Collection of Malaysian passport in Singapore
A search on Google brings up several posts on how to renew your Malaysian passport online for collection in Singapore. But I couldn’t find anything on the actual process of passport collection. So here’s my experience.
On 3 May, I applied for renewal of my passport which is expiring in October. On 3 August, I finally received an email saying that my photo was rejected, so I went to FotoHub to take a new photo and resubmitted it. On 12 August, I received an email that said my photo was rejected again and I had to come and take my photo and biometrics on 15 September. I’m flying back to Malaysia on 16 September so I emailed back to request for an earlier collection date. 3 days later, I received an email telling me to come on 9 September. I thought that they were so considerate to give me an earlier date. I proceeded to apply for leave on 9 September, which I was relieved to find was available (only one person can take leave at a time in my office), and time-off on 12 September because the email states that collection is the next working day.
Unbeknownst to me, they emailed me to change the date again on 19 September. The new date was 6 September. I didn’t check my email for almost 2 weeks coz I wasn’t expecting any emails. When I found out they had changed the date, I quickly emailed to request to maintain the date on 9 September (I had scheduled my medical appointment on 9 September so I could kill two birds with one stone and use medical leave instead of wasting my limited annual leave). I received no further emails from them, and I realized that they hadn’t given me an earlier date out of kindness - they just simply change dates as they please. Hmph! By then, the leave calendar was full. I decided to use my remaining time-off of 1 hour 45 minutes on 6 September. I thought it would be more than enough time because the emails I received only had 10 names inside. I estimated to reach the High Commission by 9am, settle everything by 10.15, and reach work before 10.45am.
I managed to get permission to use my time off for passport collection on 8 September. I arrived at 3.20pm and there was an even longer queue out the door. The actually collection process was also quite quick and the staff started rushing at around 3.50pm. In the end, I finally got my passport at 4.15pm. Phew!Side rant: FotoHub took a super pale photo of me. At the shop, I already asked if it was overexposed. The staff just copied a darker part of my face and pasted on a few lighter parts, saying that can’t edit too much. The immigration website says the photo should reflect real skin tone so I was worried they would reject it being overexposed. I went home and adjusted the brightness slightly to make it darker and the photo looked much better, but it became too small to upload. So I emailed FotoHub to please help me just adjust the brightness of the original photo. Instead, they sent me back a photo which was heavily copy/pasted and blotchy. Confirm get rejected la. Don't know why their Photoshop skills so lousy and can't just drag a small button to make the photo darker.Why I didn't renew my passport earlier and had to rush last minute: I was going back to Malaysia in April so I was planning to renew my passport there. I thought it would be more convenient than doing it in Singapore. But 1 week before my trip, my colleague who just came back from Malaysia said cannot walk-in anymore, but can book online easily. So I went online to book an appointment, but all the slots were full for the duration of my trip - the passport renewal frenzy had started. :(
Good luck to anyone trying to renew their Malaysian passport in Singapore!
air asia's ridiculously moronic system
in february, i bought a flight to jb and back for may. then in april, i thought of changing my return flight to one day later. i got as far as the payment page before i decided the flight change was too expensive so i just closed the page thinking that nothing would happen because i did not make any payment.
fast forward a month later, just 4 nights before my flight to jb, i decided to check in. to my utmost horror, i found that i could not check in at all because the booking still needed payment for my flight change. what the hell! for a whole month i never received any notification whatsoever from air asia that my booking was incomplete or any sort of reminder to complete my payment. all of a sudden i'm supposed to pay for a flight change that i don't want??? last minute i'm supposed to change all my travel plans coz air asia doesn't know how notify people???!!!! is their system so useless that if a person doesn't complete payment, they're just gonna hold the seat for them until the plane flies with an empty seat?? they're not gonna remind people to pay?? they have no auto-cancel or auto-reminder system??!! so their competitors can just sabotage them by creating a million fake bookings with no payment and air asia is just gonna fly empty planes??!!
i was so scared. i immediately filled in a feedback form on their website. i waited the whole next day for a reply but there was none. so at night i tried their online chat. i finally got this person called michelle who informed me that because i already clicked 'agree' to their terms and conditions, i have to pay the balance. what the %^@*#&;!!!! i told her it's air asia's fault for not reminding me. she still said i have to pay coz i clicked it. i told her fine u can take my return flight coz i'm not gonna pay but let me check in from kuching to jb, i am entitled to it because i already paid for it in full. she asked me to make a report. i told her i already made a report but i didn't get any email of the case number. then she found my report and said she would escalate it to the team and be patient. and she immediately ended the chat. stupid b****. only after that did i get an email acknowleging the report i made the night before. another example of air asia dunno how to email people. and how can i be patient when my flight is in 3 days!
by the next morning i still received no response so my mom offered to go to the air asia office in the afternoon since she had some time. luckily oliver, the guy at the air asia counter, was very helpful and obliging and tried to help get back my original flight with no extra charges. with no mention of the 'agree' button at all. unlike that stupid michelle online whom i don't know if she is even properly trained. she caused me so much stress and cost me my sleep coz she told me i have to pay. grrrrr. luckily i didn't pay. stupid air asia should train them not to simply give rubbish answers. anyway oliver said that by trying to change my flight, i effectively cancelled my original return flight so he had to try and get me back on that flight. he didn't manage to clear my flights yet but he emailed hq and even gave my mom his handphone number so we could call if it wasn't fixed in 2 days.
on the morning of my flight, i still could not check in. i was worried. so i called oliver to ask him to chase them. i finally managed to check in at 3pm and oliver called to inform that it's been fixed for no extra charges. phew. just 4 hours to the flight. bloody useless air asia never made any contact with me throughout the whole thing. luckily oliver could help. can you imagine if i had not remembered to check in early? if i had checked in just the night before my flight, i would have been panicking like crazy and probably wasted rm156 just to be able to check in and with the return flight on the wrong date. how terribly inefficient air asia is!!!!!!!!! please spam them if you are free.
finally, 10 days after making my report, i finally received an auto-generated email from air asia saying that they just checked their system and my flight has passed. wtf!!!!! damn bloody useless or not?!! absolutely no help at all. 'escalate to the team' still take so long to reply. and they expected me to be patient?! piece of shit air asia.
renovation
my room hadn't been renovated since my sister and i were kids so we still had a bunk bed. my mom insisted that it's not suitable now that we've grown up so she insisted that my dad renovate it. after much reluctance on my part, we finally agreed on a layout that's similar to the layout of my old room. so the room is partly my decision on the layout and certain storage spaces, and my dad's decision on most of the furniture design coz i just wanted to get it over with. haha
forgot to take picture of ye olde bunk bed but here's my old room in the process of packing
found some of my old school projects
storing my stuff in my brother's room where i was to stay during the renovation
all empty except for the air-con which we did not change coz it was changed a few years ago
new coat of paint for the walls and shiny shellac on the floor
new furniture moved in for assembly
almost done
my dad gave me a huge dressing mirror but the table is shorter than i wanted
sliding door cupboard
and after almost 2 months of delaying, it's finally done
birthday visit
went to singapore to celebrate the birthday of the sweetest guy ever
treated him to a meal of his choice. kiseki japanese buffet restaurant which was quite cheap with good variety: SGD46.60 for 2 people for lunch (including tax). here is the happy boy enjoying all he can eat
went to nakhon thai for dinner. had to queue up at least 15 minutes for it. you know it's good when people queue. haha
the next day was korean bbq at k.cook korean bbq buffet. it was cheap at SGD14.90++ per person but the selection was quite limited
at night, his friend treated us to frog leg porridge and then we went for durian
they even provide gloves!
he loves durian
brunch the following day was sungei road laksa at kelantan lane. luckily we were early coz the queue started forming after we got there. then we walked a bit further and shared a plate of scissor cut curry rice where we could hear the scissors snipping from far away. the guy cuts up meat and stuff that you choose with scissors. it's basically economy rice with non-spicy curry sauce. forgot to take picture
then we went ice-skating which was completely free coz it was his birthday! he did very well for his first time
on the last day, we had a western lunch at club street social
and then we had dim sum at see choon which opens at 6pm but people were already starting to queue when we got there at about 5.45pm. they actually have a ticketing machine like in the bank where you take a number and wait for it to be called
boiled baby kailan?!
went to jade pot at jalan keretapi for lunch and was horrified that they served their baby kailan boiled and full of unchopped chunks like this:
never heard of boiled baby kailan. it was soft and slightly mushy. not crunchy at all. the leaves were old with spots. it looked like barely any effort had been put into the dish. it looked terrible the moment they placed it in front of us. the wantans in my mom's noodles were tasteless too. haven't been to the place for very long and was really disappointed.
cny holiday 2015
lovely valentine's day dinner at the junk, which seems to have expanded the second floor over 3 shoplots
then off to bangkok with my family, minus little brother. we stayed at
maitria hotel which was super nice and quite affordable. breakfast included. it had a fully equipped kitchen with cooking utensils, cutlery, a dish washer, an oven, a microwave, and even a washing machine.
they also provided 4 bottles of chang water everyday. i thought there was only chang beer
master bedroom
master bathroom
me and my sister's room
the only flaw in the apartment is that our bathroom has no shower door so the water splashes out
tv and computer and free expresso machine in the lobby
we walked to
terminal 21 the next day. it's a new mall with a sort of airport theme where each floor is like a different city. our favourite mall of the trip coz it's so nice and yet we can afford the clothes and the food court was the cheapest among the others we visited. you can even refill your bottle at the food court. one small gripe is that thai food courts have this system where you preload a card with money then swipe the cards when you buy food so if you didn't put in enough money, you have to reload; but if you put in too much, you have to go and refund it; and if you're in a group, either you each have to get a card, or only one person can order at a time if you all share the card.
anyway, one of the more interesting aspects was the toilets. the toilet bowl was high tech.
and each toilet we went to had a different theme. some of the pictures are blurry coz i was trying to take them quickly before people step into them. for some reason, we seemed to be the only people fascinated. haha
this one was next to the food court so it had a kitchen theme
seaside fishing sort of theme
art gallery
beach theme
the next day we shopped at pratunam market and platinum mall which had cheaper stuff. we were walking to the train station when we saw a stall selling seafood by the roadside and just decided to have dinner there. not bad.
on the day of sa chap meh, we walked to emporium which was an expensive luxury mall so it was out of our price range but somehow a very persuasive lady managed to pull us in with a quick nail buffing session and a few product demonstrations so we ended up buying a body and nail set. the emporium food court was expensive but i think their system was better coz you each get a card when you walk in and you swipe it when you buy food and you only pay on the way out.
in the evening, we went to asiatique where we had an italian dinner.
then we watched the calypso cabaret show which was performed mostly by ladyboys. it was quite expensive but not so spectacular.
on the first day of cny, we went to the damnern saduak floating market. there were a few floating markets in the file compiled by the hotel so we simply chose this one. we thought we would be walking by the riverside but actually we had to rent a boat to ride through the market. people were selling food and wares from boats.
there were also stalls set up along the river. if you want to look at something, just point and the boatman will bring you nearer
one area was so crowded that all the boats were jammed together
next was the elephant and cultural show at rose garden, which was part of the package
the cultural show provided a simple and brief history of their culture. it was so-so
we went to khao san road after the show. but it's a night market and it was still early evening so we were bored after we walked around and ate a bit so we took a cab (it was super jam at peak hour) back to platinum mall to have dinner at the food court and buy some stuff at the supermarket.
and then we went home the next day. the end. haha. really liked the hotel we stayed in. missed the famous chatuchak market though, coz we weren't there on the weekend.
