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Hangzhou Evacuation
Friday, July 29, 2005-9:07 AM
The morning of what was supposed to be my first full day in Hangzhou, I was forced to hastily evacuate the city and return straight to Guangzhou as fast as possible. My visa was about to expire.
My plan had me extending my visa just before it expired in some city on my itinerary. I was told by a somewhat reliable source that this could be done at any PSB in China.
As I found out, since my visa is a "Z" visa, it could only be extended in Guangzhou. Fortunately, I had planned for this just in case by giving myself a couple extra days before my visa expired.
Wednesday, July 7, I set out from my hotel as early as possible to make it to the PSB in Hangzhou, China. I was still under the impression that my visa could be extended.
The map in my guide book suggested the PSB was very close to my hotel. But, when I made it to the intersection it was shown at, I couldn't find a thing.
After asking lots of questions, I found the office around a half an hour later at a nearby but different location. I thought I was all set.
There was almost no one in the office. I only had to wait a few minutes before someone helped me.
And it didn't take him too long to let me know he couldn't help me. There was nothing the office in Hangzhou could do. They couldn't issue me a tourist visa or a business visa. And they couldn't extend my work visa.
I either had to make it to Hong Kong before Sunday, the final day of my visa, or I had to make it to Guangzhou before Friday, the final day before my visa expires that the office in Guangzhou will still be open.
A couple phone calls and a short visit to an internet cafe later I decided to head to the train station to see what my options were for going back to Guangzhou.
It was ten o'clock in the morning. The sun was strong and I was sweating profusely. I hurried as quickly as I could.
There was only one way for me to make it back to Guangzhou by train before Friday. A train left from Hangzhou for Guangzhou in an hour and a half. There were no seats available, but I could still get a ticket.
I bought the ticket, ran back to my hotel, packed my things, checked out of the hotel, and ran back to the train station.
I was absolutely exhausted. My bag was getting heavier the more I was forced to carry it around, I was heading back to Guangzhou without having seen anything in Hangzhou.
The one thing my guide book is right about is the time it takes to travel from Hangzhou to Guangzhou by train, 25 hours. And this time, "no seat" was pretty accurate. The train was packed.
During the first sixteen hours, with the exception of a few minutes here and there, I stood, leaned, and squatted. A "no seat" ticket doesn't just mean you're not sitting down, it means you're constantly moving to make room for the constant flow of people walking around the train. People going to the bathroom, people going for a smoke, attendant's sweeping and mopping the floor or selling snack's and soft drinks.
The air was stagnant. They insisted on keeping the windows shut. The air conditioner was far too weak for the large cabin.
I got a number to have my ticket upgraded to a sleeper. I was number 80. They never made it past 35.
At night it was a little more peaceful. People were everywhere, sleeping across seats, under seats, sitting on the seat backs, standing in the aisles, standing on the seats.
More people got on the train than got off at every stop. I didn't know if I could make it all the way to Guangzhou.
The next morning on of the workers on the train let me sit on his toolbox. I couldn't refuse. Eventually, I even had space on one of the benches.
More than 25 hours later, I made it to Guangzhou. I never want to travel like that again.
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