Visa Run: Shanghai to Hong Kong

I’m on a trip across two continents, without an airplane. That means no air planes, at all, even when on a visa run.

Visa run. Noun.

Definition: A visitor in a country is only allowed to stay so long in that country. Japan allows 90 days. Cambodia allows 30 days. When one reaches the limit to their stay, they must leave the country, and can return to that country to stay for another 30 or 90 days, or whatever.

Probably the cheapest option from Shanghai is taking the train to Hong Kong. It’s 380 RMB one way, roughly $60. It takes 19 hours, each way. Yea, 19 hours.

Here is my experience through pictures.

There are armed guards everywhere. They stand behind red ropes. They carry shotguns and large automatic rifles.

Lines to get train tickets are long, and old people frequently cut in line. I waited an hour in line, and an old man had the gall to cut in front of me in the last minute. I growled / yelled at him, and he cut in front of the person behind me instead. Old people cut in line ALL THE TIME here!!

Note, the ticket to Hong Kong can only be purchased at Shanghai Railway station, at window 6. No other station / window will sell you this ticket. Most employees lack the English to make this fact clear- so, I ran around Shanghai for a whole afternoon, trying to buy my ticket. 

The train.

This is the ticket. The one I fought line-cutters and rude train station attendants to get.

Once you're on the train, this lady comes by, takes your ticket, and gives you a plastic card. When the train arrives in Hong Kong, she takes back her plastic card and returns the ticket- the whole point seems unnecessary.

The plastic card she gives you, then takes back later.

Inside the train. It's mostly older people on the train. Very few young people, and no foreigners. I get stared at a lot when on the train. Whatever, it's the expat life.

There are three bunks. Top and middle are a little hard to get to, but the bottom bunk is the worst, as strangers will use it as a seat, meaning you have no personal space. You get a lot of exercise climbing to the top, as there isn't always a ladder. A pillow and blanket are provided, and both are quite nice.

 View from the middle bunk. The bed is about as wide as my shoulders, and there's not enough room to sit up right.

Train food. It tastes ok, not great. And it's only 25 RMB ($4) so I can't complain.

Bring a book.

Also, bring an extension cord. There are only three or four electrical outlets per train car, meaning that fifty or so people have to share.

There's a button on the wall that turns on some music. I think it was a Chinese opera playing, and I don't mean to sound culturally insensitive, but this particular opera sounded like a cat was being ritually murdered. Lots of screeching and high pitched wailing, with dialogue and laughter between songs. The older people didn't seem to have a problem with it.

The toilet. Yea, try using this on a moving train. Remember, the trip is 19 hours, one way. Chances are you're gonna have to dance with this devil.

Also, that trash bin is full of stinky, used toilet paper, because toilet paper does not flush down the toilet. The result is that the bathroom smells like a trash can full of shit.

The place to wash your hands. Notice there is no soap, apparently they don't have germs in China. Don't drink the water.

Inside Hong Kong there are posters denouncing China, specifically Jiang Zemin. People in China would go to prison for this, but Hong Kong doesn't have such strict rules. Jiang, the person mentioned in the poster above, was a Chinese politician who ordered a BRUTAL crackdown on a group that was peacefully resisting Chinese authority, and gaining power within China. An estimated 4,000 were jailed and killed. There are many stories of their organs being sold on the black market.

Yea, China's pretty fucked up : /

Falun Dafa was the leader of this peaceful resistance. You can learn more about him here. It's a really sad story.

There are a lot of posters

Once in Hong Kong I had enough time for a bland lunch, then had to get right back on the train.

And that's a visa run. From here it was 19 more hours on the train back to Shanghai.

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Among the Fallen is a sci-fi fusion novel. It's a story mythology coming to life, heaven and hell, and life after the apocalypse.

But more importantly, it's a promise that, whether Angel or Earthling, one can pick up the pieces after everything worthwhile has been shattered.

Crocodiles, Tai Chi, and Gambling! Shanghai in pictures

People in Shanghai like their pets. A lot. They even give them funky hair styles. I think this one is supposed to be a lion.

People in Shanghai sell interesting things. Here are some reptiles. There were snakes, alligators, and turtles, all of which smelled really bad.

Here's a man selling goldfish. Or stealing them. I don't really know.

Young people in Shanghai mostly just smoke cigarettes, but older people like to stay healthy. Here's a woman doing Tai Chi. I think.

People in Shanghai (just men) like to gamble. A lot. I actually can't leave my apartment complex without passing a group of men huddled around some cards and a stack of cash. (Not an exaggeration) They gamble on park benches.

The gamble on the sidewalk.

They gamble on OTHER benches.

And they gamble while leaving their kids in the car. Or, scooter, I guess.

Shanghai has a lot of pollution in the air. I often have to wear a face mask, and some parts of the city I can't even go to because it hurts my lungs to walk around. I went to the top of subway line 6 and got a headache from the power-plant fumes. One (the only?) upside to this is that you get some pretty dramatic sunsets- as the sunlight plays off all the shit in the air.  

Pretty...

 More eye candy

Thank you for checking out my blog. Please consider purchasing a book. Book sales help me keep traveling, and help me to continue making cool blogs.

Among the Fallen is a sci-fi fusion novel. It's a story mythology coming to life, heaven and hell, and life after the apocalypse.

But more importantly, it's a promise that, whether Angel or Earthling, one can pick up the pieces after everything worthwhile has been shattered.

China's Ancient Water Towns

I guess these things are all over China, and some are more modern and ‘developed’ than others. Shanghai is just full of them, and it’s a weird sense coming to one.

These tiny towns are beautiful, and interesting, and fun to explore. But you also get the sense that the town is a zombie. Like it used to be a living, thriving, proper town, but then it was killed, modernized and trampled to make way for shopping malls and roadways, then finally a small corner was brought back to life as a tourist trap.

Some towns are more touristy than others. There was one water town that I loved so much, and which felt so organic and real, that I’m not going to tell you the name. It’s my secret little place. It felt like a REAL town, with people actually living there, and I don’t want it to get zombified like the rest. Sorry friends.

The towns all have a similar pattern, with canals crisscrossing through the town, and bridges going over them. Boats, either tourist boats or garbage collectors, pass slowly along the waterway.

If you go to China, I encourage you to visit the ancient water towns, just not my special little one : )

People here use the water for everything. 

Here, a woman does her washing in the water, 

even though other people use the water for their garbage.

 These are the boats that frequent the waterways, 

all hand powered so they're silent. 

This gives the town a lovely feeling of peace- no noisy engines

The encroaching modernization. 

 My special little town. 

Another photographer looking at my little town. 

He had a unique type of camera and used a strange technique called, 'film.'

I wonder if it'll catch on.




Thank you for checking out my blog. Please consider purchasing a book. Book sales help me keep traveling, and help me to continue making cool blogs.

Among the Fallen is a sci-fi fusion novel. It involves mythology, as well as heaven and hell, and so much more.

It's the story of unlikely allies, and finding friendship after the apocalypse. But more importantly, it's a promise that, whether Angel or Earthling, one can pick up the pieces after everything worthwhile has been shattered.

Deadly Bus Crashes and Singing Condoms: My first day in China

I traveled into China from Vietnam. By bus. It was long and boring, with beautiful scenery. And as usual, I was the only foreigner on the bus. So when shit got weird I had no one to turn to to see if the world had truly gone bat shit crazy.

Crossing the border was easy. Really easy actually. Getting on some of the trains across China has actually proved much more difficult than getting into the country. The border guards who processed me were cool; most of them smiled at me curiously, or ignored me. Some of them tried to practice their English with me. It all went smoothly and simply. Once I’d gotten into the country I took another bus, the one I’d ride to the city of Nanning. That’s when things got weird.

There was a small TV at the front of the bus, and one at the rear. The TV showed brutal, and I mean BRUTAL bus crashes. This was real footage from security cameras on buses- it was black and white, and just grainy enough to assure you that it was real. You could see people tense up the second before the camera shook and they were all tossed around like rag dolls across the grainy, black and white screen. I saw an unaware bus driver get thrown through a window after a collision. In another clip the floor became ceiling as people were thrown against metal bars and each other. Police officers sorted through debris and dead bodies in the following scene. Next, a little cartoon came on telling me to use my seat belt; I buckled the thing as tightly as it would go.

Next there were, unceremoniously and without warning, singing condoms on the TV. It’s possible they were meant to be something else, but seriously, what else could they be? They’re white, phallic shaped objects, with little reservoir tips at the top.

Someone actually made the decision to show violent, real-life bus fatalities, followed by two ridiculous singing condom-looking things. To people entering the country for the first time. What the fuck, China? Watching these videos, combined with my being vulnerable and alone in a foreign country… It made me feel like a 13 year old boy watching hardcore Japanese pornography for the first time. I was confused and uncomfortable, and unsure if what I’d just seen was real. But I also worried that what I’d just witnessed might have permanently broken something inside of me.

I got to Nanning expecting it to be like all the other bus rides I’d experienced in Asia. Motto taxis waiting to escort me to a nearby hostel, each under-pricing the other so I could get the best deal. This is not what happened. The bus dropped me off at an empty parking lot. No taxis. No ATM’s. No English speakers. I stood alone in an industrial looking parking lot, no Chinese money in hand because I’m me. No hostel booked. No idea where the nearest lodging might be. Some traveler I am, huh?

Exhausted, hungry, utterly alone, and not dressed to handle the cold at all- I wandered. For maybe an hour or more. I found an ATM, found an overpriced hotel, and fell in love with a country.

People talk a lot of shit about China, but I loved it. I swear to God I did. The food. The incredibly kind people. As soon as I passed the mind-fuck of singing condoms and deadly bus crashes, and made it to Nanning, I absolutely fell in love with the Chinese people.

10 motorcycle safety rules to follow in south East Asia

A busy road way in Da Lat, Vietnam.

1. Slow down. Yes, there is not a strong regulatory force here, and it's likely that no one will stop you from speeding. But so many accidents are caused by simply driving too fast and it's absolutely not worth it. A traveler I know died in northern Thailand due to a head on collision. Just slow down to avoid these.

Riding a motorbike in the rainy season.... it's a lot of fun!

2. Don't expect great road conditions. 

Roads here come and go as they please, sometimes great, sometimes just a dirt road. You don't want to be searching for the apex of a hair pin-turn, knee down, throttle wide open, engine revving, when suddenly you realize- oh crap- this brand new, pristine road is about to turn into gravel.

3. Don't drink and drive. The first thing to go when we drink is our judgment. “Yea, I can make that jump.” “Of course I can do five shots in five minutes.” So we generally think that we're ok to drive when we're not, and we often take unnecessary risks with our lives. Just don't do it- it's not worth buying your rent shop a new bike, and it's not worth spending your vacation in a hospital bed. I've encountered SO MANY people who have crashed their bike while high / drunk, and some have gotten really hurt.

4. Lock up your bike. Theft is common in South East Asia, and you don't want to lose your beautiful piece of machinery. The rent shops will often demand $600 - $1500 for a replacement bike. You may also want to rent a cheap, crappy looking bike to avoid attracting thieves. I once returned a beautiful scooter because the guy told me it was well over a thousand dollars to replace if it was stolen.

Who needs an SUV to go shopping?

5. Know how to brake. Avoid using your front brake on slippery surfaces, such as gravel, dirt, sand, or mud, because it can slip out from under you and you will tumble to the ground. I like to do about 70% of the braking with my rear tire and 30% with the front, just as a habit. But remember that if your REAR tire slips out, you might be able to recover. If your FRONT tire slips out, you're going down. Also remember, braking gets a lot harder when you've got passengers or extra gear on the bike. Like this guy here.

6. Check out your machine before you rent / buy it. These rent shops will rent out a bike until it absolutely dies, and these things can have 30,000 miles on them, often times more. That's a lot of wear and tear, so make sure all the components work before you pay. I once rented a scooter and found that the front wheel alignment was off. The guy fixed this by having his friend hold the handlebars while he kicked the tire as hard as he could to correct it. I passed on the bike. Check the brakes FIRST. Then check the lights, blinker, brake light, gear shift, horn, tire alignment, etc.

This will happen to you if you ride without
eye protection. Or if you sing "Let it Go" again.

7. Wear a helmet and sunglasses. A friend of mine was breaking rule 1 (going too fast) and breaking rule 7 (no sunglasses) when he caught a few small pebbles in the eye. He spent the next day in excruciating pain, went to the optometrist, had the pebbles removed with tweezers, then had to put in antibiotic drops that were quite painful to the eye, several times a day for the next 6 days. Don't do this, just wear the freaking gear!

8. Use your horn. You are a tiny speck on the road, so that means you have to be very vocal, let people know you're there. Use it when you see someone about to pull into the road, or when you see someone merging lanes, or when going through busy intersections, as people often ignore the lights and just go.

Maybe carry less money than this...

9. Carry a few small bills in your pocket in case of a bribe. The police in some South East Asian countries are hungry for bribes, and when they see foreigners, they think money. So you should always have one or two dollars in your pocket, ready to pay up. Notice I said pocket, not wallet. You don't want to pull out your wallet and show that you have $40, because then he'll ask for $40, instead of $1. Here's a story from southern Cambodia. A friend was on his scooter and got pulled over. He had no money in his pocket, but had his wallet in his scooter cabinet. As soon as he opened the cabinet, the cop began inspecting it. He found the tiniest little piece of marijuana. Now my friend probably could have gotten away with this, had he had a 20, maybe even a 10 dollar bill, but all he had in his wallet was a clean, fresh $100 bill. The cop took the $100. So, first of all, don't travel with illegal drugs. But also, keep a few small bills on you- not in your wallet, not in your cabinet, so that you can easily just pay the $1 and not go through any additional hassle. Another friend of mine keeps two wallets on him, one that is his real wallet, and another that only has $2 in it, so he can show the cop the fake wallet and say, “Hey, that's all I have...”

10. Take detailed pictures of bike before you leave the rent shop. Not all renters are honest, and some will charge you for scrapes or scuffs on the bike that were already there. They will also overcharge for any scrape or scratch that you put on the bike, so be extra careful.

How do I love my motorbike... Let me count the ways

These are my safety rules, although I'm sure you'll add many more as you adapt to whatever city / country you're in.