Fast Plane to China

For quite a long while now there has been this looming question in my mind: When and under what circumstances will I be able to enter into China?

China has always been a place that I have wanted to travel to ever since I was very young. So, in a way, a trip to China has been a long time coming. I felt very disheartened that it seemed like I was going to need to travel back to America in order to obtain a tourist visa in order to get into China. After a lot of phone calls, questions, bookings and aimless wanderings through the streets of London in search for a way to get a Chinese visa, I am happy to say that I have secured it, finally. In fact, I will have more time in China then I thought I was going to be allowed. I have a double entry visa, meaning I can enter into China twice between now and February. Each time I enter the mainland of China I will have 60 days to visit. In other words, I have a visa that is good for 4 months of time in China since all I need to do is go to Hong Kong and then turn right around and come straight back. This is quite exciting, considering I thought the best I was going to be able to pull off (if I was going to be able to get a visa in the first place) was a 1 month stay. So this is a wonderful turn of events and I am quite excited about it. On top of that, since I already had to book flights into and out of China in order to secure a visa, I do not have to now worry and contemplate making travel arrangements.

I am certainly going to use the flight that I already booked to get into China, however, the flight that I booked leaving China I will most likely need to cancel or change. Thankfully, I found a carrier that will refund my ticket completely upon cancellation. If I end up changing to a different flight, if that flight happens to be more expensive than the first booking, then I will only need to pay the difference in the cost. The flight in question is from Hong Kong to Japan. I do want to see Japan at some point, but I will probably not head there on the day that I happened to book.

On September 13th I will be flying to Beijing. The instructions for turning in an application for a Chinese visa was very specific and stated that I needed to provide "flight" details in and out of China. I did not want to leave any chance of having my application rejected so I booked flights instead of booking a train ride on the Trans-Siberian Railway like I had always intended. This has certainly made things easier, but I am a bit disappointed I will not be able to experience the train. I am quite relieved though that I do not need to deal with obtaining a Russian visa as well. From what I have read and heard, those visas are even more difficult to obtain and are much more restrictive then Chinese visas. My first thought about how I would leave China involved me on a ferry to Japan. I was quite excited by this prospect, but again did not want to stray from the very precise directions of the visa application instructions. Also, there was no way for me to prove that I had reservations on a ferry leaving China with most companies I found.

Being in Beijing so soon after the conclusion of the 2008 Olympics will be an interesting experience. I think I am going to spend a few nights in Beijing so that I may check things out. I want to see some of the buildings that were constructed for the Olympics and just explore around in general. I was made to book a hotel stay for the purpose of getting a visa. It was not difficult finding a relatively cheap hotel in Beijing, however, I am thinking that it will probably be more of an experience to my liking if I stayed in a hostel rather than a hotel. I am still contemplating and considering this. In either case, I should not be out any money because my hotel reservations are fully refundable as well. After a few days in Beijing I will be headed straight for Jiaozhou where the volunteer project is located that I am interested in.

I have been communicating back and forth with one of the main people at the volunteer site over the past several weeks. It seems that once I am in the country on a tourist visa, it should not be very difficult to get me set up with a work visa. In which case, I could be in China for much longer than 4 months if I choose to do so. Then again, there are also some very inexpensive flights from China, Thailand, Japan to Australia or New Zealand. Who knows what the future holds. I am quite excited for my trip to China though.