This has been a night of crazy phone-line experiences (on Skype)!
First I tried calling a few numbers from the web that purported to be the Chinese Embassy in Kazakhstan – only one picked up and it was some baffled Chinese guy answering back in a confused and slightly aggitated high pitch “Ni hui shuo Yingyu ma?” (‘Can you speak English?’) > “Bu hui shuo Yingyu!…Huh?!? shenqing zhongguo qianzheng??!??’ (‘No!…Huh?!? Apply for Chinese visa??!??’ – I was just struggling to speak Chinese to him)
I ended his irritation by asking “zhe dui bu dui” (this right or not?) with his predictable answer “bu dui!”
Later I found out from a blog that the Chinese Embassy had actually moved:
‘We woke up early this morning to apply for our Chinese visas only to find the Chinese embassy abandoned with broken windows (later we learned that the Chinese embassy changed locations 2 years ago). After finding the real Chinese embassy, we discovered that we can only apply for visas on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.’ (http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/gangof5/western_china/1185442380/tpod.html)
On finding the real number to the embassy I received a different reaction. We both answered with the customary ‘Wei’ (‘hi’ for phone conversation)
“wei wo shi Chris Berragan – ni hui shuo Yingyu ma??” (‘Hey I’m CB – you speak English?’)
“bu hui shuo Yingyu” (‘nope’)
“Duibuqi wo hui shuo yidianr Hanyu. Wo he wode pengyou yao shenqing Zhongguo qianzheng, women shi Yingguo xuesheng. (’sorry – I only speak a bit of Chinese. My friend and I want to get a Chinese visa, we’re English students’)
“[crazy spiel I didn't understand] qing deng yixia” (‘…hang on a sec’) and he then began a questioning conversation with a group of Chinese men, scaps of which I made out: “ta shi Yinguo ren, keshi ta hui shuo Hanyu ma?” > … > “ta hui zai Lundun shenqing.” > … > “ta shi xuesheng??” > … > “name ta yinggai zai Lundun shengqing”
> (‘he’s English, but he speaks Chinese?’ > ‘he can get his visa in London then’ > ‘he’s a student??’ > ‘then he should get it in London’ > )
“Wei”
“Wei”
…back to the phone the chap then let off another spiel leaving me to say “umm, wo ting bu dong” (‘don’t understand’)
“Huh, ting bu dong” – suddenly another chap appears on the line:
“Uh, uh, hello”
“Hello?”
… he blabbers for a bit in broken English – questioning my motives “why do you want to get visa in Kazakhstan? You can get visa from London”
“But I want to travel around Kazakhstan and then travel to China on the Silk Roads”
“Um, but we don’t provide the visa for other countries”
“keshi women dou shi xuesheng, women xuexi Hanyu. Women neng bu neng zai Hasakesitan shenqing Zhongguo de qianzheng???” I tried a last ditch effort in Chinese (‘but we’re students studying Chinese. Can we get a Chinese visa in Kazakhstan or not?’)
…after a bit more mumbling he finally said “… uh bu neng” (‘uh, no’)
It’s a bizarre feeling trying to deal with someone in a language you barely grasp over something as sensitive as a visa. Especially at 4.30 in the morning!
