New Visa Success

A successful trip to Penang although it was not smooth sailing. The first day proved a right struggle. My return flight was cancelled so my return was put back one day. When I arrived my ATM card refused to work - the banks are very suspicious of transactions in Thailand and Malaysia so as soon as they saw something out of the ordinary they blocked my card. That meant I was left relying on changing the Thai money I had with me - barely enough.

Then I realised that with all my concern about whether my bank balance would be enough - I forgot the most crucial document. I was applying for a visa based on marriage to a Thai and forgot my marriage certificate. How stupid was that? I thought it looked like a disaster. I was staying at the Mingood Hotel. It is a basic hotel but good for the price and they have a good visa agent. He said if I could get the document scanned and e-mailed then he could print it.

So with phone calls to Pon and Huwy the plan was put into action. Huwy came through and the document was scanned and sent through just in time for me to get the application in. I still had the anxious wait to see whether they would accept my dodgy bank balance but in the end it all went through and I have another 1-year multi entry visa. It really shouldn't be this much effort. I am married to a Thai with children and you would think the visa would be almost automatic. Still rules are rules and we have no choice but to play along.

The rest of the trip to Penang was uneventful. It is a chance to eat really good Indian curry with naan bread which I just love. And I had a few drinks of Guiness which is also good. I took a trip to Penang Hill which is one of the attractions of the island. It is a cable train ride to the top of the 830m hill. Well in line with the general tone of the trip, the clouds came in so there was no view to be seen. Then it started bucketing down with rain. I waited in a restaurant for two and a half hours but it just wasn't going to stop so I went back down. Well at least I saw the cable train.

And while I was away Spurs' troubles reached farcical levels. Having totally failed to perform in a 3-1 defeat at Newcastle, we then had an apparently easy uefa cup game against Getafe from the bottom of the Spanish league. We lost 2-1. Our manager was sacked. As much as I like Martin Jol and I think the board made his position impossible, I have to say it is the best thing. I was never convinced by his tactics and sometimes he was just too nice. We always got dumped on by referees because they know MJ won't kick up a fuss. It is a sad reflection of the game but the reason why all the top managers spend a lot of time attacking referees is they know it works. If you try to be nice and sporting it is just taken as a sign of weakness.