a travel story
so this one is for the books.
this morning was quite enjoyable. I did mainly prep work for my trip to Vietnam, and got a nice lunch with daisy. I was to leave for Vietnam around 2:30. sometime around 2:00, I started to panic-- I didnt have a visa. I looked online and got mixed information; some said you need one, others said no, many said you can get one in the airport. I asked some friends who had been and they all said they thought you could get one in the airport, but they never had because it was too expensive. but that was enough for me. I figured that, if anything, I'd have to spend the night an an airport hotel in ho chi minh.
well, I was close.
I got to guangzhou (layover) without a hitch. I watched my two buffy episodes which have quickly gone on my top five. they had a great veggie meal, and everyone spoke to me in Chinese I could understand, which I thought to be very polite of them.
then they wouldn't give me a boarding pass for my second flight. I talked in whatever Chinese i could to communicate "what the hell do you mean I need a visa?!" I can get one in the airport. I called my Chinese boss/guy who helps me all the time, and he spoke with the ticket lady on the phone. told me to go to a hotel and that we'd deal with it tomorrow.
then he called the top dog in our china branch. yikes. even he told me I could get a visa in the airport. but no result.
so I got to some weird hotel near the airport with ease. I was promptly offered a prostitute, followed by dinner (naturally). the dinner wasn't bad, and the enormous staff of voted waiters and whores were quite friendly. nice to chat with (though their accent is wiggity wiggity wack).
and then, once again, the magnificent valve manufacturers pulled though. some people here work for (or with, not sure) my company, so they're gonna take me to the embassy tomorrow, hopefully soon enough that I can make it to Vietnam by late tomorrow night.
we'll see how it goes!
comments:
don't worry. fortunately we have our Guangzhou sales office there. you won't be alone without any help. they will try best to help you get through it. this is the first time i feel great that Bray is an internatinal company with so many sales offices everywhere.
daisy | February 19 @ 7:01am
oh, pete. if we were on gchat, i'd give you a yellow-square smile...
maggie33 | February 19 @ 7:39am
you know, as i have stated before the only reason to visit peterdot is to hear about the dink's miseries. well i have come to a conclusion that all his miseries are the result of traveling. so if he was to stop traveling, peterdot would just disappear, and i could have my 15 mins a day i spend checking peterdot for the dink's miseries back into my life. this would also rid the lowly peon of his miseries he feels so eager to blog about.
Saulemander | February 19 @ 9:40am
ass.
THE Lowly Peon | February 19 @ 4:24pm
this is SO one for the books!! whatever that means :)
nellie | February 19 @ 4:31pm