vi) VISA APPLICATION
So we settled on all the major preparations, but not yet finished. There is another one major preparation you need to get ready before travel to China, infact this is very important that if you don’t settled it beforehand, you won’t be able to enter China.
What is it…. No, not your passport… but it is VISA!
Tourist Visa is REQUIRED for Malaysians traveling in Mainland China excluding Hong Kong & Macau. The easiest but more expensive way is to ask any Travel Agent to apply on your behalf especially if you are staying outside Kuala Lumpur & Penang. However do allow 10 working days to apply via travel agent.
Herewith, I will guide you on how to self-apply the Chinese Travel Visa.
You need to walk-in to Chinese Embassy located as per below address:
Kuala Lumpur – Level 5 & 6, Hampshire Place Office, Jalan Mayang Sari, 50450 Kuala Lumpur.
Penang – Ground Floor,17 Lebuh Bishop,10200 Georgetown,Pulau Pinang.
Business Hours: Monday-Friday. Closed on Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays.
Submission of applications: 9:00 to 15:00. Payment and collection: 9:00 to 16:00.
Visa Fee : RM85 for Single Entry (As per 2015)
Before visiting the Chinese Embassy
i. Complete the Online Visa Application Form HERE and print.
ii) Prepare this documents to bring along :
- Make a copy of your passport ID pages and make sure you have at least Two Empty Pages and Six Months validity.
- 2 China Visa Passport Photo (Colour Photo with White Background and with forehead shown. Size: 48mm x 33mm)
- Flight Ticket Copy or Proof of hotel reservation.
- Bring your original passport along with all the above documents.
If you are not able to make copies of stuff prior to visiting the embassy, they do have a copy machine you can use for RM0.20 per copy. They can also take passport photos for you. PLEASE NOTE: They will not print anything for you from email or a USB drive. Copies only. Now that you have all your stuff together, you are ready to journey to the embassy to apply for your visa.
Step by Step to apply Visa
i) So next lets menapak to Chinese Embassy (KL Branch). The easiest way is take Putra LRT to Jalan Ampang Station and walk from there towards the Bank of China Building.
ii) Once reached the Chinese Embassy, enter the building and just head 5th floor KL office. The receptionist will check your documents and provide you a waiting number. Waiting depends on season. During my visit there, it was not that long.
iii) Once your number called, go to the dedicated counter and submit all the documents prepared earlier together with your original passport as they will stamp the Visa on the blank page of your passport.
iv) IF everything ok, they will then give you a collection receipt, usually around 4 working days your Visa will be ready.
v) Settled… but definitely you’ll need to come back here again to collect your Passport/Visa and make payment.
Step to Collect Visa
i. Menapak again to Chinese Embassy. But this time head to Level 6 where is the place to collect your passport and make payment.
ii) Take number and wait. Once called, head to the counter and collect your Passport/Visa.
iii) Payment is made when you collect your passport. You can pay by cash or credit card.
iv) Yeay settled! As simple as that.
Yes, Visa ready...!!
Additional Info :
i) Do not lose your visa collection form. Not only do you need this to collect your passport, but it also acts as a proof document in case someone asks for your passport during the time you are in the city and your visa is being processed.
ii) The application can be presented by someone else, such as your friends, relatives, or a travel agency, but the application form should be completed and signed by yourself. Someone else can pick up it on your behalf as well as long as he can show the "Pick-up Form". So not to worry OK.
So that’s it about Visa application. But before I start with my post on China trip, here I shared some of usefull tips that might be usefull based on my experiences in China.
vii) Tips
1) Advisable to print the Hotel name, address or anywhere you wanted to go in Chinese (i.e Mandarin). Most of the locals cannot read English. Even the address, they cannot read if in alphabet especially when you take taxi or ask them for direction. That’s why u need to prepare the address in Chinese and show to them. Certain places like Forbidden City, Great Wall of China, or even the Hotel name (like our hotel Jade Hostel) have Chinese name for it. So if you mention these names in English, local didn’t know. This come handy also when you want to buy subway tickets as sometimes even you pronounce it in Chinese, they seems didn’t understand it. Maybe because our accent. So to make things fast, just show them the route map where it has the places written in Chinese.
2) Bring lotion and drinks a lot of water during winter. You will tend to get your skin dry out and shrink, which can lead to cracking especially near fingernails area. Medicine like ubat gamat helps once you get that cracking as it helps to heal fast. Not even that, minyak gamat also the best remedy for blisters (this usually happened if you had a lot of walk), wounds and bruises. So ya, even the smell is a bit unpleasant, I recommended you to bring minyak gamat anytime when you travel. For travel during cold season, better bring hot massage oil, balm or muscle cream like Yoko-Yoko, Counterpain which helps to prevent from muscle spasm due to cold.
3) At the airport or train station, take taxi outside the building. There is a taxi station available, just get in line. So far even you reached there odd times, there are plenty of taxis available. Remember, you will be approached by locals once you settled your immigration check at the airport or everytime you came out from train station, offering the taxi service. DO NOT take it. As it will be expansive (in our case they offered Limo taxi which cost almost RMB500++ at the airport)!
4) Always stick to your itinerary. Don't trust if anyone approach you and give offer, ask you to take their package or transport. That's why I said, you need to collect sufficient information on the place you wanted to visit (how to go, how much the fee, etc) before you start your journey from reliable sources like from blog or ask hotel staff. Scams are very common in China.. They can know by your appearence that you're not local, expecially when you look hesitate or lost. We’ve experienced scam when we wanted to go to Great Wall of China. I will tell this story later when we come to this topic ok.
4) Print Beijing Subway beforehand and study the routes before you want to start your journey. As a big city, there are 16lines in Beijing Subway however not very complicated. Study earlier just to smooth your journey so that you won’t be “terkial2” when at the station as mind you, China is the most populous country in the world so expected each places will be crowded with people and busy living their daily live especially in Beijing. As the major transport there, the subway will be packed with people so there is no time for lingering, wandering without direction.
5) There are security scans of bag done by the same type of machines they use in airports at all subway entrances. So get ready to take off your bags everytime you enter the subway.
6) Learn basic Mandarin at least numbers. It make easy especially when buying things and when we took public transport like bus and taxi. The most basic mandarin I found usefull besides the numbers are “how much”, “thank you” “excuse me” and “Where”. Trust me, you will use “how much” more than any word there :D
7) Bring instant foods and drinks (Maggie in cup, biscuits, etc) during long haul journey like in the train. We didn’t bring any ended up drooling when we saw locals heated up their instant noodles, ate sandwich or their tapau foods and nice smells of coffee. Inside train menu were available but due to it’s not Halal so we didn’t buy any. Bring also cup to make drinks and small thermos to keep hot water. Hot water dispenser is available at every corner/exit of the train.
8) Halal foods is abundance near the mosque area as most of Muslim community dwelling nearby. So if you want to find Muslim restaurants, just search for the mosque (especially the grand mosque).
So I think that’s all about preparation. Now fasten your seat belt.. I will take you to my amazing journey to China in next post. Till then.
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