How to Get a Chinese Visa?

Visas are one of those pesky things that you need to put up with when you love travelling to exotic countries. Some of them are easy to obtain, like the electronic ones in Oz and the USA, or the ones that are issued on arrival. Other visa application processes are just plain painful and require standing in long and never dissolving queues for hours and hours and being grilled by rude embassy officials.

So when I found out I needed one for my upcoming trip to China, I was dreading my visit to the Chinese visa application centre. It turns out that getting your Chinese visa is easier as pie. Or should I say, dim sum?

You pick your own appointment slot online, print off and fill in the necessary forms, have a snazzy picture taken and off you go. When you get there, there are no long queues like at the Indian embassy, nor are there grumpy officials like at the American one. The nice lady at the reception desk hands you a number and tells you to wait in the waiting area. You wait for your number to be called while lounging on a cushy couch, having a coffee. When you hear your number, you go to the window, hand over your docs and passport, to pick it up again fours days later.

This was probably the most friendly and well-oiled visa appliccation process I'd ever been through before. If this represents how everything is organised in the Republic of China, then I am in for a treat. Only a few more sleeps to go.