Passport Renewal in Malaysia High Commission (Singapore)

So much has changed since the pandemic. I have to say that it has somehow improved a lot of business operations and who would have thought that Malaysia would have implemented an online passport application worldwide??!! Woo hoo! 😀

This has come timely as I realized that my passport will be expiring in less than 6 months and I would be travelling the very next month. Yes, I had a panic attack and surfed all over the internet to make sure that I won't spoil my long awaited holiday! 

Thank God that the Malaysia High Commission website was updated with the latest information  (https://www.kln.gov.my/web/sgp_singapore/passport_renewal) and the instructions was clear and precise with just one minor spelling mistake on the form for the MyOnline Passport website, https://imigresen-online.imi.gov.my/eservices/myPasport. 

The first step is to make sure that you have a latest passport photo of yourself (white background and dark clothing) and it would be good if you have a digital copy of it cos you will need to upload it into MyOnline Passport. Access MyOnline Passport to fill in your details, select Collection Point > Out of Country > Singapore, upload your passport photo and make payment. 

From then on, you can only wait and hope there are no issues with the passport renewal application. It did state that the passport renewal would take 8 weeks processing time. 

I had to figure out a backup plan which was to travel with my-less-than-6m-validity passport. I started to research on whether it is even possible to travel to Malaysia and back to Singapore with Air Asia flight. It's a good thing that Air Asia has a website that does a pre-check on yr eligibility to fly, https://airasia.traveldoc.aero/

On Day 2, I received an email approval of my passport renewal and Day 5, singapore.imi@mhc.org.sg emailed for passport collection scheduled 2 days later. The joy I felt when I saw that email! I didn't need to execute my backup plan after all. Phew.😌 

On passport collection day, I headed over as early as possible anticipating the tremendous long queue at the Malaysian High Commission. Surprisingly, I was in and out of that place in 15 minutes! 😮 

From submission to passport collection, it took about 10 days, which wasn't bad at all! I'm not too sure whether it was due to the timing because I had it renewed in December where everyone was holidaying and so, it was quicker than expected? Anyway, I am glad it all turned out well and hope some Malaysians would find some good information out from this post.✌

1D Singapore Zoo & River Safari

Yes, this is possible and it's even my first time going there. And yes, I am an animal lover so imagine me going 'ooh', 'aahh' and 'omg' for every animal I saw. Hahaha...it feels like I am a child all over again!

The River Safari is a new attraction (opened in 2013) that is adjacent to the Singapore Zoo. It's much smaller compared to the Singapore Zoo and that's expected...C'mon, how many animals are there in/along rivers anyway? We headed to River Safari first to avoid the crowd at Giant Panda Forest. That's the main attraction of River Safari, Pandas!

We covered River Safari within 2.5 hours, inclusive of Amazon River Quest ride. I think it would have taken longer if we have waited for the feeding time and would recommend visitors to start their visit at 9.30 am, to coincide with feeding time. There are 2 boat rides in River Safari, Amazon River Quest and River Safari Cruise.  We chose Amazon River Quest over River Safari Cruise cos we are interested to look at animals up-close and not looking at lake and trees. However, just to set the expectation right on the Amazon River Quest ride, half of the animals could be sleeping/hiding during the ride. That's what happened to us but oh well, just our luck! The walk in River Safari is rather pleasant cos most of the areas are sheltered but of cos, we still can't escape the hot-humid weather (that's Singapore!).

River Safari done! Next stop, lunch! We headed over to Singapore Zoo terrace area for lunch and rest before the start of our next journey.

Singapore Zoo is nothing like the River Safari. It's mostly open-air and there are different routes to take depending on your must-see animal. So, please buy the tram rides. Singapore Zoo is much bigger than River Safari and thus, a lot of walking to do. So, you would want to reserve as much energy as possible. We took nearly 5 hours to cover the place but that was also because, there were a few animal shows. So, it would be good for you to take note of the show times and plan your walk/ride around it. We didn't manage to visit the KidsWorld area though.

If you are still fully charged at the end of the day and yearn to see more animals, you can hop on to the next wildlife attraction, Night Safari.

Baguio City

Baguio, one of the many "cool" highland places of Philippines, is about 5-6 hours drive from Manila or 3-4 hours from Clark. 

With long roads winding up its highlands, those susceptible to motion sickness, are forewarned to pop a tablet or two before heading up. 

From afar, Baguio's atmosphere looks foggy, but on arrival, and on sniffing,...it's smoke!!!! Well, not all the time but one would expect mountain fresh air, but not smog....NO! Seriously, the Mayor of Baguio, should do something about this!? It's such a pity that such a beautiful highland city can be so polluted by smoke, and over-crowded with people and vehicles.

Running through the heart of Baguio, is the famous Session Road, a straight road leading to the main mall in Baguio City, the SM Baguio. If it's shopping and food hunting that you are looking for, this is it! However, if you are looking for a more local shopping experience, you would need to head to Mines View. There is even a picture taking session with a Saint Bernard, with a small payment, of course. 

Close by to Mines View is the famous Good Shepherd chapel....and what is it famous for?? Cookies!! This is THE place for you to get local snacks for your friends and family! You will be amazed with the number of people carrying bags and bags of snacks out of that place.

Some distance away from Baguio's town, is my favourite place, John Hay. It used to be a US military camp, now turned into a beautiful hotel resort with lovely pine trees and cool fresh air, so unlike the town centre. Over the years, it seems to be more boulevards mushrooming here. So, take the chance to have a cup of coffee/tea and enjoy the smell of pine trees.

Perhaps a 3 days 2 nights stay would be good enough to cover the main attractions in Baguio City.

2D1N in Venice

First tip to Venice would be to reach there before sundown and get a map! It's really difficult to look for the hotel once it gets dark especially if it is not along lited areas. We had much difficulty rolling our luggage on stone pavements, carrying it through bridges, searching for the hotel and on top of that, in the dark! It felt like we have gone back to a different century. 

In Venice, you can either walk or ride the water bus. And if you are interested to take the water bus, it would be advisable to get the Tourist Travel Card or else it would cost freaking EUR7 per trip.

You don't need to plan much for Venice. Just make sure you make your way to the main tourist attraction, St Marks Square, where the Basilica, Bell Tower, Museum and Clock Tower is. Right next to that is where the shopping is. You should just talk a stroll around even if you are not interested to get anything. And of cos, like what everyone says, you should experience getting lost in Venice. That's not difficult at all! The alleys looks the same everywhere and this is one place where the map comes in very handy. You may even stumble upon some hidden gems on the way, like the Rosa Salva cafe! Their lasagna is absolutely delicious! And oh! Please try hot chocolates in Venice too! That's where I fell in love with hot chocolate drinks.

Anyway, 2 days 1 night in Venice is definitely do-able, if you are just interested to go around the island.

Top of Europe

Jungfraujoch, Top of Europe, a must-see tourist attraction in Switzerland. 

My #1 advice to Jungfraujoch would be to please check the weather online or with the hotel front desk before buying the tickets there. You don't want to be end up paying for such an expensive ticket just to look at fogs.

Realising this, we stayed in Grindelwald for 3 days in case the weather was foggy on the very first day, we can still hope to catch a sunny day the next day. And yes, we were lucky enough! 

We used the Swiss Half Fare Card to get 50% discount on the ride to Jungfraujoch or else it would have costs us CHF177 each for a return ticket. The journey from Grindelwald to Jungfraujoch took about 1 hr 20 min (Grindelwald - Grund - Kleine Scheidegg - Jungfraujoch), with a train change at Kleine Scheidegg. The journey itself was very scenic. Some of the train carriages at Kleine Scheidegg are reserved for travel tours, so just make sure you don't accidentally hop into the wrong carriage and get kicked out! 

Once at Jungfraujoch, maps are displayed to direct you on where to go. The place is pretty organised and it's quite impossible for you to get lost there. It took us about 2.5 hours to cover the place. And if you are thinking whether you'll be starving up there, fret not...there are 2 cafeterias there, one serves Indian cuisine and another serves Swiss. However, another alternative is to bring cup noodles along! We were drooling over Asians who were having their soupy cup noodle in the cold weather!!! *slurps*

On the ride back, we took an alternative route (Jungfraujoch - Wengen - Lauterbrunnen - Zweilütschinen - Grindelwald) to check-out the different towns and stopped by Lauterbrunnen to check out the waterfalls.  

It was indeed an experience to be surrounded by greeneries and nature. We will definitely visit again! 

VAT refund

If you intend to claim for VAT refund from all of the shopping done in Europe, I would advised not to make Switzerland, Norway and Turkey as your last stop unless if you are flying there. Why? That's because those countries are not part of the European Union (EU). So, if you shopped at a EU country, you would need to get EU custom stamp on the VAT forms before finally arriving at a non-EU country and vice versa. And the only way for you to get EU custom stamp would be at the airport or train stations at the border of Switzerland.


My friends who were not able to get their refund due to this has warned me about it and that's when I researched on it. I stumbled upon this website, http://thetravelersblog.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/vat-refunds-in-europe/ and look at the number of comments/discussions on it. Wow! So, I tried searching for a similar route that I will be taking (Stuttgart, Germany to Bern, Switzerland) from that looonngggg thread of comments/discussions and ta-dah! I found it! The nearest EU Immigration Office would be Lake Konstanz.

Off to Lake Konstanz we go, a 3 hour drive from Stuttgart, together with our claimable items and passport. The immigration officers would usually want to check on the expensive items (refunds > EUR100). Lake Konstanz's immigration office is located at the main train station (Hauptbahnhof) which was easy to find. Then, we saw an A4 paper stuck at the entrance which shows a picture of a train with a tick custom stamp and picture of a car with a cross custom stamp. Uh-oh....really?! They must have changed the rules to only allow those on the train and passes by this station to have their VAT refund form stamp. Oh nooo....We still went into the office with our thick skins to clarify the situation....


Me: Hi, we actually drove down from Stuttgart to get a custom stamp for the 
       VAT refund. Would it be possible for us to get it here? 
Officer: You came by car? 
Me: Yes.
Officer: No, we can't. You have to get the stamp somewhere else. 
Me: But I researched and that this is the nearest custom office to Stuttgart 
       unless you know of any?
Officer: Hmm..I'm not sure.
Me: I hope you can help us out here. We deliberately drove from Stuttgart to 
      get this stamp and we are leaving to Switzerland directly from Stuttgart 
      tomorrow by train. There is no way for us to get the stamp. 
Officer: Hmm....
Me: Please....
Officer: OK...OK...pass me all your forms. 
Me: OMG! Thank you so much!!

If I could hug the officer, I would!

So, everyone, you can give Lake Konstanz a try but I'm not too sure whether you will be fortunate enough to meet a considerate officer like me.

Allocate time to queue/walk

I'm the sort of traveler who prefers to plan for my own itinerary whenever I travel. It gives me the flexibility to choose where and when to visit the place without needing to follow a tour group. However, during my first trip to Europe, I learnt that you must allocate queue time especially for popular tourist attractions.

During my amateur itinerary planning days, I had timings on when to wake up, have breakfast, time to reach each of the locations and etc. I still remember my husband saying "I only have half an hour for breakfast?! What if I need to go to the toilet after??". Haha...The trip finally came and obviously, all the timing was off!! That was because I totally forgot to consider the duration to queue or search/walk to the location. Accumulation of 10-30 minutes of walking/queuing could set the itinerary to go haywire. :P We even needed to queue up for 45 minutes to get up to the Eiffel Tower! Due to that, we had to skip one or two art museums. Oh well...we can't cover everything that we planned for, can we? 

Conclusion, make sure you allocate enough time to queue/search/walk to yr destination!