Friday, October 01, 2004
oh, fuck you
and waduyuno it's friday the thirteenth. it's 3:10 in the afternoon i haven't slept in 29 hours i was supposed to be home by now, comfortably asleep with pleasant dreams about my new one-year chinese visa. instead i ran around all day crossing back and forth on ferries trying to figure out what the HELL is going on and i am now getting a one-month visa for which i have to wait till tuesday. and it costs $350 HKD. i will my fate. so it's hong kong holiday yeehaw i had a steak for lunch a steak that bad never tasted so good. it was actually fine. oh and i did doze a bit at the harbor last night. as soon as this is over i'm getting a bed at the chungking mansions. i'm going to say "i would like a bed." i have to call a man . she's probly worried sick, and i have to send my real mom an email. they better not give me any shit at the guesthouse (about my lack of passport.)
so what happened? i took the 7:30 ferry to wanchai (neighborhood of hong kong island) and made sure to find the visa office. i wanted to be there when it opened. i had a bad breakfast at the happy fast-food house (in chinese the name has a ring), walked around, had a bad mango shake, and got in line 15 minutes before the nine o'clock opening. i was eighth or something. a nice muslim told me all i need is a picture, my passport, and money, so i'm doing great. everything is proceeding swimmingly. i'm gonna drop this shit off, pick it up in a few hours, go home, and go to sleep.
we go in. the guy says oh no you can't get a one-year visa the best you can do is a month. mr arabic (at first i thought he was russian) says oh just go to a travel agent. back to the ferry. get a newspaper. walk across town trying to find a travel agent that a)does visas and b)isn't a rip-off. finally find one on the east side. oh. we can't do us passports. fuck fuck fuck what the fuck! i get different stories from every motherfucking body. collapsing from heat and exhaustion i decide to go to the us consulate to see if anybody knows what the fuck is going on. that was a waste of time. i rest in a park for a minute to mull over my possibilities. i am barely conscious. i decide to check out another travel agent. i took a ferry on my way to the consulate so i'm back on the island, but in a different place. i walk to wanchai. damn it's hot. i get to the street it's on and realize it's on the other end. i see the steak. game over.
the us fucked with chinese visas and china got us back. they're vindictive motherfuckers. but fuck this bullshit. i am not going to hong kong every month for 3-5 days. that is fuckin ridiculous. fuck it. i don't know what i'm gonna do. i take it one day at a time. the rate of people at the windows is much faster than the rate at which the numbers change. there's my number. i pick it up tuesday. $390 HKD.
so what happened? i took the 7:30 ferry to wanchai (neighborhood of hong kong island) and made sure to find the visa office. i wanted to be there when it opened. i had a bad breakfast at the happy fast-food house (in chinese the name has a ring), walked around, had a bad mango shake, and got in line 15 minutes before the nine o'clock opening. i was eighth or something. a nice muslim told me all i need is a picture, my passport, and money, so i'm doing great. everything is proceeding swimmingly. i'm gonna drop this shit off, pick it up in a few hours, go home, and go to sleep.
we go in. the guy says oh no you can't get a one-year visa the best you can do is a month. mr arabic (at first i thought he was russian) says oh just go to a travel agent. back to the ferry. get a newspaper. walk across town trying to find a travel agent that a)does visas and b)isn't a rip-off. finally find one on the east side. oh. we can't do us passports. fuck fuck fuck what the fuck! i get different stories from every motherfucking body. collapsing from heat and exhaustion i decide to go to the us consulate to see if anybody knows what the fuck is going on. that was a waste of time. i rest in a park for a minute to mull over my possibilities. i am barely conscious. i decide to check out another travel agent. i took a ferry on my way to the consulate so i'm back on the island, but in a different place. i walk to wanchai. damn it's hot. i get to the street it's on and realize it's on the other end. i see the steak. game over.
the us fucked with chinese visas and china got us back. they're vindictive motherfuckers. but fuck this bullshit. i am not going to hong kong every month for 3-5 days. that is fuckin ridiculous. fuck it. i don't know what i'm gonna do. i take it one day at a time. the rate of people at the windows is much faster than the rate at which the numbers change. there's my number. i pick it up tuesday. $390 HKD.
