Guangzhou Airport, China [layover]
16th of November 2023; 4:20 pm After half an hour of manoeuvring above this truly monstrous megapolis, I land in Guangzhou in order to catch a connecting flight to Auckland - my final destination. I was unable to get the boarding pass all the way to New Zealand because the layover in China is slightly longer than 24 hours (the beauty of booking the cheapest flight possible through the murky website) and so I will have to obtain it here in China. Door of the airport shuttle bus open, I go straight to the border control rather than connecting flight lounge like the rest of the flight, after 20 minutes of waiting in line man in the uniform stands up from his chair and informs me that I need to go elsewhere first to get my 24h transit visa. On the way there I pick up "Arrival/Departure Card For Temporary Entry Foreigners" form assuming it will come in handy at the counter, I borrow a pen from the guy in front of me who borrowed it from the guy in front of him, who got their perm...