Aberdeen to Aberdeen

After some Google, and "seek for advice" in TripAdvisor's forum, it is almost confirmed that it is "illegal" to cross the Russia-Belarus land border no matter if you have the visa or not (Maybe some hope if you are just transiting through Belarus, without getting off the train).  The reason behind is political, and I won't address this in details.  While applying a Belarus visa doesn't help, and it is less preferable to re-route through Ukraine, after checking all possible railway connections, Rīga is selected, and I don't need to apply a Belarus visa. It is costly to re-route through Rīga, as there is an overnight train from Moscow/Saint Petersburg to Rīga, and from Rīga to Minsk.  I have to revise my overall plan so far. Once again, hope I can complete my plan in 24 hours. Sleeper Train from Lativa to Russia, from Rīgas Centrālā dzelzceļa stacija

As discussed in the last post, my trip from Aberdeen to Aberdeen was almost finalized.  Unfortunately, Murphy's law always applies when something seems nearly complete. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong... While Belarus offer HKSAR passport holder with 14 days visa-free access (different from 5-days visa-free access offered before), there had been a report (Ref:  背包客棧自助旅行論壇  content in Chinese) that the border control denied the entry if you came from Russia.  While I will still keep monitoring the report, some alternative plans are in my mind. 1. Apply for a Belarus visa.  While there is no embassy in Hong Kong, and I don't have enough time in Beijing, I have to apply it in Moscow. 2. Skip Belarus, and visit Ukraine instead. 3. Re-route through Riga, which makes me not enter Belarus from Russia.