The Mongolian visa part #1
Let's just skip back in time a few days..... (hum so the screen goes wobbly)This is what I wanted to be saying yesterday but never got round to it as I was interrupted. The lead-up was thus. Bits in brackets are what I thought:
Me: Hello?
Woman at the Mongol embassy: Yes, hello?
Me: Hi, yes. I want a tourist visa to visit Mongolia but I'm not sure what I need and what I have to do.
WATME: Well, how will you be entering the country?
Me: By train, from China.
WATME: You'll need your passport, a passport photo, 4,400yen and a form which we will give you when you get here.
Me: (Whoa there! I thought I could do it by post.) I have to come in person?
WATME: Yes.
Me: And I can't do it by post? (It will cost about 200pounds and take about three days for each trip to Tokyo to accomplish this.)
WATME: You could have a proxy do it.
Me: I don't know anyone in Tokyo. Is there no other way?
WATME: No, sorry.
Me: So I have to go all the way to Tokyo to sort it out?
WATME: Yes.
Me: Can I get the (damn) visa in Beijing? Can they do it in three days like you can?
WATME: I don't know.
Me, resignedly: And there is no other way to do it in Japan?
WATME: No.
Me: (Please God! Please!) And there is no other place in Japan that I can put my hands on a visa? Nowhere I can get to in under half a day?
WATME: Hang on. Where do you live?
Me: (No way am I telling her Shiga. Muddy the waters even further... Let's go for) Kyoto.
WATME: Just a second. OK, here is the number for our honorary consulate in Osaka.
So it came out in the end, once I had prized he information from her clutches, that I could get a visa from an office in Osaka. A mere two stops on the subway from where I was going anyway to pick up my passport and Chinese visa.
So the moral of the story, or an amoral in this case, is to keep hammering away no matter what. Normally I hate people who do that, but who knows? Perhaps that is a part of the local culture?
Me: I want to go.
Her: No way!
Me: Oh, go-on!
Her: I don't think you really want to. Not really.
Me: No, I do! A lot!
Her, fingers held apart: About this much?
Me: No, more! I haven't got big enough hands to show you.
Her: Well, OK then....
To think I nearly spent tons of money sorting it out. So if anyone ever needs it, there is a consulate of Mongolia in Osaka.
Labels: consulate, mongolia, obstructive, osaka, visa
posted by Between daisies @ 11:05
3 Comments:
Unbelievable.
This would have enraged me to the point of screaming.
I want to comment.
Hey, I'm brilliant. Barely had to think about it.
Her, fingers held apart: About this much?
Me: No, more! I haven't got big enough hands to show you.
I really like that, like the food on the pictures behind the counter in KFC. Except I can eat your blog.
This is another reminder of why I don't miss Japan (that much). The 'we won't tell you unless you ask specifically' approach is frustrating to the point of being criminal.
Then there's the 'you must come here in person' approach. I guess this approach compliments the first approach. However, when you're accustomed to having (fairly) reliable service to begin with it's enough to boil your blood.
Send me a quick email when you're able.
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