Chinese Visa

Yesterday evening, after writing the last blog entry, and after nobody else turned up at the guesthouse, Aaron and I each made dinner, which for both of us consisted mainly of pasta, and then played a few games of cards which we taught one another. Not long after that, we sat around for a chat, and then watched a couple of episodes of "A Game of Thrones", as Aaron had just downloaded them (hence I realised why my Internet hadn't been working all day!). At some point halfway through the second episode we watched, Aaron fell asleep, so once it was finished, and I realised he'd dozed off, I packed up the computer and went to bed.

This morning, I awoke, knowing (or at least, hoping), that today would be the day that I finally receive my Chinese visa... However, until then, I had to wait until four o'clock, or go did I need to go at some point between two and four..? At this point I realised I had very little recollection of what exactly the lady at the embassy had said to me, and so I decided it would be safest if I turned up at around 3, so if I would be there between two and four, and, if it only opened at four, I would be, at the most, an hour early. Still, with several hours to kill, I waited around, taking a shower, counting my over a million tugriks and checking to see that I still had the receipt and the little note which I had to take back to the embassy (for one heart-stopping moment, I thought I had misplaced it, which would have caused quite a few issues getting out of this country and back into Russia, but in the end everything was in place.

During the morning, after Aaron had headed out for a check-up, two Frenchies knocked on the door and asked for Eiggy. She wasn't in, but I let them in so they could call her and ask her if it was OK for them to stay for a couple of nights (which, considering there were so many free beds, it obviously was). So I let Arnaud and Loraine get settled in and then had a chat with them about Asia (they also need to get Chinese Visas, but are, unfortunately, going to have to wait until next Monday before they go to try and process them!). They then told me about their journey so far, from France to Mongolia and that they spent a week or so in the Gobi, traveling independently, which they told me was quite hard in Mongolia. They also noticed I was reading the Lonely Planet guide to Cambodia, and immediately helped me out telling me how best to travel, and suggesting that I take the time to go up into Laos if I can, which was an idea I had in mind in any case!

During this time, however, the water decided to stop working, so we were all stuck with no water for a few hours (it came back a few minutes ago), and, eventually, I decided to go out to the embassy. Upon arrival, I found the door to the visa centre closed and nobody waiting (this at about 3 o'clock), so I decided to wait around for an hour and then go in and try to get everything sorted. Obviously, lingering in front of the Chinese embassy is never a particularly good idea, but the guards merely eyed me with suspicion as I perched on a small fence opposite the main door of the embassy (the visa centre is just around the corner, through a smaller door). Eventually, I rang the doorbell of the main door to ask if the visa centre would open today to give me bak my passport, and a woman on the other side, who seemed slightly thrown by someon who was neither Chinese nor Mongolian speaking over the com-system, told me that it opened at four.

Hence, with about 20 minutes to go, I went around and waited at the side door. Eventually, two of the French people I met the other day at the embassy came by and we struck up a conversation. Apparently they came by car from France, passing through Russia and some of the ex-SSR's, and are going to be leaving for China just for a matter of days in order to come back and then go on a long trip through Mongolia on horseback, which sounded incredible, as they're likely going to be spending much of the next 5 - 7 months on horseback! We were also joined there by an American chap who told us that he needed a Visa to get to the airport in Beijing, and was then going on holiday to Pakistan and India, which again seemed  like a fairly crazy but amazing trip! Eventually, the place opened up, and, being first in line, I pushed ahead and handed my documents over to a different lady, who studied them, wrote some stuff down, gave me a paper back, and then handed me my passport with Chinese visa included! Saying goodbye to the other three, I then headed off back to the hostel, and shared my happiness with those assembled.

Other than that, today has been a fairly relaxing day, although I had thought to go to a traditional Mongolian music concert today, I think I may go tomorrow with Arnaud and Loraine, if they can be tempted, as I'm quite curious to hear it (I suspect I shall be able to film it, I was told that people even answer their phones in concert, which I would say is a lot ruder!).