I was back in Beijing for just one reason - to pick up my passport and newly-extended visa. This had been one long hassle from the word 'go' and really threatened to become a full-blown disaster at some points. My old visa was due to expire on July 29th and it was only about a week before this when I was first in Beijing that I found out that it could not be extended. That was a bit of a problem! Because it was a working visa, and I was no longer working, it could not be extended as the type of visa you have cannot be converted while you are in China itself. There was no way I could just apply now for a tourist visa without leaving the country!!
So there I was, with a visa due to expire two weeks before my flight out of the country! It was either I leave the country, renew my visa and come back again, bring my flight forward two weeks and forget about my trip, leave China and go elsewhere for the remaining two weeks or try and persuade my agency to issue me a new six-month working visa while not actually having any contract or intention to work here again. For a while I was seriously considering going to South Korea for a fortnight but in the end my agency pulled through for me and I sent my passport off to Guilin for them to sort out and send back to Beijing for me to collect at a later date.
Now was that later date. I was in Beijing, my visa was officially expired and my passport was not there. So I waited. I waited three long days, with very little to do. As I was waiting around I couldn't go out anywhere far so spent it hanging round Beijing checking out a couple of art galleries, going for walks (long bloody walks - this city is so much bigger than it looks), meeting up with Anthony for one last time at yet another completely empty bar (but with a great band playing - best live music I've heard in China), reading books in Starbucks, going to the cinema and surfing the internet.
On the third day my prayers were answered and my passport finally arrived. So, with my passport in one hand, a ticket to Inner Mongolia in the other and my bag on my back I finally left Beijing, and not a day too soon. I was spending the price of a long-distance bus journey on taxis each day there and it was just not fun.
But before I did leave, I visited one last tourist attraction - the Temple of Heaven - and another one of Beijing's best. The buildings have all been ultra-restored and were super-shiny, but still interesting. Chinese tradition has it that the Earth is square and Heaven is round, which is why all the main halls here were built with a square base and round top, to reflect this arrangement. All the pictures here are from this trip. It's unique alright.
It was a good last day actually. Sunny, and with a nice place to wander round. I even bought a new fake watch. It was another product I really didn't want. I don't even wear watches! I told the man all this and it only succeeded in getting the price down from 140 to 25 yuan! It was quite funny really. The fact he's still making money off that is evidence for the ridiculous over-pricing that goes on at these tourist spots. Loads of other punters must have been really chuffed with their 100 yuan watch. It's a joke...
So then it was off to the bus station. I was on another sleeper bus, and was actually quite looking forward to it until I saw my allocated berth. On these buses there are three rows of bunks down the two sides and the middle of the bus. In order to make the most of space and get a bit of extra cash, they board over the aisle at the very rear of the bus, creating two huge beds the entire width of the bus, accommodating five people each laid right up next to each other...and I was in one of them. It was inevitable that it'd happen one day, and I was not looking forward to it. All a little bit
too cosy for my liking. Still, there was nothing else to do. I was leaving Beijing and was about to embark on the really interesting part of my travels. Not even five in a bed could dampen my spirits at that point!
I was back in Beijing for just one reason - to pick up my passport and newly-extended visa. This had been one long hassle from the word 'go' and really threatened to become a full-blown disaster at some points. My old visa was due to expire on July 29th and it was only about a week before this when I was first in Beijing that I found out that it could not be extended. That was a bit of a problem! Because it was a working visa, and I was no longer working, it could not be extended as the type of visa you have cannot be converted while you are in China itself. There was no way I could just apply now for a tourist visa without leaving the country!!
So there I was, with a visa due to expire two weeks before my flight out of the country! It was either I leave the country, renew my visa and come back again, bring my flight forward two weeks and forget about my trip, leave China and go elsewhere for the remaining two weeks or try and persuade my agency to issue me a new six-month working visa while not actually having any contract or intention to work here again. For a while I was seriously considering going to South Korea for a fortnight but in the end my agency pulled through for me and I sent my passport off to Guilin for them to sort out and send back to Beijing for me to collect at a later date.
Now was that later date. I was in Beijing, my visa was officially expired and my passport was not there. So I waited. I waited three long days, with very little to do. As I was waiting around I couldn't go out anywhere far so spent it hanging round Beijing checking out a couple of art galleries, going for walks (long bloody walks - this city is so much bigger than it looks), meeting up with Anthony for one last time at yet another completely empty bar (but with a great band playing - best live music I've heard in China), reading books in Starbucks, going to the cinema and surfing the internet.
On the third day my prayers were answered and my passport finally arrived. So, with my passport in one hand, a ticket to Inner Mongolia in the other and my bag on my back I finally left Beijing, and not a day too soon. I was spending the price of a long-distance bus journey on taxis each day there and it was just not fun.
But before I did leave, I visited one last tourist attraction - the Temple of Heaven - and another one of Beijing's best. The buildings have all been ultra-restored and were super-shiny, but still interesting. Chinese tradition has it that the Earth is square and Heaven is round, which is why all the main halls here were built with a square base and round top, to reflect this arrangement. All the pictures here are from this trip. It's unique alright.
It was a good last day actually. Sunny, and with a nice place to wander round. I even bought a new fake watch. It was another product I really didn't want. I don't even wear watches! I told the man all this and it only succeeded in getting the price down from 140 to 25 yuan! It was quite funny really. The fact he's still making money off that is evidence for the ridiculous over-pricing that goes on at these tourist spots. Loads of other punters must have been really chuffed with their 100 yuan watch. It's a joke...
So then it was off to the bus station. I was on another sleeper bus, and was actually quite looking forward to it until I saw my allocated berth. On these buses there are three rows of bunks down the two sides and the middle of the bus. In order to make the most of space and get a bit of extra cash, they board over the aisle at the very rear of the bus, creating two huge beds the entire width of the bus, accommodating five people each laid right up next to each other...and I was in one of them. It was inevitable that it'd happen one day, and I was not looking forward to it. All a little bit too cosy for my liking. Still, there was nothing else to do. I was leaving Beijing and was about to embark on the really interesting part of my travels. Not even five in a bed could dampen my spirits at that point!
No comments:
Post a Comment