Sorry. Denise is unable to blog right now. She is stuck in Guangzhou and access to her blog is officially blocked. She can not read it or write for it and so this message is brought to you by her sponsor/ spouse, Keith.
Brief outline of events.
Monday 25th May -
1. Denise is robbed in Guangzhou .
Denise was due back from China on the 6:30 through train from Guangzhou but phoned me with a brief message that she had been robbed. The robbery had occurred as she was waiting to go to the rail station. It left her without money, passport or any other form of ID and she was speaking on a borrowed phone as hers was also taken.
I will let her fill in all the details of the next few days as she struggled heroically to get the slightest interest concerning her predicament from the Police or, indeed, anyone in China. What I know is from my perspective.
2. Denise reports the theft to police.
Actually Chinese police will not fill in a police report from someone unless they have ID. If you have had your ID stolen you cannot report it to the police until you have some ID to prove who you are. You cannot get ID without ID. Also, it is an offense to not have ID in China for anyone but more so for foreigners.
3. Denise borrows a phone from a stranger at Starbucks to phone me.
I received the first call just after 5:30 pm when taking a break from a meeting. I tried immediately to call Australian Consulate but they were closed for the day and so was diverted to Australia where I was told that the Guangzhou office had also closed and could not be contacted until morning.
Interestingly, the office said that Guangzhou Starbucks is currently featuring large with them on the theft-front, although Barcelona Starbucks still has the honour of # 1 world-ranking with an estimated 4 thefts per day, so Chinese have to lift their game to compete with the Europeans. (Or maybe not as I was told by knowing locals in China and HK that actually Africans were the most likely suspects - Denise says this is strong possibility from what she remembers of people near her when the theft happened, although her money is on the Arab boys. A Spanish friend also endorsed this Africa-theory for the Barcelona-thefts. So it's possible that hordes of Africans are currently traveling the world stealing from Starbucks? How do they find the time when they are always emailing me with sad tidings about deceased relatives with millions of dollars needing my account number for transfer?)
Next I tried to get a hotel room organised for Denise. I asked her to return to the hotel she had just checked out from as they still had a photocopy of her ID and passport on file. The hotel refused to readmit her without ID - they needed to see it again and verify it. I asked to book a room but they refused to let me make a phone booking and insisted I show them the credit card personally.
At this point I went to the Travel Expert office near home where we usually make bookings. The guys there were very supportive and spent the next couple of hours working phones trying to get a booking for Denise. No hotel would accept her without official ID. No hotel would take a telephone booking and credit card payment for such a non-person or unperson. Part of the problem was that any credit card booking could not be processed until the next working day and they would not make exceptions.
Fortunately the staff at Starbucks arranged a very cheap hostel for Denise for the night - no questions asked - and they paid.
I was also trying unsuccessfully to get money to Denise. Western Union needs ID before it will give out money at the other end of a transfer. It's a sensible policy but frustrating in a situation like this. And I couldn't get money to her by ATM as her cards were stolen.
A side note about banks. Tuesday I went to HSBC with a copy of Denise's bank statement hoping to get them to shut down her account. No way. Their mantra was" She must phone us herself and give us the numbers of the accounts personally." - But her phone was stolen and so were her cards so she can't phone and even if she did she has not memorised her card numbers. They reused to budge on this point so it had to wait until I got to Guangzhou with all the details written out for her to phone the emergency hotline.
Tuesday 26th May
Went to work so I could get all my exam papers organised and give work to substitutes so I could leave. Still phoning to Australian consulate and found Lyle (the Consul) very understanding and on the case. He was able to get some emergency funds to Denise - $AUD150.
Lyle was able to begin the process of getting an emergency passport but he said that the Chinese government insists on 5 working days to produce an "exit visa" once you give them your replacement documentation. His advice was book a hotel for 5 working days and be prepared to wait. So the boys at Travel Expert booked a hotel for 5 working days which means Denise is there until Wednesday 3rd June. ( Thursday 28th May is a national holiday with dragon boat races on the Pearl River)
Trying to get up to her without a China visa was a real problem because, to get a visa for China, you need to surrender your passport for several days and wait and then pay the extortionate fees.
In a hurry? Go to the Shenzhen/LoWu border!
I went up to LoWu but could not get a visa issued because the office there closes at 4:00 and the visas need at least 2 hours processing time. I tried to get a cheap Shenzhen-only visa, which is processed almost immediately, hoping to then slip onto the Guangzhou train but they knew I wanted to go to Guangzhou and wouldn't give me this option. In the end I had to return to HK, then get up early in order to be in LoWu by the time the office opens at 9:00 am to apply for the visa before getting a Guangzhou train from the LoWu station. It's a pleasant journey.
Wednesday 27th May
Guangzhou is an impressive city with wide tree-lined avenues, interesting architecture and a great many buildings with roof-gardens. We had a nice day exploring and Denise took me to Shamian Dao for dinner at her favourite "Rose Garden" - an outdoor restaurant on the banks of the Pearl River - which was extremely pleasant indeed with exceptionally good Thai food. You must try their Tom Yum prawn dish.
I stayed overnight and, after another day exploring, headed back to Hong Kong on the last through train from Guangzhou (7:21 pm) arriving home about 11:00 ready to sleep before a huge catch-up day at work.
Going back Saturday.
Denise will try to email posting for me to add to keep you informed.
Thanks for e-mails from friends and well-wishers. Your support means a lot to Denise.
I received the first call just after 5:30 pm when taking a break from a meeting. I tried immediately to call Australian Consulate but they were closed for the day and so was diverted to Australia where I was told that the Guangzhou office had also closed and could not be contacted until morning.
Interestingly, the office said that Guangzhou Starbucks is currently featuring large with them on the theft-front, although Barcelona Starbucks still has the honour of # 1 world-ranking with an estimated 4 thefts per day, so Chinese have to lift their game to compete with the Europeans. (Or maybe not as I was told by knowing locals in China and HK that actually Africans were the most likely suspects - Denise says this is strong possibility from what she remembers of people near her when the theft happened, although her money is on the Arab boys. A Spanish friend also endorsed this Africa-theory for the Barcelona-thefts. So it's possible that hordes of Africans are currently traveling the world stealing from Starbucks? How do they find the time when they are always emailing me with sad tidings about deceased relatives with millions of dollars needing my account number for transfer?)
Next I tried to get a hotel room organised for Denise. I asked her to return to the hotel she had just checked out from as they still had a photocopy of her ID and passport on file. The hotel refused to readmit her without ID - they needed to see it again and verify it. I asked to book a room but they refused to let me make a phone booking and insisted I show them the credit card personally.
At this point I went to the Travel Expert office near home where we usually make bookings. The guys there were very supportive and spent the next couple of hours working phones trying to get a booking for Denise. No hotel would accept her without official ID. No hotel would take a telephone booking and credit card payment for such a non-person or unperson. Part of the problem was that any credit card booking could not be processed until the next working day and they would not make exceptions.
Fortunately the staff at Starbucks arranged a very cheap hostel for Denise for the night - no questions asked - and they paid.
I was also trying unsuccessfully to get money to Denise. Western Union needs ID before it will give out money at the other end of a transfer. It's a sensible policy but frustrating in a situation like this. And I couldn't get money to her by ATM as her cards were stolen.
A side note about banks. Tuesday I went to HSBC with a copy of Denise's bank statement hoping to get them to shut down her account. No way. Their mantra was" She must phone us herself and give us the numbers of the accounts personally." - But her phone was stolen and so were her cards so she can't phone and even if she did she has not memorised her card numbers. They reused to budge on this point so it had to wait until I got to Guangzhou with all the details written out for her to phone the emergency hotline.
Tuesday 26th May
Went to work so I could get all my exam papers organised and give work to substitutes so I could leave. Still phoning to Australian consulate and found Lyle (the Consul) very understanding and on the case. He was able to get some emergency funds to Denise - $AUD150.
Lyle was able to begin the process of getting an emergency passport but he said that the Chinese government insists on 5 working days to produce an "exit visa" once you give them your replacement documentation. His advice was book a hotel for 5 working days and be prepared to wait. So the boys at Travel Expert booked a hotel for 5 working days which means Denise is there until Wednesday 3rd June. ( Thursday 28th May is a national holiday with dragon boat races on the Pearl River)
Trying to get up to her without a China visa was a real problem because, to get a visa for China, you need to surrender your passport for several days and wait and then pay the extortionate fees.
In a hurry? Go to the Shenzhen/LoWu border!
I went up to LoWu but could not get a visa issued because the office there closes at 4:00 and the visas need at least 2 hours processing time. I tried to get a cheap Shenzhen-only visa, which is processed almost immediately, hoping to then slip onto the Guangzhou train but they knew I wanted to go to Guangzhou and wouldn't give me this option. In the end I had to return to HK, then get up early in order to be in LoWu by the time the office opens at 9:00 am to apply for the visa before getting a Guangzhou train from the LoWu station. It's a pleasant journey.
Wednesday 27th May
Guangzhou is an impressive city with wide tree-lined avenues, interesting architecture and a great many buildings with roof-gardens. We had a nice day exploring and Denise took me to Shamian Dao for dinner at her favourite "Rose Garden" - an outdoor restaurant on the banks of the Pearl River - which was extremely pleasant indeed with exceptionally good Thai food. You must try their Tom Yum prawn dish.
I stayed overnight and, after another day exploring, headed back to Hong Kong on the last through train from Guangzhou (7:21 pm) arriving home about 11:00 ready to sleep before a huge catch-up day at work.
Going back Saturday.
Denise will try to email posting for me to add to keep you informed.
Thanks for e-mails from friends and well-wishers. Your support means a lot to Denise.
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