I got some good news today; I got someone to cover…
I got some good news today; I got someone to cover for me at work for a week, so I called my friend Lorenzo at the travel agency and booked a flight to Shanghai on the 6th, as well as one back from Beijing on the 16th. I plan to take the train from Shanghai to Beijing at some point.
Some things I’m not sure about:
-How the people at immigration will reconcile the sight of me with my Taiwanese travel documentation
-If or how my ATM card will work there
-If my phone will work there, how much it will cost or what numbers I should tell people to call
-Whether I’ll be able to stay at cheaper “local only” hotels with my Taiwan ID (“Hey, Mr. Hotel Manager, is Taiwan part of China or not? Huh? HUH?”)
-Whether I should bother lugging my big 20D or just relying on my little Canon IXUS
-How well I’ll understand people/be able to make myself understood due to the different accents after 13 years of not being there
-Just how much cash to bring and how
-If I should spend any time in Hong Kong on the way
-Just how to buy a sleeper ticket on the Te-kuai train to Beijing, how much in advance I need to go, or even if they have food on board
And so on. Still, despite all the things I don’t know, I feel excited to finally be going somewhere, especially to places I’ve never been. I have a little under a week to find these things out, get a new, larger backpack, perhaps get some traveller’s cheques (another thing I’m not sure about) and figure out just what it is I’ve forgotten in all of this.
Just get on the train with a platform ticket, and you can get a sleeper (because you’re white) inside the train car where they upgrade people. Easy peasy. Don’t be a geezey
Comment by Anonymous — September 30, 2006 @ 1:40 am
you can borrow the backpack I used for Yushan if you don’t have time to get one.
Comment by Prince Roy — September 30, 2006 @ 7:53 am
Thanks for the offer. I don’t know if that large a pack is necessary, but I’ll keep it mind.
Comment by TC — September 30, 2006 @ 7:58 am
Buy your ticket as soon as you get to Shanghai. Avoiding the shiyi rush will save you some hassle. Go straight to the railway station, forget about travel agents or any similar people.
And don’t count on any ‘white boy’ privileges anymore.
The rest of your questions I have no way of answering. Sorry.
chriswaugh_bj.livejournal.com
Comment by Anonymous — October 1, 2006 @ 4:09 pm
Chris, I wasn’t planning to count on any ‘white boy privileges’, no matter what the poster above said. Thanks for your advice.
Comment by TC — October 1, 2006 @ 4:12 pm