Picking up my VISA
I woke up about 7am and it looked to be a gorgeous day. The sun was shining and it was clear skies. So I gets up and have some breakfast. I then packed up all my clothes and straightened up all my stuff. I left all my bags with the concierge. I then headed down the street to the bank to get a bunch of money to pay off the VISA fee, my Ferry fee (I know what you are thinking Matt Rose), and then some more money for the Taxi fee from the hotel to the ferry launch. I went to go pick up my VISA at 12pm. However it wasn’t done yet, they said about 1pm. So, I walked around the area and took some fotos as well has had a nice lunch. Smoked Salmon Fruit Salad and an Asahi…sweet nectar of the Japanese gods.
I headed back to the office and the VISA still was not ready…but it would be in a few moments. So I sit down, and there were others waiting on theirs’ as well. Sal, the fella sitting next to me, started chatting with me. Turns out he was heading out to Shenyang (I think) to teach. He had taught in Zhongshan a few years ago and said its really nice. He asked me if I knew why the L-VISA (tourist visa) was now only valid for 30 days and was $740HK (Hong Kong Dollars…$1US = $7.79HK). I told him the Bush story. He was like, “Figures”. Even on the other side of the world, Bush has managed to piss us off.
The coolest thing happened on my way back to the hotel to get my stuff. I had a taxi take me back to the MTR station so I could catch the subway. I decided to try and talk to him in Cantonese. To my surprise, it worked. We had a basic conversation - nothing wild, but he understood all of what I said and I understood all of what he said. Made me feel good. He giggled a little, but I think he was surprised. He then dropped me off at the subway. I went back to the hotel.