Passport to Life

I have to say, I'm extremely impressed with the people's republic of China... i/e the China embassy, Malaysia. I'm not one for paper work and documents etc but getting my Visa for China really was very simple - or perhaps it's just me that usually over complicates matters?

A friend sent me the link to download the China Visa form. I completed it, attached a photo, took it to the embassy, queued up was in and out in no more than 15 mins (I went at about 10.30 so it was starting to get busy) on the Thursday and was told to come and collect it on the Tuesday. I headed down this morning at 9.15, paid myr 130 and within 5 minutes was out again with my passport, complete with Visa.

I think when it comes to these things it more the dread of getting round to doing it rather than the actual doing itself. It's like when I had to get a new passport. Yes, that was extremely annoying as I had to apply through the British Embassy here in Malaysia, it was massively expensive (£100+!!) and then I had to send it off to Labuan for my new employment visa. In hindsight I really only had to take 2 trips down to the Embassy, both times there was no one else waiting and I was served immediately.

I guess it's more the to and fro ing that's the most annoying. I must keep that in mind though, one of my really bad attributes is that I put off doing something because the thought of it makes me think "mah" but actually when it comes around to it, it's never really as bad as I think. And rather than sitting on something, putting it off and off, you may as well just get it done because all that feeling of 'dread' inside you isn't really healthy and only stresses you out for no major reason. Is this a longwinded way of implying that I am lazy? Maybe.

Next week I'll need to get my Vietnam Visa (once Kiwi gets his arse in gear and confirms the flights etc with me) and then that's it, I'm done. All trips booked and all visa's collected! I'm so excited for the coming two months, so much fun to be had (although a little concerned about money, I should be OK). Beijing is now looking more and more exciting as my friend up there has sent me info on Chinese cooking classes and tours :) How fun? We will actually get to go to a traditional market and handpick all the ingredients ourselves. It's gonna be fantastic.

As for this weekend, I am off to Penang to visit DanDan. If PhotoBoy can get us tickets then we will also go to the Hennessy event, which should be awesome. But mostly I'm looking forward to seeing the city and trying all the local food. Unfortunately Kuching has been taken off the cards. I can't say I'm not disappointed but well, you can't do everything. I'm just thankful that I agreed to go to Langkawi, at least I will get to have one holiday with Bombie and friends. That means that the long weekend I have booked off in KL, can be spent getting a hair cut (hate my fringe, wanna get rid of it again - lol), going for a mani and pedi (resorted to cutting and filing my own nails last night - very distressing) eating Durian (it's been WAY too long), going clubbing (Mambo Jumbo on the Wed night and then maybe Zouk/ MOS over the weekend), sunbathing/ relaxing and oh, job hunting.

As for HK, which seems so far away right now I was wondering too if I really wanted to spend my birthday there but yes I do, I want to spend it with H. On my actually Birthday (the day after the birthday junk) we are going to take an early morning hike up to the Peek (I've never hiked it before so that's gonna be totally cool) and have a "Birthday Brunch" at a restaurant up top. Hopefully Hong Kong Dim Sum would be great. It will be really awesome to have a photo up there too. You know why? Because I went there on one of my first days in Hong Kong and now, will be taking another, over 3 years on, just a few days before I leave, for good.

I'm also really excited about moving back to the UK, of course I still haven't made headway with what I'm doing. Some won't believe this but I've actually looked at taking my teacher training course... maybe it wouldn't be SUCH a bad idea... the only problem I have got so far is that you need A-C in English, Maths and Science at GCSE level. I have a B in English Lit & Lang, a C in Maths (would you believe it? And yes, I had private after-school tuition!) but in Science I got a D :( So I'm not sure where this leaves me. The news says that the UK is "crying out" for teachers, so maybe given that I will be a "mature" student, they will make an exception?? We'll see, I have a family friend who is headmaster at a local school, I think I'll contact him and ask. It's just another idea... so we'll see.

Gosh this was supposed to be me just blogging about how impressed I am about Visa applications and Embassy adventures. Oh well, I guess it's nothing out of the ordinary for me to ramble on, about myself. Have a nice day people :)