100 days. Seems like a life sentence..:)
First Happy Birthday to Kelvin’s Jen, currently touring Tasmania. We each have a Jen. They are mostly very good things to have….:)
So what did we do today! Not spend a second advancing our tan’s on the beach.
Today we needed to renew our visas and Adam needed to extend his vehicles Temporary Import Permit. Or did he?
Setting off from the hotel at around 10am we decided to deal with Adam’s TIP first, as the office was closer than the visa office.
Finding what we thought was the right building we found a park for the vehicles in the shade. It turned out that while it was a government office, it wasn’t the one he needed. With the guidance of a chap who was hanging around the compound, Adam headed off to find the correct office. We waited. There was a huge mango tree in the compound, loaded with ripening fruit with lots of fallen fruit on the ground. With about half a dozen ripe fruit in reaching distance, I picked our share.
We waited for Adam to return, and we waited. When he finally returned, full of remorse, and looking sheepish, he told us that his TIP did not expire till 20th April. He had not checked the document. Not very professional for a Dr…:). Problem was, it was now 12noon and the Visa offices closes between 12 noon and 2pm.
Back to the hotel for lunch and we’ll deal with the visa in the afternoon.
A development. Dr Adam had found that he had left an important folder, with all his medical accreditation’s and International drivers license, in the office of the TIP. He needs to have a tag around his neck…:)
Every time we go out in the vehicles, someone want’s to put their hand in our pockets.
On the way to the visa office, two policemen walked out into the middle of the road blowing their whistles. Well they may have but I didn’t hear or see them. Adam’s starting to get the picture as he followed us. However, not long after we were flagged down by two more. This time I saw that they had motorcycles parked nearby, so pulled in. All jovial they were, but couldn’t think of what to ask us for. “Ah Passports”. “No, we cant give them to you”. Look of annoyance. But we were able to show receipts for our passports that had been handed in to the Visa office for extension.
By now I’m starting to get cranky and tell him, “we have no idea what you are talking about because we don’t speak French”. At which point Adam became the focus. It seems we were on a road that foreigners are not allowed to drive down because the President’s house….house…huge mansion, is in that road! Really!! While they were harassing Adam, I decided to stir things up and went back with my camera, asking if I could take a photo of him and his mate. Well, all hell broke loose but I think they got the message. We were not going to pay them any bribes and if they didn’t behave themselves, their superior might be involved. I took a pic on the walk to them but turned the camera off before getting to them. Sadly the result is blurry.
It seems Adam had become indignant too and was berating them for treating tourists in such a shabby way. i walked back to the car and drove away. Adam followed. This is B.S. nonsense.
We have received our vehicle valuations. While we consider the tax constitutes a state theft, they are not too onerous and we’ll be pleased to pay them to leave their shores.
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