 manuals, I got them for less than 20 euros .
Finally, we have our mail forwarded for the next 6 months. It takes 30.50 euros reshipping costs.
See you soon for a first article on our 1st stage in China:Chengdu, a gigantic city, a priori not what we prefer but which has some nice surprises in store for us between its gigantic buildings.
