June 30
Last day in China…It’s 07:00 in the morning and it’s pouring rain. Mr. Chen arrives in his van to pick me up to take me to the airport. It’s my bumpiest ride to the airport ever. The first bridge that we cross in Wuchang is all pot holes. There’s a pot hole every five centimetres, I kid you not. I don’t remember ever going over a bridge like that in Wuhan. The rest of the ride to the airport is smooth though. I am scheduled to pick up my paper ticket at the Ctrip Counter #38 between 08:00 to 09:00 in Terminal 2. I arrive on time. So good, so far. I stand in front of the monitors looking for my flight number to figure out which area I go to check in my luggage. After about 10 refreshes, I find it! Sections A08-16. I head there and find a tour group of 20 standing around in front of the counters in a haphazard queue, if any. Check in just opened, I have lots of time so I wait patiently behind them. It’s finally my turn after some random guy–not part of the tour group–decides to cut in line right in front of me. I keep my mouth shut, though my mind rolls its eye at him for being so rude.
My luggage is checked. I head to the waiting area but remember that I have a bottle of grapefruit juice in my bag. I sit down and finish my drink while listening to some music playing on someone’s laptop and watching whatever is playing on the huge monitor in front of me–it looks like some Victoria Secret fashion show of Santa lingerie. All done. I find myself a recycling bin and head to the “Safety Check Area.” No liquids? Check. No lighters? Check. Some man is boarding in 10 minutes, I let him go ahead of me. Carry-on scan time! “I have a laptop.” “Okay, take it out, please.” I walk through the detector, green light, I’m clear. I don’t have to take off my shoes this time because I’m wearing my Crocs. I pack up my laptop and head to the departure gate. I set up shop a couple rows from my departure gate. I’m in denial and think that Wuhan has turned to the light and decided to offer free Internet at their airport. No luck. The only unsecured wireless network is China Mobile’s and they require a CMCC account. It’s about 08:30 and my flight isn’t scheduled to take off until 10:20 so I end up listening to music until about 09:30. I look at the monitor above my departure gate: “ETD 11:50″ Delayed 1h20m! Fine. Listen to more music, stand up and stretch a million times, open up a bag of Chinese chip-style rice-cake-like snack to nibble on because I’m getting hungry. (more…)
I have been in China for 9.5 months. Can you believe I have not visited Beijing yet? No Great Wall. No Forbidden City. No Tiananman Square. My time is running out. It’s crunch time!
Dragonboat Festival is coming up at the end of the month and we get a 3-day 4-day weekend, Thursday to Sunday. the original plan–concocted yesterday and changed yesterday–was to travel to Beijing with Avril. It looks like some of the other teachers are planning a trip just west of Wuhan, I just forgot the name of the city. It’s a city with a West Lake (西湖 xīhú). I think I’ll be joining them if they decide to go.
If I did decide to go to Beijing, seeing as time is limited, I think going by plane would be my best bet. It’s a choice between a 10- to 16-hour train ride for about 262元 to 429元 (one-way) or a 2-hour plane ride for about 650元 to 910元 (round-trip). Plane sounds like a good idea to me.
…or maybe I should spend my days in a 5-star resort in Sanya. I will do the lazy tourist thing where you lay on the beach instead of seeing the sights.
Resources:
If you’re looking to travel in China, here’s some places you should visit.
- Seat61: Train travel in China – a beginner’s guide
Links to all the useful sites for train travel. - China Travel Guide: Train times in English
Where are you coming from, where are you going? You’ll get all the train times for your O-D. - Ctrip: Chinese Expedia
Buy all your plane tickets online. Think Expedia in Chinese (they do have an English site).
July 30
My reference sheet for ChinaI’m heading to China soon and this post has been sitting in my Drafts on my old web server for a long time now. Since I lost all my data from that side because I have poor back-up habits, I had to try to recreate the list. It’s still nowhere close to the size of the old one, but it will have to do for now. I made this list to keep track of China-related stuff that I could go back to whenever I needed it. I had it in Private, but figured it might be helpful for someone else too. When I remember what other things I had on it, I’ll add or make a new post.
Chinese Consular Information in Toronto
Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Toronto
240 St. George St. Toronto, ON M5R 2P4
Office Hours: 09:00 – 12:00, 13:30 – 15:30 Monday through Fridays (except holidays)
Tel: 416-964-8861
Fax: 426-324-9010
- Chinese Visa Application Requirements
- Passport, original copy. Make sure it expires no more than six months after your return date and has enough blank pages.
- Visa Application Form. Don’t forget to sign the form.
- Passport Photo. Attach it to your visa application form.
- You must apply and pick up your visa in person.
- You pay for the visa when you pick it up. Bring cash.