Going Legal

Arnaud, Jonathan and I get up early and proceed to look for the Public Security Bureau. Turns out they've moved... into (surprise) a huge concrete building covered in white toilet tiles. Nobody is there aside from one woman, who makes some phonecalls when she sees us. On the wall, the following 'poetry' :

"Visa alternation and plusing the bamboo slips: Foreigners enters a country queen, in case the manouver which will be go in for outside original capacity have to propose the visa sort and alter the application to person in charge's gear. In case man travelling together have to plus the bamboo slips."

2 Japanese, 2 Austrians, a Korean and a Latvian turn up. The first 5 came in a Jeep. The Latvian girl speaks Chinese, and managed to hitch, hiding under a load of watermelons at the checkpoint.

Then come the PSB : 2 friendly Tibetan women in woolen jumpers with a kid. They fill out the necessary paperwork, take our money, and tell us to visit next year... as if we hadn't violated Chinese law in coming here.

Getting back to the centre of town, we run into Josh, from Beijing, who speaks English and wants to go to the same place as us. There's a bus leaving in 30 minutes. But we have no money. A mad rush around various banks leads us to a back room up a staircase, where everything is sorted out. We grab our bags and leave Ali.