Hong Kong no Phooey TR (Apr 2012)! The Yee's have it....TR finish #1101, 07/09

[PrincessInOz]

“You didn’t turn in your paperwork. This office is now closed”.....YAAAAAAAH!


A scene from Monsters Inc.
Roz: “You didn’t turn in your paperwork last night.”
Mike: He didn’t….I…no paperwork?
Roz: “This office is now closed”
[Roz closes the window on Mike's fingers]
Mike: YAAAAAAAAAAAH!


Right now, I feel just like poor Mike Wazowski!

Today, I took my parents into the China Visa Centre to sort out our visas for Shenzhen. Our equivalent scene went something like this…..

[It’s 9 am in the morning and we walk into China Visa Centre. The front door duty guard hands us a piece of paper and gives us an electronic ticket number. Take a seat and wait.]

Dad: What’s that paper?

[Hand paper over. Dad looks at it, whilst looking for his glasses which he didn’t bring with him. The paper floats to the floor and my dad is searching for his non-existent glasses.]

Me: Mum, can you please pass that paper to me?

[Mum bends down to pick the paper off the floor. When she straightens up, she grimaces in pain.]

Mum: I think I pulled a muscle in my back.
Me: Oh no!

Mum: Don’t worry, I’ll manage.
Me: Oh no!

[Mum hands me the piece of paper and turns to talk to Dad. I read the paper.]

Me: Oh no!

[Mum and Dad continue to ignore me.]

Me: Oh no! I think they want us to provide a copy of our airline ticket and our hotel reservation. This wasn’t on their website!

[Mum and Dad continue to ignore me.]

[Wait for the next 35 minutes before our number is called. Walk up to the counter, where Chinese Roz is making hand gestures. We hand over our forms and passports to her.]

Chinese Roz: Where are you staying in China?
Me: We are staying in Hong Kong and want to do two day trips into Shenzhen.

Chinese Roz: You ask for two time entry into China. Where are you staying?
Me: We are staying in Hong Kong for 11 nights. We want to visit Shenzhen twice for one day each time.

Chinese Roz: Where is your hotel in Shenzhen?
Me: We go into Shenzhen and come back to Hong Kong in the same day.

Chinese Roz: Why you go twice?
Me: We are asking for the visa just in case we want to go twice.

Chinese Roz: Where are you staying in Shenzhen?
Me: Not staying in Shenzhen. Staying in Hong Kong.

Chinese Roz: But you ask to go into Shenzhen twice. Where are you staying? I need to see your hotel confirmation.
Me: I don’t have my hotel confirmation or airline confirmation with me. I have them at home.

Chinese Roz: Policy. We must have the hotel confirmation and airline ticket in name of all applicants.
Me: Airline ticket is in everyone’s individual name. Hotel confirmation only has one name on it.

Chinese Roz: Policy. We must have the hotel confirmation and airline ticket in name of all applicants.
Me: This requirement was not listed on your website.

Chinese Roz: Policy since December. We must have the hotel confirmation and airline ticket in name of all applicants.

[Pause and wait whilst Chinese Roz flicks through all the 5 application forms and passports. Afterwhich, Chinese Roz pushes all application forms and passports back across the counter towards me.]

Chinese Roz: You email me your hotel confirmation and airline tickets in name of all applicants. I check back-office and if it arrive, I process.
Me: But I don’t have access to my computer now.

Chinese Roz: You come back when I get hotel confirmation and airline ticket in name of all applicants. (aka This office is now closed!)
Me: *sigh* (aka YAAAAAAAAH!)

[Pick up all passports and paperwork before turning and heading to a quiet corner. Get mobile phone out and dial a number.]

Me: Hello? [TA name]. We’re at the China Visa Center and there is a problem. Aside from wanting a photocopy of the passport and a photocopy of the last china visa (which we did have because the TA told me this was new policy), they also want us to provide a copy of the hotel confirmation and airline ticket. I have an email address and name. Can you email them for me?
TA: I’m not at work yet and don’t have access. This is new policy.
Me: Yes. Thanks anyway.

[End call and dial another number.]

Me: Hello? [DH name]. We’re at the China Visa Center and there is a problem. They also want us to provide a copy of the hotel confirmation and airline ticket. I have an email address and name. Can you email them for me?
DH: I don’t think I have the electronic copies.
Me: Yes you do. I emailed them to you when I got them.
DH: I will check…..

[Pause and wait whilst DH checks his PC.]

DH: Hello? I have the airline tickets but not the hotel confirmation.
Me: Can you go to my laptop and log in to my email?
DH: Can’t this wait????

[Pause and count to 20.]

DH: I’m at your laptop. Where do I go?
Me: Log into my work account. Here’s where you go [url address given] and my username [I’m not stupid enough to actually type any of it here] and password [ditto on the not stupid enough]…..
DH: I can’t log in. Let me try again.

[Pause and count to 20.]

DH: It’s telling me that your account has been closed. Contact a system administrator.
Me: WHAT!!?????!!

DH: It’s telling me that your account has been closed. Contact a system administrator.
Me: Wh…Ho…..Fu……YAAAAAAAAH!

DH: It’s telling me that your account has been closed. Contact a system administrator.

[Pause and count to 20.]

Me: Thanks anyway.

[Hang up and turn to talk to my parents.]

Me: Let’s go. We can’t do anything right now.
Mum: We can come back later.

Me: Not today…I’m not driving home and driving back here again.
Mum: Dad and I can come back tomorrow.

Me: Okay. Thanks.
Dad: What’s going on?

[Mum turns to Dad and tries to explain the situation whilst we are walking back to the car.]


[Get in the car and proceed to drive home.]

Me: This is ridiculous. It’s just a one day visa to enter China that we want just in case we want to visit.
Mum: And it is expensive. The two time entry visa is $127 per person. That’s nearly $600 for the 5 of us.

Me: That person behind the counter was so officious and I’m not sure I wanna go to Shenzhen anymore.
Mum: We don’t have to go.
Dad: Yes. We don’t have to go.

Me: Really? I wasn’t sure whether we wanted to go to Shenzhen anyway….it was just to get the visa in case we wanted to go.
Mum: We don’t have to go. In fact, we can save the money and put it towards a really nice high tea in Hong Kong.
Dad: Yes, save the money.

Me: We can do two high teas for that price.
Mum: Okay. That sounds like a good alternative.
Me: We can do a normal high tea and do the high tea at the InterContinental.
Dad: Sure.
Mum: Maybe we could go twice to Macau……

[Ignore last comment and proceed to drive home.]

And that, folks, was the China Syndrome meltdown that I had today.

The upshot is that we have decided to that the China entry visa is not worth applying for. We will keep this trip exclusively to Hong Kong and Macau.

DH and I did discuss things when I got back….we will keep dreaming of that China trip we want to do and save the Getting of the Visa for that trip.


For anyone reading this and planning a trip to China as a tourist...just remember the current policy in Australia is that you need to take:

• A photocopy of your passport
• A photocopy of your LAST Chinese Visa issued (and if this was in a different passport, take a photocopy of that passport just in case)
• A copy of your airline ticket, with return journey
• A copy of all your hotel accommodation confirmations or group tour itinerary

For anyone seeking a family and friend Visit visa, you will need to produce:

• An invitation letter from that person confirming that they have invited you there.
• A photocopy of the inviter's Chinese ID card or their passport (if they are Chinese) or a photocopy of the Inviter's Chinese Visa (if they are non-Chinese)

I don't know what you need to produce if you're on a business visit!

[usnuzuloose]

I am so sorry! What a horrible melt down. Now A I am going to proceed to this.

[zanzibar138]

Oh what a nightmare! But thanks for the info - will come in very handy when we are planning our trip to China. What happens if you haven't had a Chinese visa before?

[franandaj]

Wow! I wondered why you weren't around and posting on your day off. Obviously you were dealing with much more pressing issues than TRs and other silly things like that.

We just watched Monsters Inc. the other night so I can totally hear Roz....You didn't turn in your paperwork!


Sorry that she didn't turn out to be a government spy working on your behalf to get you into China!

[PrincessInOz]

Originally Posted by usnuzuloose

I am so sorry! What a horrible melt down. Now A I am going to proceed to this.

There was something very Monty Pythonesque about the whole experience.

Originally Posted by zanzibar138

Oh what a nightmare! But thanks for the info - will come in very handy when we are planning our trip to China. What happens if you haven't had a Chinese visa before?

Then you don't need to submit a photocopy of a blank page.

Seriously....we just left that section of the form blank or did I write N/A?

Originally Posted by franandaj

Wow! I wondered why you weren't around and posting on your day off. Obviously you were dealing with much more pressing issues than TRs and other silly things like that.

We just watched Monsters Inc. the other night so I can totally hear Roz....You didn't turn in your paperwork!


Sorry that she didn't turn out to be a government spy working on your behalf to get you into China!

It's all good. It made the 50:50 decision about going to Shenzhen firmly in the 100% not going camp.

[dgbg100106]

so sorry for such a bad experience... Glad it is over.

[PrincessInOz]

Originally Posted by dgbg100106

so sorry for such a bad experience... Glad it is over.

Welcome back Brandi!

[ACDSNY]

Hats off to you for being so calm cool and collected, I think I would have been going crazy.

[dgbg100106]

Originally Posted by PrincessInOz

Welcome back Brandi!

thanks...

[bobbiwoz]

Wow!

DH travels to Mexico, many co workers travel to China. I know DH feels lucky. I can see why!

Bobbi

[PrincessInOz]

Originally Posted by ACDSNY

Hats off to you for being so calm cool and collected, I think I would have been going crazy.

I wasn't convinced about going to Shenzhen in the first place. The visa would have given us the option to consider going. This way, the decision is easy.

Originally Posted by bobbiwoz

Wow!

DH travels to Mexico, many co workers travel to China. I know DH feels lucky. I can see why!

Bobbi

Thanks for stopping by again!

I think if you're travelling to China proper and doing a tour or on business..you'd have the appropriate documentation, hotels, flights etc. I just think that the Chinese Roz just didn't get the concept of 2 x day trip entries into Shenzhen.

I figure the visa will be a lot easier to get if/when we decide to do that 2 or 3 week tour round China that we've always talked about. It is on the list..and if there is going to be a Shanghai Disney; well..I guess it might happen at some stage.

[PrincessInOz]

5 weeks to go!!

[franandaj]

Originally Posted by PrincessInOz

5 weeks to go!!

[PrincessInOz]

As they say “When you’re on a good thing, stick with it!”….Disney Fuzzy Maths revisited.


Sometime in the last 2 weeks, Hong Kong Disneyland came up with their special offers that extend past 31 March 2012. I got really excited when I saw that the 3 night long stay special offer was back up and running.


This special provides guests staying 3 nights or more at one of the Disneyland resort hotels with up to 20% off. Those of you that might remember….the Disney Fuzzy Maths (DFM) for my current situation works out as follows:

• My current room discount is 20% off because I got my senior parents to purchase the Gold Magic Access Pass. This saves us about $350 for the 3 nights in total.
• There is a gap of about $50 per senior, $100 in total, for the difference between the 2-day senior ticket and the senior Magic Access Pass.
• There were other benefits associated with the Gold Magic Access Pass such as 15% discount off dining and 15% discount off merchandise. I figured that with DH and myself paying the difference in my parent’s tickets, we’d more than make the pass pay for itself just on room savings alone (currently at a net of $250).

With the release of the Long Stay special offer, I wondered how the DFM would stack up. So, I’ve spent some time today going over the fine print and running some numbers.


Turns out that for our dates, we would qualify for a 15% discount on the first night and as best as I can work out, 15% off the second and third night. I also decided to get an on-line quote from the website.

I think Hong Kong Disneyland room rates have gone up since I got my current deal. Even taking the 15% discount into account, the room rate alone seems to be $50 per room MORE than when I locked my deal in at the start of the year.

I think I’ll stick with what I’ve already got!







NOTE:

For those interested, there are two other accommodation deals:

• Room and 2-day ticket package. Based on the numbers I ran, the discount seems to be running at around 20% for this deal.
• Early Bird Offer. Book your hotel accommodation at least 45 days in advance and receive 20% discount.

There are also some dining deals on the website:

• HK$50 discount per adult for dining at the Enchanted Garden dinner buffet at the Disneyland Resort Hotel, a 10% discount.
• HK$80 discount per adult for dining at Chef Micket dinner buffet at the Disneyland Hollywood Hotel, a 25% discount.
• There seems to be a 3-in-1 Meal Coupon available until 31 March, which is not in my travel period. It seems to be a single day equivalent to the Quick Service Dining Plan at the World. 1 x lunch coupon, 1 x dinner coupon and 1 x snack coupon and the dining places seem to offer counter service meals. This costs HK$125, a discount of 20%.

Seems like the Magic Access Pass benefits are well worth the extra $ we are paying for it!

[usnuzuloose]

Sounds like the best deal. Sometimes with the early savers there are so many restrictions with them. That thing I pm'd you? It is basically a way as our own , you know what I get paid for it. I dont do it for others. So that is a bonus for every travel need.

As long as your happy with what you have is all that counts.

Not much longer......