Visited the Consulate of the People's Republic of China today. Needed a visa for my visit to Quigdao (the place where Tsing Tao beer is made originally).
Arrived at consulate down on Montrose across from La Colombe d'Or restaurant at 0900, when the consulate opens. There was already a lIne to the end of the street. when they opened up the line moved real quick. i thought things were going okay. Then I stepped into the door of the visa entrance. there was a building where a cop was already telling people that if they wanted to get something serviced today they should have started earlier. but he gave me a little slip of paper with a number (53) on it, and told me to wait in line. Only about 80 people ahead of me. In fact, there were exactly 52. But that did not matter. This place is chaos. It seems that if you are Chinese, none of the signs, queues, or angry stares mean anything to you. And barging to the front of the line is a birth right. Always smiling and apologetic, but pushy none the less. More than once there were as many as 5 women standing at the clerk window all talking at once to her. Turns out they were travel agents who specialized in getting visas for their tour groups. They had about 50-60 passports they were all trying to process under the auspices of one highly valued little piece of paper with a number on it. They took up about 30 minutes by themselves (sort of a Borg collective). I finally got through the line by 11:30, told to come back after 2:30 to get the passport back with a visa.
So off to Kim Son's for lunch. Lovely meal Would have been better with a beer, but I thought that dealing with the consulate in the morning was bad enough. It would be miserable to be buzzed and have to deal with a stressful afternoon. So then a casual stroll around the St. Thomas campus area and the setup for the Greek Festival. Then back to the consulate to get in line at 1:30, which is when the visa office opens. Got there at 1:15. There were already about 50 people waiting. But the cop arranged us all into special lines and then proceeded to take every line but the one I was in inside the building. Then he comes out to verify that we are all same-day pick-up visas. Then he gives us all a new number. I showed him I already had one from the morning. "That paper and number is no good. Besides, it is number 53 and I am giving you number 14. That will be much better.", he says. That reassures me and I take his new more highly valued little piece of paper with a number and wait. We all go inside and then we wait again. The cop spent a lot of time putting us in numbered order. But that didn't work too well since Southern men let women sit down first, which screws up the seating chart for the cop. He remained cool and didn't once threaten to tear up our highly valued little slips of paper with new numbers on them. By about 3:00 I was actually in line about to get my visa when I realized the woman in front of me was one of those damned travel agents. She must have had a 100 passports to pick up! God did she get a bargain on the volume market. At $170/visa that is quite a chunk of change.
So I am now ready to head for Beijing for one night, to have a nive dinner at a good restaurant in town and to be guided by my co-worker who lives there. Then off to the land of the beer for a week of unusual food, drink, and mostly stories.
Oct 6, 2010
Travels to China and Other Mistakes
This is the first blog for the new trip coming up. I am going to Qingdao China before I make my normal run through Singapore and Dubai. I am picking up from the first requirements - visas and letters of invitations.
Jan 26, 2010
Itinerary for my upcoming year
Looks like I am going to be a busy guy this year. It seems I will be starting travels as early as March, when I will be visiting Morgan City, Louisiana. I will also probably be visiting a new place during that month. I will probably get to go to Halifax, Nova Scotia. I may be there as much as a week or two, which could be really interesting. Then we really start getting interesting by having to go down to Tampico, Mexico in April. I hope to have at least a little bit more Spanish speaking in my head by then. We'll see. I'm not real sure about that goal. I will be off to Singapore, Batam, Dubai, and Baku in May/June, with a repeat visit in November for all but Baku.
If things work out, we may try to travel "backwards" (i.e. - West to East) this time to end up in Singapore as the last stop. If it does not cost us more than the normal East to West circuit I will try to see if Roy can meet up with me there for that week and see the sites. Nothing firm yet. A lot to work out.
The big news is that I will possibly be going to Qingdao, China in October. I may be there a week or two and this will be a real new experience. For those who follow my travel blogs, I expect this trip to be the strangest I will have two write about. I truly excited about this upcoming trip.
More later as things develop.
If things work out, we may try to travel "backwards" (i.e. - West to East) this time to end up in Singapore as the last stop. If it does not cost us more than the normal East to West circuit I will try to see if Roy can meet up with me there for that week and see the sites. Nothing firm yet. A lot to work out.
The big news is that I will possibly be going to Qingdao, China in October. I may be there a week or two and this will be a real new experience. For those who follow my travel blogs, I expect this trip to be the strangest I will have two write about. I truly excited about this upcoming trip.
More later as things develop.
Dec 28, 2009
2009 - July 15 (Dubai)
Next blog. Very Late. Still recovering at work.
Okay, I made it to Dubai. Singapore was reported on and filed away. I hope some of you enjoyed the commentary.
Arrival in Dubai was a bit different than in previous visits. First, they have opened a new Terminal 3 which is a marvel of big in a big way. The terminal itself is huge in floor space and in how high the ceilings are. At least four stories everywhere after you leave the jet ways. Then the elevators are large boxes of glass large enough to hold 20 to 30 people at a time. These are real volume people movers. Because they are so large and they have so many as a group, moving down from the jet ways to passport control never slows anyone down even though there are no escalators. I did not even see stairs. Passport control is in a space that I would estimate to be about four acres, based on the one acre cemetery beside our house. There were over fifty passport lines, most staffed when I arrived, so there was almost no wait involved. I got through passport control, got my baggage in hand when I got to the carousels, and had it scanned within 20 minutes of leaving the aircraft. Remarkably efficient passenger handling. The size of the airport really came home when I went to get my car. It took 20 minutes to walk with my bags to the Hertz counter. I was a wreck because I had to leave the confines of the airport terminal and cross the covered parking area. The ambient temperature was just over 100 degrees. I could be wrung out like a sponge when I got there. But the staff was very helpful, offering water, a bunch of tissues and towels, and had me sit down while they got my paperwork completed and the car brought to the counter area. They provided a lot of information about driving rules, how to get assistance if I needed it, and suggestions for places to see, with maps. All very nice. The whole event was topped off when the car was brought up and they took my bags from me to pack them. They had delivered a 2009 BMW 320i. They apologized because it was black. Why should I care? It had an arctic blaster for A/C. They directed me out of the parking lot (they actually walked beside me from the counter area to the exit gate, talking to me as I drove along slowly) and I was on my way.
The trip to the hotel did not go nearly as smoothly. The big problem was that the idea of turning around was not considered when the highways were built in this country. It was compounded by the vast scope of construction underway for the last five years, the lack of a concept of naming roads, and the actually poor quality of maps for the region. I got on the main road south towards my hotel, missed the exit due to the construction pushing the exit back earlier than I expected, and then I found that the road to Abu Dhabi was paved with good intentions but not with overpasses, U-turns, or roundabouts. It was 120km to the next city. One gas station on the way. No navigation system in car. Thank heaven my phone had limited GPS and Google maps. I found the one and only road that would head back towards my hotel. But that did not end the problems. About 3km from where I needed to exit to get to the hotel, I hit a major traffic jam. It seems that the circle I needed to exit at was the point of a multi-car accident. There were no exits or side streets in the desert and I did not have an off-road vehicle. So I spent 3 hours going about 2.5km. But I had music (classic 70's and 80's thank you very much Mr. iPod) and enough gas and air conditioning to hold me over. Made it to the hotel and found that my friend Ian Knox, the GM of the hotel, had left for better opportunities at the Grand Hyatt Dubai.
The issue of how to navigate around the area was an on-going sage for this visit. The traffic rules are more suggestions than rules. People use the white lines as center lines for their vehicles. Anyone who is in an expensive car or SUV assumes they own the right lane and will actually try to bump you at 120KM if you do not move over. I was given some advice from a local. First, don’t bother to move if they are flashing their lights and trying to force you to move over if there is anyone blocking you on the right. Just because they are in a hurry does not make you a second-class citizen on the road. It is good to be courteous and move over if it is safe but if they persist, there are a couple of special tricks that are recommended. First, one that works everywhere. Simply cut on your headlights a couple of times very quick when they are right behind you. This makes your rear lights come on and they think you are hitting the brakes. They will probably drop back and then go around you on the right (totally illegally according to the traffic laws). If they are still annoying you, the second trick only works in places like Dubai where desert is the total environment. Simply cut on your windshield washers for a few blasts. This spray goes up over your windshield and splatters mud onto their windshield (G)! It is a very good thing that this does not normally work in Texas where people carry guns. It would be a major source of donor parts for the waiting lists. This driving thing is something of a mixed bag. My car was cool, the traffic was light, but the lack of proper signage was a problem. I did finally realize one fairly consistent pattern of highway design that helped me in navigating. The roads always exit to the right. And when you come to a cross highway, the first exit for it is the one that will take you to the “right” path. The next exit for it will always be a circular ramp that takes you to the “left” path. This became my best piece of information for navigating around. If I missed my exit, I took the next one, it put me on the correct road but going the wrong direction. I then went to the next exit on that road, made two circles to the right, and was back on the path in the direction I needed to go. But it did require at least a visible overpass or you were off to where the camels roamed free.
Another attribute I noticed about roads here was really alien to me. No Road Kill. I guess it makes sense when no living creature in its right mind would actually want to touch the road surface at 120-140 degrees. And it also helps that there was virtually nothing alive that needed to cross the road. Take heed all you chickens from old jokes.
And I have one basic rule now for driving in any new place. I guess everyone knows it but it bears repeating. When you get to a new city, first get a map and determine what major roads/highways form the perimeter of the city. For instance, Houston has both the 610 loop and the beltway. Once you have those firmly set in your mind and know how they are marked on the highways, you can then enter the city and simply cruise around getting lost. You can always drive in a straight line until you find one of the perimeter roads and use it to get back to areas you know. I spent a lot of time doing that in Dubai. It lead to some interesting areas that I would not have seen otherwise. Not absolutely a good thing. Consider how many neighborhoods in Houston you would not want to come to a stop light in.
While there was no road kill, the same was not true at the beach. There was lots of beach kill everywhere, all human-type. I found the beach in my wanderings. I went to Jumeira Beach on the weekend to see what the ocean looked like. In spite of visiting here several times, I had never seen the water except at night. The decision was not one of my best ones. Remember, it is 105 degrees in the shade, and I was out on an open beach in the fullest of sun. What was an even worse decision was the one made by those people I found there, lying in the sun, no umbrella, no covering of any type, baking like planked salmon in a 400 degree oven. My sandals started getting soft when I attempted to walk along a jogging track that was actually designed for people to use. I guess they only used it in winter. My visit lasted a good 30 minutes, I took some pictures (which I will post to Facebook) and a video or two (also posted). I got a few shots and a video or two of some really high-priced homes on the beach there. These are million dollar plus homes. Then this Southern boy got his butt out of the kill zone and got into a car with the A/C turned on full.
Okay, I made it to Dubai. Singapore was reported on and filed away. I hope some of you enjoyed the commentary.
Arrival in Dubai was a bit different than in previous visits. First, they have opened a new Terminal 3 which is a marvel of big in a big way. The terminal itself is huge in floor space and in how high the ceilings are. At least four stories everywhere after you leave the jet ways. Then the elevators are large boxes of glass large enough to hold 20 to 30 people at a time. These are real volume people movers. Because they are so large and they have so many as a group, moving down from the jet ways to passport control never slows anyone down even though there are no escalators. I did not even see stairs. Passport control is in a space that I would estimate to be about four acres, based on the one acre cemetery beside our house. There were over fifty passport lines, most staffed when I arrived, so there was almost no wait involved. I got through passport control, got my baggage in hand when I got to the carousels, and had it scanned within 20 minutes of leaving the aircraft. Remarkably efficient passenger handling. The size of the airport really came home when I went to get my car. It took 20 minutes to walk with my bags to the Hertz counter. I was a wreck because I had to leave the confines of the airport terminal and cross the covered parking area. The ambient temperature was just over 100 degrees. I could be wrung out like a sponge when I got there. But the staff was very helpful, offering water, a bunch of tissues and towels, and had me sit down while they got my paperwork completed and the car brought to the counter area. They provided a lot of information about driving rules, how to get assistance if I needed it, and suggestions for places to see, with maps. All very nice. The whole event was topped off when the car was brought up and they took my bags from me to pack them. They had delivered a 2009 BMW 320i. They apologized because it was black. Why should I care? It had an arctic blaster for A/C. They directed me out of the parking lot (they actually walked beside me from the counter area to the exit gate, talking to me as I drove along slowly) and I was on my way.
The trip to the hotel did not go nearly as smoothly. The big problem was that the idea of turning around was not considered when the highways were built in this country. It was compounded by the vast scope of construction underway for the last five years, the lack of a concept of naming roads, and the actually poor quality of maps for the region. I got on the main road south towards my hotel, missed the exit due to the construction pushing the exit back earlier than I expected, and then I found that the road to Abu Dhabi was paved with good intentions but not with overpasses, U-turns, or roundabouts. It was 120km to the next city. One gas station on the way. No navigation system in car. Thank heaven my phone had limited GPS and Google maps. I found the one and only road that would head back towards my hotel. But that did not end the problems. About 3km from where I needed to exit to get to the hotel, I hit a major traffic jam. It seems that the circle I needed to exit at was the point of a multi-car accident. There were no exits or side streets in the desert and I did not have an off-road vehicle. So I spent 3 hours going about 2.5km. But I had music (classic 70's and 80's thank you very much Mr. iPod) and enough gas and air conditioning to hold me over. Made it to the hotel and found that my friend Ian Knox, the GM of the hotel, had left for better opportunities at the Grand Hyatt Dubai.
The issue of how to navigate around the area was an on-going sage for this visit. The traffic rules are more suggestions than rules. People use the white lines as center lines for their vehicles. Anyone who is in an expensive car or SUV assumes they own the right lane and will actually try to bump you at 120KM if you do not move over. I was given some advice from a local. First, don’t bother to move if they are flashing their lights and trying to force you to move over if there is anyone blocking you on the right. Just because they are in a hurry does not make you a second-class citizen on the road. It is good to be courteous and move over if it is safe but if they persist, there are a couple of special tricks that are recommended. First, one that works everywhere. Simply cut on your headlights a couple of times very quick when they are right behind you. This makes your rear lights come on and they think you are hitting the brakes. They will probably drop back and then go around you on the right (totally illegally according to the traffic laws). If they are still annoying you, the second trick only works in places like Dubai where desert is the total environment. Simply cut on your windshield washers for a few blasts. This spray goes up over your windshield and splatters mud onto their windshield (G)! It is a very good thing that this does not normally work in Texas where people carry guns. It would be a major source of donor parts for the waiting lists. This driving thing is something of a mixed bag. My car was cool, the traffic was light, but the lack of proper signage was a problem. I did finally realize one fairly consistent pattern of highway design that helped me in navigating. The roads always exit to the right. And when you come to a cross highway, the first exit for it is the one that will take you to the “right” path. The next exit for it will always be a circular ramp that takes you to the “left” path. This became my best piece of information for navigating around. If I missed my exit, I took the next one, it put me on the correct road but going the wrong direction. I then went to the next exit on that road, made two circles to the right, and was back on the path in the direction I needed to go. But it did require at least a visible overpass or you were off to where the camels roamed free.
Another attribute I noticed about roads here was really alien to me. No Road Kill. I guess it makes sense when no living creature in its right mind would actually want to touch the road surface at 120-140 degrees. And it also helps that there was virtually nothing alive that needed to cross the road. Take heed all you chickens from old jokes.
And I have one basic rule now for driving in any new place. I guess everyone knows it but it bears repeating. When you get to a new city, first get a map and determine what major roads/highways form the perimeter of the city. For instance, Houston has both the 610 loop and the beltway. Once you have those firmly set in your mind and know how they are marked on the highways, you can then enter the city and simply cruise around getting lost. You can always drive in a straight line until you find one of the perimeter roads and use it to get back to areas you know. I spent a lot of time doing that in Dubai. It lead to some interesting areas that I would not have seen otherwise. Not absolutely a good thing. Consider how many neighborhoods in Houston you would not want to come to a stop light in.
While there was no road kill, the same was not true at the beach. There was lots of beach kill everywhere, all human-type. I found the beach in my wanderings. I went to Jumeira Beach on the weekend to see what the ocean looked like. In spite of visiting here several times, I had never seen the water except at night. The decision was not one of my best ones. Remember, it is 105 degrees in the shade, and I was out on an open beach in the fullest of sun. What was an even worse decision was the one made by those people I found there, lying in the sun, no umbrella, no covering of any type, baking like planked salmon in a 400 degree oven. My sandals started getting soft when I attempted to walk along a jogging track that was actually designed for people to use. I guess they only used it in winter. My visit lasted a good 30 minutes, I took some pictures (which I will post to Facebook) and a video or two (also posted). I got a few shots and a video or two of some really high-priced homes on the beach there. These are million dollar plus homes. Then this Southern boy got his butt out of the kill zone and got into a car with the A/C turned on full.
2009 - July 30 (Baku)
I get up very early, not sleeping well. I guess I am anxious to get on to my next destination. I have a very early breakfast of an omelette and find that here it must be browned and nearly crisp on the outside. I ate and walked outside to prowl around the artist quarter before my driver showed up. The sun was not really up and it was dark in the streets. As I walked around I saw the various street vendor stands. I also noticed the vendors themselves sitting there, dozing, apparently having stayed all night to watch over their merchandise. Not all vendors, but the majority of then were there. Another aspect of the secret of Baku that is not part of the travel brochures. It is a bit disturbing and somewhat depressing. It makes me wonder about the lives of those people and how they deal with winter and times even harder than they seemed to be from what I saw.
2009 - July 31 (Amsterdam)
Coffee (all types)
Pancakes
Parade (Almost)
Water pressure(less)
Redlight
*Anne Frank museum
*Van Gogh Museum
*Rijksmuseum and grounds
*Gay Pride parade (Sat)
Royal Palace
Vondelpark has free music at night on Thr-Sun)
Canal tour (www.amsterdam.info/tours/canalcruise or www.amsterdamboatclub.com)(The Nicolaas Boat Club gives free rides on old boats and barges. Located at Leidseplein 12, Amsterdam). Donate about 12 Euros per person per hour.
*Begijnhof historic city buildings of old Amsterdam (www.begijnhofamsterdam.nl)
Groceries at Albert Cuyp grocery store
*Spiegelstraat - About 140 best art/antique shops on this street
*Bridge of Bridges @ Reguliersgracht and Herengracht
Gusto, Kloveniersburgwal 7
Gusto’s Italian Restaurant is a wonderful Italian restaurant. The food is real Italian cuisine, and is located at the Nieuwmarkt square. The service here is very efficient, and provides really nice surroundings
*Flower Market
*Madam Toussau's
*Amsterdam Historical Museum
*Flea Market
*Cappucino at "Bagels and Beans" on Tuesday morning
Pancakes
Parade (Almost)
Water pressure(less)
Redlight
*Anne Frank museum
*Van Gogh Museum
*Rijksmuseum and grounds
*Gay Pride parade (Sat)
Royal Palace
Vondelpark has free music at night on Thr-Sun)
Canal tour (www.amsterdam.info/tours/canalcruise or www.amsterdamboatclub.com)(The Nicolaas Boat Club gives free rides on old boats and barges. Located at Leidseplein 12, Amsterdam). Donate about 12 Euros per person per hour.
*Begijnhof historic city buildings of old Amsterdam (www.begijnhofamsterdam.nl)
Groceries at Albert Cuyp grocery store
*Spiegelstraat - About 140 best art/antique shops on this street
*Bridge of Bridges @ Reguliersgracht and Herengracht
Gusto, Kloveniersburgwal 7
Gusto’s Italian Restaurant is a wonderful Italian restaurant. The food is real Italian cuisine, and is located at the Nieuwmarkt square. The service here is very efficient, and provides really nice surroundings
*Flower Market
*Madam Toussau's
*Amsterdam Historical Museum
*Flea Market
*Cappucino at "Bagels and Beans" on Tuesday morning
2009 - November 7 (Dubai)
Driving still pisses me off
Worst work results EVER!
Beautiful weather on the veranda of the restaurant
Tess From Liverpool. Loves Manchester United
Driving like a local, cussing like a madman
Orient Pavilion - cabbage, spring rolls, tom yom kai, crispy
Qatar airlines - Dates and Arabic coffee with cardamom and the smell of black pepper but without the spice.
Meal of foul mesdames
Worst work results EVER!
Beautiful weather on the veranda of the restaurant
Tess From Liverpool. Loves Manchester United
Driving like a local, cussing like a madman
Orient Pavilion - cabbage, spring rolls, tom yom kai, crispy
Qatar airlines - Dates and Arabic coffee with cardamom and the smell of black pepper but without the spice.
Meal of foul mesdames
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