The final countdown

 Well, I didn't think I'd have much to write about this post, but as it turns out, I just got my invitation letter from China. Just to recap: all the paperwork that I've been trying to get done over the past three and a half months has been so that we could submit the paperwork for the invitation letter. ('we' meaning, the school). We just received the letter from the government and they sent the letter to me. Now we can book the flights, at least one week from now, though it will probably be longer considering how expensive flights are, and once that's done we can submit the request for a work visa at the consulate here in Penang.

Unfortunately, I didn't have the funds to book said flight, and I've spent the past week, yes week, waiting on a transfer from the school to my American bank account so I can book the flight. As of this writing, I'm still waiting.

This blog was supposed to be a way to document the difficulties of starting a Youtube channel and, specifically, my challenges in getting out of Vietnam and into China during the time of COVID. Currently, the difficulty is entirely in the US banking system. the week that it has taken has seemed unnecessarily long and it has reminded me to mention, at least at some point after we arrive in China, to talk about how much faster and more efficient the Chinese banking system is. Money, even cash, is available in your account instantly when you deposit it to your account. And, of course, most everyone uses one of the payment apps instead of cash or card anyway. It's unbelievably quick and easy when compared with the American system.

And that's actually where my mind is currently. What all will I be able to show on the channel and what will we discuss after we arrive. For four months now we've talked about China as if it's the promised land for the show, but we haven't talked a lot about what we'll actually do once there. I hope to do a few episodes on the approach, especially if the flight involves as many connections and layovers as it appeared it would when we were looking for flights last week. I would also like to do a few shows from quarantine. Those would be an opportunity to discuss what has happened and what our plans are for the future. But I'm most concerned about the period between my actual arrival in Yueyang and the first point at which we are able to get out of that town and do an actual travel episode.

There are, of course, a few sights to see and places to go in Yueyang. But even the biggest cities in China only warrant a few days and we'll be in Yueyang a month or more before we can do a proper travel episode. I can imagine an episode where we show my apartment and the school I'll be working at. That's one episode. We could show some of the surrounding areas and/or a popular mall. That's a couple more at best. It seems we may have a lot of episodes to fill up and not a lot to fill them with, but there are also a few interesting sites in the city, so maybe we can milk those as well.

As long as we can get past that first month or so though, I certainly hope we can begin to show China. Nearby cities at first, train in on the first day. Maybe an evening episode, then the following morning, and a train back in the evening, assuming I can get two days off next to each other. And longer trips away on holidays.

The plan is to use the next year to build a sort of 'back catalog' of episodes for people to watch once we get to a point where I can confidently promote the show. Which will likely be towards the end of this year. One big advantage of doing this while working a regular job in China is that we can learn how to properly put the show together and do episodes using a consistent format and without terribly much in the way of exotic equipment while we learn what our 'standard' episode is. After we see some degree of success, we will be able to work on new and interesting variations, but that baseline needs to be established first, I think.

Anyway, the next few weeks will be the most pivotal since this madness started in January, so I'll do my best to post weekly and keep in interested parties informed on what's going on and where I'm at.

Try, try again

 Okay, so the blogger app foiled my last attempt to make a post, but I feel confident that I can manage it this time. I'm doing it from the browser this time, so we'll see if this is any better. 

As I recall, I was at a pretty low point the last time I made a post. I did make it out of Cambodia, though not without extra expenditure. The PCR test not being within two days of departure caused exactly the problem I expected. However, the airline offered an unexpected solution: they suggested I go sound the corner and get a rapid test, which cost $30. While I couldn't help but wonder why they didn't offer that option before I paid $130 for the PCR test, I was still grateful that it worked out. I was able to avoid the visa overstay fee in Cambodia, which was the goal. 

I'm sure a lot of people would think that I'm overly concerned with this overstay issue, but I assume those are people with substantial funds at their disposal. I ran out of savings nearly two years ago. I've been coasting on fumes ever since. I've earned just barely enough to survive since I got locked out of China, and less than that since the major lockdown in Vietnam began. Furthermore, violating the law in a foreign country is generally a bad idea, even if you assume the penalty will be minor. For example, I was told that the fee for a visa overstay in Cambodia was just one dollar per day. Upon further research, I discovered that it's ten dollars per day, plus on day 30, it jumps to prison. This brings me to the main point: once you've overstayed your visa, you have to correct that before you can get a work visa. you need that to get a job to pay the overstay fee. See the problem? Best not to overstay in the first place. 

Since my previous post, I have been in Malaysia. It has gone mostly terrible since I've been here.  If you want those details you'll have to tune into the channel, but it should suffice to say that Malaysia, being an oil rich country, is very auto dependant, with all the problems that come along with that. 

Yesterday, however, was the worst here yet. Despite having booked days ahead, I was turned away from the hotel I was supposed to check in to on Labor Day holiday. No explanation except that they were full. I wasn't worried and quickly booked another. But after taking the better part of the day to get there, I ran into the same problem. Subsequently, every hotel I called or checked online said a similar thing. So I spent last night at a bus stop in town.

Both of these things require separate posts to discuss:

1. Gradually living through fears that have driven me since I involuntarily left home at 20 years old, and 

2. Why does they hotel industry get away with this shit?

Both of those will need to be saved for a future post since I'm at the new hotel now and really need to eat.