(Collection of China Visa)

I went to collect my Passport & China Visa today at 10.45am.

There wasn’t much people lining up for Visa collection & payment counter.

I paid RM30 at Counter 1 (Payment) then proceed to queue up at Counter 2 (Visa collection). As simple as that, everything done in less than 5 minutes.

But my carpark cost me RM3 (If i know the whole thing takes less than 5 minutes I would’ve parked at the road side)

Anyway, Counter 3 is for China passport and Counter 4 is Diplomatic Visa.

I’d better update someone that I’ve got my Visa. He was worried that I last minute and cannot get the Visa on time.

(On August 14 – Application for China Visa)

Like what many people do, they will do some research on the application processes,etc. For me, I searched in the Lowyat forum but sadly the Information is not that complete. The forumers do provide a lot of data but it’s all about the opening hours and fees information.

So I think I should share my experience so you can avoid doing stupid stuff.

Things to prepare for applying a China Visa in Malaysia.

• 1 Passport size photograph
• Malaysia Passport (must have 6 months validity and enough pages for immigration stamp)

Also you may want to fill in the China Visa Application Form beforehand… because I was having trouble finding the form. And there’s no single pen there ! I had to go all the way back to carpark to get my Pen (I asked around but the respond where “Oh, i lend it to someone.. while pointing at the guy” a lot of people don’t have pen as well) Actually the writing desk can see a few strings (strings to tie up the Pen) but without any pen.

I have drawn an Illustration of the office in MS Paint, as below :

The China Embassy is located at :-

1st floor, Bangunan OSK, Jalan Ampang, KL

The office is just on top of Bank Of China. OSK building is just along Jalan Ampang (near to KLCC). I found a map on the Internet but it was showing the China Embassy right opposite Thai embassy which is… wrong. Maybe they moved already? So make sure you go to OSK building -> Bank Of China.

Anyway, if you need to get the form there. It’s the red object on top of the Desk near the Embassy entrance. There’ll be a lot people over that area (Receptionist, Office girl and agents) If you really malas wanna line up the queue, Pay RM80 to the agents over there and they will ’settle’ for you

After you’ve got the form, straight line up at Counter 6 (labeled “VISA” on the counter glass). Do not go to Counter 5 even if there’s a word VISA but it’s for VISA authentication. A few people behind me was cursing coz they spent the whole morning lining up in Counter 5 until when they reach the counter they were told to line up again in Counter 6. If you are applying for a China Visa then It’s COUNTER 6 (valid as of 14 August) but make sure you see the Paper labeled “VISA” because they might relocate the counter (since it’s just an A4 paper signage, no fix counter)

Once you reach the Counter, the lady will ask you “Is It OKAY for you to pick this up on ? If you say OK, then you come collect the passport and payment 4 days later. If you say No. She will tell you If you want to collect the Visa on the same day, You need to pay RM200+ as a ‘rushing fee’ for them to process it (collect at 5pm same day) or RM120+ for 2 days. If you don’t mind waiting 4 days, you pay only RM30.

Anyway everything is done ‘Manually’ there. Unlike Thai embassy where you get a queue number and a friendly ‘welcoming’ guard who will guide you on the procedures, over here you have to line up hence the long queue (and a lot ppl line up wrong queue too). It’s a very crowded place and you may have heard advises like “Go early early ahhh” But I went at 10am, 10.30am settle dy. Maybe because of H1N1 not much people travelling. So If you are going anytime this year, 10am will do lah. Else, try to go as early as possible because I saw a lot of complaints of long queue and large crowd. Don’t ask me on the Opening hour because the norm is people will line up even b4 the opening hour. See what time you are comfortable with la.

Office Open hour : 9am to 11.45am

You can park at the open carpark right across/opposite OSK building. RM3 per hour.

You are on a one day tour in the centre of Copenhagen snapping beautiful baroque buildings and landmarks. Being a perfectionist you will take the same object or photo for numerous times to get the best shot, which costs you more disk space and power. Suddenly, you realize your SD card is full and you had barely taken much photos of Copenhagen (Yes you took a lot of photos but it's the same object but different angles). Worst is you realize your battery is running low as well! No thanks to being forgetful about charging your battery the night before.

I was in the same situation before but thankfully I always carry my backup along wherever I go. I will always have an extra SDHC card and additional camera battery in my camera bag. I am glad that I never miss any nice shots because of these issues, else I'll bang my head to the wall ;)

If you're an avid travel photographer, you must always make sure your camera is equipped with enough juice - storage & power. So, bring along your backup SD/CF cards and at least 1 additional battery (If you have battery grip then it's more convenient)

However, human do make mistakes and problems like "Oh I had forgotten" is common too.

So, what do you do in situation where you have forgotten to bring your charger, additional battery, or even extra memory cards (before you start your tour that is)? I have some humble tips that I would like to share below.

1. Shoot in JPG mode! Avoid shooting in RAW because that will use up more memory/disk space. By using JPG it is good enough quality and its battery efficient :)
2. Get a large capacity storage card. My main SDHC card is a 16GB so I am pretty confident I won't need a backup, however, shit happens.
3. Switch off VR (If you're using Nikon dSLR). VR consume quite a lot of battery power (yes, tested by me and proven fact). So try to carry along a tripod or monopod and use low shutter speed to snap your photo without VR. You can also compensate with using higher ISO.
4. Use higher ISO. With this, you can still use faster shutter speed even with your VR off to capture clear & sharp photos. Heck you don't need flash as well (if possible).
5. Avoid using flash. Flash drains the battery power faster than VR. I believe with higher ISO you can avoid using flash, but again that's up to what photos you are taking.
6. Do not Chimp. Photogs love to preview the photos they just taken on the LCD screen. Learn to shoot like a pro, shoot as if you're using a film camera :)
7. Switch off power when not in use. I know some of the photographers don't turn their power off because they want to do "Photojournalism". They just hang the camera on their neck with power ON so they will not miss any shots.
8. Turn off auto-focus. Focus manually and turn off the AF assist thing / and the lights.
9. Turn off Sensor Cleaning. Do you know that your camera will automatically clean its sensor when you switch on your camera?

Hope the points above will benefit you all :) Happy travelling !