laptop & camera in GUZ

[Toplaw]

Bob, I want to wish you the best of luck. Enjoy your trip. Our hotel had a safe in the room that was large enough to lock up a laptop (just the computer, not the whole bag). Surely, though, you will want to have everything backed up before you step on the airplane.

[michaln]

I tried to get a picture of ling with her pink slip

on the steps in front of the embassy the guards ran down and stopped me

[bob&haiqing]

If for some reasons the wait is several hours (just like me who had to wait for 6 nail biting hours), the waiter would politely ask you to purchase another drink or something to eat. I ended up having a plate of truly awful spaghetti and 2 cups of espresso. The disappointment of the lousy meal quickly turned into tearful joy when finally Emily cruised down from the escalator while trying to hide the pink slip behind her back...but not her smile

Thanks Clement for the info but please don't tell me about a possible six hour wait ... I'll pace a groove through the floor in six hours I can't imagine how crazy that must have made you feel, glad you guys got the pink to sooth the wait.

 

I'll be sure to stay away from the spaghetti

 

The two of you will part outside the building on interview day as the QUEUE you're both standing in MOVES inside. Yer not allowed to go with her inside this queue.

 

With that said, the IV unit of the Consulate is inside the building. You can't get into the interview area (but you knew that already).

 

You can easily traipse up to the 4th floor coffee shop with yer gear, from the street level entrance, without getting hassled by security.

Thanks Darnell, I think I'll do just that ... traipse up to the 4th floor coffee shop and then pace while I wait

 

An old thread about the consulate - http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?...c=20995&hl=

 

The missing pictures -

 

The fourth floor coffee shop - to the left is the consulate area where they check your passports and allow you up to the 5th floor. To the right is the down escalator where the interviewees exit the consulate

 

 

The queues outside the building

 

 

 

From across the plaza - the consulate area is circled

 

Wow ... Randy, thanks a lot for the pictures, gives me a great visual on what to expect and look for, very helpful of you!

 

Bob, I want to wish you the best of luck. Enjoy your trip. Our hotel had a safe in the room that was large enough to lock up a laptop (just the computer, not the whole bag). Surely, though, you will want to have everything backed up before you step on the airplane.

Thanks very much Lee, I'm really looking forward to seeing my sweet Haiqing again. Seven months without her has been much too long

 

I'm not sure at this point where we'll stay in Guangzhou. I've seen safes in some of the hotel rooms before and most big hotels have a much larger safe where you can keep larger valuables, all you have to do is ask. I do have everything backed up on an external drive and my sweet Haiqing has a copy of everything on her computer as well. I may even put a copy of everything up on my ftp site just in case but that might be a bit over kill

 

Since we're only about an hour-ish away by train from Shenzhen we'll probably only stay one night before the interview and then head back to pick up the visa when it's available. She may go to GUZ for one day next week for the medical exam or do it the day after I arrive, either way is ok with me, she's familiar with the area and getting to GUZ so it's no problem for her.

 

I'll definitely enjoy this trip, we plan on being there until end of February or first of March before returning home to the US and getting married.

 

I tried to get a picture of ling with her pink slip

on the steps in front of the embassy the guards ran down and stopped me

Hi michaln, that's a shame they wouldn't let you take a picture of something so important as getting your pink slip! I have a digital camera with a pretty good zoom so I could stand back a ways and still get a good close up picture ... also, I'll be taking my digital movie camera with an internal hard drive that has a 20x optical zoom and a 2,000x digital zoom! I could stand across a big 4 lane street and zoom in close enough to only see her from the waist up

 

Thanks a bunch everyone for your help, I really appreciate it!

Bob

[Guest WenDylan]

Randy, your photos are way better than mine. Here is the same place at night...

 

http://a93.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/5/l_9706241d11352e81426cbddbe2a21e94.jpg

 

http://a643.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/106/l_d2df181f826ed657d6546b35abc6e31a.jpg

 

http://a799.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/91/l_4bc7f30f263547089fa994202308e5ee.jpg

 

http://a111.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/86/l_33876b26d2c6c004c2549567cfa4174e.jpg

 

Now you know what it looks light at night, or if you arrive at night. Haha.

[bob&haiqing]

That's cool Dylan, thanks for the night shots!

 

Have a terrific ... night!

Bob

[chilton747]

The fourth floor might not work for me. I don't drink coffee and I know my wife will not allow me to buy anything expensive (her perception). We will eat before we go there. Of course she will make me a bottle of green tea to take with me. If the coffee shop requires that I purchase something then I guess I will be waiting somewhere else.

[Guest WenDylan]

The fourth floor might not work for me. I don't drink coffee and I know my wife will not allow me to buy anything expensive (her perception). We will eat before we go there. Of course she will make me a bottle of green tea to take with me. If the coffee shop requires that I purchase something then I guess I will be waiting somewhere else.

There's some info that needed to enlighten the rest of us. What is the cost of the infamous coffee shop? I would think it is huge monopoly, and someone has definitely made their retirement money.

[tsap seui]

Thanks for the photos Randy, and the memories I thought were erased.

 

I can't remember the prices being too high in the coffee shop, I had some sort of fruit drink and a cat haunch sammich. The chairs were comfortable and I sat there fouling the air with a couple of hand rolled, by Chairman Moe hisowndamnself, Chinese ceegars as I read a Dean Koontz novel, looked at the parade of tiny hineys, and listened to the squaker's in the hallways.

 

I had gone up a few days earlier, before the interview, to check where everything was, and to go up to the consulate to get a new evolution of relationship and new intent to marry letters notorized. Took a look at the interview area as I paid the bill for the notorizations at, I think, window 16. I had waited to get the notorizations done at the consulate, instead of america, so I could look at where the big day would take place and so I could explain to the lil' rabbit what it looked like and what to expect.

 

I did everything humanly possible to have that lil' Thumper prepared, calm, and confident for her interview.

 

I'm so proud of the lil' rabbit. She never let her VO rattle her cage, even as hard as the nasty VO tried to fluster her and break her down. We might not have gotten a visa but the americans never broke the spirit or the focus of the lil' rabbit at that damned criminal interview. I'll always remember that, and I'll always know how tuff my girl is. I'll always remember that beautiful lil' rabbit, in her white dress, wheeling her double briefcase loaded with evidence past the coffee shop...hell, I thought she had gotten the visas.

 

Good luck to ya Bob, and the rest of you folks soon to interview. It will go well for you all and your dreams will come true.

 

tsap seui

[Randy W]

A couple more notes:

 

Photography - Again, it's a public building - you can take pictures anywhere you want. The guards are protective of the consulate areas, however, including the queue areas outside and the guards themselves. Stand away from those areas and aim your camera away, and they won't bother you.

 

There is another free waiting area down the hall from the coffee shop. In the hallway next to the bottom of the escalator going up to the consulate, go about 2 doors away from the coffee shop. It has a TV and a lot of chairs to sit. It is a room, however, which has no view of the people coming down.

[bokiwen]

The fourth floor might not work for me. I don't drink coffee and I know my wife will not allow me to buy anything expensive (her perception). We will eat before we go there. Of course she will make me a bottle of green tea to take with me. If the coffee shop requires that I purchase something then I guess I will be waiting somewhere else.

 

You could also wait in the lobby of IKEA or do some shopping there. When I went to ACH, my wife did that. I believe they have a hot dog and a drink for 10 RMB..

 

Now at the coffee shop---- Yes, the coffee is expensive--- I think I paid 55RMB for an Italian Coffee (more expensive than Starbucks!). If your lucky, they might throw in some seaweed crackers!! I had to wait until my wife came down at 11:45 (which I was waiting over 3 hours for the interview). I was really nervous, because I had seen so many people leave. Texting with Erika helped take my mind off it a little bit. At the end, I did have another CFL member (Squonk) to talk with, and the experience alone talking with other people seems very memorable. I don't know, for me, the coffee shop is just part of the whole experience, and was really glad that I waited there.

[Clement & Emily]

If for some reasons the wait is several hours (just like me who had to wait for 6 nail biting hours), the waiter would politely ask you to purchase another drink or something to eat. I ended up having a plate of truly awful spaghetti and 2 cups of espresso. The disappointment of the lousy meal quickly turned into tearful joy when finally Emily cruised down from the escalator while trying to hide the pink slip behind her back...but not her smile

Thanks Clement for the info but please don't tell me about a possible six hour wait ... I'll pace a groove through the floor in six hours B) I can't imagine how crazy that must have made you feel, glad you guys got the pink to sooth the wait.

 

I'll be sure to stay away from the spaghetti

 

 

 

The 6 nail-biting hours I've waited at the 4th floor coffee shop (from 7:45 am - 1:45pm) on that fateful Thursday was an experience of joy, pain, tears, laughters, denial, disappointment, sadness, resolute, satisfaction, ending for some and/or the beginning of another journey for many...all of these sights and sounds combined was almost overwhelming! Let me explain...

 

While I was waiting in the coffee shop, I made a point to start a conversation with anyone (also waiting for his/her SO) willing to talk. Since I could speak in several Chinese dialects as well as in English, I started a group discussion involving several Americans as well as Chinese. We learned about each other's journey leading up to the interview, shared our memories, hopes and plans for the future.

 

All this time we would see people coming down for the 5th floor, some holding the blue slip, a few with the dreaded white slip but the majority came in pink and the million dollar smile. There were also vultures circling and waiting to prey on those with the blue or white slips; offering "legal" consul.

 

A few blue and white slip recipients stop by to talk to our group. The pain and anguish felt by the OP/SO reverberated through each of us. Fortunately everyone in our group got the pink slip. I felt honored to share their joy and congratulated each one with all my heart.

 

By 1:44pm, I was the only one left in the coffee shop. The waiter stayed away from me because I was pissed with the spaghetti and that frozen piece of rock - a.k.a dinner roll, compliments from the non-existent chef! I stood up and walks towards the bottom of the escalator. From the corner of my eye suddenly I saw 2 shadows of something emerging from the security door at the top of the escalator - it was Emily and Jay!. They look rather tired and deflated. As they stepped onto the escalator, I caught a glimpse of pink behind Emily's back followed by a smile of a million suns breaking out from the love of my life. All at once, as if a heavy load I've been carrying unexpectedly lifted off my back, tears fell freely on my face as I danced the moonwalk on the smooth white marble floor to a song sung from the bottom of my heart.

 

After many kisses and hugs, Emily said to me with some urgency "Lao Gong...I am very hungry, let's go and eat rice first!"

 

Later that night Emily reminded me I should keep my day job and not do the moonwalk again Amen to that.

Edited September 5, 2008 by Clement & Emily (see edit history)

[bob&haiqing]

Hey Chilton, Dylan, tsap seui, Randy, bokiwen and Clement,

 

Thanks to all you guys for the info, stories and warm wishes, I really appreciate all your input.

 

I'm a bit overwhelmed this weekend getting all the forms completed with my sweet fianc¨¦e Haiqing and getting documents sent for a new visa so please excuse me for not replying to each of you individually which I prefer doing. I'm sure those of you who have been there know what I'm talking about.

 

I hope you all have a terrific weekend,

Bob

[jim_julian]

Here's the pic we all want to take ...

 

http://jjulian.org/page3/page19/files/page19-1015-thumb.jpg

 

... best of luck and don't let the Chinese guards push you around ... they work for "us" and they will back down.

[SteveK]

Here's the pic we all want to take ...

 

http://jjulian.org/page3/page19/files/page19-1015-thumb.jpg

 

... best of luck and don't let the Chinese guards push you around ... they work for "us" and they will back down.

 

That is a great photo with some very happy ladies.

 

This is the 1st time I've seen the actual pink. I always pictured it in my mind as just a little card.

 

BTW, do they allow food or snacks to be brought onto the 5th floor, past the security check point? If people are waiting 4 or more hours to be interviewed, they might get a bit hungry.

Edited September 7, 2008 by SteveK (see edit history)

[Clement & Emily]

 

 

That is a great photo with some very happy ladies.

 

This is the 1st time I've seen the actual pink. I always pictured it in my mind as just a little card.

 

BTW, do they allow food or snacks to be brought onto the 5th floor, past the security check point? If people are waiting 4 or more hours to be interviewed, they might get a bit hungry.

 

I'm afraid no food is allowed on the 5th floor. However they do have a water cooler Emily and Jay were up there for 6 hours before being called to the window for the actual interview. Make sure your SO has a decent breakfast that morning!

Edited September 7, 2008 by Clement & Emily (see edit history)