Visa: It Keeps You Everywhere You Don't Want to Be

Hong Kong has such a romantic ring to it. That may be the reason I initially wanted to come here to teach, instead of to Taiwan. If I'd set my sites on it more clearly, I might not be in the mess I am at the moment.

Last night, I arrived in Hong Kong after a short flight--less than two hours--from Taipei, for the purpose of obtaining a 60-day tourist visa. I am staying in a cramped little hostel in Central, on Hong Kong Island. For how long, I do not know, nor do I fathom to guess.

I went to the local TECO office (what Taiwanese consulates are called in most countries, since PRC pressure ensures that most countries do not recognize Taiwan as a separate nation from China). I scrambled a bit to get some of what I needed for a visa application--most notably, evidence of the flight I was supposed to be on tonight for Taipei, and some passport photos--and headed in. I filled out my application, gave it to the lady behind the counter, and paid HK$1000 (about US $125) to apply. She took my application and told me to come back at 4:00 PM.

When I came back in the afternoon, I was told that "Taipei" hadn't made a decision about my application, and that I should come back tomorrow. So I scrambled to find a payphone from which to call my employers, the friend who is supposed to pick me up in Taipei tonight, and the hostel where I spent the night. I also managed to call the airline and change my reservation to tomorrow's flight at the same time. Not a problem, I was told.

I'm not sure whether this indicates that airlines abroad are just better than they are in the U.S., or if different rules apply when travelling internationally. Because every time I have had to change a domestic booked flight in America, it required an almight song-and-dance and ususally a fee. This required no more than a simple conversation with a booking agent. Weird.

I haven't been able to call my ride. I had great difficulty locating a payphone near the TECO office--they aren't exactly a dime a dozen in this age of cell phones, and no society, save maybe the Finns, has embraced the cell phone the way Hong Kong has--and ended up having to place an "emergency" call back to my employer after repeated attempts to pay for a call using my credit card failed. Eve took a while to understand me when I said I probably would not be back for my 4:00 class tomorrow night, but she did agree to find another teacher to cover me. I did't think I should presume too much on the phone company's "emergency" connection service, so I found a McDonald's and emailed my ride. The other calls I made from a bookshop that was kind enough to let me use its phone for local calls when I explained my situation in full.

Anyway...I suppose the title of this post isn't entirely accurate, because at least by staying here tonight, I'll get to see a little bit of Hong Kong. Maybe get some pictures from the Star Ferry to go with the ones I took from the Peak this afternoon.

More later. Someone else at the hostel needs the computer.