About passports....

Both RG and I had to renew our passports recently for our impending trip. I'm holding a S'porean passport while he's holding a M'sian one.

It used to be so much of a hassle to renew the M'sian passport. One would've to go to the consulate at least 3 times just for renewal alone. And it'd take days (even weeks) before you get your M'sian passport. That's why we were pleasantly surprised to find out during our recent trip to the consulate that RG could apply and collect his new passport on the same day! We almost couldn't believe our ears when we were told that. While that's definitely a great improvement in service quality...RG was disappointed that the M'sian government no longer issue the 64-page passport. The new ones are all 32-page and cost RM300.

For my case, I applied for my new biometric passport via mail. And I got a notice within a few working days to ask that I collect my new passport at ICA. Everything was done in a fuss-free manner. My only complaints are that the new biometric passport only has a 5yr (+) validity and it's 64 pages unlike the old passport which was 96 pages. But I'm grateful to have a S'pore passport...'cos we've visa waiver arrangements with so many countries (unlike RG who has to apply for visa to most of the countries i.e. China, Japan, USA etc.)...and at least the S'pore passport is much cheaper than the M'sian passport (SGD70 as compared to RM300).