the end of the KL visa saga

There wasn't really an end to it, suffice to say we returned to the consulate in OSK Plaza on the Tuesday as advised, and joined the large queue to apply for a visa. No problem.

I guess it would have been helpful if:

- The correct address had been on the consulate website.(or at least handed to us at the embassy)
- The consulate website had stated the closure dates for Lunar New Year - I think it actually stated 2007 New Year Dates. Not much use.

We could have spent a week outside the city - maybe done some longed for diving, had we known there was no chance to apply for a visa until Tuesday.

Hey ho, The city is not that bad, (snake charmers and man with baby monkey aside) Oh yes - and the taxi drivers - they are something else here. They have meters, and there are signs all over the city to advise that it is illegal to take an unmetered cab, and yet they REFUSE point blank to put the meter on. So every time you want to take a taxi, you end up bracing yourself for this stupid negotiation standoff with a driver. It's hot outside, and taxi's are cheep, even when you are being ripped off - BUT THAT IS NOT THE POINT! I hate being taken advantage of, simply because I am a foreigner.


night scene of restaurants

Happy New Year in KL.

I'm in Kuala Lumpur this week, and next week as well. It was an economic descision, although it sounds rather an extravagant thing to be doing. It is cheeper than a 2 week stint in HK, and cheeper than a trip home - which was also a consideration. Since there is a perfectly good Chinese consulate in KL, then we opted to come here for a visa. The Consulate is closed though, which we discovered after a 2 day treasure hunt for the correct location to make our application.

It all started when we headed to the embassy on day 1 for what we thought would be a simple stand in line, and hand over forms situation. Sadly not, as after our train/walk/ taxi dash to find the embassy ended in a guard handing us a slip of paper with the address of the consular office on it and telling us to go there. Bother! we thought, and off we trudged, in the humid heat to find this mysterious address. Being at number 229 on Jalan Ampang, the office we wanted was at number 25, so it appeared a simple task of walking the length of the road and getting there..

1Floor office
OSK Plaza
25 Jln Ampang
50450 KL

HA! no so, as number 25, when we finally got there in an exhausted and hot state, was a small derelict building. Hmm. most frustrating. Number 35 was a Chinese consulate office, so we opted for the 'address must be wrong' solution to the mystery. The said office was however closed for the Chines Lunar New year, a notice on the door politely told us, and would be open on Saturday 29th. Blast. Oh well simply return on Saturday and get the job done. We remained slightly baffled to the address's reference to a 'Plaza" since the area was singularly devoid of any plaza like buildings, in fact appeared to be virtully in a ramshackle part of town close to the bus station.

Saturday arrived, and although we did sleep through the alarm, we still managed to make it back to the consular office before it closed at 11.45 (chinese lunchtime) Only to met with puzzled responses to a request for a visa application. They told us to go to the Bank of China building. Odd. This time we had no patience for walking, and jumped in a cab. Arriving at the Bank Of China in a few minutes, and seeing it is located in a big shiny building named OSK plaza. AHHH all becomes clear. The number 25 bit was just a cunning plan to confuse us right? who knows. On arrival another polite notice informed us that the offices would be closed until Tueday 3rd Feb, because of the Chinese Lunar New Year. So the visa application sits quietly in our hotel room, waiting for Tuesday. Joy.