Dear Ethel, family and friends,
The end of week one, already, although it feels like a couple of weeks, as we have packed so much into it. We left last Tuesday morning 1st April, from the Gold Coast... early, and had been up since 2am anyway. The Flight was an hour late leaving but we made up time, arriving Kuala Lumpur only 40 minutes late. We were picked up by Michael’s friend, Tony Yap from central station, and taken out to our hotel in Kapong, a suburb on the outskirts of the city.
After checking in, a shower and freshen up, Tony picked us up and took us out to dinner, the first of many, to a local Steam Boat restaurant, (steam boat is food cooked in boiling water at your table, noodles, dumplings, prawns, calamari, bockchoy eggs and lots more). The quality & quantity of food is amazing and very tasty and very cheap, about $3 per person.
The following day, Wednesday tony picked us up after the huge hotel breakfast, and did a quick tour of town and dropped into his house, followed by lunch and a trip to Batu Caves. The Cave is a Hindu Temple at the top of 272 odd steps. A giant 50 foot golden Buda stands in front of the caves (see photos and video when there posted). That evening we ate with Tony again at a place called Gluttons Paradise, (say no more).
Thursday we went into town to do some site seeing, doing a city walk and ending up in the shops. We were searching for a particular place, Pavilion Plaza. Louise & I saw a clip on TV in Australia about a Fish Foot Spa, hundreds of tiny fish that nibble your feet to get rid of the dead skin, leaving your feet silky smooth. We found the place ok and Louise & Joyce booked in for a half hour Spa, for about $10. The results were hilarious as you will see in the video. There are two tanks to choose from, Louise & Joyce went to the front one, mainly so I could get some video and photos. However, the staff did not tell them that this tank had the bigger fish in it. They had their feet in about 5 minutes shrieking with laughter, before someone told them that the other tank had smaller fish that would be a bit more gentle... sooo funny. See video below. Needless to say we had dinner with Tony.
Friday, went to the Petronas Twin Towers. The visit begins with a 3D movie about the towers, but is really propergander for the oil company Patronas, who built the complex. The views from the sky bridge, joining the two towers was great. More dinner with Tony.
Saturday and Sunday were spent shopping, resting and eating out with Tony. On the Saturday night we dined at the KL Tower revolving Restaurant overlooking the city with great views of the twin towers. We finished our dinning extravaganza with a final Steam Boat with Tony last night, Sunday.
We really enjoyed our stay in Kuala Lumpur, with thanks to Tony Yap and has been fun sharing it with our friends Michael & Joyce. Today we are all off on another adventure to Cambodia, to Siem Reap, to see the temples of Angkor Watt. Writing this post on the plane again as I just don’t seem to have the time on the ground. I have also only managed to do the one video so far, but I did manage to post it on youtube, will hopefully post a copy here too.
All the best till next time,
Ric & Louise
Monday, 7 April 2008
Friday, 4 April 2008
Take Off
Take Off
1st April 2008
Dear Ethel, Family & Friends,
Well today is take off day and it’s been a long time coming. We have spent 3 months packing the house and now have paying tenants. We also finished up with Australia Post at Easter time, a week ago now and have spent some quality time with Louise’s Mum in Bathurst. We travelled back from Bathurst only yesterday, taking an early morning bus to Central in Sydney, a train to the airport and a flight to the Gold Coast with Virgin. However the biggest problem to date has been obtaining my British visa.
Louise has a British Passport as her father was British as well as an Australian one, so I thought I’d apply for a British Residence visa to allow us to work and live as long as we wanted in the UK and Europe. So I went online to find out what was involved how long it would take etc. The cost alone $1250.00 was enough to make me ring the British High Commission (BHC) to get the facts from them as the information on the website was not clear. To phone them however costs money, $3 a minute and you guessed it they put you on hold.
I eventually talked to a consultant who said it should take only 14 working days. So I was assured by this and posted my Application, $1250 fee plus $20 return postage, my Passport and some other documents they would need.
I waited the 14 working days, and as I had no response from the BHC, and paying my $3 a minute got onto a consultant, who informed me they haven’t looked at my application yet but would do so over the next few days and that It sometimes takes up to 3 MONTHS to get a visa, (not the news I wanted to hear). So I waited... and got an email requesting more details including our original marriage certificate from Births, Deaths and Marriages not the one we were given when we were married, plus letters from Louise, and my Uncle in the UK all within 5 days or they couldn’t process my application. Well I was running out of time and certainly couldn’t get the marriage certificate as we never had a copy of it in the first place. As they do not respond to emails, I had to phone them again, asking what could be done as I was concerned about getting my passport back. I was told to put a letter in writing to cancel my application and forfeit my application fee and fax it to the BHC.
It was now about 6 working day before Easter on the Wednesday, so we quickly typed the letter and faxed it from a friends place and waited. I phoned the BHC the following day to make sure they had received my fax, they told me to phone back that afternoon to find out.? So I did as instructed, all the while paying my $3 a minute for the privilege and was told it could take 24 hours to find out if they had received my fax. “OK” I said, “If I phone you back this time tomorrow, can you let me know if you received my fax?”,” well you can try, but it may take up to 48 hours”, was my reply. Mmm, now I’ve seriously got steam coming out of my ears. But I restrain myself and thank her very much and faxed the letter again, just in case. Friday comes around and I phone in the morning and ask if there is any news, no phone back this afternoon. In the afternoon, still no news, So I say can you PLEASE phone THEM to find out, but no they can’t even phone THEM whoever THEM is?
Well long story cut short, we spent a long and sleepless weekend wondering if I’d ever get my passport back. Monday rolls around and a guy from BHC phones and says the passport is in the mail, but no application fee. Well that was a hard lesson learnt. The good news is I got it back with two days to spare and was able to leave the sunshine coast on East Sunday to join Louise. All I can say about the visa episode is that it was a very “Yes Minister” moment, and I can’t think of a more ridiculous way to run an embassy, but I guess that’s how they can afford to pay their staff and keep the riffraff out of their country. Well it worked, and we will have to re evaluate the Europe leg of our trip. We can stay in Europe for 6 months at a time, so we will see how that pans out.
Well I write this blog entry on the plane as we leave Australia behind us for who knows how long.
All the best for now
Ric & Louise
1st April 2008
Dear Ethel, Family & Friends,
Well today is take off day and it’s been a long time coming. We have spent 3 months packing the house and now have paying tenants. We also finished up with Australia Post at Easter time, a week ago now and have spent some quality time with Louise’s Mum in Bathurst. We travelled back from Bathurst only yesterday, taking an early morning bus to Central in Sydney, a train to the airport and a flight to the Gold Coast with Virgin. However the biggest problem to date has been obtaining my British visa.
Louise has a British Passport as her father was British as well as an Australian one, so I thought I’d apply for a British Residence visa to allow us to work and live as long as we wanted in the UK and Europe. So I went online to find out what was involved how long it would take etc. The cost alone $1250.00 was enough to make me ring the British High Commission (BHC) to get the facts from them as the information on the website was not clear. To phone them however costs money, $3 a minute and you guessed it they put you on hold.
I eventually talked to a consultant who said it should take only 14 working days. So I was assured by this and posted my Application, $1250 fee plus $20 return postage, my Passport and some other documents they would need.
I waited the 14 working days, and as I had no response from the BHC, and paying my $3 a minute got onto a consultant, who informed me they haven’t looked at my application yet but would do so over the next few days and that It sometimes takes up to 3 MONTHS to get a visa, (not the news I wanted to hear). So I waited... and got an email requesting more details including our original marriage certificate from Births, Deaths and Marriages not the one we were given when we were married, plus letters from Louise, and my Uncle in the UK all within 5 days or they couldn’t process my application. Well I was running out of time and certainly couldn’t get the marriage certificate as we never had a copy of it in the first place. As they do not respond to emails, I had to phone them again, asking what could be done as I was concerned about getting my passport back. I was told to put a letter in writing to cancel my application and forfeit my application fee and fax it to the BHC.
It was now about 6 working day before Easter on the Wednesday, so we quickly typed the letter and faxed it from a friends place and waited. I phoned the BHC the following day to make sure they had received my fax, they told me to phone back that afternoon to find out.? So I did as instructed, all the while paying my $3 a minute for the privilege and was told it could take 24 hours to find out if they had received my fax. “OK” I said, “If I phone you back this time tomorrow, can you let me know if you received my fax?”,” well you can try, but it may take up to 48 hours”, was my reply. Mmm, now I’ve seriously got steam coming out of my ears. But I restrain myself and thank her very much and faxed the letter again, just in case. Friday comes around and I phone in the morning and ask if there is any news, no phone back this afternoon. In the afternoon, still no news, So I say can you PLEASE phone THEM to find out, but no they can’t even phone THEM whoever THEM is?
Well long story cut short, we spent a long and sleepless weekend wondering if I’d ever get my passport back. Monday rolls around and a guy from BHC phones and says the passport is in the mail, but no application fee. Well that was a hard lesson learnt. The good news is I got it back with two days to spare and was able to leave the sunshine coast on East Sunday to join Louise. All I can say about the visa episode is that it was a very “Yes Minister” moment, and I can’t think of a more ridiculous way to run an embassy, but I guess that’s how they can afford to pay their staff and keep the riffraff out of their country. Well it worked, and we will have to re evaluate the Europe leg of our trip. We can stay in Europe for 6 months at a time, so we will see how that pans out.
Well I write this blog entry on the plane as we leave Australia behind us for who knows how long.
All the best for now
Ric & Louise
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