Australia Post heads to Beijing

I'm afraid I'm guilty of beaming with excitement whenever the subject of the Olympics is even mentioned in passing, and I guess as the countdown goes from months to weeks this affliction may invariably get worse.

Lord knows what I'll be like when it comes down to actual days :)

I saw this at the post office today.

I'm looking forward to seeing what stamps the Chinese have in honour of the Olympics too; according to the map in my DK China book, my accomodation is actually very close to a local post office, so I'll be able to get started right away winging all the usual suspects postcards from the events :)

A shot in the arm...

Actually I succumbed to the dire warnings of virus and bacteria strife that is apparently going to bring the world to it's knees in the near future, and got two needles and five vaccines shot into the upper muscle of my left arm.

It's amazing that they can now combine vaccines together - the first shot was for Hepatitis A and Typhoid and the second had Tetanus, Diphtheria and Pertussis (whooping cough) in it's weapon sights.

The nurse warned me that my arm was going to be sore for the next day or so, but I was fine for ages; it was only after I had been home for a while (I'd gotten the shots during my lunch break) that my left arm started to feel as if someone had decided to bruise with intent.

But I'm fine now, and hopefully my white blood cells have suited up and I'll be okay when I head over to be exposed to foreign air, food and water - all of it a potential threat :)

I'm getting a Fantastic Voyage/ Innerspace kinda feeling here :)

Olympic Eventeering

A few people have asked me (now that my trip is all official-like:) which events I'm planning to see at the Beijing Olympics.

I'm flying out on Tuesday, 5th of August (at 1.05am!) to Beijing via Singapore and will land the same day at about 2.40pm that afternoon - giving me a few days to orient myself to Beijing and also collect my tickets from the CoSport ticketing agent in the city (hopefully close to one of the Olympic venues).

I'm afraid I didn't manage to get tickets to the Opening Ceremony (which was going to be a lottery anyway, and the ticket price marked was about $950, yes you read that right, $950); I'm hoping the Olympic Committee and the local government will have erected large screens outside the National Stadium (The Bird's Nest) or in Tian'an Men Square so tourists and Chinese alike can watch that grand ceremony live.

I bet they'll be something in there with Shaolin warrior monks defying gravity, and like, 10 000 dancers and gymnasts performing in unison - a large rippling scale of humanity. Awesome.

Saturday, 9th: Judo - University of Science & Technology Gymnasium

Sunday, 10th: Artistic Gymnastics - National Indoor Stadium

Monday, 11th: Fencing - Olympic Green

Tuesday, 12th: Badminton - Beijing University of Technology

Thursday, 14th: Archery - Olympic Green Archery field

Tennis - Olympic Green Tennis Centre

Friday, 15th: Basketball - Wukesong Indoor Stadium

Saturday, 16th: Softball - Fengtai Softball Field

Monday, 18th: Athletics - National Stadium

Tuesday, 19th: Beach Volleyball - Chaoyang Park Beach Volleyball Ground

Wednesday, 20th: Taekwondo - University of Science & Technology Gymnasium

I unfortunately didn't get any tickets to the Swimming or Diving and inadvertently got a ticket to the Equestrian without realising that it was actually going to be taking place in Hong Kong! (which is a 10 hour train/ A$1000+ flight) While it would have been fantastic to see this event, my $40 ticket is probably going to remain a souvenir of the event I didn't manage to get to :)

And then from the 21st onwards, I'm on a mini tour hitting a few spots in China for the next 9 days or so (via plane as it's too vast to traverse by bus!)

I'm on my way...

Yikes, are you singing that Proclaimers song in your head now? :)

I'm in too much of a good mood at the moment though, I've actually gotten my Chinese Visa!!!!

The pick up was for this morning and I decided to come into work and use my lunch break time to head over to East Perth and brave the line into the consulate. The Collections line is usually much shorter and a pal from work, Anne M very kindly offered to give me a lift (such a sweetheart!)

As usual, the line in front of the Visa Application window was 25 people outside the entrance (and a lot more inside!), but the Collections line only had two people waiting. I had to bring a copy of my residency visa, but then all was okay, the girl behind the counter moved to get my passport from the stacks she had in front of her and $50.00 later, I had my passport in my hands and the biggest grin on my face.

Every day, I'm getting closer and closer to China... I can hardly believe it!

Visa Applications

Well, it's definitely becoming a lot more real - every morning I hear a countdown of how many days until the opening of the Beijing Olympics courtesy of the Sunrise program on Channel 7.
I'm down to 64 days!
(Though really, it's closer to 60 as I fly out a few days earlier to get my bearings in Beijing ahead of the Games).

This week I decided to get my visa application in. I had been told earlier in the year to not put my paperwork through until about now... the single entry visa for China is only valid for about three months.

Thursday - The line at the Chinese Consulate yesterday in East Perth snaked almost fully through their medium sized lobby, and they only had two officers behind the screens - one for Visa Applications and the other for Collections (despite there being space for a third). I was mostly okay, I usually have something to read, and everyone patiently just creeped forward when a space opened up - the slow track to the front of the queue.
I'll admit, it took me the better part of an hour to get to the front of that line, and then... I was told I needed to have my bank statement as part of the application :(
That detail wasn't on their website unfortunately, but hey... I couldn't do anything about it, so I just thanked the visa officer and headed to work, determined to try again tomorrow.

Friday - If anything, there seemed to be more people this morning (they must start lining up from 7.30am onwards!) - but I kept my fingers crossed the entire time the visa officer was looking through all of my paperwork and thankfully it seemed to be okay.

In addition to a current bank statement, I also had to provide: all the address and reservation details for all of my accomodation while I was in China; my flight bookings (both international and domestic); my tour itinerary and a copy of my permanent residency visa.

Later, after I had completed a few things at work, I got a call from the consulate. The visa officer said that my passport appeared to be expired! Dun-dun-daaaar! (Dramatic florish)

I stayed outwardly calm (though on the inside I was definitely panicking a little) and assured the visa officer politely, but a little insistently that my current passport had been renewed and was valid for travel until 2010. After a pause on her part as I overheard passport pages being flicked through; she found the renewal stamp from the Malaysian Consulate.
Thank (insert deity choice here) !
Bump-de-bump! Yep, that's my heart. Phew!

Y'know I won't be assured that it's all okay until I have my passport back in my hot little hands with a Chinese Visa securely stuck on one of the inside pages. I find out next week if all is cool...

On another front, I've booked in for my inoculations (yeah, they'll be something to look forward to).
Some of them need to be taken about six weeks before I leave and Medibank Private have a 10% discount at the Travel Medical & Vaccination Centre so hopefully it won't be too pricey.

I'm also boringly (but contentiously) having a green tea every morning and an echinacea tea every night to boost my immune system so I keep as well as I can during winter - be nothing worse that nursing a bad cold ahead of this adventure!