Visa fiasco, part deux

After the runaround with my Iranian visa, you would expect that we'd be sick of red tape and such, and try to get our visas as easily as possible. But even with trying, visa applications have a way of screwing you over.

So we need a visa to enter Pakistan.

Actually we met a Singaporean in Turkey (Dalbir Singh is motorbiking from Singapore to Ireland. Check out his website at www.livingadream2003.com) who was told at the border that he DIDN'T need a visa. But we have learnt not to trust random happenings (yes, visa-free entry can be random too) and called up the Pakistan embassy both at Zahedan (at the Iran-Pakistan border) and in Tehran and both told is we need a visa. On top of that, the Pakistan consulate in Zahedan told us they didn't issue visas and that we'd have to go to Tehran. Of course when we DID go to Tehran the Pakistan embassy there said that the Zahedan office did issue visas, so its my opinion that they just told us that so that they'd save doing some work.

So anyway there goes our plan, which was a real bummer cos we had cycled WAY past Tehran, cos we had assumed that we'd be able to get the visa in Zahedan. Classic case of u think I think who confirm. AND to top it off we found this out on Thursday, and the Pak embassy only opened for visa applications Sat to Wed. so we cycled out of Esfahan and took 3 days to Yazd where we flew to Tehran to do our visa.

We wanted to hit and run the embassy, but here was the true beginning of the dance. The Pakistan embassy required a letter of introduction from the applicant's home embassy, saying that such and such was indeed from this country so help him/her out in affairs in your country or some shit like that. Basically what it says on the second page of our passport. Iranian regulation, they said. Anyway this is not a big deal for most people, but Singapore has no embassy or consulate in Iran. And no other embassy acts on our behalf. So we had to somehow get MFA to fax a letter to the Pakistan embassy in Tehran, which to me sounded like red tape city. And by the time we found this out, it was 7pm in Sing, so there was nothing we could do. So much for getting out of Tehran early.

Anyway we emailed MFA with our predicament and the next morning came the terse reply: Singapore has no embassy or consulate in Iran, and we should apply for our visa BEFORE leaving. Obviously the person at the other end of MFA's general email enquiry line didn’t really read the mails. Maybe he has a scanning software that summarises emails or something. Anyway, we couldn't give up, so we called MFA. The lady at the other end sounded befuddled and confused and tried to put us thru to the person that handled Iranian affairs, but she was not in. so the lady asked me to call back in 10 mins, and ended the conversation with "we probably can't help you on this". My heart sank like the Titanic into an ocean of icy hopelessness.

So I gave it 30 mins before calling the person in charge of Iranian affairs at the ministry, and she was VERY helpful. It was a breath of fresh air to be greeted with Singaporean productivity after living in the rubbertime of Turkey and Iran. We emailed her our particulars, and contacts of our sponsors, and the next morning (Iranian time, too) she had the letter faxed to the embassy and we got our visas YAY. Being cautious with visas, we decided to hang around another day and apply for our Indian visa. All ready for another bout of calling MFA, we were told that since we didn't have an embassy here (poor thing) we didn't need a letter.

Iranian regulation my ass.

So now we got our Pakistan visa, and hopefully our Indian one (which cost about US$50 each - 4 times more than what it would've cost in Singapore) is waiting for us in Zahedan.

We hope not to have an exciting tale about our Chinese visa. In fact we hope to need a Chinese visa, as all this bruhaha has considerably eaten into our cycling time, and now we have to rush like maniacs to get to the Karakorum highway before it closes.

In fact, where got time to write emails?

Ciao

jo