Posted by Seth on May 1, 2012 under News | 
Believe it or not, Boeing has agreed to purchase a handful of Airbus A340-600 aircraft. Even more surprising? This actually isn’t a particularly uncommon move in general, though it is less common in the aviation world. The story comes out of China, where China Eastern has indicated that they are going to purchase 20 Boeing 777 aircraft. At the same time, Boeing will purchase five A346s that China Eastern is currently operating, allowing the carrier to shift their operations to the Boeing aircraft.
So, is this really all that shocking? Actually not. It isn’t particularly uncommon for one vendor to buy out the legacy equipment of another vendor to close a deal. I used to be involved in such negotiations on a somewhat frequent basis. Whether the legacy gear is scrapped or re-sold varies from vendor to vendor and industry to industry, but the general premise is pretty sound.
So, yes, the headline makes for very entertaining reading, but the actual news behind it isn’t all that crazy.
Posted by Seth on February 16, 2012 under Hotel, News |
Like they do every year, Starwood has assessed the award category rating of their hotels and made changes to a number of the properties. A total of 658 properties are changing their award level. Of those, 287 will be at a lower rate while 371 are seeing their award level increase.
A quick scan through the list doesn’t reveal too many surprises, though there are some interesting trends in the numbers. Nearly every property in New York City is moving up a level, for example. This trend covers everything from the Aloft in Harlem (3->4) to three of the Four Points properties becoming Category 5 hotels and Ws becoming Category 6. Across the river in New Jersey doesn’t find you much salvation; those properties are increasing a category, too.
China is also seeing significant appreciation in award costs with 58 properties increasing one level while 16 are decreasing. Thailand goes the other direction with several properties becoming cheaper while only one gets a bump up.
Nothing particularly shocking or egregious in my initial scan of the list, though I’m sure I’ll be informed of something I missed as folks scour it more closely. Check out the list here (PDF).
Posted by Seth on December 31, 2011 under frequent flyer, points, Trip Reports |
As 2011 comes to a close it is time once again to look back at all the crazy I’ve managed to experience in such a short period of time. This was once again a banner year for me, with plenty of new experiences. It also had a number of repeats, however, and those were mostly good, too. And so, without further ado, some of the highlights of my 2011 travel numbers.
It was a personal best for me in terms of total miles flown at 217,781. That is more than eight times around the globe (though I only did that as an actual trip once) or 87% of the way to the moon. The miles were spread across 103 segments for an average of over 2100 miles/flight; apparently this was the year of long-haul for me. That said, I also managed to grab some really short flights, like a 93 mile hop from Carlsbad, CA to Los Angeles. Awesome views of sunrise on that one.
It was also the year of one million actual flight miles. I actually know there are many more from other trips as a kid that I cannot properly document so I’m not counting them, but I definitely became a millionaire this year.
Of the 104 segments there were 54 routes I had previously not flown. There were also 54 in coach. That’s right, more than half the flights (though only 47% of the total miles flown) were in coach. It isn’t always champagne and caviar for me, though there is plenty of that, too. Oh, and only 5 of those segments were work-related, making up less than 1% of the total mileage flown. Only 19 of the flights were on regional planes of fewer than 90 seats.
Speaking of airplanes, I flew on 33 different aircraft types, including 7 I had not previously flown on. I finally got to fly on an A380 (though I had been on one a few times prior) and I got to fly the 787 in its first week of commercial service. I also got the A345 and A342, a Dash8-100 and an E35, completing my collection of all the Embraer RJs. That’s something of an ignominious accomplishment, but there it is.
I flew on 17 different carriers, of which 5 were new to me. SriLankan, AirOne, South African, ANA, Austrian and Alaska Airlines were the new ones and all but AirOne were quite pleasant.
As for where I traveled, there weren’t as many new countries for me this year – only 7 – as last. Austria, South Africa, Mauritius, China, Brazil, Argentina and Sri Lanka are the new entries in that collection, bringing my total number over 50. I managed to enter a foreign country 20 times through the year, plus all the returns to the USA. No wonder I needed extra pages in my passport. Again. Two of the trips had 3 countries in them; I’ll best that mark early in 2012 with a six-crossing week in January.
Perhaps the most surprising number to me, however, was the total spend I had in consular fees. I paid for new pages for my passport and for my wife. There were also the visas required for India, China, Brazil and Argentina (though I ended up getting out of that last one). Overall I spent nearly $1,000 on consular fees alone. No regrets there at all, but the numbers can add up in a hurry.
I didn’t count how many nights were in hotels or on airplanes (something to add to my list next year, I suppose) but my best guess count based on my TripIt records is nearly 100 nights spent not at home.
There was a trip derailed by an earthquake (I ended up in Guam/Hong Kong instead of Tokyo) and then two more trips later in the year to Tokyo to make up for it. I had an airline try to charge me more while at the gate and I managed to take a VDB in a foreign language. I got to drive a jet bridge, load baggage, make boarding announcements and walk a plane out on pushback (all appropriately supervised, of course).
I got to join three different couples in celebrating their weddings all over the world and narrowly missed out on crashing a couple more wedding parties here in India towards the end. I got to relive a bit of history with TWA and a ride in a helicopter over the tip of South Africa.
I saw penguins, went diving in the Pacific and pet an elephant in India. There were also giraffes, cheetahs and antelopes. Plenty of wild in my life.
Indeed, it was a good year, maybe even a great year. And 2012 shows no signs of that letting up. Happy new year to all; may your upgrades clear and your flights on time.
Tags: 787, A380, Airbus, Alaska Airlines, ANA, Argentina, Austria, Boeing, Brazil, China, Dreamliner, Embraer, India, Mauritius, South Africa, South African Airways, Sri Lanka, SriLankan
Posted by Seth on November 21, 2011 under Hotel, Review, Trip Reports |
The range of hotel options available in Beijing is tremendously broad. From dirt cheap rooms with no windows to grand luxury with a few more zeroes on the nightly rate, anything can be had. As I researched options for my stay I was reasonably certain of the neighborhood I wanted to be in – near Tiananmen Square and Wangfujing – and I knew that, as usual, I wasn’t going to be shelling out the big bucks for the luxury experience. I was also, however, a bit suspect of the cheapest properties. When their biggest selling point in the customer reviews is that the front desk does a pretty good job of keeping the hookers out at night so they cannot solicit you in your room that’s not necessarily the level of accommodation I’m looking for.
I ended up at the Starway Premier TianAn Rega hotel. The rate was pretty reasonable (~$75/night, all in) and the location was perfect. It was a block north of the main drag and directly between the Tiananmen East and Wangfujing stations on the Beijing Metro. And there was no indication that there was even a risk of having prostitutes roaming the halls looking for business.
Arrival was smooth and the folks at the front desk spoke enough English that I was able to get the small bits of information I needed from them without issue. They claimed that I was upgraded into a better room, though I’m not so sure what that meant as it looked a lot like what I booked, but sure. And the room was pretty nice.
Free wired internet in the room and free bottled water, too. The mini-bar had a few options, though I never felt compelled to give that a go; there were bodegas downstairs with cheap beer if desired.
The only notable complaint about the room was the noise from the street that filtered up. Despite two sets of windows in between inside and out I was definitely hearing the cars and trucks rolling by at night. And since the hotel faces a relatively large street there was plenty of traffic. Not a huge deal as I travel with ear plugs but it was a bit annoying. I’m also not sure what the net effect of that would be on insulating the room at either the hot or cold seasonal extremes.
Oh, and only a stand-up shower with a translucent divider between the shower and the bedroom. Perhaps a bit awkward if sharing and not particularly close to your roommate but, again, not the end of the world.
At the price point the room was definitely a good deal, especially for the location. I’d have no hesitations about booking again. It is also right across the street from a Days Inn which is a bit more recessed from the road and might lose some of the noise issues, though I wasn’t in one of those rooms so I cannot say for certain.
Read more from this Trip Report under the Dream2011 tag here.
Posted by Seth on November 16, 2011 under Dining, Review, Trip Reports |
There’s something to be said for enjoying the local dining delicacies when traveling. Whether Peking Duck is actually a local dish in Beijing or not is certainly the subject of some debate – there are a number of folks who suggest it is better in other cities – but given that I was in Beijing and it was available, I figured I’d give it a try. There are a few restaurants generally considered as the upper echelon of options for the experience and I chose Made In China, one of the restaurants at the Grand Hyatt Beijing.
It should be noted that ordering the Peking Duck is very much an experience, not just a meal. And as executed at Made In China it was a rather wonderful one. Not just for the quality of the food, which is incredibly high, but also for the expansive presentation and the expertise and precision with which the entire exercise is carried out.
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| The speed and precision with which the waiter carved and presented the duck was incredible. |
My favorite part of most poultry is the skin. And that also happens to be the part that is most special when it comes to cooking the duck. The skin holds much of the fat from the bird, meaning that it can be chewy or otherwise not so great. But when prepared correctly the skin is crispy and full of flavor, without too much fat dripping off. The staff insisted that it be sprinkled with a bit of sugar to complete the effect. I’m not completely convinced that was needed. It was simply delicious.
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| Duck skin, sprinkled with a bit of sugar. |
Next up after the skin was the breast meat, served with hoisin sauce, leeks, cucumbers and small pancakes for making small rolls. Not surprisingly, there was nearly as much focus on the presentation of the meats as there was on the quality of the preparation.
This was followed by the leg meat being carved and presented. The leg was actually my favorite bit, much like it is on other poultry. As served up at Made In China the leg meat was a full ross-section of flavors, including the skin and a layer of fat, in addition to the meat itself. Each bite was a combination of the flavors.
In the end, the amount of food presented for the order is somewhat staggering.
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| One of these days I’ll learn to order a meal that doesn’t require a spare stomach. That will be quite sad. |
From a logistics perspective, making a reservation is highly recommended, both for a table and for a duck. Preparing the duck can take over an hour if you don’t and that’s not much fun. That said, if you do have an hour to spare while waiting you have the opportunity to sample some of the other food on the menu. Thinking that I was going to be waiting that hour I actually ordered an appetizer, scallion pancakes, to nosh on while waiting for the duck to show up. The duck actually was served first. Whoopsie. Not that I’m particularly disappointed as that was also delicious, but it was way too much food for just me.
For seating, as a single guest they managed to find room for me at one of the bars scattered through the restaurant. I much prefer that arrangement to being seated at a table on my own so that was great. Plus, rather than a cocktail bar this one was located facing into the dumpling kitchen. So in addition to the great food I was treated to the entertainment of watching the chefs work their magic on a variety of different doughy delights.
Overall the entire experience was wonderful. Yes, it is one of the more expensive meals in Beijing, but it isn’t actually all that pricey. I walked out for under USD $50, including one cocktail and fully stuffed with delicious food. Well worth it for the experience; I highly recommend it.
Read more from this Trip Report under the Dream2011 tag here.
Posted by Seth on November 7, 2011 under Trip Reports |
Let’s say you’re a Chinese emperor, ruling the kingdom at some point between 1420 and 1911 and it is time to offer sacrifices and pray for a good harvest. Where do you go? I’ve got just the place: The Temple of Heaven, located just a bit south of the Imperial Palaces at the Forbidden City in Beijing.
The complex is huge – reportedly the largest complex in the world devoted to rituals paying homage to heaven – and it includes a number of buildings which were used to both prepare for and to offer up sacrifices for a plentiful harvest. The most well known of these buildings is the circular tower of the Hall of Prayer for a Good Harvest.
The hall was used for making the appropriate official sacrifices on the altar housed inside.
Of particular interest at this site, especially after seeing all the thrones and other bits devoted to making the emperor’s position most exalted, was that the Temple of Heaven includes a few features that actually knock him back down to earth. There is a processional area that the emperor would walk on to approach the temple to conduct the prayer ceremony. It is slightly inclined so that the approach to the temple actually reflects the idea of ascending to heaven.
Upon arrival at the temple site the procession would pass through the gates to enter the courtyard where the temple sits. The gate is raised on a marble platform, showing it to be one of the more significant gates in the culture, and it has three doors. While the approach path had a center lane explicitly reserved for the emperor to walk on the center of the three doors in the gate was considered too great even for the emperor; it was reserved only for the holy spirits to enter the grounds.
The temple grounds today are much more than just a relic of the past. They are well maintained as a park area and on the day of my visit they were packed with folks out enjoying the facility. There was a Chinese version of hackey sack being played (the sack has feathers on it which notably alters the flight behavior) all over the park. A few gentlemen invited me to briefly join them in their game. I was, somewhat expectedly, rather bad at it. I blame the feathers but I know that’s just an excuse.
There were others around dancing, exercising, making music or playing games. It was quite the gathering place for the locals.
Overall, a very enjoyable experience, both for the historical landmark and also the cultural experience of seeing the locals at play. Good times.
Read more from this Trip Report under the Dream2011 tag here.
Posted by Seth on November 2, 2011 under Trip Reports |
I don’t think that I gave the Forbidden City a fair shake. I was pre-disposed to not being particularly enamored with it thanks to comments I’d heard from others and I almost certainly let that cloud my judgment. No doubt there are parts of the site which are incredibly impressive. Still, overall, I was not particularly wowed by the experience.
The UNESCO World Heritage Site inscription for the palace includes this as part of the justification for the inscription:
The Imperial Palaces bear exceptional testimony to Chinese civilisation at the time of the Ming and Qing dynasties, being true reserves of landscapes, architecture, furnishings and objects of art, as well as carrying exceptional evidence to the living traditions and the customs of Shamanism practised by the Manchu people for centuries.
And I definitely saw bits of that. I’m just not sure it was enough to sway my views of the visit.
I was one of the first to enter the site the morning of my visit. This afforded me the opportunity to see the grounds relatively empty, which was certainly atypical. I wasn’t fighting to get to the front at the main buildings as I approached them. That meant unimpeded views of the thrones set up for the emperors, and that’s certainly better than waiting in line to get to see them. But the sights just weren’t particularly awesome. How many different throne rooms in one compound does an emperor really need?
For a bunch of 4-500+ year old buildings they’re in very good shape. And that definitely is one of the bits more appealing about the visit. And I understand that the collection as a whole is even more impressive because they are all together rather than just a one-off structure somewhere.
It was actually the some of the other buildings and relics in the site that I found most interesting. The cauldrons for fighting fire, for instance, had ornate handles on them which were quite impressive. They were also kept heated in the winters so that they did not freeze so they were always available to put out a fire if needed. Something ironic about using fire to keep water ready to put out fires; I love it.
And there were a number of lesser buildings towards the north end of the park where the interior was accessible, making them more enjoyable as sites to visit and enjoy.
After a mere 45 minutes I found myself at the north end of the park, standing at the exit gates. A couple and their guide were next to me. I’d more or less been pacing them throughout my visit and we chatted a bit as we departed the park. The guide was somewhat proud that he’d shepherded his charges through in the same short amount of time as President Obama apparently spent on his State visit. Not real sure that’s a badge of honor to wear, but sure.
And then I was done, out on the north side of the park and once again left to fend off the touts. I suppose that’s one benefit of the visit; there were none of those inside thanks to the RMB 40 (~USD $6) entrance fee. And lest I sound too down on the whole situation, I am glad I got to see it. I just wouldn’t necessarily budget too much more time than an hour inside.
Read more from this Trip Report under the Dream2011 tag here.
Posted by Seth on November 1, 2011 under Trip Reports |
The Great Wall of China can [apparently, despite my youthful indoctrinations, not] be seen from outer space. I’m quite certain it was not visible today, at least not at the Mutinayu section outside of Beijing where I visited. The weather was downright rotten, with a max visibility of about 50 meters. Oh, and it drizzled half the time, too. Still, it was the only day I had for visiting the wall and so it was the day I did so, hiking a couple thousand steps along from one end to the other of this particular section. In the rain. With pretty much nothing to see.
And I have to say that, despite the weather issues, the experience was still pretty awesome. Considering that the current iteration I was walking on is about 500 years old it is incredibly impressive as a structure.
The visit began with the roughly 2 hour drive up from my hotel in central Beijing. In my typical fashion I was wholly unprepared for today’s outing other than knowing it is what I wanted to do. As such I didn’t bother booking a driver until this morning and probably paid about RMB 100 (~USD $16) more than the common going rate of RMB 700 I was told to expect. Not so horrible in the end and I hate the haggling so that’s life. The drive is a mix of Beijing traffic-laden highways and reasonably empty rural 2-lane roads. They do offer up some exciting moments like when the drivers play chicken in efforts to pass cars but otherwise uneventful.
After arriving at the site it was time to purchase my ticket (the folks at the counter spoke pretty good English) and then ride the ski-lift-esque gondola up to the wall. You can walk it, too, if you want, but there are enough steps on the 2.2 kilometers of the wall that you’re going to hike that I wasn’t feeling particularly guilty about having taken the ride.
Once on top you simply set out walking. The path is, for the most part, in good shape with a wide walkway and solid footing. Except the part where it is mainly granite which gets mighty slippery in the rain. Looking out the 100 feet or so that I could see off the sides of the wall or up and down as I hiked on it was easy to believe that there can be phenomenal views when the weather cooperates. But I’m mostly basing that on the fact that other folks have taken photos to suggest it is true. Mine, on the other hand, show mostly clouds fogging me in.
One nice thing about the misty, cloudy weather is that it does let your imagination run a bit wild. It is neat to see bodies appearing from and dissolving into the mist, often without so much as a peep. It was not hard to imagine that the silhouetted bodies in the clouds were ancient guards, coming and going on their patrols. Except for the part when they came into view and were surrounded by a bunch of kids chattering away in French, but putting that aside the image sortof worked.
One of the main attractions of this section of the wall is the views from watchtower number 22, the western-most of those currently accessible to visitors. There are many warnings of steep stairs to access that section, warnings that I read and decided probably didn’t apply too much to me because I’m in decent shape. I was wrong. And I knew that the views would suck (oooh…more clouds!) yet I made the climb anyways. It was 454 steps from the top of tower #21 to tower #22 without any flat areas in which to take a break. If you want to stop you simply pause on the stairs.
Never so much in my life have I wanted to be a slinky. What a fun ride down that would have been.
I hoofed it all the way back to where I started to take a ride on the "toboggan" down the hillside. I was rather ambivalent about the ride when I was researching earlier but looking down on it from the gondola ride up had me excited to give it a try. Reasonably long with some fun twists along the way. Alas, they close in the rain so I simply rode back down the gondola with the miserable visibility.
And then it was back in the car and back into town. No stops at tchotchke shops or silk markets. I guess paying the little bit extra can be seen as a wise investment in that sense.
Read more from this Trip Report under the Dream2011 tag here.
Posted by Seth on October 31, 2011 under Dining, Flying, Mileage Run, Review, Trip Reports |
About half way between San Francisco and Beijing I awoke from my nap and headed to the lav. Time for a quick break to stretch my legs. I had absolutely no expectations of anyone waiting for me when I got out. Apparently I should have.
A flight attendant approached me in the aisle, addressed me by name and asked what she could get me from "up front." Knowing that a bigger seat – my likely answer – probably wasn’t going to actually do much in terms of being successful as a request I was rather dumbfounded. Partly because I had just woken up, I like to think, and partly because I honestly had no idea what I was supposed to answer.
She then offered up that they had no extra amenity kits as the forward cabins were both full, but that I could ask for anything else I wanted, finishing the suggestion with the phrase, "You know the drill, don’t you?" Alas, I was somewhat embarrassed that I have no idea what the drill is or what I’m supposed to ask for or be able to get. Eventually she suggested that perhaps a glass of wine or a snack would be suitable.
And the snack was.
Seriously, compared to the mid-flight snack offered up in Economy is was like a bit of heaven.
And the mid-flight snack was probably better than the first meal. That first meal was a piece of sponge-like reconstituted chicken-esque product soaking in a tomato-based sauce. It was pretty bad.
The last of the three meals was the most edible of the bunch, but still not phenomenal. I chose the noodles over the turkey sandwich.
And then I was in Beijing. Woohoo!
As always, more to come…
Tags: Beijing, China, Dining, Dream2011, Flying, Mileage Run, Photos, review, San Francisco, Trip Report, United
Posted by Seth on October 31, 2011 under Dining, Flying, Mileage Run, Review, Trip Reports |
When the check-in machine at the airport informs you that it is unable to rebook your connection that’s a bad thing. When the agent behind the counter has to back away from the computer and call in reinforcements to figure out the rebooking it is even worse. But, when they eventually work together to figure everything out it isn’t all bad.
With the snow in New York City not expected to begin until early afternoon I figured my 10:30am flight out of JFK was going to be just fine. And the connection on from Dulles to Seattle would be fine, too. After all, Dulles has plenty of spare capacity and nicely separated runways meaning that operations there rarely suffer. But they did. And so the issues in DC, combined with the rain in NYC, meant that my reasonably easy connection on the way to Seattle was not going to happen. Ruh roh.
The issue was made even more challenging by the fact that the United Airlines operations at JFK are so limited. There aren’t a whole lot of alternate options out there once you’re stuck. Fortunately they managed to scare up space on the JFK-SFO flight and then connect me onward from there. I’m pretty sure there was some sort of overbooking involved to make that space appear but the flights ended up going out with folks clearing the standby list so that was apparently not a huge issue. And, even though I didn’t get the new line on my flight map (IAD-SEA) I did actually get to Seattle the same day I intended to. And that was pretty critical for catching my onward flights to China. Even better, I did it from the comfort of United’s p.s. Business Class.
The seat was much more comfortable for sleeping than the A319 seat I was supposed to be on. And the food was, much to my delight, quite good.
The past few times I’ve done the p.s. flights it has been on the morning departures and the breakfast options aren’t much to get excited over, but the lunch I had was most impressive.
If I had to quibble at all it would be on the fact that they don’t have as many toppings on offer for the sundaes, but they have the ones I like and they have chocolate and vanilla ice cream rather than just one. Hardly worth getting worked up over.
Add in plenty of leg room and a blanket that I really should have kept for my onward flight to Beijing and I managed to both eat and sleep quite well for the five and a half hours I spent on the plane.
The onward connection to Seattle was on a CRJ-700, not my favorite aircraft by any stretch. But it was a smooth flight and the approach in to Seattle offered up phenomenal views of downtown as we flew up the Sound and then circled back to land to the South.
Only about 3 hours later than originally expected and many, many hours ahead of my originally scheduled flights, even if I hadn’t missed the connection. Not bad at all in the end.
Tags: Beijing, China, Dining, Dream2011, Flying, Mileage Run, New York City, Photos, review, San Francisco, Seattle, Trip Report, United
Posted by Seth on October 17, 2011 under Trip Reports |
I picked up my passport containing my brand new visa to visit China from the Consulate in New York City this morning. I didn’t use a service or expeditor to handle my request; I did it in person. And it was most definitely an interesting experience.
For starters, the application must be completed digitally rather than by hand. This policy change went into play a few months ago and it is reasonably well publicized on the web site. That apparently doesn’t stop many people from showing up with hand written copies. As I waited in line to drop off my visa application last week I saw no fewer than three folks turned away before they even got to the security checkpoint because they had handwritten applications. One of them was rather frantic about the situation, nearly attacking the guard outside when he refused to let her in to the building. Fortunately, I made it past that little fracas and inside before things got too out of hand.
It is also worth noting that a few enterprising folks have seen the plight of these applicants who are turned away with their handwritten applications. Running out of a rental van parked on the side of 42nd Street they have a print service available. Assuming you have your paperwork in hand and can fill in the form quickly the process to get it typed into the computer they’ve got in the back and printed out on the attached printer isn’t all that bad. I didn’t stop to ask how much they charge for the service but they had a line of folks waiting to pay them so it definitely isn’t a horrible business to be in.
Next up is the application submission process. The application is four pages long and includes very detailed instructions. Apparently, however, those instructions are not complete. Each application requires a photocopy of the passport even though that isn’t noted anywhere. If you have a previous visa to enter China a copy of that is required, too. But no one tells you that until you get to the front of the line. Oy.
There is a copier in the building so you can make the copies needed and then fight back to the window to finish the application submission but it is ancient and ornery. Copies cost 25 cents each, which isn’t really all that bad considering that they’ve basically got you over the barrel at that point. And the machine takes dollars but doesn’t always manage to give change. Needless to say, the three folks behind me in line all got free copies while mine cost a buck.
Once all the paperwork is in order and you get to the front of the line the process is actually pretty easy. An agent quickly flips through the papers and hands you a receipt. Come back in a few days to collect your passport and pay the fees.
As I left the Consulate – roughly two hours after I started my morning there – I chatted with the aforementioned security guard to find out if it was always that crazy inside. He assured me it wasn’t, though I’m not all that convinced. I was back today to collect my passport and the lines were better, but still not great. There is also a distinct lack of signage inside so figuring out where to go was a bit of a process. Basically I stood around looking dumbfounded until others who had just done the same explained where to go, a favor I paid back a few minutes later.
First you drop off your receipt and collect another receipt from one agent. That’s assuming you can figure out which line you’re supposed to be in, but let’s not get caught up with such a trifling detail. After making it through that line it is off to another line – now with your new receipt – to await the opportunity to pay and recover your passport.
The payment is apparently another problem for some folks to figure out. The Consulate has been only accepting credit cards, bank checks or money orders for roughly 18 months now. They stamp the receipt they give you with the words "No Cash" in both English and Mandarin in really big, red letters. And the woman in front of me was fighting with the agent behind the glass to pay for her visa with two crisp, clean $100 bills. Literally shoving the bills under the little window thing and not letting the agent push them back. It was nuts.
This trip was only about 30 minutes to get my passport and pay the Visa fees. Now I’m all set for my visit. But, wow, was there a lot of crazy involved. And that doesn’t include the various other folks choosing to ignore the lines, shouting at each other in various languages and all sorts of other fun that kept me entertained during my waits.
