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Published: April 17th 2008
Ze Queue
The Chinese consulate seems popular at 8.30 in the morning...We had a dream
Leaving Hong Kong by rail to Guangzhou, Nanning and then heading for the Vietnamese border would be by far the cheapest possibility to go to Hanoi as well as a beautiful trip. Therefore, after getting our Vietnamese visa, we needed a China mainland visa too. Ok, so far so good. We put the alarmclock at 7 am, took a shower, walked to the ferry to cross Victoria Bay to reach Wan Chai where the Chinese embassy is based. Arival: local time 8.30.
There was a queue, at least 300 people had the same idea the same day. No problem, we're on holiday, we have the time... let's practice some patience. After 2 hours we were permitted to enter the consulate. We took the elevator to the 7th floor after being completely stripped and checked for bombs, tibetan flags and explosive soda's. We thought it would be smart to fill in the required forms before entering the building so we would pass through the desks swiftly. Bad thinking. Our number in line was 105, they were at no. 41. Three of the eleven possible desks were open, the hall was full with people waiting. The indians
Inside the consulate
Anyone has a sudoku left maybe? and/or pakistanis had one number for the whole family so every time when it was there turn we knew it would take at least 15 minutes. After 40 minutes the three desks managed to handle 20 people. Two minutes each, Lili started a sudoku.
At 13.30 precisely, no. 105 was summoned to the desk. Full of good will we headed forward. Our forms in hand, our passports too, nice pictures of us smiling friendly at the chinese lady behind the desk. "Where is your flight out of China" was the first obstacle we had to take. "No no, we take the train", our reply. "So give me train ticket" she answered. "And give me proof of reservation of your hotel and ticket for flight back home". Ehm.... "We don't have a ticket... we don't want to stay in China, we just take the train to the Vietnamese border". She started to look really annoyed by now. "Then give me ticket of train to Hanoi, and why you not stay in Chinese hotel". Unfortunately, it is not possible to get a train ticket to Hanoi from Hong Kong. We would take local trains and could get a ticket up to
Lamma Island
Tranquility and a nice view on the South China Sea Nanning, but after that you can't book anything further. Local busses and walking across the border is the only option. "You don't get visa, we changed the rules yesterday, you have to give ticket, hotel reservation and ticket of your flight back home. Go away!"
Mimi was definitely fed up with practicing patience by now, fuck China! You won't get no money from us! Off we go! Totally flabbergasted, after waiting for five hours, we left the building. Off to the nearest travelagent to book a ticket to Hanoi by air. Vietnamese airlines, here we come!
Happily, we spend the rest of the day exploring Lamma Island, eating with our newly acquired Hong Kong friend Jolene at the seaside and touring around. Hong Kong people are lovely, no doubt. China mainland... maybe next life...
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Jur
non-member comment
LOL
Haha! My God, what a story. "We changed the rules yesterday... ... Go away!" I bet she looked rather nice when she said that ;-) I still miss the two of you; I doubt I'll get used to it. So keep up the good work with blogs postings :-)