CHTHONIC frontman Freddy Lim has issued the following tour blog explaining how he and the band were allowed to leave the US and fly to the UK for tour dates in support of their current album, Mirror Of Retribution. It reads as follows:

"Sir, where is your VISA?" asked the puzzled ticket clerk at JFK.

With very little patience left, I told her: "I am Taiwanese, NOT Chinese and Taiwanese don't need visa to travel to UK"

She was still confused at my "Republic of China" passport.

"This is our government's fault. Sorry to see you getting confused by this but I don't like this either. Anyway, my country is Taiwan, NOT China and I should be able to travel to UK without a VISA." (#1)

This is actually not uncommon to happen. I am getting used to it even though I am still pissed off, especially after a long day in New York.

Today in NYC we were stuck in traffic for 4+ hours and checked by cops twice. Unfortunately I don't have the international driver's license with me and I look like a long-hair freak driving a big trailer. We felt like I was gonna be busted by "John McClane" in NYC and miss the London concert.

Fortunately "John McClane" let me go and we made it to the airport in time. After the ticket clerk realized we are Taiwanese not Chinese, we finally boarded the flight to the UK.

This 5-week tour with 20+ concerts in north America was finally, officially over! Looking back I am glad we never gave up when some difficulties came across. It really galvanized us to see so many fans in concerts at US and Canada. Also fans on the Internet have showed tremendous support to sustain our tour.

We also want to thank many Taiwanese friends that have been helping us all the way. We wouldn't have finished this tour without you guys!

#1: Our agent told us when they applied for the work permit in UK, the UK officials mistook us as Chinese. Therefore the whole process was stuck. When they were convinced we are Taiwanese, the permit passed very quickly. Ugh... Chinese are not only oppressed by their own dictator but also treated differently by other governments. It's still a long way to go to achieve the true freedom and equality in this world.

(Photo by Ping Lin)