We met up with Paul, Tiff and the others at the usual place where you can get everything you might ever need for a wicked night out. We started with hot pot and our friends had managed to both get me some gifts; a new backpack, some clothes, a Swedish movie and a porn (????), to cheer me up as well as getting themselves pretty drunk already. My mood was low during the whole dinner but there was no point in moping so I participated as well as I could. By 10pm we had managed to get both full and drunk and it was time to head over for the karaoke next doors.
The karaoke was awesome and wicked at the same time. I can't say much more than that we sang a lot, drank a lot and had a lot off fun.
I left at about 4am when most people were passed or passing out. I took a taxi back to where I used to live, with the regular communication problem. Weirdly the driver could not understand me saying renmin nan lu but he did get babaogei... I guess it comes down to tones and dialects...
Arriving near my old place I found to my dismay that I was out of money. In pure desperation I tried to get hold of anyone in Sweden and finally got both Maja and later Ville who could tranfer me some money, which was much needed as I had to buy some flight tickets in the morning (when it would be late night in Sweden). After all that hassle I once again calmed down and started walking around the area and found a new chaokao place just outside my former building entrance. Happily I bought some bbq sticks and was suddenly invited to sit down with the owner and two guys, of which one could speak a few words of English and the other two nothing. We still communicated well enough though and they bought me beer while I told my passport story to an interested but not in the slightest comprehending crowd.
After a while I went back to the hotel across the street but once I reached the door I realized I wanted massage (nothing dirty), so I headed back to the guys and asked them if they knew of any. They of course assumed I meant something dirty and gave me directions for both that and regular massage, I couldn't find that though. I did suddenly remeber about a proper massage parlor just a block away from my old home so I headed over there instead. Arriving at the place I just pointed at the longest and most expensive massage I could get (it is a proper massage parlor and most expensive does not mean sex as it might in some locations) and got the most amazing massage I've ever had for about two hours. It was a full body massage and the reason it was so good was probably because I was pretty drunk and tired which made me extremly relaxed. And it only cost me 130rmb!
When I left the sun was up and once I reached the hotel again it was already 8:30 in the morning. I passed out immediately and got about 4-5 hours worth of sleep before I had to check out.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
How I lost my passport in China. Part 2 - The police, the registration and the hotel
My passport was in that backpack. Actually it might still be as far as I know, because who whould ever need my Swedish passport, excepting me of course?
We looked around everywhere we could think and asked bartenders in bouth Paname and the bar next doors but was met with nothing but indifference. We soon headed back to Tiffany's home far in the South of the city. I immediately called home for some assistant and after mom had contacted the Swedish foreign minestry I managed to calm down and get some sleep. From that point on and through the next 48 hours the only thing that was going through my mind was "it is only monetary".
In the morning I called the Swedish embassy of China's emergency hotline and got the advice to file police reports and make sure I got an official report which I could bring to either the Swedish embassy in Beijing or the Swedish consulate in Shanghai. I went out to meet my friend, Li Min (to whom I was supposed to give about fifteen hundred Swedish kronor/Hong Kong dollar/Chinese yuan worth of eye creams that was in the bag), and together we went back to Paname where we once again looked around, tried to talk to the staff of the bar and called the police.
The police here was actually very helpful and with Li Min's assistance I soon had a written report to take to the something something ministry of something something in Chengdu (I can't even remember what it was called to be honest). There we encountered our first major problem; it was already near 5pm when everything in China would close and remain such for the following four days, I basically had 15 minutes to finish everything or I would be a sitting duck in Chengdu for until the end of the holidays. And this is where the woman told me I need to go to my friend's home, find the closest police station and register there as I was staying in a local home and everybody visiting China must register where they stay within 24 hours. Now the problem of course was that she lives over an hour from where we were to her home, and even then we had no idea where the police station would be, and even if we did know that it would take slightly more than 10 minutes to finish that registration. This is not even counting that I had only been in Chengdu for about 17 hours, apparently that didn't actually matter, everything else had to be done by the book though.
She was not completely impossible though, actually she was fairly nice when it all came down to it; she suggested I check in to a nearby hotel immediately and she was willing to stay for another 30 minutes to help me out. So Li Min and I ran off to a hotel, that turned out to be outside the window of my old flat in Chengdu, checked me in and ran back to get the police report.
Calmed down now that we had done everything we could I went for clothes shopping, took a much needed shower and headed towards another night of wicked adventures with Paul, Tiffany and others.
We looked around everywhere we could think and asked bartenders in bouth Paname and the bar next doors but was met with nothing but indifference. We soon headed back to Tiffany's home far in the South of the city. I immediately called home for some assistant and after mom had contacted the Swedish foreign minestry I managed to calm down and get some sleep. From that point on and through the next 48 hours the only thing that was going through my mind was "it is only monetary".
In the morning I called the Swedish embassy of China's emergency hotline and got the advice to file police reports and make sure I got an official report which I could bring to either the Swedish embassy in Beijing or the Swedish consulate in Shanghai. I went out to meet my friend, Li Min (to whom I was supposed to give about fifteen hundred Swedish kronor/Hong Kong dollar/Chinese yuan worth of eye creams that was in the bag), and together we went back to Paname where we once again looked around, tried to talk to the staff of the bar and called the police.
The police here was actually very helpful and with Li Min's assistance I soon had a written report to take to the something something ministry of something something in Chengdu (I can't even remember what it was called to be honest). There we encountered our first major problem; it was already near 5pm when everything in China would close and remain such for the following four days, I basically had 15 minutes to finish everything or I would be a sitting duck in Chengdu for until the end of the holidays. And this is where the woman told me I need to go to my friend's home, find the closest police station and register there as I was staying in a local home and everybody visiting China must register where they stay within 24 hours. Now the problem of course was that she lives over an hour from where we were to her home, and even then we had no idea where the police station would be, and even if we did know that it would take slightly more than 10 minutes to finish that registration. This is not even counting that I had only been in Chengdu for about 17 hours, apparently that didn't actually matter, everything else had to be done by the book though.
She was not completely impossible though, actually she was fairly nice when it all came down to it; she suggested I check in to a nearby hotel immediately and she was willing to stay for another 30 minutes to help me out. So Li Min and I ran off to a hotel, that turned out to be outside the window of my old flat in Chengdu, checked me in and ran back to get the police report.
Calmed down now that we had done everything we could I went for clothes shopping, took a much needed shower and headed towards another night of wicked adventures with Paul, Tiffany and others.
How I lost my passport in China. Partt 1 - The wine, the flight and the theft...
It's been a long time since I last wrote here but the past few days events definitely qualify for something to write about. Actually I think it qualifies so much that I will have to be cutting stuff out for anyone to bear reading it.
Last friday me and my American friend Paul caught a flight from Shenzhen BaoAn international due for Chengdu, actually the "fun" started already before the flight when Paul in his eager to bring gifts for his friend Tiffany in Chengdu neglected the fact that you are not allowed to bring wine on the flight. We swiftly took care of that mistake in the taxi ride from Shenzhen bay port to the airport though. But this was of course not enough as he also considered it a swell idea to bring a couple of small bottles of wine on the flight, which of course was not allowed and the contents of those ended up in our bellies in about 30 seconds per bottle (there were two for us each) while trying to pass the security check. We then managed to, my fault admittedly, walk to the wrong gate and had to run for the last call, which for me meant a sprint like I haven't done in years (not saying too much as I never actually run).
In Chengdu we met up with Tiff herself and appologized for the missing wine. We had chaokao (bbq) and a couple of beer then headed to a nearby bar called Paname (I think I might have mentioned that place among my Chengdu blogs). The place has turend quite shady recently but it was cheap drinks and we had a good time. We were all sitting together talking to some people when I headed off to talk a bit from the bar, leaving my backpack with Paul and Tiffany. After a while they joined us and told me my bag was still over at the tables we were sitting at and we joked about how no one would steal a Swedish passport. Fittingly to the just past fools day I found the bag missing when I walked over there a moment later.
And that was of course when everything became a proper mess...
Last friday me and my American friend Paul caught a flight from Shenzhen BaoAn international due for Chengdu, actually the "fun" started already before the flight when Paul in his eager to bring gifts for his friend Tiffany in Chengdu neglected the fact that you are not allowed to bring wine on the flight. We swiftly took care of that mistake in the taxi ride from Shenzhen bay port to the airport though. But this was of course not enough as he also considered it a swell idea to bring a couple of small bottles of wine on the flight, which of course was not allowed and the contents of those ended up in our bellies in about 30 seconds per bottle (there were two for us each) while trying to pass the security check. We then managed to, my fault admittedly, walk to the wrong gate and had to run for the last call, which for me meant a sprint like I haven't done in years (not saying too much as I never actually run).
In Chengdu we met up with Tiff herself and appologized for the missing wine. We had chaokao (bbq) and a couple of beer then headed to a nearby bar called Paname (I think I might have mentioned that place among my Chengdu blogs). The place has turend quite shady recently but it was cheap drinks and we had a good time. We were all sitting together talking to some people when I headed off to talk a bit from the bar, leaving my backpack with Paul and Tiffany. After a while they joined us and told me my bag was still over at the tables we were sitting at and we joked about how no one would steal a Swedish passport. Fittingly to the just past fools day I found the bag missing when I walked over there a moment later.
And that was of course when everything became a proper mess...
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