China Visa whats the story

Prefect_1998

what is the story with getting a 3 month visa for china at the moment> i will be entering china from hanoi in december and need to sort visasa out now...
anyone know the current state of affais ?


thanks for help

dani

Ideo

they'll want the names and addresses of all the hotels/hostels taht you'll be staying in for the duration of your stay!!

and probably an onward ticket from china, though you might be ok with the lack of inward ticket from vietnam. best bet is probably to ring them

KERPAL

ring the chinese embassy. Dont take advice of that ideo chap, they arnt as bad as that.

Gaz

Ideo wrote: »

they'll want the names and addresses of all the hotels/hostels taht you'll be staying in for the duration of your stay!!

and probably an onward ticket from china, though you might be ok with the lack of inward ticket from vietnam. best bet is probably to ring them

Thats rubbish , getting a visa in Hanoi is one of the easiest places to get one after Hong Kong. Certain visa's are little more difficult to get at the moment due to the Olympics , they are no longer issuing multi entry and max stay is 30 days on one visa but this should all go back to normal after August.

I will be applying next month in Hanoi, its an application form , few photos and fee. Then Im going to head to Hong Kong to get a new one when the 30 days are up.

KERPAL

IN fact maybe i wasnt harsh enough on IDEO but seriously ignore the bull**** media hype about China, do not let socialism etc get in the way of your trips, its all crap, the chinese authorities are more than happy to have you in their country and continue make their economy the number 1 driving force.
I know this rant prob shud be in the political section but cudnt help myself.

Gaz

Actually just thought I would give the embassy a ring here in New Zealand and things have gone from bad to worse .... you now need hotel reservations and flight tickets showing entry and exit dates.

There goes my plan to get the cheap bus over from Vietnam ... pain in the hole !

Also all trans-siberian trains to and from Beijing are cancelled until after the olympics

So, if you are going in Decemeber its pi$$ easy to sort a visa in Hanoi , if anyone else is going pre-olympics its a complete pain , I now need to book a few flight I had no intention of getting.

Prefect_1998

well i am glad it will be sorted after the games.. hope the prices go down as i am sure they will be inflated. before and during. what would you do with 3 months in china? flying out of beijing...

thanks for help

ronan

ems_12

I had no problems with Chinese visa, didn't have any hotel/hostel names and just showed them that I had a ticket out of the country (flight booked) so I think that made it ok. No idea about it now with the Olympics tho.
Also heard Tibet is much harder to get into, but no idea about this.

As for what to do, myself and a friend had a month there and did the following route:

fly into Beijing (stayed for few days then got sleeper train)

Xi'an (v. smoggy, stayed only for a day to see Terracotta Warriors and Bell tower)

Guangyuan (sp? - it's a stop on the train from Xi'an to Chengdu - only stayed overnight here so we could get the bus from here the next morning - people here are crazy, we loved it, stayed in "hostel" above bus station)
bus to

Jiuzhaigou - well worth a visit, area around here is rural, great to see - bus journey was terrible but loved it because we just saw so much that you wouldn't usually get to see! Then bused it to

Chengdu - I loved this city, my friend thought it was ok. Great hostel there, sit out on the street all night with BBQs and beer lol! Then got 24 hr train (I kid you not - make lots of friends on the train, they'll help you get by with the language/numbers/chinese writing!!) to

Guilin - straight off the train and bused it (short journey!) to Yangshuo - a must see, the place is great, v. touristy but so chilled, hire a bike and take full advantage of the great food! Then got a sleeper bus to:

Shenzhen - not sure about this one, we had a friend here so it was great but maybe wouldn't have liked it if she wasn't around - huge city, v. industrial. Went to the beach nearby for 2 days (camped on beach - just rent the tents) which was great - be ready for an all night party. Then walked into Hong Kong and got train to Kowloon


This is getting rather long so let me if you want to know more about these places, as I said we were only there for a month - if we had longer would have tried to get into Tibet

Top Tip: Any chinese person that speaks English, talk with them and then ask them to write things in Chinese characters for you e.g. all the towns you want to stop in, phrases like "two tickets", "where is", the numbers, "how much".....basically a few things so you can match them up to make a sentence, we found the usual tourist sign language didn't work!!

Prefect_1998

thanks for advice... our main plans were, hanoi to hong kong then weave to bejing

KERPAL

Id defo try and get to Shanghai, its an asian new york in a sense, very western but a great experience. Shenzen if you want all the fake gear also is a laugh.
Spend time in Beijing, hit the Great wall(obviously), Tiananman square, Forbidden Palace. Theres also a few ex-pat haunts like franks place and durty nellies if your homesick.Some class restaurants around the diplomatic area aswell in Janguomenwai in beijing.
having said all this, this is from a ex residents point of view and im sure for a tourist theres alot more i never realised i could do!!!

pclancy

/Random Beijing Advice

One thing in Beijing....DO NOT GO FOR TEA WITH ANY STUDENTS....its an age old scam over there, I avoided it but have heard of countless others being caught out and left a lot of money worse off. Basically you'll get students coming up to you asking to practice their enlgish, fair enuf but do no more then that. If they offer to bring you to a tea room or art gallery you risk getting stung for at least hundred yuan A simple no thanks should do it

KERPAL

ems_12 wrote: »

fly into Beijing (stayed for few days then got sleeper train)

Im presuming you went to the Great Wall!!!:eek::eek:???

ems_12

Yep Kerpal!!

Great Wall, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Sq.....

Summer Palace is fab, and you have to try the Echo Wall in the Temple of Heaven!

Prefect_1998

wanna see the wall but not with a disney crowd situation... where is the least turist area ...see wall.. also i wanna see the budda carved into to the mountain.. will plan it better , also what will i budget per day roughly

KERPAL

I know what you mean about the disney situation, but in fairness its sorta part of the experience, with the Chinese asking for photos with you as if you were a celeb, and the rickety cable car is quite an andrenalin rush also!!

I went on a trip with my school over there once where we camped for a week just below a completely remote part of the wall which was incredible, im not sure if thats something you can do as a tourist, but would defo recomend it if you hear anything of it.

But I can remember a troutfarm(I know wierd eh?!)where you went for lunch and you could go on a 30 min trek upto a much quieter part of the wall, and then the best part, you could toboggan down the other side!! im tryin to rack my brains at the mo for the name of the place, and will post up as soon as i find it!

Oh and i cant say much about budgeting as i wasnt travelling over there, i can imagine 200-250rmb would be sufficient and that would drop in the smaller cities, but that would be a gestimate

Neamhshuntasach

KERPAL wrote: »

IN fact maybe i wasnt harsh enough on IDEO but seriously ignore the bull**** media hype about China, do not let socialism etc get in the way of your trips, its all crap, the chinese authorities are more than happy to have you in their country and continue make their economy the number 1 driving force.
I know this rant prob shud be in the political section but cudnt help myself.

Eh what Ideo said is true. My mate goes out with a Chinese girl and can't get a visa longer than 30 days at the moment. And even for them 30 days he had to provide details of his itinerary and provide an return or onward flight. Changes happened in early April.

And why would socialism ruin anything? It's capitalism that has me extorted on trips.

KERPAL

Neamhshuntasach wrote: »

Eh what Ideo said is true. My mate goes out with a Chinese girl and can't get a visa longer than 30 days at the moment. And even for them 30 days he had to provide details of his itinerary and provide an return or onward flight. Changes happened in early April.

And why would socialism ruin anything? It's capitalism that has me extorted on trips.

porbably shud apologise for that rant IDEO, i was 100% wrong.

and you wont get extorted if you Capitalise;) on the oppurtunities and dont go down the usual route, but thats neither here nor there.

OP, I found the name of the relatively queit part of the wall, its called Mutianyu, ders even some clips of the toboggan ride down the wall on youtube!

RATM

Theres a section of the wall at a place called Huangha ( hope Ive spelt that right ) which is quite authentic. The YHA in Beijing organise trips to it but it can be done on public transport as well. The only hassle I had at Huangha was some guy trying to charge us 25 yuan to use 'his ladder' to scale a sentry fort and continue the trek. We duly climbed the fort ourselves, much to his annoyance:D
Id say avoid Badaling at all costs, Ive heard its totally reconstructed for tourists and its where all the tour buses end up ( read: hassle, large amounts of)
TBH if I was there again what Id do is look at Google Maps and find a spot on the Wall that is further out than the furthest place where tourists are taken ( the walls over 2000km long so theres plenty of spots you could go to) and then do a trek for a few days along it, your'e going to need to be a good climber and bring ropes to even attempt this.

Prefect_1998

another question, my other half is 6'5 and we were reading aout the sleeper busses being made for the smaller type people, how did the irish people find being over there... he was in cambodia and found he had to be careful not to step onto unsupported bambo etc...

any ideas sugestions etc... ?


thanks

KERPAL

well at 6 foot 5 he will be the centre of attention in china!!! my dad was 6 foot 1 and they wouldnt leave him alone.

to be honest, they wudnt be makin many sleeper buses anywhere for people that tall but if the trains are anything to compare by, they were always comfy enough wit lots of room i think

RATM

Yeah Id agree with Kerpal, Im 6ft 2 and I couldn't stretch my legs out fully on the beds on sleeper buses. The only way you'll get any kip on a sleeper but is with the aid of some valium;)
As well as that you'll notice the mattresses have a distinct smell of sweat emancipating from them, not the most pleasant for the more churlish among us:(

At that height Id advise taking a sleeper on a train, theyre far more comfortable , many have air con and you can get up and walk around to stretch the legs.

That said make sure to get on early if you are traveling in a 6 berth cabin and grab the middle of the 3-high stacked bunks. You dont want the bottom bunk as ppl will be sitting on your bed throughout the day and you dont want the top unless you enjoy listening to Chinese music from the speaker on the ceiling right above your head throughout the night.

Ideo

KERPAL wrote: »

porbably shud apologise for that rant IDEO, i was 100% wrong.

and you wont get extorted if you Capitalise;) on the oppurtunities and dont go down the usual route, but thats neither here nor there.

OP, I found the name of the relatively queit part of the wall, its called Mutianyu, ders even some clips of the toboggan ride down the wall on youtube!

Apology accepted

Yeah I was down in the embassy last week and found out first hand!

Going back tomorrow with all flights, confirmation for my first couple of nights and the names and addresses for all subsequent hotels. have'nt booked anything else other than arrival into HK so I hope they don't expect me to have a confirmation of accomodation for 40 nights!

Will let you all know tomorrow how I get on!

Neamhshuntasach

Apparently the most you will get is 30 days or a 60 day multiple entry visa but you can only be in China for the 30 days. I'm just going by what my mate said so i don't have any official info on it. Feel bad for him cause he's lived over there for the past 2 years.

ems_12

danielle_door, I'm about 5'7 and the sleeper buses were exactly my length! So no chance when your OH is over 6ft! V. uncomfy as you can't turn sideways too much either!

Sleeper trains on the other hand are great - you buy your seat before boarding so you will already be allocated top, middle or bottom. We found it was good to buy one bottom one so we could both sit on it during the day (that was during our 24hr train ride!) Bring along pot noodle (the Chinese version!) cos they have a hot water facility you can use.

As KERPAL said, be ready to get lots of attention at 6'5 - lots of photos etc!

Ideo

Neamhshuntasach wrote: »

Apparently the most you will get is 30 days or a 60 day multiple entry visa but you can only be in China for the 30 days. I'm just going by what my mate said so i don't have any official info on it. Feel bad for him cause he's lived over there for the past 2 years.

They'll give you a longer visa if you can prove that you need it, i.e. flights into on the 3rd June and out on July 9th as in my case. Then I have my home flight which is 110 days after my first flight into china so they'll give me the 6 month cos i can prove i need it, that is, the 90 day wouldnt suffice.

That should clear up a little confusion!

Prefect_1998

ok is there any way around the sleeper busses, we are planning train from hanoi.

so a guillivers travel's scence might happin,

Neamhshuntasach

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=1585596&start=0&tstart=0

Just came across this if anyone wants to know the latest on the visa issue. Them feckers are thorough at that thorn tree place

Ideo

It seems I spoke a little too soon!

Despite the lady in the embassy telling me last week that it would be no prob getting the 6 month double entry visa, today they wouldnt issue it to me! Mightyly pissed off!!

I was told I would get a 3 month single entry visa instead, and that if i still intended to travel from Hanoi to Nanning to HK to apply for a seperate single entry 30 day in Hanoi. I just read the Lonely Planet first page there and this would seem to echo what that said.

To get the 3 month single entry I had to provide an

• Itinerary of my duration of the stay
• approximate dates of stay in each city on my itinerary which I think is because I hadnt got accomodation booked in each city
• booking confirmation of my first hotel on arrival
• booking confirmations of all major cities; beijing, guangzhou, shangai
• names and addresses of all the other hotels/hostels that i wished to stay in but hadn't yet booked
• Return tickets from Dublin
• and finally, my ticket to show when i was leaving china (to malaysia) so they'd give me a longer than 30 day visa

Now I don't know whether you will need as much as I did but thats what I needed! Hope this is of help to some of ye!

RATM

Ideo that sounds like an awful lot of hassle, christ it would be easier getting into North Korea:D
If you need booking confirmations for hotels why not ask them are hostels acceptable ( I dont see any reason why not but you never know )
Then you could go to hostelworld.com and book all the hostels you need whilst only having to pay 5-10% of the nights stay to the website. Im sure most hostels would be sound if you emailed them a week in advance to change the booking if needed without losing your deposit.

Seems like the Chinese are going to be tracking all Westerners whereabouts during this Olympics, their intelligence services must be getting more and more paranoid by the day

Prefect_1998

i will be heading in late november to china, i hope the suitation sorts itself out... i will have nothing booked hostel or hotels wise.... just train mayb

Ideo

RATM wrote: »

Ideo that sounds like an awful lot of hassle, christ it would be easier getting into North Korea:D
If you need booking confirmations for hotels why not ask them are hostels acceptable ( I dont see any reason why not but you never know )
Then you could go to hostelworld.com and book all the hostels you need whilst only having to pay 5-10% of the nights stay to the website. Im sure most hostels would be sound if you emailed them a week in advance to change the booking if needed without losing your deposit.

Seems like the Chinese are going to be tracking all Westerners whereabouts during this Olympics, their intelligence services must be getting more and more paranoid by the day

Sorry, when I said hotels I meant both hostels and hotels!

Anyway that's exactly what I done Re: Hostelworld. I even have a 'Gold Pass' which means I dont have to pay for any of the service charges so it was literally just 10% of the room cost which is fair enough. I'll probably stay in the places anyway, 1 or 2 seemed decent enough.

Anyway danielle i think you should be ok with your timing, that lonely planet link seems to suggest it'll all be sorted out by then

yawtin

For the time being, you can only request single entry visas about one month ahead of your entry dates.

The official explaination is for Olympics security purposes. It is probably needed too. Last week a bus blew up in Shanghai and there are rumours that it was a suisidal attack. 3 people got killed.

Don't go to crowed places if you can, not until after The Game finishes anyway.

shoestring

Does anyone know if it's possible to get a 30 day visa in Vientiane at the moment and how long it takes? I'm flying to bangkok in a couple of weeks and was hoping to get to China through Laos a few weeks later.

Ideo

you'd probably get a quicker response on the lonely planets thorntree forum tbh, laos to china is probably a bit specific for boards.ie?