done, not as much travelling as I had hoped but never mind. We had a
job lined up all ready but then that ended up in a huge
misunderstanding and then, although they didn't want us to teach
there, they refused to cancel our visa, effectively trapping us in the
school unable to leave! a real pain!
Because of all this hassle we were late to leave for HongKong as we
were waiting for our visa letter and so our 30 day tourist visa ran
out! We found out we could get our tourist visa extended in Wenzhou,
O.K. no problem, we called them and asked what we needed, they said
bring everything we have and come tomorrow, O.K. no problem. We
arrived and they told us we needed our passport, ok, some photos, ok
no problem, and also proof that we could afford to live in china and
proof of residency... what!?
We were on a tourist visa so no proof of residency, she said a hotel
could provide this, but not cheap ones, only expensive hotels, and we
would have to book in for the week as they would take our passport, so
of course we couldn't book into a hotel or take a train in that week
as we would be passport less! Doh!
Also we needed to show a chinese bank official invoice showing we have
100USD a day for the length of our stay! ouch! We don't have that!!
and how can we show a chinese bank account for a tourist visa, of
course tourists don't have one!! madness!
So the trip to Wenzhou was a bit of a let down, but at least after a
full days excursion we knew what the goal posts were, no matter how
unattainable!
We managed to get the police station in Lingxi that afternoon and
arranged it so we officially 'lived' at Elaines house, and so that
solved the residency thing, we had to go to the first police station
and find a certain policeman, he filled out the forms for us (20mins)
then drive across town and find another policeman in another station
to stamp it, then drive all the way back across town to give it back
to the first police officer, and keep a tear off section as proof.
Luckily the young policeman was nice, and as he finished up we bought
a pack of expensive and posh ciggarettes as a gift for him as is the
chinese way, he of course made a huge show of not accepting them, but
we insisted, he really could have been a lot more obtuse and so we
really were grateful. It's not a bribe, just a way to say thank you,
and hopefully next time he will be happy to help us! The Chinese
way...
After that we had the money thing, luckily we managed to borrow enough
money but since paying it into an account and waiting a few days then
paying a fee to have the document drawn was impractical at best the
only other option was to bring cash, all £2500 each! In total £5000 in
cash! madness!
The next work day we set out again and managed to get to Wenzhou but
11, and rushes through the forms and queued up only to be told we had
to take more photos in their photo booth, and unfortunately they shut
for lunch 11.30 - 2.30 along with the rest of the police station! We
went off and had lunch, relaxed in starbucks and then wandered back at
2.30, got our photos done and then tried again, again showing them the
huge stash of cash we had been carefully carrying all day! After that
they accepted our application and took our passports, telling us to
return in a week to get them! Finally!
As we drove back we found out that someone had told the principal we
were still hiding in the school, and the person in charge of us was
not happy, having told us a week or so, 3 weeks later to find out we
were still living there! Luckily we got a heads up and managed to
avoid the leader coming to the flat to check on us.
Nora, Chris's Chinese teacher has an Auntie who owns a small hotel and
so they sorted us out there, the problem of course being as we had no
passport we couldn't check into a hotel! So officially we can't live
anywhere, but here we checked in with no passport, saving a lot of
trouble!
We waited until late at night and sneaked into the school to liberate
the last our things at 11pm, packing up and moving it all down to the
english office downstairs. once down there we had a picnic of beijing
roast duck from a very tasty nearby town and a bottle of beer with
Elaine and Nora, a nice fun little party, and 3 people managed to eat
2 whole ducks, (everything but the head), so much duck! but at £2.50 a
duck it wasn't too bad!
The hotel is nice, £10 a night for a clean twin room and since we know
the owner the service is amazing, we put a load of food in the fridge
and had a call the next day asking what time we wanted it cooked and
brought up to us, which she did brining us a home cooked lunch!
amazing!
We also had a cards night last night with Elaine and Eamon over for
beers and cards, we played hearts mostly with Eamon losing and Elaine
winning over all, Eamon was very keen to learn bridge but I think you
need someone who is good to teach that!
In the hotel when we arrived we check all the drawers etc and found
some interesting things, firstly we found a whole pile of playing
cards that i spent half an hour sorting into 4 complete packs and 3
odds and ends, for some random reason....
We also found a whole pack of 'girls cards' with pictures and phone
numbers in case you get lonely, and every evening someone quietly
slips another card or 3 under the door of the room, just in case!
Some pictures of our hotel, me with all the money we had to take to
the government, and of our amazing home cooked meal in the hotel, and
a surprised chris, and elaine and chris at our english office picnic!
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