I’m in China! 44 days of fun starts here.

The border crossing was fairly easy. We were told to hide anything that mentioned the “T” words. If you know anything about this country you’ll understand.

The first 2 people through got a thorough going over. But in the end the group’s strength in numbers helped us. The big boss didn’t like the queue building up behind us. After this it was a case of “any books?”, “no”, “OK, move along…”.

Interestingly I was held at passport control for “further checks” whilst my mates waited in the sun outside. I couldn’t understand anything apart from my name on the supervisors screen. Then he clicked through and an ex colleagues name popped up along with a green tick and a red cross. Now I have no idea what unpaid traffic fines a certain Jim J has outstanding in China but the uniformed gatekeeper lingered over the red cross for a few seconds too long for my comfort before he finally plumped for green. I’ve never travelled with Jim on business but I did have to tell the authorities my previous employer. An Orwellian moment. The Grid is out there! Of course this only occurred to me later – at the time I was busy chanting “green tick, green tick…” in my noggin!

Incidentally – no passport stamp for China as we are on a group visa. So we have each been assigned a number. I’m # 8 which is supposed to be lucky.