Pic o' the Day #42 - Final Pic o' the Day

Which documents do you take if you want to leave China for a vacation in Thailand and India?

If you chose the ones on the right, you'd be correct.

If you chose the ones on left, you'd be me.

I have 3 passports. 1 US personal passport, 1 US Peace Corps passport, and 1 Irish passport. I had a cunning plan: Exit China on my US Peace Corps passport. Use my Irish passport to enter and exit India and avoid the 1000 baht visa surcharge for Americans. Then re-enter China on my US Peace Corps passport. Like you, I was impressed with this plan.

However, I put the wrong docs in my pocket. At the airport, just before border control, I realized my mistake. The US passport that I brought showed no Chinese visa nor any evidence of legally entering the country. I was worried. Lisa thought we could schmooze our way across the border. But in the place that invented and perfected the use of official red stamps, that was not to be.

I had to go back to Mianyang and get the right papers in order to leave. Lisa and the plane left without me. I got on the next flight, 2 days later, and tried to forget all about my cunning plan.

BTW, the red document on the left is my Foreign Expert Certificate. It entitles me to get a work visa here. It has a red stamp, too.

I really enjoyed this little project. I find that I was taking different pictures than I normally would and seeing my world with a little more attention than I had before.

Now, I will just make regular old posts with pics from current events and a few blasts from the past. If there is anything you'd like to see from China, please let me know. I'd be happy to try to get some snaps.