Hong-Kong, the first city where something should go terribly wrong on our world-trip …. our plan was easy: stop there on the way to China, get the visa for the People’s Republic (as a German resident I could not get it in Argentina) in two days and enjoy the other two days visiting the metropolis. However, the Chinese embassy had other surprises for us. When we handed in all the necessary forms, I was told to provide tons of additional documents. But even worse was that the express service was not available for Europeans anymore and therefore we would get the visa after 4 days, which would be too late to catch our plane to Beijing. The official who told us so was so rude and aggressive that we can now understand why the dragon is China’s heraldic animal. It seemed like we would have to wait over the weekend and then try to get some new flights, while a friend of us was waiting in Beijing all the time (since we won’t travel in China on our own during the first weeks, but be accompanied by Wu Jiqing).

At the same day, Steve found a travel agency which announced they could offer him to get his visa in 3 days without providing ANY documents other than his passport. As he had no real alternative, he simply tried and accepted. But for French citizens, things are more complicated: there was no other way for me than providing the required documents (flight tickets, international insurance, travel schedule and hotel reservations, whereas it doesn’t matter whether the latter ones are faked or not) and I would have to wait the 4 days anyway. I must admit that I should have known this before, because it is all written on the French websites of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Unfortunately for me I had just phoned the German and the Argentine embassy of China, which both told me it would not be a problem to get the visa in Hong-Kong in 3 days, but I had not thought there could be some differences between German and French, since until now Europeans had always been treated equally. Hence, I would miss my flight to Beijing on Friday, without a chance to change anything about it. I later found out that the whole reason was Sarkozy’s welcoming of the Dalai Lama like a head of state ….

Of course, we still had to seize our time in Hong-Kong, especially now to forget about this frustrating mess. Luckily, once again we stayed with awesome couchsurfing hosts, Marine and Jorge, French-Columbian couple who arrived to HK 5 months ago for their job. They live in a small but nice and central one-room flat (not surprising if you search for the average rent prices), nonetheless they kindly offered their couch to us. Moreover, both are incredibly friendly, very interested and already know a lot about the city, thus they gave us great advices on how to spend the few days there. After having been shocked by the countless number of skyscrapers in Downtown, we went trekking with Marine and discovered a totally different side of the peninsula. You drive only one hour by metro and bus (Hong-Kong’s public transport system is well developed and widely used) and can hike on beautiful trails in the middle of the nature with an amazing view over the mountains and forests towards the sea. The landscape is really green and the settlements are just found at tiny strips along the coast, but there the skyline is so dense that you almost cannot see the sun and the narrow streets are very dark. However, we did not meet many Chinese on the tracks, because they prefer staying in town and not getting brown skin, as office paleness is a sign of wealth.

This is not the only aspect where you can see you are in China. We had expected Hong-Kong to be completely westernized, but in fact just two blocks away from the banking district there are small little streets with Chinese signs, Cantonese food and no one speaks not even a single word of English. When you hear us speaking about food, don’t think of the supposedly Asian stuff they sell in Europe. The variety and originality are gorgeous and the quality is much higher. We were also positively astonished to find lots of bakeries offering tasty biscuits, pastry and egg-tartes. That’s what we had missed the months before and we are looking forward to tasting and eating our way through China. Further, we went out for a “Hot Pot” together with Marine and Jorge and we ate typical Cantonese “Dim Sum” for breakfast. Nevertheless, Hong-Kong of course also has European-style party streets in Downtown, where you can find English people in English pubs, listening to English music, drinking English beer and being happy to explore China! All in all, HK is still much more original than one could think, and except for the rent, the prices are much cheaper than we had expected. For instance it would be rather worth it to send a postcard from Darmstadt to Mannheim via Hong-Kong – the price for a postcard to Europe is only 3 HK$, equivalent to 0.30 €!

Back to our visa problems, the things turned out to finish way better than we had feared at the beginning. As promised, Steve got his visa on Thursday and could take his plane on Friday morning. And I received my visa on the 22nd …. with the 19th as issue date! So the authorities had already processed my application on the same day I had handed in the forms (surely even without reading them), but they followed the rules and did not give me my passport back earlier. This inflexible way of complying with their role is mainly how the Chinese appeared to us, at least while they are in an professional position, may it be at the visa counter or in a simple shop. They seem to strictly stick to the given hierarchy, no matter if reasonable or not, simply not caring about the actual situation. And it is almost impossible to get in touch with them as long as they are not directly involved personally.

But despite this first impression, I also experienced another manner on my way to Beijing. As I had missed my flight, I took the direct train from HK to the capital as alternative (24 hours and almost 3000 km for 50 € in the cheapest class called “hard sleeper”, which is a comfortable bed ). During the trip I met Sabrina from Beijing, who is currently studying Economics in Honk-Kong for her Master’s degree. We talked a lot about freedom, political and cultural differences between China and the western civilization, in an open and unforced atmosphere. And she’ll probably show us some hidden places and guide us through the capital offside the tourist spots.

So to conclude this story: Governments of the world, give a warm welcome to the Dalai Lama!