It was with a lot of stress and trepidation that I logged on the internet first thing this morning on the Indian Embassy website and checked out my visa application status only to find out that it had "still with embassy" and did not have a time or date or completion and arrival back at the pickup point. I called them up only to hear the same confirmed over the phone but was offered here a glimmer of hope in that they get two deliveries of visas each day and that I should phone back after midday to hear if it was in the second post of not.
If my visa did not arrive today then my choices were limited on what to do and even less so if it was not hear by tomorrow after tomorrow I would also not even be able to arrive in India with enough time to catch the onward flight to Dubai in the Emirates, meaning that both flights would have to be cancelled and a new last minute flight booked taking me direct to Bahrain as a cost I did not want to imagine.
So with barely a wing and a prayer I packed up my rucksack and left to meet my up with H' for lunch not really knowing if this was our final meeting in Beijing or not. We chose a pizza place just around the corner from her work that was also nearby the Indian embassy, at least according to the map, and shared a meal all the while I was waiting to see if my visa had arrived and I could fly today or not.
Around 12:10 the Embassy called to say that my passport had indeed been returned to them with a successful application, which was good news, and although their offices closed at 3pm I felt supremely confident that I would be able to reach them in time knowing how close we were geographically.
Saying goodbye to H' I fatefully decided to try and take a bus to the nearest metrostation stop, which was along the same main road it was heading, where I could then hop on and catch a train the two stops needed to reach the visa offices, it being right on top of the station at the other end.
I had the map and the help of three locals all waiting at the same bus stop all doing our best to make sure that the bus conductor knew where I wanted to get off, yet the stop she ushered me off at didnt look like it was anywhere near a metro stop. With time to spare, but not wanting to put myself under too much pressure I asked a couple of times for directions to the metro station entrance, each time given poins and Chinese chatter in the same direction so I guessed I was in the right direction but after wandering onto a main road after a fifteen minute walk I knew that something was amiss. Either I had got off at the wrong stop or I got on the wrong bus in the first place, as I was clearly nowhere near the station which by all rights should have been right underneath me the second I hopped off.
Laziness took over next so I flagged down a taxi and agai, using the map, I told him that I wanted to go to this metro station stop, feeling very sure that he would not know where the hell I was talking about if I asked for directions to the Indian visa application centre. Twenty minutes later I was dropped off by the taxi driver who pointed in the distance and I guessed he was trying to say that it was a long roundabout and main junction and to get me to the other side would be a big detour.
However after asking for more directions and again for walking for another fifteen minutes in a circle I knew that I had been ripped off, either accidentally or deliberatly as I was miles away from the metro station and by now time was ticking past far too fast.
This time logic prevailed, and I got out my receipt for the phone number so once I flagged down the next taxi I called up the visa office direct and had them give the directions to the driver and this time I was not getting out of the taxi until I was sure that I was at the right place. So all in all I took a 1 yuan bus, a 33 yuan and a 27 yuan fare just to go a couple of miles from where I started and by now it was 14:30 and I had only half an hour til the offices closed.
Thankfully it was a lot easier to collect my visa and passport than it was to drop it off, and within minutes I was in the lift coming back down and wondering what I could do to fill some time constructively til I headed off to the airport. I killed almost an hour in the free wifi starbucks coffee bar on the ground floor after which I decided that I was just going to grab a quick bite to eat and then find the metro station that led to the airport.
It did not really amaze me to find that that along any of the other metro lines 2 yuan is the maximum fare between two station regardless of the length of the journey, but the only line that goes to the airport is the express line which has a fixed fare of 15 yuan, but what was surprising was that it was not better signposted and I had to ask at least four times til I reached a place where I could buy a ticket and be shown which platform to use.
At Beijing International airport it was nice and clean, efficient and with plenty of semi - english speaking staff all eager to help, yet their main answer was no which I later realised was more a polite "I am sorry but I dont understand what you mean or how to advise you" rather than a "no, that is incorrect or not possible here" as I was told that I could not use a laptop or the internet several times til I finally got creative and pulling out my power lead plug and waved it at them til suddenly they realised that all I wanted was to recharge my batter which then got plenty of nods as in fact this possible almost anywhere.
Checking in was not a hassle, neither was security or taking the shuttle to the E wing departure gates and I was almost in heaven when I reached there and found a business centre where I could both recharge and go online for only 30 yuan for an unlimited time ( but a bit restrictive on which web sites you access ) and here I spent the remaining time in Beijing, sat in a comfy leather armchair with a hot chocolate and surfing the net.
The flight was delayed by half an hour by a very late passenger arrival and once we took off it seemed that a few of the Indians liked playing a game of silent musical chairs, as I had at least three different people sit / sleep next to me during the 7 hour flight, but by the end I was alone. I had hoped for perhaps a movie as the flight was certainly long enough to warrant one, but I think they prefer not to show movies on overnight flights and so I just tried to ignore the dim lights, the noise, the seat hopping and the occasional turbulence til we landed a little after 2am the following morning.
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