31.10.2009 von Jean Jacques.

It was not supposed to be 2 weeks but somehow my passport vanished …

Getting a new passport is easy enough once you have a police report. Boarding a plane without an official ID is another matter. But somehow I managed. It was internal Malaysian flights after all on my to and back from Alor Setar.

Back in Kuala Lumpur to pick up the new “green” temporary passport. Fine so far. But to get back to China one needs a Visa. Sounds simple till the Chinese embassy want proof that I am in Malaysia legally.

So it is off to the immigration services to get the first stamp on. No problem with that either.

Back to the Chinese embassy, they only want and do  give me a 1 entry business visa valid for 60 days. At least I can fly back.

One piece of advice though, when you have an eTicket which is standard nowdays, make sure the  passport number  is replaced with the new one before you check in… That took again some explaining.

It did not help either that my office had re-booked the flight back 1 day later on Nov 1st than requested and of course never sent me the confirmation… and the plane is full.

Nothing like buying a Business Class ticket on the spot to solve these kind of issues.

Anyway, am back in Shanghai.

Next week we start all over again:

- French Consulate to apply for a permanent passport. That takes 2 to 3 weeks as it is done in France only.

- Chinese authorities to re-apply for a resident Visa and work permit (did I mention I lost that as well?). I expect this will take a couple of weeks from past experience.

That should take us to the end of November… and I am supposed to fly out for a very important meeting to Singapore around that time. It will be tight.

All good fun though.

Time for aperitif now I guess. Did I hear it was Halloween today?

More to come…

Geschrieben in Dates & events, Places | Keine Kommentare »

19.10.2009 von Jean Jacques.

Our friends Acki & Sylvia came to visit a couple of weeks ago so a weekend in Bejing was on the list of things to do. Departure from Shanghai Friday evening and return on Sunday night.

We probably walked over 20km over the weekend and tried to see as much as possible and there is plenty to see too. Very impressed with it all…

Went up and down parts of the Great Wall of course

Had to drive past the Olympic stadium and city…

The Summer Residence is impressive …

so are the Ming tombs…

and the occasional local character…

The Forbiden City is very impressive, walked all the way through it…

… to find a familiar face on the other side facing…

… the infamous square

Old quarters being renovated…

Plenty of nice areas with bars and restaurants too…

I’ll be back for sure.

Photos are here on Facebook.

Geschrieben in Places | Keine Kommentare »

9.10.2009 von Jean Jacques.

It has been a few months but it looks like I’ll make it for a round on Sunday. Let us hope my shoulder is up to it…

Geschrieben in Golf | Keine Kommentare »

9.10.2009 von Jean Jacques.

It looks like we have something very interesting here. Well worth a try soon…

news-letter-septembre-2009.pdf

Geschrieben in Shanghai, Things to do | Keine Kommentare »

8.10.2009 von Jean Jacques.

Moved to Kuta Beach and the Hard Rock Hotel.  Quite a change of scenery and certainly not the quiet spot from the previous days.

Good facilities, loads of music and in the midst of Kuta’s vibrant life.

Full of surfers too.

Anyway, the time always comes when you must leave. The journey back via Kuala Lumpur was as long and boring as the way in.

Must go back there and explore more of the island’s interior…

Geschrieben in Places, Travel | Keine Kommentare »

7.10.2009 von Jean Jacques.

So another country visited in Asia. I shall have to return to Indonesia though. Such a big place. There are still a few white spots to visit… most of them islands…

Back to Bali. Not exactly the holiday I had expected. Too much stress from work on 1 hand and not the best travel arrangements to get there.

I am usually really pleased with Air Asia, but it was not worth the almost 4 hours drive to Hangzhou airport to catch the flight to Kuala Lumpur. It took almost 12 hours for the trip. Not much of an evening left.

Next day, back to the airport for the 3 hours hop to Bali…

Some nice views on the way and final approach…

Quite a wait at immigration but finally on the way to the hotel

The hotel looked fine at first. I did like the old stones and the way this (I assume old village) was being transformed into rooms…

The swimming pool was quite nice too next to the ocean

The facilities were not up to scratch however. The room was fairly basic and damp. No internet access either except in the reception area and it was no fun spending 5 hours there trying to download my work emails.

The hotel was also in the middle of nowhere and although only a 20 minutes taxi ride into town, it was kind of restrictive.

So a change was needed…

Geschrieben in Places, Travel | Keine Kommentare »