A passport
Dad loves to get passports. Any passport. Be it the HK, or Taiwan or whatever. He’s a Taiwan passport which is still valid for another two years that was issued in San Francisco. Once we got to Taipei, at the Household Registration Office 户政事務所, he asked if he could get a passport that’s issued in Taipei – just bit more precious, dad thinks. The girl was very helpful and off we went, to the Bureau of Consular Affairs Ministry of Foreign Affairs 外交部领事事务局.
The application made easy by scanning your ID card.
As dad wished, yes he could get his Taipei issued passport on Monday before 1pm. However, their requirement for photos is stringent than what dad had brought with his (he’s prepared): two identical recent pictures without showing tooth. The good news is, as the staff pointed out, there is photo service on the ground floor.
We went down and waited. Two seconds later, dad said, “no, I won’t have this kind of photo for my passport.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. It’s late afternoon, Friday. We were leaving next Monday.
“I want a professional photography.”
“I don’t think we’ve enough time.” Giving we traveled this far, to fulfill his wish, he won’t settle for a photo booth picture.
“Dad, who’s on earth will see your picture other than the immigration officer?”
But he won’t listen, insisted to go to a photo studio. He mentioned that his appearance had set him back but won’t elaborate on a particular incident.
Off we went, to shop for a tie …
We did return on Monday after the tree burial. The hall was packed. I didn’t want to miss the flight, so we left. The flight to Shanghai, ended up, being canceled.
