No entry? I wanted one way!

Today I had my second attempt at getting hold of a Chinese visa today and while it wasn’t completely successful (as in I didn’t get it), I did get further than I did last time (as in I got through the door because the office was open).

Before going down to the visa office I had checked with a few people who had visited China before and they were all adamant that I didn’t need a letter of invitation and unfortunately I listened to them. To get the visa for China you either need to have a letter of invitation or a plane ticket to show how you’ll enter, I had neither as I’m planning on entering by road.

There is however another problem in that 6 months ago a new law was passed which prohibits people from entering China by road (or rail in my case), I was blissfully unaware of this. You can pass if you get permission from the government gate keepers in Lhasa, but that isn’t going to happen until I get there.

Leaving the embassy without the visa my head was already working out the trip home with this new information. Would it be possible to get to Kazakhstan without entering China? Do I just head west through India , Pakistan and Iran? Then I realised that my original plan didn’t have to change that much, the only difference now is that I will get the visa in Dhaka then when I get up to Lhasa if I can’t get through by rail into China then I hop on a plane. This deviates slightly from the original plan but I need to adapt to the new situation.

After the visa information update I went around a couple of telecommunication companies to see if they would sponsor me with a phone so I can stay online when I am going back home, they both told me the information would be passed to seniors and would be back in touch.

At the end of the day in Dhaka I wound up at the BAGHA club for what I thought was a well earned beer. As soon as I got settled I bumped into someone who used to work for Nokia and has also offered to help me with a phone, when he heard about the visa trouble he said that he knew people who could help. So at the end of the day the plan might not actually have to change that much.