Yeah, I know, non-tech related, but I have been invited to an overseas technology meet (sounds glamourous, but it’s not – more details later) next month, and since my passport expired at the end of last year, I had to renew it. And it’s KIPPAS, not KIPAS – any smart monkey knows you can’t renew your passport using a fan! 
KIPPAS = “Kiosk Pembaharuan Pasport”, aka passport renewal kiosk. If I’m not mistaken, it’s available in select Immigration offices in the Klang Valley only. Its biggest advantage? It only takes two hours to renew your passport if you meet the following criteria:
- your existing expired or about-to-expire passport is the newer chip based one. Feel the back cover of your passport – does it feel like there’s a lump there? If so, then it’s a chip based passport.
- you can only do renewals. No other transactions such as changing your name, adding/deleting/editing children’s particulars, etc.
- you have a new chip based MyKAD/IC (who doesn’t nowadays, eh? Even the Ibans living in the interiors of Sarawak have them!).
- your chip based MyKAD can be read by the machine (trust me, some machines can’t read your MyKAD; or your MyKAD can be totally screwed to the extent that not even any machine in this reality can read it).
- your thumbprint can be read by the machine – ladies, avoid putting any heavy duty moisturiser/hand cream/any cream on your hands. You can use either the right or left hand.
- you only want to apply for a 32 page passport. If you need 64 pages, sorry, do it the manual way by joining the queue of a couple of hundred people.
Having satisfied the criteria above, to save yourself the hassle and time, and to ensure a pleasurable experience, perform the following pre-renewal tasks:
- take an updated photo of yourself. Just one photo is sufficient.
- make a photocopy of your IC, front and back, on the same side of paper. Make sure it’s legible.
- bring a pen.
Then, assuming you are driving to the Immigation office in Pusat Bandar Damansara, here’s the idiot guide:
- enter using the Giant Supermarket side. This is behind McDonalds for those who don’t visit this area regularly.
- Giant will be on your left. Proceed to the parking entrance – take a ticket.
- The Immigration Department will be on your right as you pass the ticket booths. It’s located in Block I (“I” for Immigration, geddit?). Look for a KIPPAS sign after the crowd of people – that’s the one you want to enter.
- Go into the underground parking on the right about 10 metres after entering the parking ticket booths. Proceed straight to Level 4 or below, all other higher levels are reserved parking only.
- Park car. Adjust makeup. Lock car.
- Climb up the stairs to Level 1 (there’s no level G in Pusat Bandar Damansara, the architect must have trained in the US). Level 1 = ground floor.
- Proceed straight to the KIPPAS room you saw earlier on your way in.
- As you enter the KIPPAS room, take an envelope to the left on the table. It’s only a small envelope, just nice to put your passport inside.
- Proceed to any available kiosk, preferably one that is working. You may think I am joking, but machines are quite often “down” – which makes one wonder why don’t they just sack the company providing these machines and appoint a new one?
- Press the touch screen to begin. It’s like operating a cheque deposit machine, detailed and precise instructions are provided on the screen. If you are unsure where you are supposed to stick your old passport or IC or cash or the envelope, check on the screen – the area which is supposed to abused will be flashing.
- Choose renewal, then place your passport in the slot provided on the bottom left side of machine. Machine will read it. If it can’t read it, you’re screwed – you have to do things the manual way, which is very painful. More painful than a wisdom tooth extraction without anaesthetic.
- Place your IC when prompted in the slot on the bottom left side of machine, below where you placed your old passport. Make sure you stick the IC facing up, with the chip side in first. Do not take out your passport yet. Machine will now scan your IC. If it can’t read it, you’re screwed – you have to do things the manual way, which is very painful. More painful than an amputation without anaesthetic. Because now you have to proceed to the Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (JPN) mini office door to do something to make your IC machine readable, otherwise even the manual method won’t even work. Be prepared for raised tempers and murderous feelings towards anyone in the close vicinity of you.
- Place right or left thumb on thumbprint reader on the right side. Machine will now read your thumbprint. I had to press on the scanner really hard, close to breaking point of the glass, but that’s another story. If machine fails to read your thumbprint, you’re screwed, and you have to proceed to applying the manual method, fighting with grannies, grandpas, aunties and uncles and their pets. Good luck.
- When thumbprint is verified, you will be prompted to remove the old passport and IC. You will then be asked for payment. The machine only accepts RM50 and RM100 notes. Bring more cash than necessary – the machine is sometimes known to be very very picky. No torn or stapled notes, no cellphaned notes. Put notes in one by one, don’t stuff the entire RM300 in. Once done, machine will prompt you to take your old passport, one photograph and a photocopy of your MyKAD/IC, and place all of them in the envelope you collected in step 8 above. Write your name, IC number as well as contact number (handphone preferred, so if you plan to wait while your passport is renewed, they can at least call you if they encounter a problem in processing).
- Stuff passport into the “bin” – the slot is at the bottom right side of the machine. The machine will now print a receipt (see picture) which you will use to claim your brand spanking new passport later.
- After two hours, proceed to Block I, Level 2 using the escalator (the main entrance is to the left of the KIPPAS room as you exit), proceed straight to counter 16 and hand over the receipt. You will be given a queue number for collection.
- Exercise patience while waiting. If the “system is down” (a frequent occurence in the Immigration Office), be prepared to wait, for how long, I can’t tell. When I collected mine, I had to wait for around 45 minutes. The excuse given was the system “upstairs” was down although the machine “downstairs” was working fine when I used it. Maybe they should buy some Viagra for their machines so that they remain “up” always.
- Collect your new passport by showing them your MyKAD/IC and placing your thumbprint in the reader. So, you cannot authorise someone to collect for you, unless you are a VIP (in which case I think the Immigration DG may personally deliver your passport to your house/office), unless you plan on handing over your IC (simple), and also cutting off your thumb (easy, but painful) and passing it to the person whom you want to collect the passport on your behalf.
- Pass Go, and collect $200.
That’s it. Finito. Make sure you check the passport before leaving the counter. The kiosk opens at 730am, and I think it closes at 345pm (I can’t be sure, because I didn’t check the closing time). It only operates from Monday to Friday. There are four machines there, so you needn’t get into unnecessary catfights. And there’s normally no queue there, assuming you don’t go during the school/long holiday season! I went at 710am, was first in line, completed my stuff at the machine by 731am, and back home by 1042am with my new passport. It couldn’ve been sooner if there were no “system down” problems
Parking charges are RM 2.20 per hour. Strangely, I had to pay RM 6.70 for around 3 hours or so. Go figure. People in Pusat Bandar Damansara work in mysterious ways. I just don’t want to know how mysterious.
I hope this has helped someone.
newb, renew passport because plan to travel to taiwan for Viliv S5 ka? Can buy for me one….
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
May 18th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
@artic, I wish! And in any case, there’s no point in going to Taiwan, the Viliv S5 is not officially released there yet. The initial batch was wiped out in no time in Korea and Hongkong. And a lof of the second batch went to Dynamism! Looks like we’ll have to be super patient for it to arrive in Malaysia, if it does arrive at all!
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@DAD & artic_xp
joint me lah,for this taiwan end of july IT show ( i heard is biggest ),even i in johor,also buying ticketing fr airasia LCCT to taipeh,bcau SG budget is selling RM1200,i got it from air asia less than RM500 , return ticket with tax , all in,
taipeh i am familiar,stay is about RM70 night,toilet attach,you can share the bed too.
now start saving money,to buy SSD HDD for my netbook and umpc,recently just bought a SSD VERTEX on my SONY AR,is bootup fast..and shut down fast , but make my wallet empty..
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
May 19th, 2009 at 10:11 am
@andy, hahaha…I think Computex is in two weeks time, better to attend this one?
Gadget addiction is expensive huh?
But RM 500 return to Taiwan is dirt cheap, if I say so myself. And the hotels are not expensive either, unless we’re talking about those really dirty Chow Kit type hotels!
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@DAD
thank for your sharing your very very detail guide…
Bandar Pusat damansara recall my most memorable time in HELP college , i was doing my Aus. accountancy there about 3 year , 18 year ago……i am missing much
i did my passport about 2 year ago in JB , by using the above machine ( mean u put the necessary documents ) and feed money to the machine , like check deposit machine , later immigration will collect it , and do your passport,
actually i was on Q , one of officer ask me to use machine ( i guess they want to test it ). very thing is smooth.
parking is expensive in certain hot area , when i was in KLCC , usually visiting book kinokuniya about whole day cost me about RM30.
talking about parking. Hong kong mongkok is about HKD38-48 per hour , Taiwan is about NTW120 per hour.
heheh
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
May 19th, 2009 at 10:24 am
@andy, wow, 18 years ago huh? That’s a long time ago! And it’s nice to know that JB also has a KIPPAS machine for renewals. At least we know it’s not only the Klang Valley that has the monopoly on the latest technology!
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Hei … Andy … dont mind I join u on the Taiwan IT Show? Can u email me the details at alvin.fok@me.com
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Hi, I Googled & found this write-up. It’s very detailed & helpful. I’m gonna try out the kiosk these few days. TQ!
BTW, do u know if they r particular on the shirt colour (bright/dark) in our passport photo?
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
June 24th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
@Lai, thanks for the kind words. Yes, do point out any inaccuracies in my guide if you find any when you renew your passport. It’s really easy.
As for the shirt colour, I don’t think they mind that much, since they are just going to cut away the rest of the picture, leaving only your face, unlike last time when they paste the entire picture you take onto the passport. Now, it’s all scanned in. But again, best to check with the photo shop before you take the photo. There’s even a couple of photo shops in the vicinity of the Immigration office in Pusat Bandar Damansara if you want to take your picture there.
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re: item 19 on the list of things to do,
are you kidding about collecting $200 when we redeem our new passports?
sorry, but i’m not sure if i got the tone (joke/serious) right.
cos if that’s true, passport renew only cost 100 then. which is not what i heard.
thanks for your patience
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sharon Reply:
July 8th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
oh… i think i get what you said now. it’s Monopoly term is figured.
hahahah… good one.
thanks for the guide.
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
July 8th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
@sharon, haha, you got the joke finally eh?
And you’re welcome, I hope you found the guide helpful.
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Anonymous Reply:
July 9th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Hi, Da Alpha Dog??
Your guide really helps. I just got my passport renewed today. smoothly…. ha ha. BTW. they din renew my passport for 5 years from my P/P expiry date. My pp expired on 7 Feb 2010 but they renew until 9 Jan 2015 only.
Thousand thanks.
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
@Anonymous, glad you found it helpful. I think the renewal works this way – if your passport is already expired, the next expiry date upon renewal will be based on the date you renewed. If it is not yet expired, then the expiry date is based on the not-yet-expired date of the passport. I hope you understand what I’m trying to say.
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Hi, do u get back my passport of i renew with the kiosk? I needed the passport back given that i still have my US visa still valid for the next 5 years. Thanks.
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
September 18th, 2009 at 11:54 am
@Anonymous, I believe you do. I think they cut the corners of the passport indicating that it is no longer valid.
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it is very helpful..thx..
one quick question, is it must bring birthday certificate if my passport already expired more than 2 years? Thanks
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
October 16th, 2009 at 12:11 am
@kc, I don’t think so, but I’m not the Immigration Dept’s spokesperson! Best to bring it just in case.
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ANDY Reply:
October 16th, 2009 at 12:20 am
if not mistaken , if this is your second passport , you need not passport , do a google search , find the immigration tel and call up them, some of them is helpful..never try never know…
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add to : need not birth cert
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hehe,
ure terribly funny
=)
and thanks for the help on the passport thing,
by the way, other than pusat damnsara, any other kiosks?
like some where near dang wangi?
merci bien!
[Reply]
Da Alpha Dog Reply:
November 19th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
@Indravenidotk, you mean I’m terribly at being funny, which means I’m not funny, or I’m funny in a terrible sort of way, which means I’m scary?
Sorry, apart from Pusat Bandar Damansara, I don’t know any other locations. I’m sure there are others like in Subang, maybe you can check online?
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omg!!!are you sure?!!!cuz nd to to renew passport tomorrow(sg pass to international pass),and i dont hv birth cert wit me now~i’ve been looking for answers!hope ur rite!
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hi there, thanks so much for the tips! i followed the instructions almost to a T and the whole process was a breeze.
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
December 22nd, 2009 at 11:01 pm
@E, good to know the instructions are still valid…but how come you only followed “almost to a T” – were some steps wrong/unnecessary?
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E Reply:
December 23rd, 2009 at 2:23 am
it was too early in the day for me to have any makeup on.. so i skipped step 5.
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
December 23rd, 2009 at 2:42 pm
@E, hahah! I said to avoid putting cream on hands ma, not forgo the entire makeup! You want to look good in the passport photo what?
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E Reply:
December 27th, 2009 at 12:08 am
yups, i rbered the ‘no cream on hands’ tip. the scanner worked well – no need to press glass til breaking point.
i’d my passport pic developed before i went mar. interestingly, while i was smiling widely & my ears were half covered & i wasn’t wearing a collared blouse (this pic was for my job app purpose), my pic was acceptable.
i’d completely forgotten about those rules, but i suppose the rules only apply to IC pics? the imm officer told me that it’s OK as long as i resemble my prev passport pic — which was great (i love it that i actually have a smiling passport pic instead of a sombre unsmiling one haha) ^__^
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
December 27th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
@E, good to know my guide helped…
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i am 17, am i required to bring my parents to apply for an international passport?
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
December 31st, 2009 at 12:45 pm
@A, I have no idea. Perhaps call the helpline to find out?
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i am a malaysian in taiwan,i plan to renew my passport on jan 23 2010 saturday morning,i visited the immigration website and found that saturday and sunday from 8am to 1pm still working,can i get my passport in saturday before 1 pm,anyone knows pls help ,so that i can plan it early or change my plan,passport can be collected through kippass within 2 hours,and how about manually,is it also collectable 2 hrs after submitted ?anyone knows pls help
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
January 18th, 2010 at 12:35 pm
@yoyo, I wasn’t aware that the Immigration office was open on Saturdays at all. The fastest is to do it through KIPPAS – no queues. If you do it the “manual” way, you have to queue up and it may take longer to submit your application compared to the automated way. And better call them up before you go to see if they really open on a Saturday.
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I love this write up…..i shall be renewing my passport soon! But wonder if it’s the same case if we renew it from overseas…..can’t afford to go home just to renew! hhhmmm….hope the London office will be good and efficient.
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
March 7th, 2010 at 11:19 pm
@Justin, glad you enjoyed it! Do come back and let us know your experience renewing your passport at our embassy, OK?
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quite helpful until i read the last part last, where the machine only works on weekdays.. =(
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
March 11th, 2010 at 12:37 am
@Dennis, sorry, even I can’t help with that one. Maybe they don’t open it during weekends because:
- they need people to man it because from my observations, more than 50% of the people don’t know how to use it
- it will be a target of thieves if each person drops in RM300 into the envelope which then goes into the machine
- the machine will undoubtedly be spoilt by thugs or vandals who will stuff all sorts of garbage into it just to screw it up
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Beyond the comical narration of all this, is such a good guide. I went in at 7.30, spent 5 minutes at the kiosk, went off for breakfast and even sneaked in some work at the office before I came back at 9.45 to pick it up. No waiting. NO WAITING. This is the first for almost any government service I’ve had to ‘enjoy’! The feeling of passing the hundreds whom are schlepping around the counters and glued to the seats of old school is absolutely satisfying, to say the least.
A million thanks for this guide as it helped me avoid the vultures that are copiers and photokiosks. Furthermore, salute to the Immigration Department.
Note to those who want to do it without taking leave: The kiosk operated before work starts, so unless you work at places like Selayang or Rawang, just ask your boss for an hour off or so for travelling time to pick up the passport. Heck, you can even collect it during lunch time.
Cheers!
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
March 25th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
@yung, glad you found it useful, that was my main intent in writing this guide. And good to know that the things I said still applies, since it was written almost a year ago now!
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Hi!
I plan to do renewal using the KIPPAS. Do I need to bring passport photo or I have a free snap at the Immigration?
Thanks.
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
March 28th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
@Celeste, I don’t think there’s a “free” snap at Immigration.
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Hi!
I wanted to renewal my passport but my address in the old passport changed. Do i have to renew my passport in manual way or i can just do it via machine??
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
March 30th, 2010 at 7:33 pm
@co_yi, I don’t know. Why not call Immigration and ask them?
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Greetings! I followed through your guide and have successfully renewed my passport this morning with no problem at all! Thanks to your idiot’s guide. It was really helpful!
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
April 29th, 2010 at 5:53 pm
@barnicles, glad it helped some people! Didn’t know it was such “in demand”!
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Thanks for sharing this hilarious information of yours. Is so typical Malaysian scenario.. Gave them a very super high tech machine but they never train them how to utilise it properly and to its full usage. You think with the high tech machine, you shouldn’t have to wait more than an hour now. Well, they somehow still made people wait for hours. They need 10 peoples to do one simple manual task, can you imagine how many people they need to do a very sophisticated machine….thousand probably. I think is better we go back to basis until we get ourselves educated on how to use the high tech stuffs.
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
May 1st, 2010 at 9:28 pm
@J.Loh, no problem, hope you find it useful. There’s very little info out there on how to use it, and it’s almost a Godsend for those who use it, it’s so simple!
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Hey there,
Just wanna convey my thanks to you for providing this helpful guide.
Also, regarding your final paragraph, I did get a glance at the parking rates. I think it says RM2.20 for the first hour and RM1.50 for subsequent hours or part thereof. So, your 3 hours plus works out to RM6.70. No mystery there.
Cheers!
[Reply]
Da Alpha Dog Reply:
June 22nd, 2010 at 9:59 pm
@Chris, every time someone comments on this post, I’m pleasantly surprised. I’m just shocked that people found this helpful; I did it for some fun actually
Anyway, thanks for the clarification on the parking charges, although it’s been a year since I’ve been there!
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sweet. where’s the “like” button for this post?? one year on and you’re still getting hits! is this what they mean when they say virtue has its own rewards? thanks very much
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
July 2nd, 2010 at 4:36 pm
@Angela, err…this not Facebook la. And I’m not trying to build a mutual admiration society here. Nor do I fish for thanks when I write a post. Not that narcissistic
If it helped you, I’m glad! And it’s good to know that Imigresen hasn’t changed the way it works, even after more than a year…
[Reply]
Andrew C Reply:
July 29th, 2010 at 11:15 am
@Angela, well Angela, you can follow @DAD vide Twitter or am not sure if he is on Facebook-then you can be a fan and like all his posting.
[Reply]
Da Alpha Dog Reply:
July 29th, 2010 at 2:14 pm
@Andrew C, heheh, no time to update so many places la my friend. Blog enough liao…and no need to like the posts ler, this is all strictly in the name of public service mah…part of paying it forward
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Thanks a billion for this post. I am just getting all the info I can before I go back to Malaysia in September to renew my passport. I’m such a newbie at this and this will be my first trip back home in 4 years. Hopefully everything will all go well, either way, I will be right back on your site to tell all (success or otherwise)
[Reply]
Andrew C Reply:
July 29th, 2010 at 11:20 am
@Burpydoll, coming back from where?
Just get @DAD a white iPhone4.
Depending where you are,besides Pusat Bdr.D’sara, there are KIPPAS at Subang T2 also.
Have a safe and pleasant trip back to BolehLand.
Why the note of “skepticism” – “hopefully everything will go well” —well, after 4 years away, antics of Malaysia’s Bolehland have not rubbed off from you also. haha
[Reply]
Burpydoll Reply:
July 29th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
@Andrew C,
Damn straight. You don’t know with these things. Always expect the worst so you won’t be disappointed! ;p
Will be departing from Kiwiland to Bolehland.
[Reply]
Andrew C Reply:
July 29th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
@Burpydoll, hey, please contact @Jack Lee over here,he has an older brother in Kiwiland(some more with PR status),and he wants older brother to get the iPhone4 for him…
So,that will be two iPhone4: one for @DAD and one for @Jack Lee,and please tell @Jack Lee, for a country that is technically bankrupt and have 9.1 times more population of sheep than people; has 3.64times higher per capita income than Malaysia is still getting the release of the iPhone4 before Malaysia.
[Reply]
Da Alpha Dog Reply:
July 29th, 2010 at 2:27 pm
@Andrew C, maybe a country needs to be financially and morally bankrupt first before deserving an iPhone 4?
[Reply]
Da Alpha Dog Reply:
July 29th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
@Burpydoll, coming back for good or a short visit to renew the passport?
[Reply]
Burpydoll Reply:
July 29th, 2010 at 2:42 pm
@Da Alpha Dog,
Just a short visit to renew passport. A wee trip to Singapore and Cambodia in between. So it’s going to be a lot of tripping around in a short amount of time.
[Reply]
Andrew C Reply:
July 29th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
@Burpydoll, just a travel tip…try to exchange some of your Kiwi dollars to USD for your Cambodia trip in NZ.
Otherwise,you have double loss in Forex..i.e. NZD to RM to USD.
At the moment: NZD100 = USD72.58.
But I also do advise you have some KHR on you. NZD100 is around KHR310,000. RM is practically worthless in Cambodia,your NZD still has selling value over here.
Should bundle it with a trip over to Ho Chi Minh–very near.
[Reply]
Da Alpha Dog Reply:
July 30th, 2010 at 12:22 am
@Burpydoll, here’s to a happy holiday!
[Reply]
Da Alpha Dog Reply:
July 29th, 2010 at 2:15 pm
@Andrew C, yep, there is already quite a number of KIPPAS machines nowadays. But for those immigration offices with a 1 hour turnaround time to process new passports, perhaps this is a better choice?
[Reply]
Da Alpha Dog Reply:
July 29th, 2010 at 2:09 pm
@Burpydoll, yep, do come back to tell us about it – whether they (the instructions) still work or not…
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