Worst trip in my life...

The trip to KL over the last weekend was the worst overseas ever for me in my whole life. This trip was for me to affix the VEP RFID and for him to meet up with his bffs to celebrate one of their birthdays in Genting. Here's the details of the trip:

• Saturday. Drove in to affix the VEP RFID at 4am to avoid the public holiday jam. Appointment was at 10.30am, managed to get ahead of the queue and complete the process by about 10am. Reached KL late afternoon after stopping by Seremban for late lunch. Rested a while and headed out for a simple dinner with one of bff. Felt a little uneasy and light headed after dinner and decided to turn in early.

• Sunday. Woke up with the stomach churning and head feeling like it was gonna explode. Body felt warm. Fell in and out of consciousness through the whole morning cos I was too spent to get up. He got me some diarrhoea pills before leaving for Genting. I was left me alone in the hotel room. Started having diarrhoea and non-stop vomiting through the afternoon. In between bouts of diarrhoea and vomiting, I slipped in and out of consciousness. Simply too weak to get up and my head was too heavy to stand properly. Body was burning. For some moments, I wondered if I would die in my sleep (LOL). Couldn't eat anything through the day and had to force myself to drink. Told myself I cannot not replenish my fluid given all the purging. Felt a little better by evening time and dragged myself out of bed to get some food. Had not eaten anything and needed something light. Managed to eat 2 slices of watermelon and honeydew. Collapsed in bed by 8pm and slept until the next day. It was a badly disturbed sleep, waking up every hour or so.

• Monday. Woke up and headed down to eat something light. Couldn't eat after 2 mouthful cos my stomach started churning again. He's supposed to be back by 11am but texted me that he would be back by 12pm instead. Arranged for a late check out and walked about the mall. By now, he had texted to say he would be delayed further. He arrived close to 2pm and we started our drive back to JB. Halfway back to JB, we realised our passports were not with us... made some calls and decided to drive back to KL. I was still weak from the food poisoning and the emotions that erupted after realising the loss didn't help. Got the documentations done before making our way to JB. Had given up hope of retrieving the lost passports. Arrived JB close to midnight.

• Tuesday. We splitted ways to make our respective documentations. I got my documents from the Consulate General Office by late morning. He was told to go to the Immigration HQ to process his passport replacement. Halfway through at about 2pm, the hotel called and told him that they had found his passport. We decided to head back to KL and it was another 5 hours drive. Got the passports and I insisted on checking into the hotel for the night. I refused to drive back to JB that evening. 

• Wednesday. Left KL early to drive back to JB. The mindset was to simply get home as soon as possible. Regretfully, had to go through quite a bit of hassle with the Malaysian immigration staff before being allowed to head back to Singapore. Arrived back in Singapore close to 6pm.

Yup, so that was my last trip to Malaysia. In a span of a couple of days, I drove up to KL 3 times.  And it's not just the hassle of the movements, but also the food poisoning, the feeling of loss and being alone, the emotions, the tensions, and the less than friendly and inefficient public office staff. 

Glad I am home.

Losing my Passport

Here's my experiences after losing my passport during the trip to Malaysia last week... and this is a continuation of my previous post about the Malaysian public service. 

• He got a call from the hotel that they found the passport, just as he was queuing up and waiting for the Immigration Office to open. And it was thankfully so cos it was beginning to get stuffy standing outside the lift landing and everyone was getting a little impatient and agitated. We found your passport pouch underneath the blanket, the hotel staff said. hmmm, it was kinda weird cos they found our passport more than 24-hours after we checked out underneath the blanket... hmmm... anyway, we decided to drive up to KL again to collect the passports. It would be more important for him cos mine has already been terminated. We arrived in KL in the evening after some 4-plus hours drive, collected the passports and decided to check in for the night. 

• To be safe, we decided to call the immigration department to confirm if we need to cancel our earlier police report. No, came the answer. But to be sure, we were given another number to call, a number that was not attended and nobody answered. We gave up trying after some attempts. We drove back down to JB the next day (Wednesday), and at the customs, we were stopped and summoned to the office. Accordingly, my documents were verified ok and that I could go back to Singapore. But for him, the immigration officers said he had to make a police report to cancel his earlier police report (since he has found his passport). We obediently drove back into JB to look for a police station.

• Thankfully, there was a police post within 10min drive. When we arrived, the police officer said there was no requirement to make a report. After explaining that this was a requirement by the immigration officer at the customs checkpoint, he insisted there wasn't a need, nonetheless he re-drected us to another police station cos he has shut-down his system... so... we arrived at another police station and yet again was told there was no requirement to make a police report (to cancel the earlier police report). Yet again, we had to explain the need and grudgingly they eventually issue one that simply stated we want to cancel the report. 

• In our second attempt to clear the Malaysian customs, we were yet again stopped and summoned to the office. This time round, they said that although my documents were in order, I had to go to the Consular General Office of Singapore to get my found passport canceled before they could clear me. I was quite flustered by then. I called the Consular General's hotline and the staff assured me there was no need to. He asked to speak with the immigration officer and after some few minutes of conversation, I was cleared. He told me to call him back should they create any problems for me (how reassuring). We were eventually cleared to return to Singapore. I personally thought it was weird for a Malaysian immigration official to tell a Singaporean institution what to do... 

The experience at the Singapore customs was world of a different. 

• When we arrived at the customs, I handled over the documents and asked if my passport had been canceled and whether I can use the passport if it was still valid. The immigration officer smiled and said he will get his colleagues to confirm and to explain the process to me, should I need to replace my passport. I waited in my car and soon, 2 security personnel came. It was nice of them to clear the jam (which had build up by them) and escorted me as we made our way to the immigration office.

• At the office, I was greeted nicely by the immigration officers and ushered to a seat before they verified the validity of my passport. I was told the passport had been cancelled and that I should make a new one at the Immigration Office when I am free. With this, I was told I could proceed and make my way home. Simple, easy peesy. Efficient and pleasant experience, as always.

Anyway, my new passport will be ready by this coming Wednesday. Everything was processed and done at the Immigration HQ, all within half hour.  

M’sia Public Service... Sighs!

We were in KL over the weekend and lost our passports. I believe I had left them in the safe in the hotel but despite checking with the hotel several times, they claimed they couldn't find it. Frankly, whenever I lost anything in Malaysia, I have absolutely no hopes of getting them back... And emotions apart, our reactions to the loss was worlds apart. It's during such crisis (or perceived crisis) that you get to see a persons real character. But well, let's not go there... what I want to write here is the difference in the efficiencies of the Malaysian and Singaporean public offices in handling the public. Here's some observations...

• Went to the police post to make a report. Was told I needed to go to the Special Branch in person to report the loss and to be interviewed before a police report can be made. This was because Singaporean passports are in high demand in Malaysia and they needed to interview me to make sure I do not belong to any syndicate... hmmm... don’t understand the logic but well, what the heck. I’ll do what I need to do to get back home.

• The interview process was straight forward but imo, the questions asked were no different from when I made the police report after that. They could have just asked the police to forward the police report to them... I also don't like how the "investigation" was done - the questions asked were, imo, irrelevant. "How come your passports together in one bag?" "How come you are in the same hotel room?" "Are you both single?" ... and it's not what's asked but how it's asked that made the world of difference...

• Drove from KL to JB and made a report to the Singapore General Consulate. Apart from an (initially) rude security guard, I thought the experience was generally good. Was greeted professionally by the staff and they explained nicely to me how the loss will be managed. The process was quite a breeze - filled in a form, asked to give them 2 hours to verify details and to return to collect my Document of Identity (DOI). The DOI would allow me to return to Singapore to get my passport replaced. And the staff patiently explained which document is for what and for who... from the accent of it, the staff is definitely Malaysian. But the experience is different.

• As for his passport, being a Malaysian, he had to head to one particular office (UTC) to get a passport replacement. Google map says it's opened from 8am but when we reached there, we were told they open at 1pm. I supposed Google map is not totally accurate. He decided to head to another office some distance away, only to be told they cannot handle his case and that he needed to go to another office (Malaysian equivalent of Singapore's ICA HQ) as his passport is still valid. And when he reached there, he was told his ID photo is old and he needs to change his ID first before they can entertain his request of a passport replacement... Goodness knows what else he needs to do before he can get his passport replaced.

I may be Singaporean but I really do not think I am biased in my views. Apart from efficiencies (or lack of it), I think there are a lot to catch up for the Malaysian public service when it comes to simple courtesies while carrying out their professional duties.

Marry me off...

I was so surprised and honoured! I got a text last evening from this beautiful lady asking me to be the witness when she register her marriage with her long time partner in Jan 2020! Never ever imagined I will have such an opportunity!

2 months

I am at the coffee shop having my morning coffee and I want to blog. Yet, my mind is blank. There are a lot of things in my mind that I want to capture and much are all work related; and I really don't want to waste time writing about them. But in the spirit of capturing key moments, do allow me to share what I have been busy with of late at work:

• Completed a major activity for my workplace (I blogged this previously)
• Launched a major 2-month event (that is currently on-going)
• Organised a mega-roadshow across 2 different sites locally
• About to launch another major event mid-Oct (and we are all in the thick of things now)
• Counting down to conducting a global survey for the group end-Oct
• In the midst of planning a global summit that will be held end-Nov in the Philippines...

And on the social and personal fronts, I've been able to keep to my plans to travel at least once a month (with my recent trips to Jakarta, Penang and Johor Bahru), catch up with a couple of friends for meals, meeting my ex-boss for lunch, etc. On top of that, I have been busy counselling a friend who's been quarantined in the hospital for 2 months due to TB, and then faced some marital issues with her husband once she’s discharged, another who's depressed following his dad's demise and jobless, and another who decided to quit after his boss screamed at him. Gladly, things are panning out well for them. It should (hopefully) get better for all of them in the days ahead. 

All these left me quite drained (and possibly made worst by the many many negativity around the world - HK, toxic politics - both globally and at work, etc). But I am not complaining. Being dutifully employed and able to help people is a blessing. So... yeah, it's been a busy month or two for me. And looking ahead, it is less that 3 months before 2020. Scary how time flies. Seemed like not too long ago when we were busy preparing for the turn of the century and worrying about the Y2K virus.

Hang in there.