Just had dinner with James and Kate at Thai Tha Po in Surry Hills. Kate has travelled all over China (and is about to return again), and has given me loads of tips on where to go and what to see.
The broad plan for the big trip is firming. Starting in Hong Kong, I hope to travel inland to Hanoi and roam around the northern parts of Vietnam, Laos and Thailand for a while. Then back into Yunnan province in China, north to Shangri-La and then northeast to Xián. After a few days in that area I’ll board the high train to Lhasa in Tibet. Yes, into Tibet by train, travelling at altitudes of over 5000m.
Afterwards who knows, but wandering around Tibet and Nepal before heading down into India for a month or so sounds like heaven to me. I should certainly have the time to do all that and more, even with inevitable delays obtaining visas and other permits of entry.
As another occasional mate said today, only half-jokingly, I’ll be “living the dream!”. Yep. 😀
Happy Trails 
Welcome to the land of blogging. And looking forward to many fantastic travel tales.