random pix: stuff in Thailand

Chicago Sin Fries

SOMEONE's a little full of himself.

Tarzan, the welcoming committee at our Ko Samui guesthouse. He came to us like that, seriously.

Squid ink fettuccine!

Random Thai boy band mall appearance in Bangkok. It was everything you might imagine.

Ko Samui airport & Bangkok Air

Leaving Ko Samui and getting back up to Bangkok (where I was leaving Thailand from), we ran into the same trouble as when we tried to go to Ko Tao, basically all transport was booked. We ended up finding decently affordable flights direct from Ko Samui to Bangkok on Bangkok Air and had an fantastic traveling experience.

Oh yeah, "Master" is a title option on their website. Love it.

The Ko Samui airport is coolest airport I've ever seen. Most tourists don't fly there (or maybe it's that most tourists that go there are loaded?), so it's really snazzy. It doesn't look like an airport at all from the inside or outside, more like a picturesque, open air mall, complete with lounges, free wifi, free snacks and free beverages for all travelers.

Bangkok Air had a great intro/safety video. It was a music video, the flight attendants did a cheesy dance in it, it was hilarious. And they showed Looney Tunes.

Travel win.

Bangkok & Ko Pha ngan

I've had a kind of crazy past month. After leaving Songyuan on August 1st (post contract, for good), I went to meet my boyfriend in Thailand. Over the following ten days, we hit Bangkok, Ko Pha ngan and Ko Samui.

Bangkok is basically just another big city. Yeah, there's some cool stuff, like you'll find in any big city, but it didn't do anything amazing for me. To be fair, we didn't spend a ton of time there and didn't invest a ton of effort in exploring while we were there, but still.

The more I travel, the more I'm realizing that big cities aren't where I want to be. My favorite part of Bangkok was the smaller market/shopping street we stayed on for a while that was quite near to Khao San Road the main one, but more chill.

One thing that was disappointing there were the tattoo parlors/piercing shops. I have one anchor that needs to be redone and another that the top needs to be screwed back on; I was thinking i could get those things taken care of there. We visited about ten shops and they all either couldn't do anchors or said they could but then the piercers would flake out and never show up.

After Bangkok, we had a ridiculous travel night (think eight hour bus to a dock to sleep outside on concrete for three hours with a hundred other people all waiting for the ferry, then three hour ferry to final destination) to Ko Pha ngan to partake in a Full Moon Party.

You know you're jealous you didn't get to ride in this baby...

Apparently, they're supposed to be really crazy beach parties with lots of drugs. In the end, it was basically spring break in Mexico with more mushrooms and more fire and more blacklight paint. Fun time, not necessary to repeat. Unless you're like 19.

The other few days we were there we just bummed around with some other couples we met. We had some great beach time, cruised around on scooters and had a generally relaxing and sun burn filled holiday. The island was absolutely gorgeous and once you got away from the hectic side where the party was (or the partiers left the island), it was almost perfect.

They lied, there was no waterfall.

I say "almost" because (and this is where I get really nitpicky) we took issue with the beaches. They were clean, the sand was soft and the water was clear, but it was really shallow for a long way out on all sides of the island, so it was really hot during the day and hard to swim. There weren't any waves to play in either. If these are my biggest problems though… haha.

visa lording, epilogue

After all the crap I've been through with my visa, I couldn't be done. Of course not. Not until I get away from this wreck of a school. I have tried for the past six months to not be super negative, just objective but honest on here about them, in case anyone from school (staff or students) was reading, but I am absolutely done at this point. DONE.

Where did I leave off this saga? Ah yes, after five months of jerking me around, my school FINALLY got my work visa in early July, making me legal with just one month left on my contract. The school got me a single entry visa, so leaving Hong Kong to come back to work used the entry, but documents you get after your visa essentially act as a new visa.

In order to get the visa in the first place, you must have a Work Permit and an Invitation Letter. After you get the work visa, you have 30 days to get a Foreign Expert Certificate and then a Residence Permit. The Residence Permit is a page in your passport, like a visa, and allows you to travel in and out of the country as you please, like a visa.

As soon as I got back from Hong Kong on July 11th, I was calling, texting, QQ messaging and just generally bothering the guy that handles all that kind of stuff at my school every day to stay on top of my paperwork because I was planning to leave the country August 1st when I finished my contract and I needed to be able to get back in. He kept saying he knew, everything was fine and I would have my paperwork in time.

Then on Thursday of last week, he took me to the police station to have my picture taken for something related to that. The picture was funny, they pulled my hair back, pinned my bangs back, powdered my face with white makeup, covered my clothes with a Chinese scarf and didn't let me smile. After the photo, he grabbed me to leave, but we hadn't been given anything, so I started asking questions. He pretending not to have enough English to answer me (I know he does) and made us go back to school to have a TA translate.

There, he told me that I wouldn't have my Foreign Expert Certificate until this Thursday... after I was already going to be gone. Which would mean no Residence Permit. Which would mean no getting back into China. Which I had a bit of a problem with. My pestering had clearly done nothing, if he'd started the paperwork right away, I'd have had everything no problem.

So, I made a big fuss. I talked to my school VP, the owner, the paper work guy and a bunch of the TAs. They all said they'd see what they could do. And then no one got back to me or gave me any answers or would even talk to me all weekend.

They were essentially screwing me over because I had no leverage any more, being pretty much done teaching. I had had a tourist visa that was valid until February for multiple entries, so I would have been fine, but that was invalidated when I got my work visa. After a bit of freaking out though, I came up with Plan B. In Bangkok, I was going to go to the Chinese Embassy and get a new tourist visa, thereby invalidating the work visa. The tourist visa would then be invalidated in three weeks again when I began at my new school. Convoluted and stupid, but my best option.

Then YESTERDAY (I leave China tomorrow morning mind you), the guy tells me they'll find someone to bribe or whatever and get it done (this is commonplace). He takes me to the police station in the morning for another photo for the Residence Permit. Then in the afternoon, he leaves for Changchun to finish the Foreign Expert Certificate process, which must be done there.

 

This morning, the school calls me and tells me that he needs my original university diploma for this. Pardon me, but shouldn't he have known that prior to leaving? It's not like he's never done this before... I brought it to school and they paid someone to drive it the two hours to him in Changchun. Such a ridiculous waste of money (not that I'm complaining there).

After that, I'm calling every few hours to ask when I'll get my passport, paperwork and diploma back from Changchun. Around 6pm, it turns out my passport has been at the police station here the whole time, but everything has gone through and I have everything I need (yay!). I just need the paperwork guy to return with my original diploma before 3:30am, when we essentially trade places and I leave Songyuan to go to Changchun to catch my flight to Bangkok.

What a cluster. It will literally be within HOURS of leaving the country that I finally have everything I need. So, so happy to be finished with this school.