Bitterness in Hong Kong

It was such a nice trip to Hong Kong. About three days in the train. Just enjoying our adventure and buying beer and Chinese fruit and snacks people would sell directly through the train windows. We shared our room with an interesting Englishman and interesting Chinese people too. The train would go to Guangzhou, there we had to take another two hours train to HK.

Hong Kong was impressive. We liked it so much. I was as if you leave the dirty Chinese country side to enter into a city hight street full of lights and amusement. We stayed in Nathan Road, in a cheap room for poor tourist, but still so interesting and well located...

After some walks around we went to the Chinese consulate there and applied for our visas. In some days we would have them ready and go back to Beijing. But, again, something miserable happened to us; Chinese would not allow Russians to enter into China twice inside six months (so many Russian traders were crossing the border at the time). That was the rule. So my wife could not get back into China. We entered again in despair. Russians are very badly treated everywhere regarding visas; when we went to Jerusalem from Cairo in an all paid trip, my wife was stopped at the border by the Egyptian police and forced us to go back to a town nearby where to make an statement assuring the Egyptian authorities that she would come back to Egypt (and paid some taxes for filling up a paper). Then we could cross the border. But we had lost our travel agency bus and service and had to go by a common bus to Jerusalem among Palestinian escorted by heavily armed Israeli soldiers with machine guns.

Well, well, well, again in HK, what to do but bitterly cry. Nothing. Just we went to the Consulate to cry lauder and lauder, telling them she had her luggage in Beijing, she would not have enough money to go by plane over China to Russia, etc. Finally they gave her a 10 days transit visa which would allow her to cross China by train, so that we went back to Beijing without an idea about what we could do or how to manage.

Next day

Days ran fast and my wife arrived one month later. She arrived at Tianjin airport and came by bus with Russian buyers to Beijing to a Russian hotel near Ritan Park.

It was great. Well, first we knew her visa was group visa and she did not have stamp on her passport, so we went by wonderful train trip to Tianjin airport for them to sign her visa. Beijing sorroundings were muddy and dark, if not for nice sunshine most times. I had met the Russian manager in charge of the coats transport from Shanghai to Irkutsk, Yura, he was living there with her family and they all were very intelligent and kind.

Christmas arrived. Yes, also in China. People were busy there arranging parties. We had a great Christmas with friends. But New Year was not very successful; we tried to join some Koreans there in our building but they were not receptive, anyway it seemed quite boring with what they were doing. Then we crossed the campus to the Chinese side and it was good fun there, but we arrived too late and it soon finished.

I was having Chinese lessons; my nice teacher put me a Chinese name, 李佳伟, Li Jiawei.

Time passed and I had sealed my visa twice, one per month and my wife had it just once, both without inland renovation possibilities. So, we left for Hong Kong to renew our visas abroad.