Bintan Immigration

[sundaymorningstaple]

My student was of Indian/English parents...light brown, so not sure where than falls and don't see what that has to do with it.

As long as you have been here, you can actually say that? We're not talking PC here but what actually happens......

I worked in Indonesia for almost 12 years. You would be surprised at what I have seen take place at immigration on crew change days with mixed crews.

[sprite]

Singapore has always had a $20 bill. It's just it's not that popular like a sawbuck is at home. The new $20 bill is a special edition using the new plastic and celebrating the parity between Singapore and Brunei and has scenes from both countries on it. I got a couple at home before they're all scarfed up by collectors.

Not always, it was absent in the 'ship series'. Hardly the point though -- it's not that it's unpopular so much as out of circulation due to collectors.

[markhed]

I was told that they often are willing to accept "donations" from caucasians...

[sillingw]

I also experienced the $20 exchange, because i was using visa on entry and it takes up a whole page + another page for the stamps, playing golf regularly meant they were eating up my passport - A request tp put the new visa over the top of an old one, got a "more than my jobs worth" response, but they still held my passport and smiled to me - finally I got it, $20 + a request to put the visa over the top of a used one worked wonders. Although there is no guarentee and you may find yourself coming back to Singapore on the next ferry, I would think this most unlikely

[markhed]

OK, so here is how it went.

We got to Bintan and handed over the passports. The guys lights actually lit up when he swiped my sons passport through the machine. There was a big scene and a pretty senior guy came running out of an adjoining office. I was called in and told that the passport only had 5 1/2 months validity. I explained the situation and pulled out my trump card which was a formal letter from our embassy stating we had applied to renew the passport and that our embassy would be grateful if we were allowed complete our trip and that we would return on Sunday. The guy was a little taken aback and then he said that the passport machine couldnt process letters... Ah, so what do we do I asked? He said he would pass on some wisdom to me which was always travel with 6 months on passports. Thanks I said and got up and he said that there was a "tax' on that wisdom and that I had to pay a "wisdom tax". I ended up having to slip the cash into a book on his table and we were ushered through to enjoy our holiday. Small price to pay and we were glad to continue our weekend.

To put it into perspective, coming through Sing immigration last night the officer told us very courteously that we should consider applying to renew our sons passport as it was under 6 months. He said he was 'just bringing it to our attention' and said he hoped we had a pleasant weekend away...

Draw your own conclusions...

[Vaucluse]

To put it into perspective, coming through Sing immigration last night the officer told us very courteously that we should consider applying to renew our sons passport as it was under 6 months. He said he was 'just bringing it to our attention' and said he hoped we had a pleasant weekend away...

Draw your own conclusions...

Indon officials are crooks and Singaporeans are not? Nothing new there.

[EADG]

is this the return of VauVau or have I been sleeping?