TransSib countries visa requirements for Austrians

I thought it might be handy for fellow Austrian TransSib travellers to have some up-to-date information about the visa requirements for China, Mongolia and Russia. I know I would have been very happy to have such a list a month or two ago.

Please note that most embassies require you to bring your documents in person. Only Mongolia accepts applications via a letter, however in our case they asked us to pick up the visa in person as they didn't want to send it back, even though I had included a pre-paid envelope. In our case we also didn't have any issues with me always bringing along the documents for my friend, however I assume that on a bad day a cranky official might require all applicants to stop by individually.

China

Website: http://www.chinaembassy.at/det/
Address: Strohgasse 22, 1030 Wien (Konsularabteilung)
Phone: +43 1 / 710 36 48
Opening hours: Monday / Wednesday / Friday - 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., Monday / Wednesday - 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Required documents: application, 1x photo
Price: €30 (regular service, 7 days), €53 (express service, 3 days), €63 (same-day service)

Mongolia

Website: http://www.embassymon.at/
Address: Fasangartengasse 45, 1130 Wien
Phone: +43 1 / 535 28 07 - 12
Opening hours: Monday / Tuesday / Friday - 9 a.m. to 12 a.m.

Required documents: application, 1x photo, invitation or confirmation by a hotel or tour-organizer
Price: €40 (regular service, 7 days), €80 (express service, 3 days) => this is for a single entry/exit visa, the one that will be most interesting to TransSib travellers

Russia

Website: http://www.rusemb.at/
Address: Reisnerstrasse 45-47, 1030 Wien
Phone: +43 1 / 712 12 29, +43 1 / 713 86 22
Opening hours: Monday / Wednesday / Friday - 9 a.m. to 12 a.m., visa-pickup apparently on these days from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Required documents: application, travel-insurance form, invitation from Russian travel agency or similar entity, 1x photo
Price: Price: €35 (regular service, 10 days), €70 (express service, 3 days or less)

To the best of my knowledge this information is deemed to be realiable as of August 2007. However I'd definitely recommend you to get in touch with the embassies beforehand to check whether anything has changed. The website of the Austrian foreign ministry (Außenministerium) is also always a good source of information about countries and their embassies.