Chocolate Chinese Visa

Thursday 18 December 2008, London - Corby, England
Well the Bond Mobile did a good job and we had a good nights sleep in the suburbs. Then we were off to Macca's to use their ablutions and wi-fi and find out where we had to go to get our Chinese Visa. We had tried to apply for it in August when we were in Australia, but they had just changed the Visa application processing to a one month visa from time of application, which meant that it would have been out of date by the time we got to China in January, so we were advised by our travel agent to wait until we got to London and apply for it there. So checking the address of the embassy and the unthinkable happened... you now have to log your application on the net, and register for your appointment online (at least one day waiting), and need to have a medical exam as a foreigner. So we pretended we didn't read it, and planned our way to get some parking near a station and get the tube to Chancery Lane. While waiting at the station a couple of trains went by that were absolutely flying. It seemed like they were going 200km/hr+. It really takes the wind out of you when your standing on the platform and not expecting a rocket to creep up behind you. I'm sure the Egyptians would really get a kick out of it. Getting off at Chancery Lane we were finally able to see the black cabs and red double deckers around the streets and actually feel like we were in London. At the embassy we were greeted with a polite how do you do, along with a what is your registration number and appointment time. Said we were from Australia and that when we had started our travels in September we were advised to come straight to the embassy. Didn't seem to be a problem at all and 5 minutes later our application form was accepted and we were told we could come back in 3 days and pick up our passports. All seemed too easy so hopefully it is and everything goes to plan. Picked up a campervan guide on our way back and hit the road heading to Birmingham then onto Corby to see Pete's long lost family. We got into town about 10.30pm, and were so tired from driving that we found a quiet street, pulled up, and went to sleep in the back of the van.