Let me back track a bit here.  When we were planning the trip, I was trying to decide what hotel to book in Guangzhou, my mom had previously stayed at the 63-floor Guangzhou International Hotel, which had a rotating restaurant.  The Asia International Hotel is a building with 45 floors; which also has a rotating restaurant on the top floor.  This added to the confusion while making reservations. 

My mom wanted to eat at the rotating restaurant, which makes one circle in 2½ hours.  This morning Auntie, Uncle and Hang Hang came to the hotel to meet us for breakfast.  We went up to the rotating restaurant, but Auntie and Uncle quickly ushered us out, as they felt the 68RMB ($10 US) breakfast buffet is too expensive.  Their mentality is that it is all about the food; ambiance is not worth a penny.  We went downstairs to the Chinese restaurant and had dim sum instead. The dim sum was not spectacular and again overpriced in their opinion. 

By this time, all of Auntie’s family was waiting for us to go with us to Pan Yu for lunch.  Didn’t we just eat breakfast?  One of Auntie’s sons-in-law works for the government in Pan Yu, so he knows the area very well.  Today he reserved a bunch of fresh seafood for us for lunch.  We arrived at the restaurant located across the water from what is one of the most well known landmarks of Pan Yu, the gold statue of Kuan Yin looking at the sea (to protect those at sea).  Again, we had a couple of pounds of giant shrimp and some small shrimp, we also had the usual veggies, some delicious deep friend spare ribs, roast pig, goose and the dish of the day… waterbugs!!  Did I try the waterbugs?  Yes I did!  I was instructed on how to eat them, pull off the legs, pull off the head, pull off the wings and proceed to eat.  Out of the new things that I tried, this was the hardest to swallow.  I chewed a little bit and then drank a nice big gulp of soda to wash it down.  I was able to talk both kids into trying them too!  And, they did not enjoy it any more than I did.

Afterwards, we were taken on a quick tour of a couple of ancestral temples in the area.  These old temples were pretty interesting in architecture; the first one had beams that were completely carved. 

Then we were taken to eat again!  This time we had dessert, we had double skin milk, which is sort of a custard made with buffalo milk.  The taste was OK, it was not very sweet, but it was very thick.  There is a plain version and a version made with ginger, additionally various toppings can be added to it.

We got back into the car and when we stopped, I found us at yet another restaurant!  I was totally stuffed at this point.  Luckily, we only had a couple of dishes of veggies, the main item for this meal were the biggest steamed roast pork buns (cha siu bow) that I had ever seen.  These buns were probably 3 times as big as the usual buns and they were very delicious.  The only problem was I was so full from the earlier meals, I could only eat one.  L

We had a late start this morning and we were going to take it easy for the most part, as we would have a late night.  We were going to the Chime Long International Circus today.  The circus is run by the same company as the Zoo.  Additionally, the same corporation runs an amusement park and a water park in the area.

Per Izz’s request, we went back to the noodle shop for more noodles for breakfast; we then went to some stores to look for martial arts weapons for Izz and myself.

We then went to have sushi for lunch.  Wow, was the sushi cheap, two pieces of sushi averaged about $7RMB ($1.05), with 20% off if you get a membership card.  We had sushi, fried calamari, grilled calamari, jellyfish and eel.

We had a somewhat relaxing afternoon, just walking around various shops; afterwards it was back to Auntie’s house to wait for the rest of the family for our evening’s activities.  We were going to the Chime Long Circus.

The last time I went to a circus was probably about 10 years ago.  I don’t remember them being all that great.  However, I really enjoyed our evening at the circus, even though we were sitting in 90 degree heat and it was also humid.  As, the Chime Long Circus and the Xiang Jiang Safari Zoo, the animals that were in the circus were extremely amazing, there are lions, tigers, kangaroos, monkeys, bears, giraffes and many more.  There was a high wire act, motorcycles in a ball, acrobats on spinning rings, bareback horse riders.  I was amazed at the entire show and after days, the kids are still talking about it. 

After the circus, we were driven to a little dive of a restaurant in Pan Yu (I think we ate at least 1 meal a day in Pan Yu).  This particular restaurant specializes in snake congee.  Congee or jook for those who do not know is rice porridge, think really thick rice soup.  All we ordered were a couple of vegetable dishes, goose, and two huge pots of congee (one snake and one frog).  The frog (which I have had in the past and really like) was really good.  I tried a couple of pieces of snake and again found it chewy and there was not much meat.  I am not sure that I would order snake on my own…

Today, my mom’s friends were going to take her to dim sum.  The kids and I tagged along.  Mun came to pick us up this morning and we were going to sneak away from our mom’s today for what is the first of many interesting meals to come.  We got to the dim sum restaurant where the friends had booked a private room.  The kids, Mun and I sat at a separate small table, so we would be able to do as we pleased.  We planned on sticking around for a little while and then leaving to pick up Mun’s sister (Hung), Wah and Kathy and go eat lunch.

At this point, I had come to realize that people in China never really seem to work.  They get three hours for lunch!  This is a drawback to the day when most people used to ride bicycles and would ride home of lunch, take a nap and then ride back to work.  Although these days most people no longer ride bicycles, they still get three hours for lunch.  Additionally, most of the people that I have met that are still working (retirement age is 50) attend multiple meetings every day.  So, Mun, Hung (who works next to the restaurant), the kids and I went to pick up Wah, then Kathy and we headed for the outskirts (at least it was the outskirts to me) of the city.  I still have no idea how the streets in this city work.

We drove and we drove until we got to this area under a bridge.  We drove under the bridge for a bit and came to this clearing.  Mun pulls into this clearing and there was a building with a bunch of tables inside and outside.  We sit at the table outside and they start ordering food while I take the kids to see what we are eating today. 

They waitress brings out a cart with a bunch of raw stuff on it; chunks of emu meat, slices of emu gizzards, pieces of emu intestines, emu meatballs and some emu vegetables (OK, so it was just plain lettuceJ).  They then brought out a pot of hot soup and put it on a burner and we started cooking everything in the soup.  When the soup started to boil back up, I had my first bite of emu gizzard and emu meat.  And wow, was it good!!!  Does emu taste like chicken?  No!  I felt that the meat was more like a tender steak than poultry.  The kids ran around freely in the area around the restaurant and would not eat when I told them that we were eating a friend of one of the emus that we saw in the pens.  However, after some negotiations, they both agreed that if they got to run around, each time they came back to the table, they would have to eat one piece of meat.  Both kids tried the emu and thought it was really good too.

As we were heading back to city center, the others started discussing a trip to Macau.  They were planning on going to Macau on the 18^th, the day we were scheduled to return from Beijing.  I had always wanted to go to Macau was never had the chance to.  So, we decided that we could go to Macau on the 19^th of September and head to Hong Kong directly from there.

That evening we went to a restaurant in Pan Yu, which is an area in the outskirts of Guangzhou.  Pan Yu is surrounded by rivers that branch from the Pearl River (Zhu Jiang). The food in Pan Yu is more interesting that the food that one gets in the city.  The restaurant we went to today had tanks and tanks of fresh seafood, fished daily from the waters surrounding the restaurant itself, talk about fresh.  The taste test item for me at this meal was snake.  The snake had a chewy texture (no, it did not taste like chicken), there was really little meat on each piece of snake and there was more bone and spine.  Additionally, we ordered 3 types of shrimp, fish, eel and goose.  The three types of shrimp ranged from tiny river shrimp, medium sized shrimp (what we would usually get at a supermarket) to large shrimp (about the size of a crawfish).  The shrimp was totally amazing and yes, I was stuffed.  The eel was the smallest one available and it weighed closed to 5 pounds.

The beds at the hotel were extremely firm, as a lot of Chinese people still sleep on wood boards.  Since I was sharing the bed with one of the kids, I found myself sleeping on my side a lot and during this night, I woke to find that I had a bruise on my right hip L.

Mood:  surprised

I suppose at this time, I should introduce another person, who has been pretty prominent in our adventures; he is Hang Hang, Kathy and Mun’s son.  Hang Hang is a 2½ year old little boy, who quickly made friends with Izz and Chubba, even though they have no idea what the other person is saying.  This morning, Auntie, her son-in-law (Wah), Jessie, her son (Ga Ga) and Hang Hang came to pick us up at the hotel for our trip to Xiangjian Safari Park. 

Wah took us to a noodle shop for breakfast.  We were told that the noodles and wontons at this place were really good.  Really good is an understatement.  In addition to shrimp and pork, these wontons had a little bit of roe in it.  The noodles were the best consistency and the soup was really good.  Izz and Chubba shared one bowl of plain noodles and I had my own.  My mom had noodles with shrimp roe, which I found a little strange.  After breakfast we were on the road to the zoo again.

At this time, I noticed that there was a strange smell in my nose.  After smelling the air in China for a couple of days, this weird stench is now stuck in my nose. 

Kathy ordered tickets for us on-line.  She found a place that sells group tickets to people who don’t have enough people to form their own group and charge less than the regular admissions price, but more than the group price.  A representative meets you at the front gate and you wait for the entire “group” to be present before you enter the park.  We were to meet the rep between 10 and 10:30.  We got to the parking lot around 10:15 and did not see the rep.  After some phone calls, we found that we were at the wrong entrance.  We drove over to the other entrance and found that we were still missing two people.  The other two people showed up a little while later and we entered the zoo.  Admissions into most places in China are based on height and not age, at the zoo if one is less than 1.2 meters tall (47 inches) admission is free, as long as there was one paying adult.

As soon as the rep got us into the park, she left.  We had to walk to the other entrance of the zoo to get to the safari (similar to the one at Six Flags Great Adventure).  We started walking around the zoo and it seemed like any normal zoo in the U.S.  We saw monkeys and flamingos and cows, then we walked a little further and there was an area where one could take pictures with parrots, vultures, eagles and toucans (pictures with vultures, eagles and toucans?  This zoo is starting to get a little interesting).  We didn’t stop for the pictures, as one of us (thanks to Alfred Hitchcock) is scared of birds. 

We continued to walk and came to this area where people were getting their photos taken with a baby Bengal tiger and lion.  (OK, now this zoo has become very cool).  Apparently zoos are much more interesting and cool when you can take pictures, ride and feed animals.  As we continued through the zoo, we found an area where we could buy peanuts to feed monkeys.  Auntie brought a bunch of bananas with her and we tossed a couple over to these monkeys (I have no idea what kind they are) and apparently only the alpha male was allowed to eat these special treats.  The kids then got their photos taken with a baby chimpanzee!!  Then it was onto the lions and tigers (big ones in cages this time) and giraffes.  Even giraffes turn more interesting when you can feed them.  There was a little stand next to the giraffes selling leaves for the giraffes.  Izz went around and picked up a bunch that other people had dropped on the floor and started feeding one of the giraffes.  Next, we went to see Koalas.  I don’t remember ever seeing a koala before.  Unfortunately, koalas are nocturnal, so we saw a bunch of them sleeping. 

We then stopped for some ice cream as it was close to 100 degrees that day and it was humid (Is it possible that there is some place worse than Orlando?).  After this quick break, Wah and I took Hang Hang, Izz and Chubba to see the elephants, while the others continued to sit and rest.  Oddly enough, they were selling bananas to feed the elephants.  Peanuts for monkeys and bananas for elephants?  Weird.  We fed the rest of the bananas that Auntie brought along to the elephants and a bit further down, there were people riding on an elephant!   Across from the elephant ride was a small amusement park for kids.  However, as attendance was extremely low that day, the amusement park was closed.  We then went to see the pandas.  This was a first for the kids, however with the excitement of taking pictures with and feeding the animals, the pandas could not hold their own.

We then went to the safari area of the zoo.  We caught the “train” about 2 minutes before it started.  This part of the zoo was rather disappointing, as it is very similar to the safari at Great Adventure.  However, for everyone else, this seemed to be the highlight of the zoo.

We went back to the same noodle restaurant for late lunch after the zoo.  Izz said these were the best noodles ever and she could eat them every day.

After eating noodles again, we left to head back to City Central.  Congestion in Guangzhou has gotten to the point where it takes forever to get anywhere.  We drove around the city for a while, picking up various members of Auntie’s family to head for dinner.  By the time we got everyone there, it was close to 7:30.  Dinner tonight included the usual chicken, goose, veggies, beef short ribs (beef tends to be rare (as in hard to find) since cows are usually used for farming and tend to be tough by the time they are slaughtered for food, as well as what will become a norm at every meal shrimp.

I will try to add pictures to this post soon.

ABC

When we got there, I found both kids still sleeping.  They would not wake up for dinner and slept through the entire meal.  The kids continued to sleep after we got back to the hotel.  Auntie and the others would meet us at the hotel the next day around 9:00 and we were going to go to Xiangjiang safari park, which is the top zoo in china.  However, the kids woke up at 3, after sleeping for 10 hours.  In order for them to hopefully adjust to the time difference quicker and so I could get some sleep, I gave them each ½ of a Dramamine. 

The Dramamine knocked them both out sufficiently so that we all slept until about 7:30.

ABC

The next morning, my mom’s friend (hence forth referred to as Auntie), her husband (Uncle), his sister, her husband and their grandson were supposed to come to our hotel in the morning and take us for dim sum.  However, we did not expect that three of us would be wide awake by 5:30 in the morning, waking the 4^th person (me) up as well.  We hung around the hotel room, waiting for Auntie and the others to call.  Finally at 7:30, I decided to take a walk to get us some food.  I walked to the 7-11 down the street and picked up a couple of buns, a container of plain cheurng fun (rice noodles that are used to make chow fun) and dumplings and coffee for $21HK ($2.75 US).  The food was much better than I would expect from 7-11.  After eating the quick breakfast we continued to wait.

Auntie and the others finally came around 9:30 and we went to a restaurant that was actually attached to our hotel.  I don’t know if it was because I was hungry or what, but the food was so good.  We ordered a couple of crock pots of rice steamed with spareribs, har gow (shrimp dumplings), sui mai (pork and shrimp dumplings), cheurng fun with shrimp, veggies and some other stuff.  The har gows were my main focus, as Hong Kong’s har gows are the best I have ever had.  These har gows had two whole shrimp in each one.  The sui mai were amazing as well.  I am drooling just thinking about it.

Auntie’s sister-in-law called the man with the van from the night before and had him come pick us up from the hotel to drive us to the train station.  Taxis in Hong Kong have a limit of seating 5 people and charging for additional luggage.  Therefore, for $100HK ($13), it was much easier to use the van again. 

We got to the train station 15 minutes before the next train was due to leave, which left us 5 minutes to get the luggage checked and to the train before the gate closed.  We opted to wait for the next train, since we also didn’t have the cash to pay for the train tickets (credit cards are not excepted!).  There was a money exchanger about 20 feet from the ticket window and a bank a bit further down.  We walked around the train station a bit after checking the luggage in.  We then walked around the station for a bit before we were allowed to get to the train gate.  We took the escalator down to the train tracks and there sat a double decker train.  We were assigned seats on the top deck of the first car.  The guy selling the train tickets gave us 4 seats with a table in between.  The kids did not require tickets. 

The train ride took about 2 hours, with 1 stop.  We went through immigration and collected out luggage right after that.  We then went through an area with a x-ray machine to scan small bags and there was a dog there to sniff out items that are not allowed into the country, including fruits and vegetables.  Auntie and Uncle’s son (Mun) came to pick us up in his minivan. 

Mun drove us to what he thought was our hotel, Guangdong International Hotel and we were told that it was closed for renovations.  The security guard there said that maybe we were booked at the Asia International Hotel, across the street (talk about confusing).  We checked into our hotel, booked through www.agoda.com, which again was a simple process.  They gave us room 3208 and again asked for a $500 RMB ($74 US) deposit and for the passports of all adults staying in the room.  The room is pretty big, again with two oversized twin beds, a closet, a minibar, desk and two chairs.  My only complaint is the moldy mat in the bathtub.  However, since there is a separate shower in the bathroom, I can live with it.

After resting in the room for about 20 minutes, we were supposed to go to dinner with all of my mother’s old schoolmates. After 2 minutes after we got into the van, both kids fell asleep.  Mun drove me to meet his wife Kathy, who was going to take me to the supermarket, so I could get some fruits and drinks.   I was not going to pay the $3.75 US for the cans of coke from the minibar, when I could get a can for 37 cents at the supermarket.  I had talked to Kathy many times before our trip; she will be joining us and helped us book plane tickets to Xi’an and Beijing.  Mun took the others with the kids to the restaurant first.   Kathy and I went to a Japanese supermarket which was supposed to have quality stuff.  After getting some fruits and drinks, we met up with Kathy’s mother and sister (Jessie) who were joining us for dinner.  Mun came back and picked us up to take us to the restaurant. 

ABC

The hotel we stayed at was BP International located on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong.  The man dropped us off around the corner from the hotel, as he could not park in front of the hotel.  I went to the hotel and asked for a bellhop to follow me to the car.  We got the luggage into the hotel and I went to check-in.  I booked the hotel through 1800Hotels and check-in was really quick and simple.  They asked for the passports of all adults staying in the room and for a $500HK ($65 US) deposit or a credit card.  The whole process probably took about 5 minutes.  We were assigned a room 2116 on the 21^st floor.  The hotel room was extremely small; there were two oversized twin beds, a closet a mini fridge, a desk by the window and a bathroom with a shower. The closet held one of our suitcases and not much else.  The room was simple and clean, no complaints, since most hotel rooms in Hong Kong are similar in size.  We went across the street for a quick meal.

 ABC

Mood:  chillin'

This is the go to blog..  Facebook and Blogger are banned in China...  If someone sees this, please update my Facebook and let others know.

I will update more probably tomorrow.

ABC

Mood:  a-ok

Living in New Jersey, I always try to be early when I go somewhere, especially since you never know when you will get stuck in traffic for hours.  Our flight was scheduled to leave at 3:15 and when I checked flight information, the flight was supposed to be on time.  We packed up the car with the 4 check-in suitcases, 5 carry-ons, 4 passengers and our chauffer (Steve) for the ride to the airport. 

My mother started packing for the trip the day after we bought our plane tickets.  She has a lifelong friend in Guangzhou, who has a grandson a year younger than Chubba, so she packed all his old clothes for this little boy.  You have to understand that when you ask my mother how much stuff she is bringing, she will tell you nothing and then have 20 bags.  To her, if the bag is under 100 pounds, it really doesn’t count.  My mother has not flown on a plane since all the regulations regarding liquids and paying for checking bags, etc have been in place.  For this trip, we were each allowed 2-50 pound bags.  Last week, I went into my mother’s room and saw 2 big suitcases sitting in her room.  Out of curiosity, I tried to lift the bigger one and found that I could not lift in more than 2 inches.  I went to the bathroom and grabbed the scale and went back to weigh the bags.  Bag number 1 weighed in at 58 pounds and bag 2 weighed in at 54 pounds.  Upon opening her bags for inspection, I started pulling out bags of granola bars, coffee and other items.  After checking both bags, I realized that there was no clothing in them for her to wear.  Upon questioning, there was a third bag to be brought on the plane in addition to her backpack and her purse.  After pulling items out of bags 1 and 2, she decided to put these items into bag 3 and bag 3 would be checked as well.  I finally packed for myself and the kids this past Thursday, I ended up with 1 medium suitcase (my mother had commandeered my large suitcase (bag 1) and my small suitcase (bag 3)).  I also have two carry-ons in the form of a backpack and a small duffle.  The kids each have a small backpack with a stuffed animal and their leapsters.

We left for the airport around 11:15 figuring we would get to Newark around 12:00-12:15 on the early side.  We got to the airport around 12:15 and were told by the agent at the check-in that we had to go two flights down to the domestic check-in area to check-in…  We took the elevator 2 flights down, got checked in in about 10 minutes, at this time I noted that we would actually board the plane at 2:25, giving us about 2 hours to wait around.  As we were on an international flight, we had to have our passports checked at check-in.  We then headed to the gate as we reached the gate, we were surprised by a one hour delay.  We sat for a while and then decided to get something to eat.  We ate at a place called Ruby’s diner, the food was average airport food.  We then went back to sitting.  Everyone boarding the plane had to have their passports checked again at the podium.  We went back to sitting and sitting some more.  Izz started talking to a airplane maintenance man as well as the pilot while we were waiting.  The maintenance man told the pilot that the original plane we were supposed to be one was having mechanical difficulties, therefore we were waiting for another plane.  The plane did not show up at the gate until 3:50.  After cleaning and everything else, we did not get on the plane until 4:15.  We got on the plane and were pleasantly surprised by the fact that we have 6 seats for the 4 of us.  The plane finally took off around 4:50 and we were now scheduled to land at 8:45.  We would fly over the Montreal, Canada, Greenland, the Soviet Union, Mongolia, Beijing, China and finally landing in Hong Kong in just over 15 hours.  Before taking off, we were handed menus in Chinese and English, telling us what we would be eating on the flight.  Right after take-off, we were served pretzels and beverages.  Before I even started the bag of pretzels, we were served dinner.  Three of us had the steak and Izz had the fish.  The food was pretty decent, the rice reminded me more of Japanese rice, where the rice was

stickier than Chinese rice.  After dinner, the kids tried to figure out the video system.  We had movies, games and music right at our fingers.  Everyone on the plane started dozing after dinner time, the flight was pretty quiet.  Mid-flight, at around midnight east coast time, we were served turkey dogs on croissants and ice cream.  We then slept until about 5:00 when I wanted to wake the kids up so that they would sleep when we landed.  Around 6:00, we were fed again; we were given a choice of cheddar cheese omelet or dim sum.  We all picked dim sum.  There was one piece of dim sum (siu mai (a pork dumpling)), a Chinese bun of some sort and some noodles, some cantaloupe, honey dew and grapes.  The food was not appetizing at all and I did not eat anything.  After we finished eating, we were handed papers to fill out for immigration.  We then landed about half an hour later. 

Our plane finally landed at around 8:30.  There were free mini luggage carts available by the gate, we grabbed one and headed towards the exit.  After going past 3 people movers, we had to relinquish the luggage cart and walk the rest of the way.  We then went through a health check (thanks to swine flu) and immigration.  Then we headed to baggage claim.  (That’s right, immigration before luggage claim)  My mother took the kids to the bathroom while I waited by our carry-ons.  As they walked back past the carousel, our luggage appeared on the belt and I quickly pulled them off one by one and I grabbed a free luggage cart and we were headed out of the airport.  The time was just past 9:00 PM local time.  My mom’s friend and her husband came from Guangzhou to meet us at the airport and the husband’s sister (who lives in Hong Kong) came with them as well. A man came by and asked if we needed a ride somewhere, after some discussion, he charged us $250 HK ($32.50 US) for the ride from the airport to the city, where our hotel is located.

More later…

Mood:  irritated

Getting Visas Part Yut (Yi, in Mandaring, one in English) - Monday

For the past couple of weeks, I had diligently looked at the Chinese Embassy website for instructions on how to obtain a Visa to enter China.  You do not need to go in person, one person can go for the whole group.  I typed up the applications that we would each need.  I took passport type photos and printed them for each of us.  I made sure I had everything that was required as per the list of items needed.  Basically, a passport with empty pages, at least 6 months before it expires, one passport photo and an application.  You pay for the visa when you go pick it up with a credit card, money order or cash, no personal checks.  And according to the website, if you were born in China, you needed to have an old passport with a visa or your old Chinese passport, so I also had my mom’s old passport with her most recent visa to China.  I had everything in my backpack ready to go.

So, I woke up nice and early this morning to go into NYC to get our visas for China.  There are six Chinese Embassy offices in the United States and someone must go to the designated office for your state to get your visa.  If you are not near the office, you can have someone go in your stead.  I caught the bus by home, which dropped me off at Port Authority.  This was the first time I had taken the bus from Jersey to NYC, so it was a new experience for me.  This was also the first time I have taken public transportation in at least 1.5 years.  I think the last time was the subway to see the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center with the kids in 2007.  The ride in was not bad, took about 1 hour and I didn't have to look for parking.    After getting off the bus on 42nd Street between 8th and 9th Avenues I walked down to the Chinese Embassy located on 42nd and 12th Avenue.  The walk itself was not too bad; it took me about 15 minutes.  I got to the Embassy around 9:10, 10 minutes after it opened.

As I walked past the crosstown bus at between 9th and 10th Avenues, a Chinese man got off in a big rush and almost knocked me down.  I had a feeling that this guy was headed to the same place I was.  He set off at a brisk pace, while I walked slowly and when I got to the door of the Embassy, I spotted him speaking with two women.  I also noticed that there was a bus stop right in front of the Embassy, so I have no idea why he didn’t wait to get off the bus.  In addition to the bus stop, the other thing that I noticed was a group of about 15-20 old ladies doing Tai Chi across the street. 

The man and his two lady friends got on the line to enter the building right in front of me.  In order to enter the building, you must show the security guard at the door your identification.  After that, there is a bag check with metal detectors.  Apparently two of these three people had never been through a security line with a metal detector before.  Lady #1 walks through the metal detector with no problems.  Lady #2 picked today to wear a lovely belt made of what appeared to be 90% metal and didn’t feel the need to take it off until the third time through the detector.  The security guard asked the guy to open his bag and empty his pockets and he took that to mean take your bag, you are free to go.  So, I stood there for about 5 minutes waiting for dumb and dumber to go. 

I get into the Travel Documentation area and there were lines everywhere with no information whatsoever as to which line to stand in.  Line 1, the closest one to the door was apparently for photos.  There is a middle area with four rows of seats.  And there was another line that snaked from the front of the room into an “L” shape towards the door.  This line I later found out was for people paying for and picking up their travel documents.  Two ladies at the chairs in the middle area confirmed that that was where I wanted to be.  Apparently, instead of standing on line, you sit on line.  When someone goes up to a window, everyone slides down one seat until you are at the front of the line.

I take my seat next to these two ladies and a man comes up to my other side and asks if this was where he wanted to be.  Apparently, there used to be a number system, similar to the deli counter at the supermarket that they no longer use.  This gentleman proved to be some entertainment for me.  When we first started out, we were in row 3, as we got closer to row 1, he started feeling the need to scream out “Hey you, go to that window” or “Hey, it’s your turn” or something to that effect when someone didn’t get off seat #1 quick enough.

Finally I was up; the time spent online was probably about 15 minutes.  I got to the window with the four applications, four new passports and one old passport.  I hand over the applications and passports.  The lady starts going through the documents, making notations on the applications.  Then she asked “where are the old passports?”  I handed her my mom’s old passport…

Embassy worker:  Where are the other passports?

Me: I didn’t bring my old passport. 

E:  You need the old passports for everybody; we need to see the old visas.

Me:  The kids do not have old passports.

E:  The form says they have been to China.

Me: They have never been to China.

E: You make mistake.  (Chinese people are just so damned blunt when they speak. I felt like I committed some heinous crime and deserved to be executed).  If they have never been to China, where are there birth certificates?

Me:  I did not bring them.  I did not know that you needed birth certificates for them.

E:  Their parents are Chinese, you need birth certificate.

Me:  Their parents were not born in China. 

E:  Does not matter. 

Me: Your website didn’t say anything about that.

E: There is a whole section on website about this.

Me:  There is a section there that is in Chinese.  What if you don’t read Chinese?

E:  You need to find someone to translate it. Also, you need to show which hotel you are staying in or if you are staying with friends, you need to put their contact information and have a letter from them inviting you to stay with them.

Well, there was a section that said For Children with Chinese Parents with it was a link in Chinese.  I took it to mean parents born in China.  My mom read it and said that it is for kids that had parents born in China.  Well, apparently, they did not mean that and it is for any child of Chinese descent. 

So, I left there, and started to walk back to the Port Authority.  I had just under two hours to waste for the next bus, so I walked around the station and tried to look for a seat to do some reading.  The seats by the terminals were not made for people vertically challenged like myself.  They folded up, I guess to save room for rush hour, similar to a movie theater seat.  However, they were only about six inches deep and 12 inches wide.  There was no way I would be able to sit on these seats unless I was at least 3 inches taller,  so I found some normal seats and read for a while.  The bus ride home was uneventful, I took a nice nap. 

I got home and I called to make sure that I had everything that I needed for tomorrow.  I called repeatedly for about 25 minutes before I got an actual person on the phone.  Then I decided to see what time they closed, so maybe I could just go back into the City today and get everything done.  They are opened from 9-12 and then from 1-2:30.  I am amazed by Chinese beauracracy.   Getting Visas part two coming up tomorrow and part three hopefully on Friday when we go pick them up!

Getting Visas Part Yi (Er, in Mandarin, two in English) - Tuesday

So, on the phone yesterday when I finally got a hold of a human, I was told that I needed the following items for the following people:

Me and my Mom

Application

Passport

Old Passport with old visa to China

Izz and Chubba

Application

Passport

Copy of my passport

Original and copy of their birth certificates

I made two copies of my passport, reprinted the applications to show the hotel we are staying in, made copies of the kids’ birth certificates and dug up my old passport.  Everything was in my backpack ready to go.

I took a later bus today, figuring I didn’t really need to get there at 9:00 when the embassy opens.  Again, the group of old ladies were across the street, this time they were sitting on the ground meditating.  I got to the embassy around 9:45, the line through security was a bit longer by this time and there was no longer a security guard at the door asking for your ID.  I opened my bag for the guy at the metal detectors and he asked me for my ID.  He said “the sign says show ID.”  I showed my ID and looked around for a while but could not find it.  Then my head turned toward the top of the metal detector where there was a 2 inch sign that said “Show ID.”

I went inside and went to the middle section.  By this time, the line was much longer than yesterday.  I was seated in seat 32 of 32.  Everyone else had to stand until they became lucky contestant 32.  The line did not move for about five minutes.  Then I moved about 8 seats in 5 minutes.  When I got to the last seat in the 4^th row or the first seat in the 4^th row, depending on how you look at it.  I realized what this line reminded me of.  Every time we moved up a seat, it was like doing the wave at a ball game. 

After observing the line for a while, I quickly realized that the line would move quickly for a while because they quickly sent people away.  Then these people would come back after a while and go to the head of the line.  One guy who had been sent away came back to the head of the line and another guy in the seat line told him to go to the back of the line and the first guy got pretty pissed off and started yelling at the second guy.  The security guard had to come over and quiet them down.

I stayed on line for about 1 hour and I was finally in seat #1, well seat #2.  The lady in seat #1 was just there to keep someone company and he had just been sent away from the window to refill his application.  I walked up to the window and gave the lady all my documents, neatly tucked into the corresponding passport.  She starts going through everything.  Hands me kids’ birth certificate 1, kids’ birth certificate 2, then she goes, you need a copy of this page (handing me my old passport) and a copy of this page (handing me my mom’s old passport).  Sigh.  Then she hands back everything to me and says, “give me everything at one time.” 

I go to the photocopy towards the back of the room.  So, how many Chinese men does it take to make a photocopy?  Apparently six, there were six guys standing next to the photocopier trying to help the first guy make a copy of his passport.  After they finally figure out what to do, the next four guys make their copies.  I guess number six was not paying attention because when it was his turn, he did not know to just press the green button.  He kept pressing the number 1 before pressing the green button, which resulted in the copier not allowing him to make 1111 copies with the 25 cents that he put in the machine.  I made my copies and went back to the head of the line. 

I waited for the lady to finish up with the couple she was helping.  The returning to the head of the line is pretty messy as a bunch of people just stand in front of the windows waiting.  I got to the window and handed everything back to her.  She then asked me for the address of my place of employment.  When I told her that I was unemployed at the moment, I was told that my occupation was not Engineer, my occupation is unemployed and I must fill out the first page of the application again.  SIGH. I filled out the first page of the application again and handed it back in.  She then went through everything again and handed me two yellow slips of paper and said to come back on Friday to pick up the passports.

So, the lesson here is make copies of everything even if you are not told to.  Bring everything that you can imagine, even if you are not told to, birth certificates, hotel information, flight information, old passports, for you, your parents, children and anyone you can think of.  Everyone I have talked to mentioned that it used to be so much easier to get a visa, you just brought your passport and gave them money. 

Friday is visa pick-up day. I noted on both days that by 9:30, there was virtually no line for pick-ups. Let’s see how that goes… 

Getting Visas Part Som (San, in Mandarin, three in English) - Friday

This morning, I woke up early to drag the kids and my mom with me to the Chinese Embassy.  We left the house at 8:00, I had hoped to get to 42^nd Street by 9:30, as I figured from my past experience on Monday and Tuesday that the pick-up line would be fairly short by this time and I saw a parking lot that had an all day early bird special for $14 after taxes. 

Getting out into Manhattan via car took about half an hour longer than the bus.  There are bus only lanes going to and through the Lincoln Tunnel.  We arrived at the parking lot around 9:30 and walked to the Chinese Embassy.  The usual old ladies were across the street doing their tai chi.  The guard was once again missing at the front door and IDs were requested by the metal detectors.  Once inside, I noticed the visa application line was longer than Monday and Tuesday’s lines. 

I went to line #9, where I was supposed to hand in the receipts that I was given on Tuesday.  I was the fourth person on line.  The person at the counter would take the receipts and leave the window for a little while, then return for the next customer.  I got up to the window and handed in my receipts and was given a tag with a number on it and the lady pointed toward my left side, signaling me to go to window 8.  Windows 8 and 10 both serve the same purpose.  I stood on line at window 8 for about 15 minutes, apparently there was some issue with the person at the head of the line. 

I went up and handed in my number card.  The lady picked up two envelopes which the lady from window 9 had placed next to her and asked me for $520.  I paid with my credit card and was handed the passports and receipt.

The pickup process was pretty painless.  However, I did not understand the need for standing on two lines.  Why not just have three windows where you hand in the receipts, pay and pick up the visas?  The Chinese I suppose have their own strange way of thinking or they just enjoy having people stand on line. 

Look for my next update probably on September 8^th or so… 

ABC