Chengdu Layover
Trip Start
May 01, 2007
1
57
209
Trip End
Jun 17, 2008
Chengdu,
China
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Sims Cozy Guesthouse, very cozy, excellent
Visas. Chinos Piratas. First of all, about a month ago I arrived in Chengdu and went into their PSB to extend my visa. You probably read about that...I spent all morning getting them their required paperwork only to learn that it was going to take them 5 days to process it and that I wouldn't be allowed to extend again which would've meant I would've had to leave China days after arriving in Tibet, like today. So I flew to Hong Kong and hoped to get a whole new visa, hopefully a 60 or 90 day one. Well, some brand new restriction means Americans can only get 30 day tourist visas right now. Which means my current new visa expires in 10 days. So when I was in Chengdu again last week on a layover to Tibet--a layover which extended from 1 day to 3 days because of problems with my Tibet permit--I figured I would go to Leshan where I heard you can easily extend a visa in a day. I know that extending a visa in Tibet is almost impossible and at most they give you 15 days, though usually only 7.
Min River, Leshan
So I took a 2 hour bus from Chengdu to Leshan. In Leshan the PSB said that they were unwilling to extend my visa because I still had 17 days left on the current one and that if my next destination was Tibet I had to have the permit to get an extension. That doesn't even make sense because you can't get the permit without a visa...how can you be expected to have a permit BEFORE you have a visa if the visa's required to get the permit? Arrgggh, the Chinese paperwork. So the 5 hours, two taxis, and 100 yuan to go to Leshan was almost a total waste. I did at least see the Giant (expletive) Buddha there, so I made something of it... 
Comments
old and new
The picture you titled 'old and new', reminds me of a lot of the same kind of architecture and culture that I/we saw on the two trips to Japan. Awesome!
Love Dad