After a nice day and night last night I had high hopes for today and the foreseeable future, only for it to all come crashing down around my ears.
Some days are good days, some days are bad days and some days you wish you had just stayed in bed and refused to wake for anything except a natural disaster, well today wasnt quite that bad, but having said that its not a good day and it has barely reached midday.
I woke and knew that I had to sort out my Indian Visa soon, or at least check it out, or else I might find myself not flying on the day I planned and having to pay a nasty penalty at the airport for yet another change, and with the onward flight only a couple of days later it would be almost not worth leaving the airport.
The internet was not the most helpful, everything being in Chinese or saying that it would be a 7 day delay because I wasnt a local, which is of course not quite true and especially not if I am willing ( or have little chice but ) to pay for it to be express processed.
Knowing how useless the hotel was, I had little hopes of them sorting it out for me, so I looked for the biggest sounding firm in the city, got the address and went to ask for the to arrange me a taxi. After three members of staff and the taxi driver all arguing about how to spell or pronounce it, I gave up and stormed off back to my room to devise plan D.
Plan D was to get a flight or maybe even a night train so that I can get to Beijing earlier than expected and once there sort out my Indian Visa direct in the countries capital with at least 4 full work days for them to process it, which should be possible, plus in Beijing I have two good friends who speak Excellent English and should be able to help argue and cajole the locals a little bit more that me alone.
For anyone who wondered what plan A was, that was getting the India Visa while I was still in the UK, but they skuppered that the moment I learned that you cant apply more than 3 months in advance, and plan B was to sort it out in Bangkok but after dealing with the locals I just couldnt find a reputable travel agency that I was prepared to entrust my passport to for a few days. I also couldnt do it while in Phnom Penh as I already was pushing my luck getting both Vietnamese and Chinese visa's there and one more just was not possible.
So I packed up my stuff and went to check out and was hit by the largest laundry bill I have ever had. One pair of jeans, 7 t-shirts, 8 boxer shorts and 4 1/2 pairs of socks ( having lost about 5 1/2 in the last two months ... how, I have no idea ) cost me 340 RMB, with the average price being 15 RMB, or £1.50, for a single pair of socks to be washed. Had I realised it would have been this much I know that I would have preferred to go dirty for one more day and have then cleaned for a fraction of the price when I got to my hostel in Beijing or evne India for that matter, but it was too late, I had my clean clothes so I had to choke on their greed but pay it regardless.
The act of getting to the train station and getting my ticket should have been relatively easy, as even the locals must understand train station, but this job was made so much easier by the phonecall that I received from my friend X' who wanted to meet me again this afternoon and was prepared to escort me to the station and get my ticket for me. Although I was fairly confident that I could manage on my own there are no points being awarded here for heroism or stupidity and so it would have been both foolish and unkind to my friend to not take up her kind offer, so I graciously accepted and together we went by underground to the train station.
My friend X' was very eager for me to get my ticket, so she literally pounced on the ticket clerk the moment he was finished with his previous customer and before I could even open my mouth she had already rattled off a long list of things to him and a price of 283 was soon after punched up on the LED. Knowing that this was cheaper than the internet said it was, I reckoned that my friends being a local had managed to secure me a normal non-tourist infalted price, and I just hoped everything would work out fine.
With still half the day to kill, we chose to first grab a breakfast and for this we agreed upon a japanese restaurant. I am doing my best to be greatful to my friend, and accept that she was giving up her time just to help me, but it was a bit annoying when I chose a mild dry meat and rice dish but she changed my order to be a scorching hot extra spicey vegetable noodle soup that had my eyes sweating the moment the first drops touched my lips.
My good manners were futher tested when she decided that instead of touring around the local Palace or Temple she would instead we to the world famous Shanghai Walking Street, a place where you walk and shop! To give her credit she did recover very well, when I almost collapsed by suggesting that we take the mini tourist train that slowly chugged its way along the street and back again, for 2 CNY each way.
After the brief train ride, in which I refused to ever get out the other end and just sat and waited til it was on its way back, I took charge for a moment and suggest we go to watch a movie, any movie, that was playing in the nearest cinema. I have no idea if she was actually interested in watching the cartoon conversion of Dragonball Z, but without any objection she sat with me and watched it til the end.
It was not one of Chow Yun Fat's greatest roles, but I am sure that he probably enjoyed doing something ligth for a change and certainly he didnt get the shakes from using any guns this time ( that was his biggest complaint after filming The Replacement Killers, he hands were shaking so much he could barely use chopsticks ).
Following on from the film we took a stroll around Peples Square before she escorted me back to the train station where I then was able to check in, have my bags scanned upon entering the main terminal and then sit in the comfy leather armchaired waiting room for the last hour before my train was due to leave.
My overnight train, which I hope is in the sleeping section, leaves around 19:25 and should arrive at 07:00, light enough for me to be able to make it to the new hostel that I booked this morning, one where the staff speak great English, have free wifi and I dont really care if I share a room or not as I won't be there when I am out with my Beijing friends, both who replied to my text and said that they are happy that I wil be there sooner and are looking forward to meeting me.
No comments:
Post a Comment