Can't they just deport us to Mongolia? Part 1

Awaiting check-in at the Phnom Penh airport, the poor airline employee began asking a series of questions and we became increasingly confused...

Airline employee: Do you have a Chinese visa?

Us: No.

AE: Did you realize the two of you are on different connecting flights from Guangzhou to Beijing?

Us: No.

AE: If you get on this flight, you might get detained and deported by the Chinese immigration officers.

Us: But we didn't need a visa on our way here? (We researched it before we planned the trip and found that we didn't need one as long as we were simply in transit through China and not staying)

AE: You flew to Beijing first. It's not likely to be possible to get a transit visa in Guangzhou.

Us: So what exactly are our options?

A tumbled mess of alternatives, expensive, turn-our-plans-upside-down alternatives.

Option A.) Get a Chinese visa. This means leaving the airport, going to the Chinese embassy (which requires first finding a way to get to the embassy), paying $150 for a visa (assuming we can even get one), going back to the airport and paying to have all of our flights rescheduled.

Option B.) Pay to have our flight rescheduled so that we fly directly to Beijing- but then we would have another issue because our flight to UB wouldn't be for over 24 hours, which is over the limit of the temporary transit visa that we would get in Beijing.

Option C.) Get on the original flight to Guangzhou and hope that they give us a transit visa when we get there. If they won't, we'll be deported back to Cambodia, where we will have to pay for that flight, as well as a Chinese visa and new flights to get us back to Mongolia.

What are the chances we'll get a transit visa in Guangzhou?

A small chance he says. A small chance.

What the heck, we say. Let's go to Guangzhou and see what happens- the worst case scenario leaves us back in Cambodia and in need of purchasing some pricey new return tickets home (let's not think about that now).

The airline employee looks skeptical at this plan and says he needs to ask his supervisor if he's allowed to issue us boarding passes without visas.

Hol and I chat briefly about whether we're crazy and then decide it will for sure make for a good story (Perhaps not the wisest decision-making criteria, but certainly the most fun). And that if the risk works we won't have to spend any extra money at all.

The airline employee offers us a piece of paper to sign, removing the airline of any liability if we are in fact deported.

We get boarding passes and Hol tells the airline employee that she hopes we won't see him again soon.

and so the adventure began....