just...

four more days. we've been busily gathering things together and readying our documents for our trip to china. did you know a simple travel visa into china is now $110?!? up until august 1st, it was a mere $60. i think the price was nearly doubled for next summer's olympics. prior to the change, you had a thirty day limit w/ a ninety day window to use it. and you could only enter once. with the jacked up price, you now have six months (from the day it was issued) to use it...still w/ a thirty day limit but w/ multiple entry (only if you apply for multiple).

it is so convoluted

when we applied a couple weeks ago, a slight problem nearly sidetracked our trip. upon finding out that my mom was born and raised in china, the consulate immediately wanted mom to submit her chinese passport (so they could cancel it). thing is, when mom came over in 1948, she didn't need a passport to get into the united states. her entry was assured by my father, who was a u.s. citizen. when they got married in china, he brought her back...case closed.

so when we found out that her required, yet non-existent, chinese passport was an issue...we scrambled to find an alternative. apparently, for those passportless chinese immigrants of the late 40's, naturalization papers are the way to go. we ended up faxing her u.s. citizenship and chinese marriage license to the consulate, thereby soothing their suspicious concerns. now they can be rest assured that my mom has NO intentions of visiting china and spending her twilight years there. geez.