So from Sunday evening when I boarded the train to Beijing to when I arrived back home on Wed afternoon I had not slept or lied down on a bed, the entire time was sitting or standing. I was the living dead by the end of it.

I can apply for a visa right away but there is like a 2 month queue just for the application in Beijing. I could fly to the UK and apply there (which would probably take 2 weeks) since I'm British, and then go but thats a huge waste of money, and a lot of times been wasted already.