You would think after all this time and having had 5 visas now that I would expect the unexpectd in China. But I was caught out today.
Went to collect my visa today 1403 rmb for 12 months is what I was due to pay according to the receipt I received last week.
The gates opened at 2.30 and in the rush I somehow got close to the front of the queue my wife with a little more shoving and pushing got even closer to the cashier desk.
I was there with 1403rmb grasped in my grubby little sweaty paw. ' What is that' I was asked, in Chinese of course. Turns out since I did my last renewal there they no longer take cash. No problem I whipped out by UK debit card. No use. It has to be a bank card and a Chinese one at that.
Ready to head home and try once again to sort out yet another visa fiasco my wife collared the taxi driver and she was stuffing the 1403 rmb into his hand. Thinking that was the dearest taxi ride I had ever had I then found that he in fact had the appropriate card in his wallet.
We pushed our way to the front of the queue again the taxi driver summarily shoved his card into the recepticle. and punched in his number.
There was a bit of confusion when he handed me back 400 off rmb. The punched in the number again.
I obtained the receipt and hotfooted it to the other dept to collect my passport bearing the 12 months visa. WRONG!!!!!
The officer who originally offered me a three month visa gave me a little smile as he handed my passport to me. I opened it and yes your right. It was only for 6 months. He was waiting for me to say something but all I said was 'thank you'. I doubt if he could understand the sarcastic element I put into that.
Well at least it was still double what he had offered me three weeks previous!here
So somewhere between being told it was a 12 month visa at 1403 and my collecting the thing it turn into a 6 months visa at 936 rmb.
I felt very mean having only given him a 10 rmb tip on top of his fare when we got back home. But I also felt very brave indeed having given any tip at all right in front of my wife!!!
Willy