Google calls it "the infamous Hong Kong visa run", guess that's what I'm on.
There are even websites that walk you through the whole process including which way to face when looking for the office, what not to say if you ask for directions, and even have pictures of the office.
I think, however, that Sarah's company (thanks Marsha) will be sorting out my mess.
Someone said to me that I shouldn't be mad about that whole PH detention thing- and next time be sure my docs are in order when I travel....which I guess is true. However, I see that as an issue between China and I, and that doesn't mean PH has to lock me up....they don't even require a visa!?
Not to beat a dead horse here but here is how I see it;
Option A
I screw up an china kicks me back to PH. Fine.
PH then gives me a bunch of crap. Asks me why I blew it....doesn't understand my answer, yells at me for coming back, makes me go through a bunch of red tape, then lets me book a flight home. Once I book a flight home they let me sit in the airport like anyone else who is there to fly somewhere. Maybe restrict me to only the boarding area.....maybe even make me sit at the specific gate. Then I go.
Option B (the PH way)
-Someone is waiting for me at the airplane door, asks to see my passport, then won't give it back.
-That person takes me to immigration office.
- The immigration officer takes me to the back room and interrogates me. Asks me who I like better, the Chinese or the Filipino, and who has treated me better so far. Then says that the Chinese really screwed up by not letting me in.....and explains why PH is better than CN.
-The immigration officer then casually tells me ill have to wait "for a moment over there" and waives for the security guards to come get me. Last I ever see of him.
-The person who escorted me to immigration and who has my passport tells me she can book me a flight to Hong Kong, and gives me her phone number. After an hour when I call her she comes back, tells me that I have to have to give her cash to go get the flight from the ticket counter.
-I don't have cash, and ask to be let out of the room to get some at the ATM I can see in the hallway. No. Then she leaves, with my passport, with no word of what's what.
-I call her after an hour, with 4% phone battery, and she tells me she's off work and someone else will come see me.
-Enter the next guy, forever later. He tells me that in order to leave my cell, I have to have a booked flight. I tell him that I can't make calls because my phone is dead and ill need the ATM. He tells me that I can't give him cash to book flight anyway (negating the bribe/ money shake down scenario). Then he said he'll look for an iPhone charger.
-He comes back an hour later and pretends we never had the conversation about the phone charger, and that I have to have a flight out in order to leave. Then he leaves.
-By the sheer grace of God a dude from Vancouver sees me locked up and asks if I'm being treated ok. I tell him ok- but need a phone charger bad....he happens to have one and throws it to me through the door (security guards asleep).
-Now I call Sarah, and can get online. Together we book flights out. Long story short, we booked probably 10 flights. Some to US, some to Shanghai, some to Hong Kong.
-Donkey homeboy comes back and explains, one by one why each wont work. Sometimes he would say "ok, this will work" then come back and pretends he didn't know what I was talking about when I asked if the flight will work. This all takes place over an hour or two or three.
-DHB finally tells me a flight will work and leaves. A couple hours burn away and he comes back and says nah.
-I arrived in Manila at 4am, enter embassy agent at 2pm.
-Donkey homeboy's story/attitude changes in a heartbeat. Everything is worked out, flight is good, and ill be released soon.
-Embassy agent leaves at about 2:15 assuming Ill be released in 5 minutes.
-3pm rolls around and I'm still stuck in the room. Homeboy never came back, and I have no idea what's what. Call embassy guy, and insist that security calls homeboy back.
-DHB comes back and says all is good, I will be out in 5 minutes. Flight to Hong Kong is fine.
-4pm and nothing....then finally he comes back and says I can't go to Hong Kong unless I have another flight booked to anywhere in the world.
-Fine, I book a flight to US from HK.
-He says I have to have a printed ticket. Seriously, he said that. His ghetto office didn't even have a printer, 2 hours till departure, I'm locked down, and he looks at me and says "actually you have to have a printed ticket"....I laughed out loud at that one, started to yell, and called the embassy agent again.
-DHB changes his story again and gives me an email address I can forward my itinerary to to prove I have a second flight.
-Somehow, they let that all pass. Just happened to be an hour before the flight leaves....and in retrospect, was the EXACT flight the very first girl mentioned would be the one I "should take".
-I get released and am escorted by about 10 "security" people to the boarding area.
You tell me? Did it have to go that way? I don't think so.
Here is the final kicker....I haven't told Sarah about this one yet even. The security guards wouldn't let me out, and would only let donkey homeboy in....except- there were a few guys walking around in airline shirts, and they were clearly gay. Now, nothing against that at all....but the security guards would let them come in, circle the room, and walk out. I don't know what that was- but seems unnecessary for a government agency to allow and/or do.
Last other thing, there was another guy in my cell- from South Africa. First thing he told me was that they have been telling him he's "good to go" for 4 days! I pretty much ignored that guy and his scenario cause I wasn't gonna be there for 4 days.
Anyway, that's my story- you be the judge. I won't blog about it ever again, I'm over it now. Just sayin'.....it didn't have to go that way.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Dear PH....
SCREW YOU!
Why you ask?
Well because I just spent 12 hours in a immigration cell with a bunch of cockroaches and two security guards that sleep on the job more than they work.
They said I couldn't get out to book a flight home- but said I couldn't leave until I had a flight home. My phone battery was dead- but I was saved by a guy from Vancouver who threw me his iPhone charger through the door!
Even when I booked a flight they said "can't take that flight" or "you have to fly to the US" or "our policy is that you have to have two flights"....and every time I had a flight they would leave for 2 hours....just to come back and say no.
A total, and complete bunch of useless beings. They do it all just to mess with people. At one point they were laughing at me because I asked to speak to the person in charge. Well....
Sarah was somehow able to get an embassy representative to come to the airport. That is the ONLY reason I think they let me finally take a flight. But not before they lied to him and told him they'd release me. Losers.
No food, no water....that sucks for me, but the jokes on them-I'm gone, and they are still stuck with this- it's called karma- sooner or later it'll catch up folks. Treat people like that and it will come to you.
Enough. I won't ever be going back to PH.
I made it to Hong Kong and let me tell you, this place is sick! Everything in this city, even the airport, is super visually dramatic. Ill try to snap a photo from my hotel room....but as usual, you're probably better off with google image over my photography skills.
The mountains explode right out of the bay, and there are skyscrapers built all up the mountains. Lights on everything at night make the city look alive! Giant bridges that connect a network of islands and tunnels that have moving light shows....it's pretty cool.
Why you ask?
Well because I just spent 12 hours in a immigration cell with a bunch of cockroaches and two security guards that sleep on the job more than they work.
They said I couldn't get out to book a flight home- but said I couldn't leave until I had a flight home. My phone battery was dead- but I was saved by a guy from Vancouver who threw me his iPhone charger through the door!
Even when I booked a flight they said "can't take that flight" or "you have to fly to the US" or "our policy is that you have to have two flights"....and every time I had a flight they would leave for 2 hours....just to come back and say no.
A total, and complete bunch of useless beings. They do it all just to mess with people. At one point they were laughing at me because I asked to speak to the person in charge. Well....
Sarah was somehow able to get an embassy representative to come to the airport. That is the ONLY reason I think they let me finally take a flight. But not before they lied to him and told him they'd release me. Losers.
No food, no water....that sucks for me, but the jokes on them-I'm gone, and they are still stuck with this- it's called karma- sooner or later it'll catch up folks. Treat people like that and it will come to you.
Enough. I won't ever be going back to PH.
I made it to Hong Kong and let me tell you, this place is sick! Everything in this city, even the airport, is super visually dramatic. Ill try to snap a photo from my hotel room....but as usual, you're probably better off with google image over my photography skills.
The mountains explode right out of the bay, and there are skyscrapers built all up the mountains. Lights on everything at night make the city look alive! Giant bridges that connect a network of islands and tunnels that have moving light shows....it's pretty cool.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
First Shanghai Project
I've decided that I'm going to get a bike to ride around near the house. It's going to be a BMX with a sidecar. In the 80's they called them "side hacks". But before I go into it, I have to make fun of someone first.
While doing research on where to find a bike, then who to take it to to fab a sidecar, I came across a form on an expat website. A guy looking for something to do with riding his bike wrote this:
"I ride a single speed freecoaster dirt jump/urban freeride single speed mountain bike."
That is how he started his posting on the form. What the hell is that? How about just call it a freaking bike? All it is is some metal on wheels buddy.
Anyway, Sarah promised me she'd ride around with me if I got it. And the sidecar sort of takes away from the adult-male-riding-a-bmx-cause-he-got-one-too-many-DUIs stereotype that is actually more than just a stereotype in Klamath Falls.
The plan is to take a decent BMX, find someone who can weld, steal some schematics from google, tweak some stuff, and have it made. My only concern is that the sidecar may make the bike a bit difficult to navigate through the congested streets of Shanghai. To counter, I'm going to have the sidecar built a bit more narrow than usual- say just wider that shoulder width.
There are tons of bike shops in Shanghai, so finding something shouldn't be too hard. Also, the city is very flat- I haven't seen a single hill yet....so riding doubles on a single speed BMX should be doable.
One of these little twinkies can only be painted cake yellow and rock white mag wheels....just so you know what to expect from a visual standpoint....
I'm open to suggestions on the build- if anyone has experience with side hacks please post here!!!
While doing research on where to find a bike, then who to take it to to fab a sidecar, I came across a form on an expat website. A guy looking for something to do with riding his bike wrote this:
"I ride a single speed freecoaster dirt jump/urban freeride single speed mountain bike."
That is how he started his posting on the form. What the hell is that? How about just call it a freaking bike? All it is is some metal on wheels buddy.
Anyway, Sarah promised me she'd ride around with me if I got it. And the sidecar sort of takes away from the adult-male-riding-a-bmx-cause-he-got-one-too-many-DUIs stereotype that is actually more than just a stereotype in Klamath Falls.
The plan is to take a decent BMX, find someone who can weld, steal some schematics from google, tweak some stuff, and have it made. My only concern is that the sidecar may make the bike a bit difficult to navigate through the congested streets of Shanghai. To counter, I'm going to have the sidecar built a bit more narrow than usual- say just wider that shoulder width.
There are tons of bike shops in Shanghai, so finding something shouldn't be too hard. Also, the city is very flat- I haven't seen a single hill yet....so riding doubles on a single speed BMX should be doable.
One of these little twinkies can only be painted cake yellow and rock white mag wheels....just so you know what to expect from a visual standpoint....
I'm open to suggestions on the build- if anyone has experience with side hacks please post here!!!
Filipino Kids
Sarah and I were at the beach restaurant yesterday when we got hit up by a brother and sister to buy some bracelets.
The brother was 12 and sister was 10. I felt bad that they had to be out working the crowd to make a living....so Sarah and I checked out what they had to offer. Con artists! We were buying bracelets before we knew it!
Salesmen through and through, they knew when to give the "awe" and the eyes, when to say "please sir one more", and "sorry, I don't have change"....both very polite and fun however.
That was yesterday. Today we caught them running down the path that follows the beach- working the crowd. When they saw us they stopped to hang out- since we made friends with them the day before. I was on my phone doing something and one of them says "do you have Angry Birds sir?"!!! I laughed and showed them what games my phone had. They knew them all! They also knew how to swipe, exit, enlarge, and surf my entire phone!
After they had checked out all my pictures, played all my games, had Sarah download one new game, and looked at all my text messages, they got bored.
They thought Sarah was Russian- and when I asked what ethnicity they were they said "Muslim"....I left it at that.
These kids had a lot of confidence, and were fun to be around. While some worry crossed my mind when I saw them- I could somehow tell they were going to be fine. They had each other, and it has been a while since I've seen a young brother and sister get along so well. It was refreshing and encouraging.
The first picture was of them yesterday- they sure know how to pose. The rest were from today. The boy, Jaren, really didn't want me to show anyone the first picture because he thought his eyes looked funky! I told him tough- he'd be famous soon....
Oh- one more thing! Add giant bats to the list! I'm talking the size of a crow giant vampire bats. They only come out at dusk (probably out all night but I can't see them). We were at the pool and I mistook one for a big bird at first!
Check it out:
http://www.conservationcentre.org/scase7.html
The brother was 12 and sister was 10. I felt bad that they had to be out working the crowd to make a living....so Sarah and I checked out what they had to offer. Con artists! We were buying bracelets before we knew it!
Salesmen through and through, they knew when to give the "awe" and the eyes, when to say "please sir one more", and "sorry, I don't have change"....both very polite and fun however.
That was yesterday. Today we caught them running down the path that follows the beach- working the crowd. When they saw us they stopped to hang out- since we made friends with them the day before. I was on my phone doing something and one of them says "do you have Angry Birds sir?"!!! I laughed and showed them what games my phone had. They knew them all! They also knew how to swipe, exit, enlarge, and surf my entire phone!
After they had checked out all my pictures, played all my games, had Sarah download one new game, and looked at all my text messages, they got bored.
They thought Sarah was Russian- and when I asked what ethnicity they were they said "Muslim"....I left it at that.
These kids had a lot of confidence, and were fun to be around. While some worry crossed my mind when I saw them- I could somehow tell they were going to be fine. They had each other, and it has been a while since I've seen a young brother and sister get along so well. It was refreshing and encouraging.
The first picture was of them yesterday- they sure know how to pose. The rest were from today. The boy, Jaren, really didn't want me to show anyone the first picture because he thought his eyes looked funky! I told him tough- he'd be famous soon....
Oh- one more thing! Add giant bats to the list! I'm talking the size of a crow giant vampire bats. They only come out at dusk (probably out all night but I can't see them). We were at the pool and I mistook one for a big bird at first!
Check it out:
http://www.conservationcentre.org/scase7.html
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Intro to Meteorology
We're trapped! A tropical storm has blown in and it's pouring rain with heavy winds- thunder, and lightening.
Rumors of a few people dying on the beach were swirling around the hotel restaurant this morning.
We are going to make a break for it from the hotel down to the other side of the island- hoping to find a good restaurant to hide under.
By the way, the food here is horrible. Bring your own if you plan on ever visiting the Philippines. Even the top rated places on this island are junk.
I don't know if this photo will illustrate how hard it's raining....
Rumors of a few people dying on the beach were swirling around the hotel restaurant this morning.
We are going to make a break for it from the hotel down to the other side of the island- hoping to find a good restaurant to hide under.
By the way, the food here is horrible. Bring your own if you plan on ever visiting the Philippines. Even the top rated places on this island are junk.
I don't know if this photo will illustrate how hard it's raining....
Art History
If you already didn't know, White does not equal speak English. White can mean German, Russian, Italian, and a whole bunch of other languages.
I've made the mistake in Shanghai and here in the Philippines one too many times.
The good news is "English is the connecting language" as the Canadian dude at the bar put it yesterday. And I've seen people who speak Shanghainese try to speak to other non-Shanghai Chinese, realize that they can't understand each other, then speak English.
Yesterday we went to a bar called Cocomo's, it is a pretty cool, right on the beach scene. Met 3 dudes from Canada and 2 dudes from England.
The Canadian guys didn't know the English dudes, we didn't know any of them, but conversation just sort if started rolling. It was funny- all 5 of them are living in China teaching English- and apparently all non-Chinese bail to this area often for Chinese National holiday. Oh, and there was a Chinese chick hanging around too....don't know what her story was, but she taught English too.
We all walked down the beach to find a football and a frisbee to play some game where you try to knock cups off a stick? But it never came to fruition. Some of them ended up back at the bar, some of us on the beach, and one dude- nicked named Frodo Baggins, went to play soccer with some locals. Check out the pic- he really does look like Frodo Baggins- and he sounded just like him!
The frisbee ended up on the roof of a restaurant- and one if the local kids climbed up to get it. It was the same kid who tried to charge me $15 to use his skim board. Punk. Anyway, we gave him the frisbee and bounced.
Sarah and I were going to go home, then come back and meet up at 9pm with everyone- but it started raining really, really hard- thunder, and the power went out.
I've made the mistake in Shanghai and here in the Philippines one too many times.
The good news is "English is the connecting language" as the Canadian dude at the bar put it yesterday. And I've seen people who speak Shanghainese try to speak to other non-Shanghai Chinese, realize that they can't understand each other, then speak English.
Yesterday we went to a bar called Cocomo's, it is a pretty cool, right on the beach scene. Met 3 dudes from Canada and 2 dudes from England.
The Canadian guys didn't know the English dudes, we didn't know any of them, but conversation just sort if started rolling. It was funny- all 5 of them are living in China teaching English- and apparently all non-Chinese bail to this area often for Chinese National holiday. Oh, and there was a Chinese chick hanging around too....don't know what her story was, but she taught English too.
We all walked down the beach to find a football and a frisbee to play some game where you try to knock cups off a stick? But it never came to fruition. Some of them ended up back at the bar, some of us on the beach, and one dude- nicked named Frodo Baggins, went to play soccer with some locals. Check out the pic- he really does look like Frodo Baggins- and he sounded just like him!
The frisbee ended up on the roof of a restaurant- and one if the local kids climbed up to get it. It was the same kid who tried to charge me $15 to use his skim board. Punk. Anyway, we gave him the frisbee and bounced.
Sarah and I were going to go home, then come back and meet up at 9pm with everyone- but it started raining really, really hard- thunder, and the power went out.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Advanced Physics
For those of us who aren't Olympic quality swimmers, there is a way!
The fastest way from point A to point B in a swing pool is as follows:
Begin with your non-dominate leg with your knee lifted in the "jack knife" position (see photo).
For most, the non-dominate arm will correlate with the ND leg. In this case, extend your ND arm to the most forward position possible.
With ND leg and arm in proper position, you can begin to hop on the toes of your dominate leg.
Last, your dominate arm should be extended backwards to balance your body in the water and to create a drag free profile.
Editors note- Sarah pointed out that there is an alternate technique that is often used in which the arms are not fully extended. This variation is highlighted in photo 2 of this posting.
The fastest way from point A to point B in a swing pool is as follows:
Begin with your non-dominate leg with your knee lifted in the "jack knife" position (see photo).
For most, the non-dominate arm will correlate with the ND leg. In this case, extend your ND arm to the most forward position possible.
With ND leg and arm in proper position, you can begin to hop on the toes of your dominate leg.
Last, your dominate arm should be extended backwards to balance your body in the water and to create a drag free profile.
Editors note- Sarah pointed out that there is an alternate technique that is often used in which the arms are not fully extended. This variation is highlighted in photo 2 of this posting.
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