Cloudy
The weeklong national day begins and I'm making it a staycation. Ironically I've had to be a rebel about this and staunchly reject the notion of traveling during this time. When the masses hit the roads in China you want to stay at home, simple as that. The week break is rather nice and it actually feels like a holiday this way. Hitting the crowds at the Great Wall in Beijing or West Lake in Hangzhou right now doesn't strike me as a holiday.
More importantly though, travel during this break should not be expected or encouraged because it isn't guaranteed if new teachers will have their passports or visas ready in time.
I've seen it happen year after year where teachers are on the edge of their seat wondering if they'll get their passports back from the PSB office in time to travel for national day. In this context making plans for this holiday is sketchy. Also the Chinese seldom book trips more than a month in advance due to things always changing at the last minute.
This year was no exception for the new teachers although I was fortunate to get my visa done ahead of time last June. Nonetheless I was a new teacher at this school last year and had to face the same kind of uncertainty.
What made matters worse was family expectations to attend an event in Vietnam last year (long story) and demanding I show up during national day despite not knowing when I'd get my passport back with a visa. Given this uncertainty I hadn't booked any flights and I would need to at the last minute which would be outrageously expensive during peak season.
It was a total nightmare, mess, and gongshow, and the conversation got ugly fast. I was even told by my own father to bribe the PSB or go to other extreme measures to get my passport back and expedite the Chinese visa, which I'd then need the passport to apply for a Vietnam visa, all within a few days before national day.
These conversations took place in Shanghai on a cell phone at the world EXPO last year. My enjoyment of the event that evening was totally ruined by such unpleasant conversations demanding I get my ass to Vietnam when all practicalities dictacted this would be extremely difficult if not impossible.
In the end I showed up, first by getting my passport back with simply a tourist visa extension and the school would apply for the work permit again later. Then I showed up to Pudong airport with only a suit as luggage and flew standby to Shenzhen. Then I booked two Air Asia flights on the spot to get to Hanoi Vietnam, with a stopover in Bangkok. I slept in the BKK airport lounge that night. Next day got the Hanoi flight.
There isn't much more to say about that particular Vietnam trip except that I showed up as ordered. Even then it was a disappointment as many things didn't go well at the event and there was no real sense of community or feeling that this was in fact a wedding, where we would expect some kind of joy and togetherness.
Consequently, shortly after then I left and headed back to China using land borders to cut costs on flights. The trip began to pick up after that where I met two travelers from South America on the same bus. They were new to China and I tried to give some travel tips as best as possible. This is of course difficult as China travel will throw curve balls to even the veterans.
Nonetheless we became good friends on the bus and I helped them out of a jam at customs where they got detained at least an hour. I went through first no problem and was able to persuade immigration (in Chinese) to let them also through after repeatedly bugging the guards and vouching for these travelers. I then held up the last bus for them and we got into Nanning rather late. Next step was to help book their train tickets which was a disaster due to crowds but they settled on a 5am departure the next day.
Meanwhile I got a free dinner out of this and am still in contact with these travelers. My next flight was out of Nanning the next day and it was cheap.
Sadly I haven't been in contact with my family much after last year. My father threatened that my actions not to go to Vietnam during national day would result in alienation but I concluded that would end up being the case whether I showed up or not.
Meanwhile this year`s national holiday finally promises to be a solid rest.
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