I am starting a journey in Ireland that I want to take me all the way to Japan and then to SEA without using a plane.

I was thinking it would be fun to celebrate New Years in Moscow, and then travel by train to Beijing to celebrate Chinese New Year. That takes me up to early February. I want to be in Japan from April-May... which leaves a very cold 2-month gap in there. Even if I take a month to explore parts of China, which I'd happily do, that still leaves one month unaccounted for.

Dec 31 - Jan 7 --> Moscow
::Transsiberian/mongolian railroad::
Feb 4 --> Beijing
::??????????????????????::
Apr - May --> Japan

Any thoughts? What do to, where to go, how to reorganize plans? Two months of winter is a long, expensive time to not have any plans.

Chinese New Year is the 26th of January this year

Right, this would be for 2009, when Chinese New Year falls on Feb 4th I believe.