Why do you need to go to kl?

The reason
I was asked this morning by Yan Hui who's too lazy to read my blog! Weeeell I needed to renew my passport which expires in November. I also needed to extend my student pass and the immigration authorities will not do that unless my passport is valid for atleast year.

It all started on Monday when i got a call informing me of all these and so I made a few calls to the Nigerian High Commission asking for information on what is required to renew my passport, made most of the preparations and took a 6:40 flight on Wednesday morning. My plan was to do everything on that Wednesday and come back the same day. That made sense but its quite boring so it didn't go that way and i had to spend the night in KL.

Noob
I've been to KL several times but most times its for camps and the last time i went was for the PS conference with most of the Bethany folks. And of course with Michael and Philip but that was different. This time i'm all alone. I got to LCCT and didn't know what to do. Thank God i was able to get through to Li ern and asked for directions. She told me to take the 9 Ringgit but to KL sentral and then a train to Ampang park. Then i should be able to locate the Nigerian High Commission. Sounds simple enough, and actually it is but things turned out slightly different.

Before i called Li ern i just stood outside the Airport crossed my arm, with my heavy backpack and observed, where were all the other people going? Why did they take the red bus and not the other one. Why is there a difference in pricing? Do all the buses here go to the same place? These were thoughts i was trying to answer simply by observing but it did me no good so i called.

Instead of taking the RM9 bus i horridly took the RM8 bus. No one was in it. I didnt get it, its cheap, people should rush in but no. I waited and waited and a few old people came in. Ok not that old but pretty old la. There was no young person in the bus. I was like :sigh: the 1 ringgit is no not worth it.

The bus delayed and delayed until it was about 9:30 then it felt with about 5 passengers. No choice one. I was relieved, it least we're moving. I remember writing in a small notepad my mom bought for me these thoughts

Called Li ern to ask for directions to Jalan Ampang, I need to take the RM9 bus to KL Sentral and a train to Ampang. I took the RM8 bus. Its so not worth it compared to the RM9 bus and I really need to get to an ATM.

Lesson learned.

Follow the directions
I made it to KL sentral, got a ticket to Ampang park and then got on the wrong train. I was suppose to take the train on platform A but i took the platform B train going the opposite direction. When i noticed I didn't get off immediately i waited for the next stop then get off. At this point I was running late, I need to make it to the High Commission {HC} early so that I can finish early since they only attend to people from 9am to 12pm.

I got out of the subterranean ecosystem and went up to the open streets. Tried to find a taxi that would take me there but none was willing. So down the mole hole again to get on the right train.

I finally arrived at the Ampang park station and then I called Christian for directions. He told me to ask any of the taxis they should know the place. He was wrong. About three taxis i asked were clueless i was like what the... I thought knowledge of the surrounding was a prerequisite to being a taxi driver. After trying taxi after taxi I met one who was not sure where the Nigerian HC was but knew the Ghanian Embassy. That was good enough for me I guess.

Finally got there and gave them my documents, and they asked me for the receipt of payment. You see usually we do all payments there but some genius thought it would be best to make all payments online, so we have to go to the HC's website and pay there. Even at that the process is not intuitive and its quite frankly annoying. My documents were not complete, i needed to write an application letter, make the payments, print out the proof of payment and pass all these to them. It was getting late and even though i made the payments i didnt know where to print it out and even if i did i couldnt make it on time to the HC to submit everything. I had to spend the night in KL.

I heart Starbucks
While i was in KL starbuck at Times Square became like my office+hangout place. For some reason alot of Arabians come there alot. All kinds from the modernish to the very traditional. And oh do the kid look so pretty. Made me wish for that little instant to have a kid like that. {Daydreaming.}

My father bought one of the cards they use in Nigeria to make payments for these kind of stuff {passport renewal stuff} so he gave me the details and i used it to make the payments. But couldn't find a place to print. So i messaged Chris, didn't dare call her again since the last time i called she was in class. This time she wasn't in class so i asked her where i could print out this payment thing around the times square area. She was not too sure but told me the most likely place to print is a cybercafe. That was good enough. Now i needed to find a cybercafe. Looked around and it seemed like an odd place for a cybercafe to be located. That was when i decided that i would probably have to do all these tomorrow.

For the entire time i used the free wifi at Starbucks i didnt by anything from starbucks. So bad, i know but they could have told me anyway. The way i see it, its nothing personal, its just business. Besides they make a ton of money every day with all those Arabians.

A room for the night
Not sure where to get accommodation, i called Anthony and he said there are lots of hotels at Bukit Bintang, just to confirm, i called prince too and he said BB also so BB it was but which one? Now I could have stayed with friends but they live so far from the city, or with Mark but i called him and he didn't pick up.

I went to the Bintang Warisan Hotel, Prince recommended it saying its nice and its a three star hotel. All i was thinking was its expensive. But i went anyway and was greeted by a semi illiterate, rude human being who almost certainly failed in business. I wanted a room for the night and even though it was 190 bucks i was willing to pay but he told me off. I was hurt and went way. Its probably God's way of helping me save money :D

I walked just a few blocks from the hotel from hell and found a place that almost looks looks like a drycleaning service, the Hotel Putra Bintang. I asked for a room for the night and they gave me one at 65. There were cheaper rooms but they were all occupied and this was the last of three left so i took it.

The place was not the best place to spend the night so i was glad i only spent the night. The TV didn't work at first but i found the problem and fixed it. The ceiling was quite irritating and air conditioner wasn't that cold. I was a bit scared of the bed but got over it. Just for the night i kept telling myself.

I needed to leave all my stuff in the room and get to a cybercafe and print the receipts so i prayed and left my laptop and my bag in the room. Fortunately, everything was the way it was when i came back. I got the receipts printed out and i was ready for the next day. Stayed indoors after that. I didnt leave the room from 7 something until the next day.

Weird breakfast
Morning came and i got up early, checked out and went to take my breakfast. I didnt want to start my day with rice so i had this mee instead. Not sure what it was but they lady kept asking me if it wanted the soup i said yeah i did and after asking for drinks she asked again, just to confirm and i bodohly said yes again. I knew i was in for trouble at that point.

The mee came, it was filled with soup and didnt look nice. {what a way to start the morning i murmured} Its basically white mee with soup and vege. Nothing else. No spices, nothing. It was so weird i felt even the Chinese people didnt eat that. But i managed to eat it and pretended to enjoy it, drinking the soup with one hand and using the chopsticks with the other. Thank God i had teh tarik to weather the bland taste. I finished up, paid and ran away from that place.

Rapid KL
I was told to take the rapid kl to get to Ampang park. So i looked at the route and discovered I needed the B103 bus. But it never came and i was waiting and waiting so another plan had to be devised. I remembered the last time i went to the HC we went through KLCC so i took the bus to KLCC and took a taxi to the HC. Rapid KL is just 2 bucks for the whole day as long as you follow the same route. I was on the BANDAR route. I actually found out it was 2bucks for the whole day online while at starbucks.

I came to the HC and submitted all my documents. This time everything was complete yet they asked me to come back by 3pm. This time i made it there early at about 9:30 yet they still asked me to come back at 3pm. I asked if i could wait there until then but what they said shocked me and i still don't understand why. They said if I waited there I would probably get it the next day. Determined not to spend another night in KL i quickly went away. I decided to walk a bit instead of waiting for a taxi. The walk did me good, i discovered later because i was able to recognise the area around the HC.

I went back to starbucks and spent the remaining time there online.

Taxi drivers
The first taxi driver that took me to the HC in the morning was telling me that Nigeria is such an oil rich country. I discovered while talking to him that he was a soldier in Congo of all places and was ordered to extract {his words} their people from Nigeria in the 80's i think because of a conflict there. He said he didn't understand why people lived in poverty while there were oilpipelines all over the place. He'd expected development but to his surprise he saw the opposite. He went on about how arrogant oil companies can be and how Dr. Mahathir helped Malaysia to establish Petronas and other nice nice things he said about the former PM. We really wanted Dr. M to stay on, and he didnt like the current PM very much too. I learnt that he, the taxi driver, was also from Ampang and he said it wasn't always like that. There's development now. And I couldn't help but feel sorry for my Country and state. But things are changing albeit at a snails pace.

The taxi that took me to starbucks was another unique character. He said he wanted to visit Africa some day, i was like wow thats nice, he said go South Africa and work his way to Saudi Arabia, like that. Just vacation for a while. "I'm tired everyday go klcc, go times square, boring man!" He was proud to be a taxi driver though. He said confidently that he was able to see his first son through University with his job but he's worried about his daughter. She doesn't want to go to school. So he's thinking of setting up a business.

He claims to be skilled in making car seats, and fixing old ones. He's also good at panel beating and is very proud of his home town Kelantan. Not sure if thats the spelling. But he boasts that his people are strong and good at crafts and handiwork. He boasts that KL people are all talk people. They cannot stand in the face of conflict but his people are brave and so on.

Then he went on to reveal that he's had some girl friends while a taxi driver. Was quite pleased with himself for that. I just let out a mischievous laugh. He looked like a person who talked alot but i enjoyed his tales.

The last interesting driver was indian. At about 2:30 after taking my lunch close to Low Yat Plaza, i went out to look for a taxi. Couldn't find one, so i walked a bit, and kept walking, changing my position to see if it improves my luck but no. What happened? I kept walking until i found myself at Bukit Bintang where i spent the night.

Finally found a taxi, told him Jalan Ampang and he said 10 ringgit.
taximan: 10 ringgit
me: 7 ringgit
taximan: ok 8 ringgit
me: 7 ringgit
taximan: Ok la ok la lets go.

I was quite pleased with myself, i was running late yet i had the time to bargain even though i'm still paying a premium. He was the local type of Indians, he asked me if i've a student i said yes, he asked me if i sell watches because he saw my watch and wanted one. I said no then i gave him my watch to take a look see and said

taximan: nice, mont blanc
me: yeah
taximan: how much?
I told him
taximan: original?
I told him and told him where i bought it.

Then we went on about some of the businesses he knows Nigerians are involved in and i tried to tell him, not good la and he passively consigned. He promised to take 7 ringgit because we're the same skin color. I didn't know whether to be pleased or sad. He was a character. But he was true to his word and took me there. Even though i was leading him to the place.

Got to the HC half an hour late but they didn't seem to mind. A few minutes later a short but pretty looking Indian lady brought my passport with the stamp that extends its validity until 2012. I was so thankful to her, finally i could go home. But a thought came to me. To think that i went through all these wahala {trouble} for one green stamp.

I've got time!
I wish i had time to do alot of things. Actually i did but my mind was just focused on the task at hand that i didn't let myself lose in the city. But i did have time to eat at Times Square, visit, FOS, and Angela wanted to meet for lunch but i only noticed her message quite late. From the HC i headed for the airport. Thanks to Angel i got to the AirAsia office at KL Sentral and bought a 7:40 flight to Kuching. This time i went with the RM9 bus and enjoyed it.

Thank Yous
I want to thank Chris, Christian, Angela, Prince, Anthony and everyone who helped in more ways than one. Everyone who called, showed concern, prayed. Xie Xie.

~shalom~