hello englishman, i cant offer any advice only tell you of my experiance last december when i was going out to the phils.. i had two stops one in beijing for four hours and a 12 hour stop in guangzou. when we were told to disembark in beijing customs asked for my visa i explained im in transit and one is not needed.. so he stamped my passport and allowed me to remain in the airside lobby come smoke room.. then in guangzou we disembarked and i just went to enquire about my luggage going direct to manila, i was informed at the check in desk that it was not now going direct and i better go and collect it from the conveyer belt and return to the check in desk.. so i collected my luggage and the next thing i knew was i was been taken to a hotel free of charge and no visa required to leave the airport.. im still confused as to why they decided to hotel me and not even ask for any documents or any thing of the kind.. strange eh !!
