The dreadful step eventually came next, which was trying to replace the Chinese visa and put it onto my new passport.  The reps for the company I work for had insisted the best plan forward was to apply for a tourist visa.

At this point I remembered James' advice and thought what if I just reneged on the whole China thing and didn't come back?  Despite signing a contract and all that, if I was being asked to re-enter on a tourist visa which is technically illegal then would it be a valid excuse to reneg on the contract?  Or could you argue that the passport wasn't really stolen, it was intentionally lost so as to be in this situation?  Who would even do this?  But then James was actually right, if there ever was an opportunity to quit China this was it.  All that would be needed was to say, "It's not possible to replace that work visa, might as well throw in the towel."  I would have more than enough finances to keep on traveling anyway.

But for whatever reason I went ahead with trying to get back into China.  At this point the only thing I could think of is that was some sort of compulsion or toxic addiction.  

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The way it works is that the Chinese Embassy has outsourced the visa tasks to a Thai company called CVAC or 'China Visa Application Center'.  They are actually a very well run company and I have no complaints with them specifically.  The caveat, as you would expect, is that they have no decision making power in terms of issuing visas.

CVAC does a pretty thorough job in terms of vetting your application.  They will make sure every I is dotted and every T is crossed before sending it off to the Embassy.  I followed the steps to the letter and prepared everything they wanted including proof of finances and hotel and flight bookings.

When it was my turn she checked the application very thoroughly and then asked for the old passport.  When I said I didn't have it, predictably she asked, "Why you don't have it?"  I then explained it was stolen and showed all the proof for that.  She wasn't interested in the police letters etc.. but definitely wanted me to photocopy an old Chinese visa from the former passport. 

So it was back to the internet cafe it was to prepare more paperwork.  While all this was going on, suddenly an old man got up without warning and yelled to the woman running the cafe:  "Why is this computer not working, you stupid cow?"   I was gobsmacked.  While I'm no expert in communication, it's pretty much a no-brainer that you don't talk to a woman like that. 

Her reply was, "I told you before you many times before you change to another computer".  Apparently I had missed this part.

The old fart then said, "I lost all my typing now and wasted all my time and money here"  She then said "I don't care.  Just go away.  It's for free, just get out of here." 

He left and she got the last word in with, "Old man no good"  She then apologized to me that I had to listen to all this bullshit.

This guy was clearly in the wrong.  We don't know why he is here or what his story is, but his behavior is totally no good because there must be tons of old men retired in Thailand.  Eventually that is my plan too and he is giving my future plans bad karma.  Miserable misogynists like him are not helping anyone.

So it was back to the visa center.  The clerk was satisifed with my application except for one thing:  she wanted me to add a note that I'm not intending to work in China.  This I did but felt concerned doing so.  Wouldn't a note like that act as a signal to them they want to check up on this more and find evidence to the contrary?  I went to every length possible to make this look like a tourist application.  I was told to pick up the passport on Monday.  So I began to make plans for the final portion of this cycle tour.

[Update November 2022:  My gut feeling was correct.  The Embassy did flag my application and suspect that I was working in China and trying to get back on an improper visa.  That would have been another good sign to abandon China altogether, yet I was irrationally determined to get back]

In the afternoon I paid a visit to my lawyer and outlined the latest developments with Prateep, the mismanager.  The amount for the rentals he hadn't paid me was on the order of 50,000 baht.  That doesn't sound like much (around $1500) but it could finance months worth of cycle tours so I wanted to fight for this.

Unfortunately my lawyer wouldn't be able to do much as he explained that the legal fees would eat into a significant portion of the gains that could be made.  I was pissed at the overall situation but could understand his point and it might be better off just cutting my losses.