Drama passport.

     Lepas dah beli tiket ke China baru tersedar dari keindahan mimpi. Asyik lah duk eksaited nak bercuti, lupa yang pasport Malaysia perlukan visa untuk masuk ke negara China.

     Plannya nak short trip aje, nak mudah dan murah. Dari plan nak pergi Indonesia atau Thailand, last-last sampai ke China 😂 siap kena buat visa, aduhai betul. Boleh tiba-tiba tersesat kat sini pun sebab ayah yang recommend, kalau tak memang tak pernah dengar pun nama tempat ni haha.

     So dengan hebatnya,

Sabtu malam beli tiket, flight sabtu depan.

Ahad seharian lepak McDonald untuk buat itinerary sebab nak apply visa.
Isnin gerak Kuala Lumpur untuk buat visa.

     Sungguh, walau satu saat kami tak membazir masa 😂

     Dalam lebih kurang pukul 1 petang kiteorang sampai dekat tempat untuk buat visa kiteorang ke China. Bila dah berdiri depan kaunter, di mintak nombor giliran, segala borang dengan paspot. Masa dia belek-belek paspot aku dia tanya, 

          👩 "Ni kenape?"

          👧 "Kena toner muka masa jalan hari tu" jawab aku.

     Dia belek lagi. Dia bangun dari kerusi, jalan ke arah belakang untuk tanya dan datang balik duduk dekat kerusi depan kiteorang. Aku dah mula berdebar.

          👩 " Saya sarankan awak untuk renew paspot awak."

          👧 "Ohh, ada masalah apa ya?"

          👩 "Paspot awak dah terkena air, jadi kami bimbang kalau paspot awak dah rosak. Kalau paspot rosak prosedur seterusnya akan terbantut."

          👧 "Ohh selama ni, saya ada jugak pakai paspot yang sama untuk masuk dan keluar negara."

          👩 "Kiteorang boleh proceed, cuma awak kene sign kertas ni tanda awak setuju untuk bayar service charge even awak tak dapat visa awak ke China selepas 4 hari."

     Hmm~ drama apa pulak last-last minit ni 😭 Rasa geram yang nak nangis tu hahahaha. Bincang punya bincang depan kaunter, last decide kene jugak renew paspot sebab kalau tiba-tiba betul cip paspot rosak, apa pun tak dapat. Visa tak dapat, gerak China tak dapat, holiday tak dapat, flight batal, tiket train segala hotel pun membazir begitu sahaja. 

     Hari ni dah Isnin, patut visa dapat Khamis. Sabtu dah flight. Ini dengan nak renew paspot, nak ke KL semula untuk hantar borang visa, nak menunggu visa siapnya lagi. Aku dah macam takda mood holiday dah, tapi fikir travelmate takkan gerak sorang dengan duit flight, train dan hostel apa bagai gerakkan jugak lah kaki tangan walau muka dah sememeh putus asa nak holiday haha.

     Balik dari tempat buat visa, aku terus gerak Pejabat Imigresen Jalan Duta untuk renew paspot. Sampai dah dalam pukul 3:30pm, waktu pejabat habis pukul 5. Haruuu~ Bila tunjuk paspot, 

          "Betullah, rosak dah paspot awak ni."

     Dalam hati, ada je lah bahagian yang lega sebab nasib baik decide nak renew paspot. Kalau tak? Tak drama 40 episod?

     Aku pergi belah renew paspot rosak. Aku baca-baca dalam internet, prosedur biasa akan amik masa 5 hari bekerja baru boleh dapat paspot baru. Aku dah berserah, apa nak jadi sukati lah. Dah bersedia je kalau tak dapat pegi China.

     Sampai depan kaunter,

          👩 " Ya selamat petang."

          👧 " Selamat petang. Paspot saya kene air, jadi saya nak renew. Boleh kan?"

          👩 "Boleh, tapi nak renew paspot yang rosak akan ambil masa 5 hari bekerja."

          👧 "Hmm macam ni, flight saya Sabtu ni untuk ke China. Saya perlukan visa untuk masuk ke China. Tak boleh ya kalau nak dapat dalam minggu ni jugak?"

          👩 "Ni prosedur kami dik, prosedur memang akan amik masa 5 hari bekerja. Untuk buat visa ke China ada kan express line?"

          👧 "Ya, paling lambat hari Khamis sebab express line dua hari"

          👩 "Camni lah, awak ambil borang ni, balik awak buat surat rayuan. Cuba pergi ke Pejabat Imigresen Putrajaya kalau dapat."

          👧 " Okay, terima kasih."

     Aku pun balik dengan hampanya dan keyakinan tiket aku ke China akan menjadi debu tanpa api kahkahkah.

**********

     Besoknya, habis je solat Subuh aku keluar. Apa yang penting? Aku orang pertama ambil nombor dekat Pejabat Imigresen Putrajaya, Tak settle jugak, memang kita nangis je lah haha. 

          👨 "Selamat pagi. Ada masalah apa?"

          👧 " Paspot saya rosak terkena air."

          👨 " Okay, prosedur akan amik masa 5 hari untuk renew paspot awak. Ada masalah?"

          👧 " Hmm, flight saya Sabtu ni ke China. Jadi saya perlukan visa sekurang-kurangnya Khamis ni. Semalam lepas balik dari tempat buat visa, saya terus ke Pejabat Imigresen Jalan Duta tapi dia suruh refer sini untuk settle up"

          👨 "Kami yang buat undang-undang 5 hari tu, jadi sini ke sana takda beza. Kenape undang-undang China awak boleh ikut, undang-undang Malaysia awak tak boleh ikut?"

     Aku senyap. Masalah dah cukup banyak aku nak layan. Tak larat dah nak tambah lagi satu. Ikutlah apa pun, aku dah tak kesah.

          👧 "Jadi apa yang saya boleh buat ye Encik?"

          👨 "Awak duduk dulu, nanti saya panggil."

          👧 "Okay, terima kasih"

     Aku macam positif je sepatutnya boleh siap dalam hari yang sama sebab paspot aku bukan hilang, cuma aku cuai terkena air sikit. Tapi kalau dah centu dramanya tiba-tiba aku macam tak harap apa sangat lah.

     Atlast, paspot aku siap hari yang sama. Terus aku rempit gi KL, settlekan terus visa aku. Alhamdulillah semua benda aman dan sejahtera.

     So pengajaran dari drama aku ialah kalau paspot terkena air walaupun sikit, konfemkan dengan mana-mana pihak yang tahu pasal paspot kau. Lepas paspot aku terkena air, aku guna paspot aku 

1. Keluar dari Itali
2. Masuk ke Taiwan
3. Keluar semula dari Taiwan, masuk Malaysia
4. Masuk Sarawak
5. Keluar semula dari Sarawak, balik Semenanjung
6. Masuk Thailand
7. Keluar semula dari Thailand,masuk Malaysia

     Aku macam tak kisah sangat lah orang imigresen selain negara Malaysia takda tegur apa pasal paspot aku, tapi aku macam agak tak boleh terima lah orang imigresen Malaysia langsung takda tegur pasal paspot aku, walau sorang. Ya, ada salah aku sebab tak tahu paspot akan rosak kalau kene air walau sikit tambah-tambah kalau terkena dekat cover belakang. Sebab selama ni aku baca dekat muka surat belakang tu pasal kalau panas terlampau je, so lain-lain aku tak tahu. Bagi aku, as orang yang memang kerja settle paspot takkan tak tegur langsung. Aaaaaaaaaa aku sedihhhh hahahahhaha over tak? Tapi serius lah aku macam kecewa gila, orang negara lain pulak yang menyedarkan aku. Itu nasib baik aku sempat settle visa, kalau tak sempat? Tak meraung ratus-ratus aku habis sia-sia.

      Kalau ada orang imigresen yang jaga paspot ada terbaca, kalau saya salah faham boleh terangkan dekat komen. I really appreciate it 😁

     So sentiasa lah jaga paspot anda seperti anda menjaga barang kesayangan anda. The end.

How to get to Western Hill (Xishan Mountain), Kunming.

     You can choose subway line 3. Stop at Western Hill station. From there, just walk for about 10 minutes before you reach the place where you can buy a ticket. When you exit from the subway, just go straight and turn left downhill. You can see some buses inside.

     The place is not so obvious, just ask around if there any local person. I think there is 3 places to buy a "ticket" (we chose RMB 88 to ride a return bas, ride a cable car one-way, ride a electric car one-way and also include an entrance to Dragon Gate), but I dont think there is a different between them as they wear the same cloth. So you can buy from any of them. There is also another 'plan' other than the RMB 88, but Im not sure about the price and what is inside the plan. Maybe you can search more about it. Sorry cannot help you with that information.

     The entrance to Western Hills is free. The one that we bought is not entrance ticket, but that is the service that they provide to anyone who want it and willing to pay. Second choice is, you can go uphill by walking. There is a road that will lead you to the place where you can take a cable car or you can trekking from there to the uphill without a cable car. What can I say is, it is so far hahaha maybe it took 1 hour or more to reach uphills from the entrance.

Its not so cable car actually 😛
You also will have a great view while you up here.

     By the time when you are at the top of the hill, you can have a stunning view of Kunming and Dian Lake. Take your time up there 😁 and you will get downhill by 1000 steps route.

     After that we go to Dragon Gate, and you will get a temporary card at the entrance. You'll have another thousand stairs to step 😅 its so tiring. Here, you'll get through all the temple before you can see an electric car that will bring you to where the bus dropped off you and take the bus back to the entrance.

This is the map for Western Hills.

     Now you can walk again to the subway, and take the subway back to your hostel and rest! Hahaha. If you want to ride a taxi, you can just wait infront of the entrance even the subway is so near to the entrance. Just for your information, from Kunming Railway Station to Western Hill is RMB43 by taxi.

     Oh, before that. You can try their traditional cloth inside the Western Hill with only RMB20, but the cheapest that I've found among the places that I've gone in Kunming is in Stone Forest, its only RMB10. Still, both are cheap 😀

Tips before go to China

          Hi everyone!

     I just came back from China yesterday. I went to Yunnan province, and community there uses Mandarin as their mother tongue. China really gives me a new experience! It is really nice there, I love it. But before you go to China, I think you should know a certain things.

1) Its really hard there to find one who can speak English. Just make sure you planned your trip well and very detail. So then, is will be easier for you to ask and understand them just in any case.

2) If you dont speak Mandarin, download any apps that can help you to communicate with local there. For me, I use Google translate and its really helps me to read the menu, signboard and even instruction on the back of the ticket or food.

3) Download any VPN apps before you go to China. There is a lot such as Hexatech (I use this for my Iphone), expressVPN and many more. So then you can continue using your Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp and even Google in China. China blocked all of this apps. Just install VPN, and you can use your social media as usual.

4) Google Maps is not working well there, eventhough you already have your VPN connected. I only used Google maps just to know more about the bus station only, other than that its is useless. Just try "maps.me", or Baidu maps only for people who know to read Chinese character, or just try any other apps that recomended by anyone in the internet. There is someone who recommended OsmAnd map, but I never try it because we found it on our second last day there.

                    We used Google Maps there, but we lost for more than 2 hours 😂 and end up we just ask around until finally the policeman there help us to get to the bus station. So, you can see yourself how unfunction Google Maps there hahaha.

5) If you try to book anything in China, put every single letter just like in your passport. If you fail to do that, you have to book your ticket again there and cancel your ticket that you already booked before.
                    I booked my train ticket with my old passport, and then I renew my passport just before I got into China. I even bring my old passport and show them, but they still insist that I have to cancel my old booking and I have to book a new train ticket to Lijiang. I asked for reason, they just say because that passport is already unused so they cannot accept it.

                    I also use my old passport to booked a ticket flight from Kuala Lumpur to Kunming, but I have no problem with that even I got my new passport. International flight and domestic train, how is it 😏

6) Halal food in Kunming and Lijiang is not a problem. You can see many restaurants that have حلال sign in front of their restaurant or Arabic writing and even a picture of a mosque. InsyaAllah muslim can eat there safely.

This is halal sign there, sometime its write in Arabic version and sometime in Chinese version. So you have to see remember both of them :

7) Bring your passport anywhere you go. There is always someone who want to check your passport there. I never experienced such thing in another country haha. Before you go to jail, bring your passport with you.

8) Try to avoid bring anything that have potential to cause a flammable eventhough 1% like spray deodorant 😂 Before you going to take a subway of ride a train, they will scanned all of our things. They will take it, before you open it hahaha.

9) Make sure you have exactly the amount for the bus fare. Otherwise, you will pay more than you should.

10) This is plug in China, make sure bring your adapter if you use other than this three.

11) They use AliPay to pay anything there. You can find the barcode even in small grocery store. There is another barcode that they use, but I dont really sure what apps is that. You can try to search anywhere else. But dont worry, cash is still accepted there without any problem.

12) They dont have internet simcard only. There is a Big 3 mobile carriers in China.

• China Mobile
• China Unicom
• China Telecom

But, only China Unicom that works with international mobile phone. So you dont have any other choices other than China Unicom. Dont forget to bring your passport if you want to purchase one!

I have a picture of plan that China Unicom offers. Click "Travelogue to Kunming" and you can see the plan there.

For now, maybe thats all. If you have anything to ask, ust leave your comment below, I'll try my best to answer you question. Thank you for reading!

Other : Things that you have to know before you go to China.