33rd Anniversary, visas KL & Co.

Happy Anniversary

                                              Whilst writing this blog this morning we are waiting for the Thai Embassy in Kuala Lumpur to open it's doors. Yesterday we arrived quite early to drop off the paper work there, but were still waiting (thankfully, in an air conditioned waiting room) by midday.
We are hoping that this time, all the paper work is correct and we will get a 90 day non-immigrant visa at least! 

It says it's 34 Celsius!!

Taxi drivers are a breed apart, all over the world, the guy who took us from the Embassy to the KL tower was a master piece! His favorite expression was: "Come on Buddy, give me a break!" the others are unrepeatable..... He wasn't Malayan, he was a Portuguese called Tommy and was keen to give the impression he was running a vast visa empire and that without him no one would ever get a visa to go anywhere! However he took us up to the entrance of the KL tower in surprisingly short time and for a good fare.
The lifts to the restaurant we had booked as an early celebration of our 33rd wedding anniversary were amazingly fast; they cover the 250 metres in a few seconds and you emerge blinking at the vast panorama of KL and is environs in no time.
We decided that as we are unlikely to get here again that a meal in the famous revolving restaurant would be my present and the ring you can see Joan sporting above, hers.
We had this ring made last week after seeing a display of jewellery at the "Meeting Room" restaurant in Chiang Mai. It is cast silver with gilded edges. I think it is probably made by "lost wax" casting; I intend to have a lengthy chat to the owner of the Meeting Room about it soon; we are going to see a new display of impressionistic paintings that looks promising.
We are staying at the hotel Mi Casa, (photo opposite)  it is so quiet that this morning we haven't moved from our room, (not even for breakfast!)
It is right on the main road into KL but peaceful none the less.
The road pictured is only a couple of hundred yards away but you can't hear it at all.
We have been pleasantly surprised by the difference between the attitude to tourists here from that we encountered in Penang. Also, there are some really modern and pleasant shopping Malls, not that we particularly want that, but it's easy to get good food, and not have to eat out every time.
The views from the revolving restaurant are truly spectacular and the food was very good; London prices, but given the unique situation, I'm surprised they were not even more.
There was a visiting party of Thai people who looked very smart and important, when our waiter discovered that we work in Thailand he was almost incoherent when trying not to give away that they were hosting Royalty! It may have been the Crown Prince but we wouldn't know if it was a distant cousin or something, because we are really only familiar with what the King and the Princess  look like; as their photos are everywhere you go in Thailand!
We are so glad for a couple of days break, this time. We have had such a lot going on, even though we have fewer guests at the Juniper Tree. With all the work on the computer systems,  building repairs, deep cleaning and new air-con units in the Office, it's been a bit too frenetic.
To add to the excitement last week, our Watchman came into the Office with the 2nd Cook to translate in a terrible state. His security scanner had vanished from the guard hut, whilst he was away. He was really upset and obviously in fear for his job. We could see why when Joan reported the theft to the Police; without any facts or questions they were adamant that the guard had stolen it and that they would come and arrest him right away! I think we will have to write this off to experience and chain the replacement scanner to his belt.
Further down you can see a picture of Joan's bag. (Nelson and Colne bag in wash after going moldy from the humidity!) This isn't an accidental shot, this time; this illustrates what happens if you put your bag down in the wrong place in a revolving room, it ends up next to the table behind you! You will know that heart stopping feeling you get when you think your wallet/purse/bag has gone, well it took us a while to realize what happened.......
We walked from the KL tower across the City towards the Petronas Towers, quite easy to navigate by most of the time, and visited the M&S in the Mall below it! We didn't buy anything, we are useless at shopping, but that's probably a good thing these days! If the Student Finance Company don't get their act together soon poor Emma will be a very angry Drama student, and quite rightly too. Last year they attached all our paper work to her sister's file and claimed they hadn't received it; now they seem to be doing something similar again. (I could rant about the rudeness and incompetence of the people who man the phones......)

Must finish now, visa's are calling, hope to visit a roof top, garden cafe nearby on the way back, but need an early start tomorrow; Mr Chin who picked us up at the airport is calling for us at 4.30 am!!