|
  | |  |
Getting Visas in Hong Kong
Entry 37 of 47 | show all | print this entry |
|
Monday 28th July
Alison: We were up early to catch our taxi to the Moscow International Airport where we caught a Finnair flight to Helsinki. We had quite a wait there before our next flight which was good as we were able to relax & use the computer etc. Tom bought a Sudoku book which kept him happily occupied.
Finally we boarded our long flight to Shanghai, which went overnight but because of the time changes from Russia we got very little sleep (although naturally the kids who slept on top of us got more!).
Tuesday 29th July
Alison: On arrival in Shanghai we had to organise a quick transit to our Cathay flight to Hong Kong which was slightly complex but luckily we were able to convince them to put us at the head of the Immigration queue so that we made the connection in time. This was all in order to get our Visas for China which we had been unable to get elsewhere. When we left Australia it was just over the 3 month time limit within which you have to enter the country after getting a Chinese visa. Despite our pleas the consulate refused to budge, but assured us we would be able to get them in Europe during our travels there. Imagine our annoyance when they then changed the rules and said you could only get visas in your own country! Now the last thing we were going to do was go back to Australia before going to China, so Michael did lots of investigating and discovered that our best bet of getting them was in Hong Kong. Thus, despite having air tickets to Shanghai, we had to immediately leave for Hong Kong and planned to re-enter China a couple of days later once we had the visas! This all went beautifully to plan, although as we sat on the busy Shanghai airport tarmac for an hour or so, we began to get very apprehensive. Our timeline required Mike to be at the travel agent by 2.00 that afternoon, and the longer the plane sat on the tarmac, the more tricky that was going to be...
Finally we headed off on the comparatively short flight to Hong Kong, dashed through immigration and customs, boarded the train into Kowloon, caught a taxi and dropped Mike at the travel agent with half an hour to spare, while I went on with the kids to check into the Intercontinental. This was our little splurge to make up for the inconvenience of having to go to Hong Kong early (we are heading off there again after the Olympics) and the room looking out over the harbor was absolutely spectacular!
Michael returned an hour later having successfully got in all the forms etc so that the visas would be ready to collect the next afternoon - wonderful! By this stage we were all absolutely exhausted and desperate for sleep. We wandered into the huge shopping mall adjoining the hotel and had some yummy Chinese food. You couldn't get a more marked contrast between the service in Russia and Hong Kong where they leap to serve you and within a few minutes you are eating and drinking something - plus it's incredibly cheap! Anyway, sated and happy, we headed off to bed at about 5.00 pm, closing the curtains on one of the world's most beautiful views. I woke briefly about midnight and peeked out - at night it was even more wonderful - but then headed back to bed.
Wednesday 30th July
Alison: We all woke up feeling refreshed and cheerful. I took the kids next door to the shopping mall and we had breakfast in a cafe there and did some clothes shopping - a white Nautica shirt for me and some really gorgeous pink sandals for Rachel - and then we headed back to see if Mike was up yet!
I had a huge amount of washing to be done, so we asked the concierge where a nearby laundry was and dropped the 5 kilos there before going on to another big shopping mall complex where we had lunch. Then Michael had to go and get the visas while I walked back with the kids and found a hair salon to cut Tom's hair. It had grown incredibly long and desperately needed a cut. The only salon I could find was very upmarket, but Tom loved having his hair washed and his scalp massaged before his cut, another wash and then blow dry! Rachel was incredibly envious as you can imagine...
Anyway, he looked gorgeous so then we quickly walked back to the hotel where Michael was impatiently waiting as he had collected the visas (YAY) and was ready to take the kids to a movie. I stayed in the room to do some blogging (we are still ridiculously far behind) while they saw the latest Pixar production, Wally, which they all loved.
When they got back we headed down to the bar overlooking the harbour to have a drink and view the incredible light show they put on along the harbour every night at 8.00, with all the buildings lit up in an array of spectacular colours and patterns, and then we wandered down to the wharf. We walked along it and found a nice open air spot on the harbour where we had dinner and then headed off to bed, looking forward to finally getting to China the next day.
Thursday 31st July
Alison: We woke up refreshed and then I dashed off to collect the washing - very hard to carry the 5 kilos back by myself in the one huge plastic bag they had put it in rather than my 3 separate calico bags, but never mind. When I got back I quickly packed the bags and then we headed downstairs to catch our taxi to the airport. We worked out it was just as quick and cheap to get a taxi all the way there rather than transfer to the train.
We arrived at the airport just under 2 hours before our flight which was fine, got our seat allocations and had a very nice yum cha meal in one of the airport restaurants before catching our flight to Shanghai. Hong Kong had been very nice - in fact a rather welcome little respite from the constant sightseeing - but it was exciting to be finally going to the place that had prompted the whole trip in the first place: China and the Olympics!
Latest Comments (0)
No comments This entry is not accepting new comments. |
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries from China or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
5 votes 
