Pushing for China

Our plans for the year have taken on a life of their own and no destination more so than China. China is such a huge landmass that geographically and economically speaking you could say it is Asia. Ok you really couldn’t say that but you could say that given that statement it is ridiculous that they have a single time zone.  They are a country that has always had lots of self assurance and large doses of self confidence. When I think of China I think of dried sea horses and cuttlebone in large tubs, shark fin soup and a short documentary the girls and I once watched on how the Chinese train their child gymnasts.  And many other things too but the fact that those are three that come up first means it is time to form biases based on real experience rather than youtube and chinatown. But the Chinese don’t make it easy to have real experience. 

As a Canadian in order to travel to China you need to apply for a tourist visa. Surprisingly, the only other country we are going to that requires a visa is Vietnam where for $6 a person someone writes a letter of recommendation so you can pay $25 at the airport and get a stamp. Not so for China where the application process likely involved more time and commitment than our taxes and the fee is six times as much as that of Vietnam. While we were a little creeped out providing detailed information on all our ancestors and their occupations and detailed bookings for every step of our planned trip we closed our eyes tight and gave them whatever they asked for. In fact we gave them more than they asked for as I was unaware that the tax forms that were in the printed pile of documents were not for the Chinese and handed those over as well. And yet my initial appointment did not go so well. I was there for over two hours while Zadie ran in circles and watched a rotating slideshow of China’s chosen wonders (fighter jets, dams and important political figures). Although we provided flights into and out of China, given the sketchy entry and exit points whose names were unfamiliar to the counter agent (Seoul to Harbin and Urumqui to Bishkek) they requested all our flights from the time we leave Australia! Thank goodness China was not at the end of our trip. And then we had to update the children’s permanent residence documents. Australia does not seem to mind that their old passport numbers are listed on their PR certificates but China does. The China visas were our lives for a few days. I have likely emailed with the expressionless counter man more times than with my mother in the past month. 

And we were successful. More successful than I could imagine. We expected to get a single entry visa but for Canadians they give you a multiple entry visa that lasts a few years. So now I am determined to not only go to China but love it no matter how many people take unwanted photos of our curly haired troop of children and no matter how often we have to go through checkpoints in Western China. I am also determined to make the best of my few years of China I earned. Its going to be China’s for the Summer, China for birthdays, China for adventure, China for reunions with friends, China when we are feeling happy, China when we are doubting democracy, China for dinner, China China China.

Bye Canberra!

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A land on the other side of the rainbow