Given the run around in Beijing

Aaaargh!  Sometimes getting visas overseas can be such an annoying process.  We need to get a Mongolian visa so that we can start planning our trip to Mongolia.  Our first full day we arrived in Beijing we rang the Mongolian embassy to try to work out when they accept visa applications (for most embassies it is only a few hours in the morning).  Sure enough, they told us they accepted applications between 9 - 11.00am.  So today we got up earlyish and headed off to the embassy. 

 

We took the subway and we had to walk to the station from our hostel, then change trains halfway.  When we got to the right station we couldn't work out which street was which.  As usual, there were hardly any street signs.  We finally worked out which was the right street, only to be told by a traffic controller that the street was closed further up and we wouldn't be able to get through.  This meant that we had to walk right around the gigantic US embassy instead. 

 

We finally rocked up at the embassy at about 10.30am (Paul insists it was 10.10 but it wasn't).  We went to the back of the line - there were only about 10 people waiting. We stood in the line and filled out our forms while we were waiting thinking that it shouldn't take long for the line to move.  Unfortunately, all the people at the front of the line seemed to be travel agents trying to process multiple applications for their tour groups - they took ages!  In the time it took us to fill out our forms, some other people also tried to barge in front of us in the line.  Despite this, we were pretty confident that the embassy wouldn't turn us away if it struck 11.00am and we still hadn't reached the front of the queue.  After all, we had been sweltering in the line for ages! 

 

It was almost 11.00am and we were near the front of the line.  I was squashed right up against two sweaty old guys trying to elbow this lady out of the way and shove our passports into the slot in the counter.  After all, if you don't act pushy in Asia you'll never get anything done.  We learnt this the hard way in Vietnam.  The lady was trying to tell me that she should have been in front of us because when she arrived we were still filling out our forms while she had hers all ready.  Paul was trying to tell her that we were already in the line when she arrived, whether or not we had finished filling out our forms, so she should just step away from the counter.  The last guy in front of me moved and I quickly shoved the lady out the way and tried to jam our passports into the slot.  "We're closing" said the lady behind the glass.

 

Doh!!!  "But we've been here since 10.30!"  I wheedled.  "Are you sure that you can't quickly process our applications - they're only three of us?" (an Irish guy had turned up after us and started chatting). 

"No!  It's 11.00am.  We close at 11.00am" she said. 

Paul pushed in at this point.  "We've been here since 10.10am" he said.

"Did I ask you what time you got here? No!" she said.  "The application window closes at 11.00.  Come back tomorrow - earlier".  She twisted the knob on the blinds and they snapped shut.

 

A Russian guy behind us rushed up to the window and banged on it.  I didn't think she would open the blinds but she did.  "What?" she said. 

"I need to be in Ulaanbaatar tomorrow.  People are expecting me" he said. 

"What do you want me to do about it?" she said. 

"You need to give me a visa - today!" he said. 

"Visa applications close at 11.00am" she said. 

"Well, I want to speak to a Mongolian diplomat then" he said.

"There's no one else here at the moment" she said.

"Well, I want to speak to a Mongolian then" he said.  "You're Chinese, you're not Mongolian - get me a Mongolian".

"I am Mongolian" she said.

"No, you're not!  I want to speak to your boss" the Russian said.

"He's not here right now" she said.

"Well, here's my phone" he said.  "Call your foreign ministry because they're expecting me tomorrow.  I spoke to them before and they told me I can get visa today".

"I'm not authorised to make phone calls" she said.  "If there was an urgent visa request I would have already received a phone call".  With that, the blinds snapped shut again.

"YOU S**T!" the Russian shouted, banging on the glass.

"I don't think she's going to process his visa application when he comes back tomorrow" the Irish guy commented.

 

With that we admited defeat and stomped off vowing to be back in line at 8.30am tomorrow. 

 

Since the day was half wasted, we couldn't go to see the Forbidden City like we wanted because we thought we wouldn't have enough time.  Instead we headed out to the Summer Palace.  being stingy, we took the subway and a bus.  Grand total for 12+ km was 3.5 yuan each (about AU$0.75).  Still, we didn't get there till 2.45pm going this way (we did stop for lunch). 

 

The palace was awesome and you could spend so much longer in there than just two hours.  As it was, we didn't get to see anywhere near all the sites inside, especially because it was so hot we kept stopping to rest.  One of the best things about Beijing is that there are all these street sellers who walk around with bottles of frozen water for 2 yuan and icy pole type ice blocks for 1 yuan.  They're everywhere - thankfully even inside the Summer Palace.  Periodically the cops turn up and they all bolt.  The downside of this is that I end up eating several ice blocks every day.

 

We finally finished up in the palace around 6.00pm.  We got on the bus which was supposed to take us all the way back to Qianmen (our neighbourhood near Tiananmen Square).  Unfortunately we got stuck in one of Beijing's notorious traffic jams.  1.5 hours later we finally got off the bus (a distance of about 15-20km).  We had to stand up most of the way and there was no aircon even though it was a really new bus.  It was dreadful as we were so hot from walking around the palace and the bus was packed.

 

We walked back a different way to our hostel and came across a little restaurant doing Peking duck.  Of course we had to have some.  It was a pretty good deal too at well less than AU$10 each (we ordered some other stuff and drinks as well).  After dinner, I bought one of these weird drinks that I had seen everyone drinking.  They come in a little grey clay pot with a piece of paper on the top (kept on with a rubber band).  You stick the straw through the paper to drink it so I had never seen what was actually in the drink - but they're everywhere.  I was a bit scared to drink it at first but it turned out to just be a honey flavoured yoghurt kind of drink.  It was pretty nice though - plus you can get 0.50 yuan back when you take the pot back to the shop for recycling.  Now that's incentive!  None of this 5c stuff!  Imagine how many people would recycle if they gave you 50c for every bottle you gave back to the shop!