Day 31:

The guy at the Pakistani consulate was a real dick to me today. My chances of getting an onward visa out of China are looking sort of shitty. It went something like this:

Him: So what do you do for a job.
Me: Ah, I teach English in Korea.
Him: So why didn't you get a visa in Korea?
Me: Well, I've been away for awhile, and I didn't really want the validity of the passport to expire
Him: Honestly, that is a very horrible excuse.
Me: Oh?
Him: Yes it is. You didn't get it because it didn't suit you at the time.
Me: Oh?
Him: Yes. If a Pakistani person went to the Canadian embassy in Beijing and asked for a visa, they would throw him out.
Me: Oh, yes, you're probably right. I'm sorry.
Him: Okay, come back tomorrow and see if you are approved.
Me: Okay. Thank-you, sir. Goodbye, sir.

Oy! What the heck does it matter where I file the application This was the boss of the entire consular mission, and he was a total dick! He's famous on Internet message boards, apparently, for being such a man. But is he willing to turn away my 100 dollar visa fee just to be mean? Who knows...

...

I put my writing on hold just now to chat to an American couple from Virginia. They are long retired, and have been staying at this hostel for the past few weeks. Just a little holiday, they say.

Increasingly, I find that I like talking to older travellers much more than I like talking to the young ones. Like Kaplan said in the passage I quoted earlier, older travellers are often much more intelligent than the young backpackers, and much more informed about the local culture and history. Us kids are sometimes so preoccupied with being pretend hippies that we don't have the time for learning and critical thinking.

...

Anyhow. Back on track. That trip to the embassy took up most of my morning and afternoon. I got out of there around lunchtime, had a bite, and then taxied over to the Forbidden City. I spent about three hours poking around there. It's quite informative, but sort of uninspiring. It's a nice museum, but that's all it really is - a big museum, rather than a representation/simulation of the past. It suffers, also, from being located near Tiannamen Square and Mao's mausoleum. That whole place has been turned into a sort of Maoist wonderland... and visitors to the Forbidden City must first pass under a MASSIVE portrait of the great helmsman.

More impressive than all the regular sites are the People's Liberation Army guys who wander around the square (and everywhere else in the city). Sometimes they march alone, sometimes in pairs, and sometimes in packs of a few dozen. They look really smart in their uniforms, and they never really break character, remaining steely and serious at all times. I saw a troupe of about two dozen marching around the embassy section of town. They all marched two-by-two in perfect formation, and two guys at the very back held little stop signs. When the troupe came to a crosswalk, one of the rear guys broke formation to stop traffic with his little sign. When his fellows had crossed safely, he gave a salute to the front most driver and rejoined formation.

So cool. And it's not just a show for the tourists; these guys are EVERYWHERE.