Tuesday 20 July 2010

What a night is in store!

Tonight, Sheila and the 3 teachers from CDC and Say Ta Nar schools are setting off at 11pm in a minibus to drive from Mae Sot to the UK Visa handling office in Bangkok. It opens at 8.30am but we aim to be there from 7am to queue. Collating the documentation and submitting the online applications for our Burmese/Thai teachers to get UK visas for their forthcoming trip has taken many many frustrating hours.

For example, as I queued at the bank to withdraw the money for the visas (£68 each), Lisa phoned and said, 'Don't get cash. Ask for 3 separate bank cheques for 3400 thai bhat each, payable to the British Embassy.' I have about 5 words in Thai so slumped in horror at the task ahead. You all know how unhelpful UK banks would be about that sort of thing. However, the very polite and courteous Thai banker could not have been more helpful and we now have 3 such cheques in our hands. Why am I still not convinced this will work? Be optimistic Sheila!

I'm going to eat early so I won't need to go to the toilet until we return in however many days time to Mae Sot! You have no idea how important this is!

So think of us on our visa run.... watch this space.....

3 comments:

  1. Good luck Sheila
    Your trip sounds fascinating!
    Lynne :-)

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  2. Thanks Lynne. Whenever it feels like a nightmare, I just think of the danger our Burmese friends face on a daily basis and tell myself to get a grip, wimp! Sheila

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  3. Hope it all went well on the visa run! We were thinking about you.

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