Visa Circus in Ankara

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Further inquieries showed (re-met some friends of buissnes;-) that I should rather try to apply for the chinese and the pakistanian visa in Ankara. It is just a 6 hour bus ride, so today I visited all the embassies in Ankara including the german one. Yes, I had to get two letters of recommendation from my own embassy! A letter of recommendation approves that I am a good guy who should be issued a visa as fast as possible.
At the german embassy I could experience what the gateway to Germany in Turkey looks like. Very difficult to get in, many people waiting affirming that they have all the required documents this time, trying to make the guy behind the bars notice them.
There were also some ( but comparably small) obstacles for me: No camera allowed and 40€ please. So where to leave the camera if not in the dingy hotel (The name is Otel Fuar, I think that speaks for itself. It's cheap ;-) and where to organise 40€ as fast as possible, because the pakistanian embassy closes at 11:00 again. It was bit of runing, but Ankara is not so hot anymore (only 23C) and I managed. I also found the chinese embassy and now I have to wait until Thursday to get my passport back from them. Hmpf!

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