Thai Visa in Kuala Lumpur

The primary reason I’m writing this post is to help any future travelers who want to go to “KL” for a visa run. There are numerous sources online but I have yet to find simple, laid out instructions explaining the exact process. If you are looking for direction please scroll down to step by step.

On a total whim I decided to head to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to complete the 2nd to last official step I have to personally take to obtain my 1 year education visa for my Thai language studies at Language Express.

I stayed in a nice serviced apartment less than a 5 minute walk away from the Thai embassy so getting there was no problem. I did make a mistake which probably cost me 60-90 minutes though. I was one of the first dozen or so people in the line outside, waiting to get the form to enter the embassy gates.

Once I got the form I made the costly mistake of immediately sitting down to fill it out instead of rushing in to get my number ticket. I sat and filled out the form while probably 30-50 people went in front of me and got a number.

This made me angry but luckily again, my hotel was nearby so I got some cold snacks at 7/11 and walked to the apartment in 5 minutes where I twittered my situation, watched some TV and most importantly chilled out in the dual super-powered air conditioning units which was a highlight of Lanson Place for about a half hour before I went and handed in my paperwork.

Step by Step Instructions

1. Make sure you arrive at the embassy as early as possible. It opens at 9:30am so try to head there around 9:00am so you can get one of the few spot in line in the shade. They will not open early.
2. When it is your turn in line, show the guy your passport and he will hand you a form. He hands the same exact form out to everyone, regardless of the type of visa you are applying for.
3. As soon as you get your form, IMMEDIATELY head to the right and you will see an open door on the right side of the building in front of you. Enter the door and immediately to the right is a number tag machine. Push the button for visa or passport and get your ticket.
4. Fill out the form inside the building or if you have a high number you can walk outside and fill it out on the tables under the fans. On the form there will be a section which says, “Thai guarantor.” Leave this section blank unless you are applying for a work visa.
5. If you are there early enough you will get to the counter and be done. It is likely there will be many people in front of you. If your number is dozens of numbers off you can leave and return later. If you exit the embassy and walk to the left there is a 7/11 and a couple restaurants within 5 minute walk. BE CAREFUL: They can skip over around 10 numbers (no-shows) at a time so make sure you’re in the room when your number is within 15-20.
6. After you pay the fee 220 Ringgits you will get a receipt with the time you are supposed to pick up the passport/visa the next day DO NOT LOSE THIS SHEET or the number tab stapled to it. The sheet will tell you the exact time they will open passport collection the next day.
7. Return the next day 20 or so minutes early if possible, there will be no line in front of the embassy but there will be a group of people waiting in the back. If you want to save time stand right in front of the door (same door of room you gave passport the day before). A line will form after you and when the door opens it is first come/first serve and the process of handing out your visa will take no longer than 15-30 minutes unless you were extremely late.
8. Congratulations you now have a fresh visa!

5 Hours in the Airport?!?!??

Whatever the circumstances may be, 5 hours in the average airport is not part of anyone’s ‘dream vacation’ or even work trip.   This is unfortunate because most airports have a huge amount of space.  Why not create money-making facilities which could make the time spent in the airport more bareable or even enjoyable for the passengers?

No, I’m not talking about the duty free.  No wonder why the airlines are losing money.  They have their ultra snooty VIP lounge which is really just a bunch of chairs left over from the 70s with a moseleum like atmosphere but for the average person they have nothing.

Plaza Premium Lounge

I didn’t know what to expect for my first time getting my Thai visa in a foreign country so I booked a late return to Bangkok which boards at 8:50pm.  I remember the airport being very far away (about 1 hour) so I didn’t want to take any chances.  I hooked up with a taxi driver who was hustling at the embassy and probably got over-charged but I ended up arriving to KUL or the Kuala Lumpur International airport at around 4.

I begged the lady at the ticket counter to let me on one of the 3 or 4 AirAsia flights to BKK before my ticketed plane to no avail as I tried to keep my composure.  I passed through security and passport control in a jiffy and ended up at the boarding gate a whopping 4 hours before my boarding time.  I was beginning to panic as I saw no chargers for my laptop and the usual mix of sports bars, junk food peddlars, and of course the duty free when I saw the Plaza Premium Lounge.

At first I thought it was one of those first-class-only types of exclusive clubs but it wasnt.  I talked to the receptionist and she told me it had a fee which I gladly paid w/ my last remaning Malasian Ringgets for 5 hours of (as far as I was concerned) 5 hours of a power adapter and charge for my laptop.  To my surprise it included a lot more than a simple chair, desk & charger.

It actually included “massage chair” which sounded like those crap coin-operated ones at most airports but the Plaza Premium Lounge includes a free massage!  It also included a free all-you-can-eat buffet, all you can drink drinks including cans of diet coke, movies, newspapers, magazines and even showers w/ all the amenities for the filthy backpackers!

I’m sitting here right now and thinking how fortunate I am to have this oasis among the hell of sorts which is an international airport’s boarding gate.  By the way for 5 hours in KUL I paid 128 ringgits which about $36USD which I think is totally fair when you consider how much you would spend at an airport milling around buying overpriced junk and junk food.

I look on the Plaza Premium Lounge website and I see the other locations in the region which I will definitely keep in mind when planning my next trip. By the way, the picture on this post was taken with my low quality laptop webcam camera and certainly doesn’t do the plaza premium lounge justice, you just have to check one out.

• Hong Kong Int’l Airport
  
• Guangzhou Balyun Int’l Airport
  
• Beijing Capital Int’l Airport
  
• Shanghai Pudong Int’l Airport
  
• Malaysia Int’l Airport
  
• Singapore Changi Airport
  
• Vancouver Int’l Airport
  
• Toronto Pearson Int’l Airport
  
• Muscat Int’l Airport

Decisions, Decisions

I just had to get it over with. As I explained previously I needed to leave Thailand to get the education visa process finalized so I don’t have to do these rediculous border runs every 30 days. Border runs actually give you the freedom to travel but I personally hate having deadlines. I like to be under total control of my schedule while I travel. I had a few places where my Thai language school recommended and I couldn’t choose with any logic so I just closed my eyes and checked AirAsia.com to find which flight I could take on Monday to get it over with. The only place where there were a plentiful amount of cheap flights day and night were to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I haven’t heard much about KL other than it was cheap. People in Bangkok even say KL is cheap which leads me to believe it is dirt cheap.

Flying Air Asia

I took the 6:15pm Air Asia flight from Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur which (along with a return flight on Wed Night) cost me 5,725 baht or $166USD which believe it or not, is way overpriced for the 2 hour flight. If I booked it in advance like any responsible traveler would have, it would have probably cost around 4,000 baht or $116. The AirAsia flight which happened to be on a Airbus A330 which AirAsia publicly hasn’t modified since the news of the crash of Air France Flight was as smooth as any flight I’ve ever been on. Seeing lightening in the distance kind of freaked me out for a second but when the flight is so smooth there was no stress.

Keep this in mind it doesn’t include the 1,000 baht rape by the taxi driver to the airport who I evidentally paid for his return back to the city or the hour plus taxi ride with a Malay grand-pa taxi driver traveling around 80km/h on a wide open expressway. You can tell upon arriving in the Kuala Lumpur airport it is going to take a while to get to the city as you see NOTHING in all directions.

The hour drive reminded me of driving on highways in Oregon. Lots of trees is about all you see until about an hour when huge high-rise apartment buildings pop up out of nowhere. These apartment buildings looked modern. They were all wide, rectangular buildings as opposed to the narrow, square apartment buildings (slums?) in Hong Kong. The apartment buildings are everywhere you look and they block the most famous site of KL the Petronas Towers. They look cool but it seems no matter where you are there is a large building obsuring their view like in the picture (which I did NOT take). I ended up at a hotel semi-near the Thai embassy which I must goto bright and early in 6 or so hours tomorrow morning.

Finding a Hotel in Kuala Lumpur

My first night I’m staying at the Flamingo Hotel. It’s the second choice after the first hotel which was recommended by the information kiosk at the airport the DePalma was booked except for the rockstar suite which I didn’t even want to know how much it was. The Flamingo hotel is one of those wannabee nice hotels which over charges for crap that I don’t care about. The room cost about 325 Malaysian Ringgits ($90) per night which is why I’m up at 2am looking for cheaper hotels.

I still have no idea how to pronounce their money (EDIT:  ringgets ), more on that later. I was looking for cheap hotels for short trips like this one and I came across a new looking cheap place called Tune Hotels in the flight catalogue in the airplane which I may check out tomorrow.

I have to wake up and get to the Royal Thai Embassy early so I can come back to this wanabee fancy, 32inch Sony Bravia (which I won’t turn on) having, no food anywhere in Kuala Lumpur after midnight hotel and check out to find a cheaper place with less bells & whistles which I don’t care about before noon. Sorry about the pathetic attempt at English Grammar but its late and know it’s going to be tough to wake up in time tomorrow if I don’t get to sleep like now!!!

Fast Food:  There is no Escape

It probably comes as no surprise that there are American fast food chains at every corner of the globe and the capital of  Thailand, Bangkok  is no exception.  I just got done watching a news report on CNN stating that a new KFC opens up every single day in China.

The CNN report claimed that the food is healthy and clean which I actually agree with!  That was the primary motivation for adding this blog entry as I credit McDonalds for saving me from digestive misery twice already in the 2 months I’ve been here.

I have twice so far had a persistent upset stomach from eating the real fast food in Thailand, street meat, aka the satay which you pay $7.00 for at your local Thai restaurant which you can buy on any street corner here for 10 cents a stick.  You can also buy an assortment of protein sources from cockroaches, to stick bugs, to hot dogs, to squid and much much more which I will blog about later.

I’m actually not sure what gave me a painful stomach ache but, I had a couple suspicions one being the meat on the street.  Others being brushing my teeth with the Thai tap water, accidentally drinking Thai tap water as ice which had melted in my iced tea and eating too much fruit which had been washed with Thai tap water.

McDonalds my Favorite Medicine

Both times I had a stomach ache for a couple days straight I simply went to McDonalds and ate a large meal which ended my stomach pain.  It got me thinking about McDonalds.  First of all, owning a McDonalds is probably the surest bet of any business in the world.  McDonalds franchises have been around, aren’t going anywhere and are growing like the plague.

Secondly I thought, McDonalds is some of the safest food to eat in the world (in the short term of course).  I mean, have you ever heard of anyone getting sick or food poisoning from McDonalds?  I have eaten at McDonalds since I was 4 years old and the food tastes exactly the same.  I’m kind of a McDonalds expert as when I was a boy I used to cry when my parents took me to any restuarant which wasn’t McDonalds causing my parents to call every restaurant McDonalds (i.e. Taco Bell McDonalds) which worked.

The only differences between McDonalds in Bangkok and in the USA is the price is far lower in Bangkok, Ronald McDonalds is Buddhist, there is the Samurai pork burger, cream corn pie, and a double decker fillet-o-fish.

The Sizzler

Another interesting Thailand tidbit is in Bangkok, “The Sizzler” is super popular!  I remember I used to make fun of it with my clients all the time in food snob land aka San Francisco.  I like low-end steak houses, my favorite being the 40 year old “support your local steak house,” Palace Steak House in San Francisco and I remember how my high school baseball team used to have shrimp eating contests at the local Sizzler so I will always have love for “The Sizzler” and the Thai people and tourists do as well packing every Sizzler I see around Bangkok.

A Lot More about Thai Fast Food Coming Soon

Where to Find Boring Household Stuff?

My new apartment was furnished but I still needed to get bedding.  I also wanted to get a rice cooker and coffee maker.

I have been to MBK which is by my old apartment dozens of times where there is a department store called Tokyu.  Tokyu is a 5 level store with everything from a grocery/deli to clothes to houseware.  The stuff at Tokyu is expensive (for Bangkok standards) and not all that great.

I was looking at sheets, pillows, etc. at Tokyu and it was incredibly overpriced.  Sheets were over $30 USD and they weren’t even that nice.  I was feeling frugle so I decided to wait a day to get the sheets and go to Big C which one of my friends Gary recommended to me.

It’s Kind of like a “Low-End Target”

I got to Big C after being in this humongous traffic jam (everyday traffic) and when I walked in it immediately reminded me of old school K-Mart stores of the early 1990s.  It was disorganized (for Thai standards) and filled with mostly generic crap.  All the bedding looked like Ross Dress for Less rejects.  I’m talking Garfield bed sets, pink flowered bed sets, bright purple and brown bed sets w/ ruffles on the pillow cases, etc.  This angered me because I know I have to either go back and spend too much at Tokyu or try to find another store.

Big C was just like the other discount stores like Target and Walmart in the USA as they had some brand name products and some generic versions which were often 1/4 of the price.  I tested my fate with a generic rice cooker and coffee maker instead of a panasonic version which cost 4x more.  I made sure to get a rice cooker which has a vegetable steamer on the top so theoretically I can cook rice and vegetables in my apartment to eat healthy instead of eating greasy friend noodles or rice.

My Big C experience lets me recommend Big C only for people who live in Bangkok and need to stock the house of bulk items you would normally get at Costco (there are none in Thailand) such as toilet paper, bottled water, rice.  Anyone visiting Bangkok for the short term, Big C is a complete waste of time as nothing you can buy in the entire store would be worth bringing home compared to any store in MBK or even on the street.

Balancing the Good & the Bad

One of the reasons I chose Bangkok, Thailand to have less stress.  I was sick of running around for appointments and working more to pay for the extra cost of living of San Francisco.  I was thinking Tokyo or Hong Kong but in those cases I would have to train clients or teach English to pay the rent and bills which adds stress.

The first month it felt great to have such a low stress level.  I was really being a lazy bum sleeping for 10+  hours a day and not really doing much.  During this second month, I actually became stressed from not having any stress to deal with.

I remember back in psychology 101 in college we talked about eustress (positive stress) and (negative stress) distress.  This is the first time of my life that I actually felt the lack of eustress was causing distress.

I always have more website work to do, but it seems like if I don’t have something to do, i.e. a training session at 5pm, I don’t feel any pressure to work on the website at all when I would work on it for 3-5 hours really hard before I had to go in for a training session.  As a lifelong procrastinator this doesn’t come as a big surprise.

Enrolling in my Thai language class has caused a little bit of eustress as does having to leave the country to obtain my student (ED) visa.  I think establishing a fitness goal and exercising more would be a good way to add some positive stress to my life as an expat here in Thailand but I’m looking for something new????

Stress Levels are Exponential

I truly believe that a change in stress levels is exponential.  Even though I would rate my stress level from working and living in SoMa in San Francisco a 6 out of 10 I think my stress levels are incredibly lower being a webmaster of my own website in Thailand.

Living here so far I would rate my stress level 3 out of 10 at the very highest.   Six is twice that of 3 but it literally feels like I have 1,000 times less stress living over here.  I believe that increased stress levels can have great effects on people.

RIP David Carradine

I just heard the news that famous actor David Carradine was found dead in a Bangkok hotel.  Preliminary reports suggest he hung himself in a closet.  I remember him from the Kung Fu series as well as kill Bill 2 as well as a bunch of B movies.

Why someone would consider suicide is a great mystery but it obviously has to do with one form of stress or another.  Someone who has all the money in the world like Carradine’s stress has to be different than the average Joe which makes it anyone’s guess what lead him to kill himself.  I think there is a 0% chance that he hung himself because of high stress levels from being in Bangkok Thailand though.

Home Away from Home

I finalized my search and payed my deposit for my new apartment today.  I signed the 1 year contract with the American owner of the condo and did the fingerprint and palm print for security.  The condo is located right next to (red X on Map) the world renown international hospital, Bumrungrad. Bumrungrad has some of the best medical staff in all of Asia as well as a nice food court and gym.  I timed a 10 minute walk from my apartment to the BTS.

There is also a canal which has boat taxis is right next door.  I haven’t explored my area which is called Ploen Chit yet but I will blog about it soon. I’ve been living at a serviced apartment for the first couple months that I’ve been here called Patumwan House.  The location is great right in the middle of the one of the biggest shopping areas in the world and a 5 minute stroll to BTS which is the skytrain which is probably the cleanest and coolest (air conditioned)  subway I’ve ever been on. Without the BTS which has only been around since 1999 getting around in Bangkok would be hell as some say Bangkok is in the top 10 for world’s worst traffic.

The first time I came to Bangkok I remember the BTS skytrain was significantly slower and didn’t travel as far but now it is lightening fast and includes an extensive subway system as well. For a Farang (foreigner) in Bangkok it is essential to be within walking distance to a BTS station and Patumwan House couldn’t be more convenient.  Walking 5 minutes in high heat and humidity is just about enough time to not start sweating too profusely.

I read reviews about Patumwan house on Lonely Planet and they said exactly what I felt. The reviews said that Patumwan House was a great place to stay for a short duration while you get used to Bangkok and find an apartment to your liking.  It just didn’t feel like a home to me but I would recommend it for anybody wants to have a nice place to stay while exploring the city.  It has nice hardwood floors, is extremely clean (I never saw a single roach, gecko or even ant for 2 months) and that’s with a messy guy who eats all the time. I was paying 15,000 baht ($440) a month plus electricity for a 40sq meter (409 sq. feet) studio (compared to my 1 bedroom of 350sq. feet in San Francisco for $1200).  Unfortunately for me, my first month’s electricity (air conditioning) bill was 6,000 baht ($176) which is probably what most Thai people pay for the rent itself.

I am now paying 11,000 baht ($323) a month for a smaller 30 sq. meter (322 sq. feet) studio.  More space for me equals more clutter,  bigger mess and more spending money on crap I don’t need which were all issues at my San Francisco apartment.  The place is small but has western style hardwood/marble floors, a nice modern granite bathroom and some cool bells and whistles. Many places I looked at were pretty Thai to me, meaning they had things that I wouldn’t expect being an American.

Things included non-glass open windows, curtain instead of front door, and stone slab floor.  When it came down to it though the location was most important which is a 15 minute walk to my Thai language school which is the only time I need to be a place while I’m here for the 4 hours a week or so I thought…

Settling In, or so I thought

Just when I thought I was settling in and getting into a normal routine my language school called me and let me know that I could not get an Education visa without leaving Thailand.  This is bad because 1.  I’m lazy, and 2.  I’m freaked by the  lightening which is around all the time here) after the recent horrible Air France disaster, 3.  A 12-24 hour train or bus ride is completely out of the question. It is also good because it gives me a chance to book at least a 3 day excursion.  I have tons of options but have narrowed it down to 5 flights under 3 hours for the time being.

1. Fly to Penang, Milaysia which is famous for incredible street food and decent beaches.
2. Fly to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam where my crazy friend Zeus has been living for a year+
3. Fly to Penom Penh because it’s only a 90 minute cheap flight and cheap hotel.
4. Fly to Calcutta, India because I’ve never been to India.
5. Fly to Hong Kong because Hong Kong is badass.

I will definitely blog when I decide.  I need to research visa agents because standing in a crowded embassy is not my idea of a vacation.  To my knowledge the visa agent takes your passport and does the dirty work going to the embassy and getting the paperwork done.  The major thing I need is the stamp on the visa when I arrive back at BKK.

View out Apartment Window during Day

Surprise Surprise!

The first month (April) I remember noticing (more than 1) bicyclists near the center of the shopping mecca of Bangkok in between MBK and Siam Center.  I thought nothing of it and continued on my way..

The same thing happened this month and a light bulb went off in my head when I saw the group of bicyclists.  I though it would be a good idea to blog about so here it is.  It seems that everybody either loves or hates Critical Mass.  While it has a good meaning I think it just has some bad apples that ruin the reputation in some cities in the USA.

I saw the group in the picture around 7:30-8:00pm so I don’t know if it was as large as it was going to get.  If it was, in my estimation there were less than 100 bicyclists who braved the Bangkok streets.

This made me miss riding bicycle in San Francisco which I had dd extensively for the past 2.5 years as my sole means of transportation.  I have yet to find an area in Bangkok where I would feel comfortable and find it worth it to ride bicycle.  I know they have bicycle tours throughout Thailand sponsored by REI.

Video of the start of Critical Mass in Bangkok

Sawatdee Khrab! Today was one of the very few days in the past 2 months where I actually had to be somewhere at a specific time.  I had to go look at apartments (read about apartment) then I had my first Thai language class which takes place Monday and Wednesday from 5-7 pm at Thai Language Express and gives me the all-important 1 year Education visa.

First of all, it felt kind of wierd actually having to be somewhere.  Keep in mind that for the last 5+ years I’ve been running around from workouts to personal training appointments 6 days a week.  I went from a schedule heavy in appointments to a schedule heavy in sleep. I managed to arrive to both appointments last minute.

To get to my language class I even considered running  the wrong way down two escalators from the BTS skytrain but I decided I didn’t feel like spending the night in a Thai jail so I took the long way around.

Tonal Languages are Difficult

You can see the Thai alphabet is very different from the letters you are reading but that is only half of the story.  Each word can have 1 or more tones.  There are 5 different tones in Thai, mid, low, falling, high and rising.  Each letter which has a little mark on the top right signifies a different way to pronounce the word.

As we learned there are different tones in English but they do not completely change the meaning of the word.  In Thai they do which makes it extremely difficult for me to grasp on the first day of class   For example you can say mai 5 different ways.  Each tone completely chances the word which could either mean, mile, new, no, right? or silk but western ears won’t likely be able to tell the difference.

How the First Thai Class Went

Anyone that knows me can pretty much see how my first class went.  Of course I was staring at the pretty girls walking by and spacing out while I got my ass handed to me in group activities.  Evidentally, like most Thai things, the cirricululm was not put together with strict rules in mind as some members of my class of 8 or so have been taking Thai for weeks and others have just started like me. The first half of the 2 hour class was tought in English, explaining some rules, etc. while the second half was the total immersion style with the teacher Nana speaking all Thai.

I have heard the immersion method of learning a language is the best but I cannot see how.  I am in living in Bangkok, Thailand and would think that living my day to day life would enable me to become immersed in the Thai language enough. I will leave it at that as it is 5am (my usual bedtime) and have more on Thai language very soon.