Six Hours At UTC Pudu Sentral

We needed to renew Son's passport as it's expiring soon and figured we'd head to UTC (Urban Transformation Centre) Pudu Sentral on Sunday, after my 10K run in Larian Sehati Sejiwa.

The initial plan was for me to finish, shower at the shower facilities in Lake Garden and head straight to UTC but the lure of the generous lucky draw offered at Larian Sehati Sejiwa made us stayed back until 11.00am! Nah, wasn't lucky to win anything from the lucky draw.

We arrived UTC Pudu Sentral at noon and was given no. 1356. A few hundred numbers in front of us. To be expected lah, right?

As Son was under 18, we were told that we needed to bring his birth certificate, apart from his IC.

Alamak! We thought his IC would suffice.

The Immigration staff manning the number counter advised us to head to JPN (Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara) and "pull out" his birth cert there as it would be a bigger hassle for us to come another day or to head home just to pick up the birth cert.

It was a better option for us and after all, we were advised that our number would be called around 4.30pm.

Got Son's birth cert after waiting for about an hour. Excellent service at JPN there. Friendly staff and one in particular loves to make jokes.

With about 3-hours to go, I had my lunch at the food court located on Level 4 (the two boys already had their fill at Larian Sehati SEJIWA "buffet") and then we went around exploring the centre.

After checking out the three floors, I really appreciate the convenience of having all the government departments under one roof. Just like how convenient it was for us to head to JPN while waiting for our number to be called at the Immigration office.

It was ages since I last visited this area, of what used to be called Puduraya. Roaming around, I found how different it was here than 25 years ago when I was a student, taking a bus here to get to Melaka.

Finally at around 5.00pm, our number was called and Son got his passport processed.

We figured we had time for dinner while we wait to pick up the passport after making our payment and headed off to Marrybrown.

Forty minutes later, we returned to the Immigration office and realised that our number had been called so Hubby just queued up at counter 11 for the passport pickup.

It took us 6 hours, yes. But that's understandable. There were many others who were applying and renewing their passports that day too. We are taking advantage of the weekend to get it done.

And it was good that we didn't need to queue early in the morning just to get our numbers and hope it doesn't run out.

The government staff we encountered at JPN, Immigration Office and even JPJ were accommodating and friendly. So thumbs up to them.

So now, all three of us have valid passports. So, we can go off for a holiday any time now! Woot! Woot!