Lazy days in HK

It's been a couple of nice, lazy days in Hong Kong. Don't get me wrong, though. I haven't been sitting in the hotel watching TV. I've been oot and aboot (that's a Canadian reference for all you non-Canadians). It's just that I haven't been accomplishing a lot, and that's OK. It's nice to be semi-retired. All of the previous times I've been here in Asia, I've always had a looming deadline to return to Canada. So the pressure was on to get things done, and experience as much as I can in the allotted time. Now, I don't have that sense of urgency. I am taking things casually, and it's refreshing.

Yesterday, I spent time with more banking issues (still can't access my cash here), and worked on getting my Visa for Vietnam. The banking issues should be resolved tomorrow. HSBC keeps telling me to come back tomorrow. And then tomorrow. I hope it gets figured out, soon.

The Visa application for Vietnam was pretty uneventful. Basically, it's a revenue grab for The Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The queue for the application was out the lobby, and down the hall. But they processed the lineup at a decent speed. I should have my Visa on Thursday. I just have to brave the queue again.

I met my friend Mandy for drinks at the IFC. Mandy works as a relocation specialist. He makes a living helping companies move their staff to other countries. It was a good meeting, and informative. It might not be all that easy to obtain a working Visa in China. According to Mandy's sources, "At this time the Chinese authorities do not recognise "self employed" individuals for the purposes of obtaining Work Permits." So, this means that a company needs to sponsor me for a work permit. Hmm....

Today, I booked a flight to Ho Chi Minh City. I leave Hong Kong on Monday, and will be in HCMC on Monday night. I don't really have much of a plan for my time in VN. So far, I think I will start in HCMC, and then travel north up the coast to Danang and on to Hanoi. After that, I will enter Vientiane Laos, and then on to Chiangmai Thailand. That should finish up the month of November.