Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Fintan always had it in his mind that we would drive to Singapore, and have Singapore Slings in Raffles Hotel, Singapore. So even though we were in Malaysia and shipping from Malaysia, we had to go south again...
On the Monday morning we went to visit our shipping agent, a man most people know as One Dollar. I have to say he is a man of upmost integrity and character, very warm and friendly and I am glad our car will be in his charge. After a very pleasant morning working out what must be done with the car, we decided to head onto Singapore and check off the last 'thing to do' before shipping Yoshimi to Australia.
It was a 4 hour drive, but not too stressful, the roads were good and we had mostly good weather - just a short section of tropical storms. So we arrived at the Tuas border at about 6pm....we were stamped out of Malaysia and into Singapore...but for a vehicle you must have an Autopass card.
This card is for the toll roads, and is linked to your car, it cannot be transferred. Only at the border, after 2 hours we found out that to purchase an autopass card we have to have an ICP (International Circulation Permit) issued from Singapore, which requires insurance issued from a Singaporean company.... but if you have a Malaysian vehicle, a Malaysian insurance and ICP is fine... Just for foreign vehicles...
To get this information took us 2 hours... so now it is 8:30pm, and we are ordered to do a U-turn back to Malaysia... Ok, so we head to Johor to find somewhere to park Yoshimi and then cross into Singapore, because:
1) We have a hotel booking, and
2) If we want to bring Yoshimi in we have to get Singaporean insurance and a Singaporean ICP...
So we tried to look for a safe place in Johor, which is a typical border town, i.e. a bit dogdy... so we drove around some more - both exhausted and frustrated, and ended up on the border crossing bridge again - by accident!
At the immigration desk we tried to explain that we had taken a wrong turning and wanted to turn back, only to meet the response 'not possible'. We were once again stamped out of Malaysia! Luckily, Fintan spotted a layby where the immigration staff park and pulled in. We asked if we could leave the car here until the next day, and we given permission by an immigration officer.
We then took the bus across the bridge and got stamped into Singapore, took a taxi to the hotel and promptly ordered beers.
The next day, we went to the AA Singapore. Although the officer was informative, at first we didn't think she was very helpful... Basically, its really expensive and probably not worth the trouble was her opinion.
We left the office dejected and angry... and went for a walk around Fort Canning Park. After about an hour and a half, Fintan completely U-turned and decided to *%ck the cost, let's get Yoshimi into Singapore.
So continued our crossing in and out of Singapore...
Eventually, 24 hours, 7 border crossings, 339 Singaporean dollars later... we were in, proper.
- comments
mum Government red tape!!! But you went to Raffles! I've heard it's great there.
Colin Fintan, you're my hero, I don't care what anyone else says, I think that you are awesome. Ok Shonny, you're pretty great too. Well done guys, there are not a lot of people who have managed what you have.
Mike Richards Amazing after all those kilometers, forms, visa ,permits,mis- information, etc your still smiling and looking very happy and in Looove. Well doen shonny and Fintan can't wait to see you when you make it to Perth. Cheers Mike
mum `````````mu congrats Shonny and Fintan hope you enjoyed Raffles