A Pyrrhic Victory

Well as a follow-up to my post a couple days ago, some bad news. It appears that outside of one's home country and Hong Kong, no Chinese consulate will grant the standard, 3-month visa.

Rather, they grant a one-month visa at the same price ($130 for Britains and Americans, $30 everyone else).

I returned to the Hanoi Embassy yesterday to beg and plead my case. I even got the Ho Chi Minh City consulate on the line to speak with them.

I quickly realized that the Hanoi and HCMC consulates had something of a rivalry going, and that trying to play one off the other was going to be a mug's game.

So after calculating the cost/benefit of a trip to Saigon, I decided that using a local travel agent in Hanoi to get the visa (for a whopping total of $150 for one month) was the cheapest option. I can then keep extending it in China for a smaller fee.

I should get it by next Wednesday, assuming all goes well. Still, it's a bitter, bitter pill to swallow.


Anyway, on a much happer note, it's the Western New Year's Eve! And even people here in Vietnam celebrate it (though obviously not as much as the lunar [Tet] New Year).

I'll be dutifully out celebrating tonight, and hopefully can post some pictures tomorrow.