Wednesday 20 November
Well, if you wind your watch forward 8 hours you get to tomorrow quite
instantly. The meal was finally cleared away at about 07.00 by the new time and
I settled down to sleep. But it was a fitful sleep. Maybe the cheese and wine didn’t help. When I woke up at around 10.00, everyone else was snoozing
and the blinds were down on the windows. This made life rather constrained. I
wanted to throw open the blinds and get on with the day but instead felt
obliged to creep around catching the second half of Blue Jasmine and reading my
book. Anyway, in the end the crew deemed it breakfast time (12.30) and the
lights came on.
Once we landed, it was quick to get through immigration and on
to the MTR. I found the hotel easily enough and was relieved and pleased to see
the room was very pleasant. Some of the Trip Advisor reviews would lead you to
think it was the worst hotel in HK.
So, here I was, still immersed by Christmas but in a much more acceptable temperature.
Once we landed, it was quick to get through immigration and on
to the MTR. I found the hotel easily enough and was relieved and pleased to see
the room was very pleasant. Some of the Trip Advisor reviews would lead you to
think it was the worst hotel in HK. So, here I was, still immersed by Christmas but in a much more acceptable temperature.
I had a quick shower and set off to the China Travel Service (CTS) just down the road. The guy’s
eyes lit up when I outlined my circumstances. He saw himself booking all my
hotels and flights including that back to London. I brought him back to the
reality that what I really wanted was a visa and my initial and last flight in
China. He confirmed the catch 22 of needing the bookings to get the visa but
needing the visa secured before risking the bookings. His solution is to book a
hotel in Guanzhou; apply for the visa and then book
the rest of the trip. That is assuming you get a visa and one for a decent
number of days. By all accounts, that is not certain at the moment.
It was all beginning to sound difficult; especially as the jet lag was
kicking in. I decided to sleep on it; went back to the hotel and went for a
walk to try and remind myself of when I was last here 11 years ago; but it all
seemed only very sketchily familiar. I had a couple of beers back at the hotel and a microwaved
chicken (mainly skin) and rice and called it a day.
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