The Princess' Diary

Ang mohs who know better

2012-02-01T09:36:00.000+08:00

Felt greatly insulted yesterday.

There usually are 3 types of ang moh tourists that come to Asia –

1. the type that truly want to immerse themselves in another culture and learn new things.

2. the type that just want a cheap holiday and don’t care about anything else.

3. the misguided kind who thinks they are open to new things and culture but really just want to do it their way.

I admire those who truly respect the culture and want to learn new things. They don’t try to force something down your throat but is amazed and happy with the different aspect in life. Meeting guests like this makes me happy and I want to recommend the world to them.

Then there are the type who want a cheap holiday in Asia – cheap beer, cheap food, cheap shopping. As long as they get it cheaper nothing really matters. Easy to handle too as they don’t have that great an expectation.

And I met the third type of guests, the one who claims that they want an authentic Asian experience, and then they do their vague research via google and then tell you they want this and that. Fine. But what I cannot stand is after they tell you they want this particular Asian experience, they don’t listen to you and mash it up into something of their own liking, irrespective of the traditional way of doing things, uncaring if it insults the Asian or not by the way they alter the tradition into something ridiculous. AND THEN tell ME that I’m so westernized that I don’t know the authentic Asian tradition anymore. Bloody hell.

If you wanted to create your own circus, please don’t try to justify it as an “authentic Asian experience”. You don’t listen to us from whom this tradition come from, you want to create your own tradition, so please, don’t insult us, call it your own fiasco, don’t insult us by saying we are not traditional enough to give you what you want. You disrespect us greatly by pretending you are more knowledgeable than us. And worse of all, this mish-mash you call an Asian tradition has to be carried out by us because you demand it, this “tradition” you massacred into your own rubbish.

So no, I don’t know my traditions better than you. You know way better.

Not very smart Europeans are you?

2012-01-05T12:05:00.000+08:00

Guy kept trying to email my boss whose email mailbox is full and cannot accept new mails for 2 weeks already.

Email dated today:

I am surprised not to have received a single email reply from you as this email has been sent and resent several times to you since last week.

And then some lecture about how unprofessional we are blah blah blah.

He finally got the common sense to email our central email to launch the complain above.

My would-be reply dated today:

Dear Sir, you have been sending to a mailbox that has been full for 2 weeks, you should have received the mail delivery failure report as I do each time I try to send to her to test if the mailbox is finally cleared. That should indicate to you that your email was never received, hence don’t be surprised that no one could reply you. Sending several times to a full mailbox does not mean it will eventually get through. If you do not know how to use emails, there are classes available to teach you, please do enroll in one. And also take the time to attend some business eqituette training so you can fully understand a situation before launching into a baseless accusation about our professionalism.

North Thailand Trip

2012-01-02T15:37:00.005+08:00

It's a new year once again, why does time fly by so fast?

Didn't manage to get far last year except for 2 trips to Bangkok and some staycations in Phuket, and of course the usual pilgrimage home. The big trip for the year was my end of year trip to North Thailand with some colleagues, people whom I never thought I would travel with. It all started at lunch when they were discussing the trip to Chiang Mai and I promptly invited myself.

It's the part of Thailand which I am most unfamiliar with. I have friends from the E-san part of Thailand and their nature and vivid description of life and food there kinda made it easy for me to understand that part of the country, though I definitely do want to visit - Loei, Nong Khai, Korat, Udon and all the way to Laos.

But North Thailand is the mythical part of Thailand to me, it's life and culture is totally different from the Thai people of the Central plains or the South. North Thailand was a separate kingdom that was under Lanna rule, they had their own history and their own culture, occasionally absorbed into the Siam kingdom or occupaied by the Burmese Khmer kingdom in their history, so they have influences from many parts. Their proximity to so many borders meant it was a melting pot of cultures, from the hilltribes to the Chinese immigrants from Yunnan. Their forested mountains meant a different way of life, remote villages obscured from civilisation.

Personally I had not much expectations of the destination except that the weather is cool and there are hilltribes and whatever I know from my history of the Golden Triangle. The trip turned out to be an experience of a lifetime, an eye-opener and an inspiration. The north has definitely captivated me.

At first I thought we were only covering Chiang Mai, but our 6 days there covered 3 provinces and many kilometres of mountain road and

6 mountain tops including Thailand's tallest peak.

We started off in Chiangmai, headed off to the famous backpacker city of Pai, made famous from numerous Thai movies, then off to Doi Ang Khang for some spectacular mountain scenery, then up to Doi Tung, and through Chiang Rai, back to Chiang Mai.
*Doi means mountain

We rented our own car, a trusty Toyota Wish that guzzled petrol like crazy esp on the mountain roads but was large and spacious for our party of 4.

First day arrived, great weather, nice cool, sunny and most essentially, dry. We were treated to lunch by my colleague's ex-classmate, they went to university the year I was born (LOL, oops). We visited her at her home and she made the traditional northern noodles Khao Soy for us. It's a little like laksa to me, yellow egg noodles in curry, eatern with raw onions and fried flour strips.

Aroy zhao!

Then of course a visit to the famous city of Chiang Mai umbrellas.

Frankly it was quite a waste of precious time since my utmost interest was to absorb the city's culture and history, but you never know that until you get there. It was very touristy and basic part was for you to buy souvenirs. Bo Sang is the most famous city, it was ok, but time is precious so didn't spend much time there. If they gave guided tours and an explanation why umbrellas became so famous, then maybe it was worth the time.

Got an umbrella for my mummy. Artist writing her name.

Colourful umbrellas drying in the sun

Then being the history enthusiasts that we are, we headed to a tour of the historical city of Wiang Kum Kam,
a city of King Mengrai, the capital city of the Lanna Kingdom before it was moved to Chiang Mai 700 years ago as it was prone to floods from River Ping. The recent flood in Thailand also affected the ancient city, with parts of it muddy and still under water.

Parts of the old city under water

It was an interesting tour as the city was actually buried under several layers of dirt and local villagers have already built over these relics. It was discovered by accident and then slowly excavated bit by bit, with parts of the village being moved out for excavation. So as we were driving around, there were local houses sitting right next to the ancient ruins. Ayutthaya is grander but history is always fascinating. I'm sure there is more to the story except that i could not understand the Northern dialect of our tour guide. They just end their sentences with a lot of "zhao!" which is the same as the "krup" or "ka" ending as normal thai. But the Nothern language is very sing-song and melodic.

Then we ended the evening on the weekend walking street in Chiang Mai city area itself. Chiang Mai itself has a lot of old ruins of the former fortress walls. The city centre where the palace would be is very small, a practical square shape with a moat around it.

See the square city centre with the moat around it

I am embarrassed to say that I did not make it to the famous night bazaar but the walking street was pretty comprehensive enough. Lots of cute souvenirs (fridge magnets, pouches, postcards etc) and T-shirts, cheaper than it would be in Phuket. I got my souvenirs at one shot so I don't have to think about it anymore for the rest of the trip. Beware that it's a super super long walk from one end to the other. We started at 5 pm where is was nice and balmy with an average crowd, till 8 pm when it was shoulder to shoulder packed with people and our feet were aching like crazy.

The 'compulsory' landmark shot. this marks the distance to somewhere

early evening where there is no crowd

selling cute knick knacks at the weekend market

The next day we started early for our drive to the idyllic mountain retreat of Pai, Mae Hong Son province. The city has in recent years became more popular with tourists, especially the domestic tourists, due to several romantic films filmed there. International tourist wise there are more backpackers with the raggae beard and loose khakis than your average rich Germans or honeymooning koreans. And apparently there are the famous 762 bends up the mountain road from Chiang Mai to Pai. I was the official navigator since 1. I don't get carsick that easily 2. I can read maps pretty well 3. I can read maps while riding in a moving car. unfortunately quite a lot of signages are in Thai so it's quite a challenge, but I'm fantastic at looking out for landmarks and marking out where we are on the map. Along the way up there are many pretty little cafes like this one, where we stop and took photos and used their free toilets and didn't even buy a cup of coffee. Oops.

We reached the Huai Nam Dang National Park by noon so the mist and famous sea of clouds were gone by then. But it was still nice and cool and we openly snacked on our roasted chicken with sticky rice right there. It was a memorable picnic.

Along the way we stopped at this viewpoint where they filmed the Thai movie "Ruk Jang"

The little hut for the movie "Ruk Jang"

The dizzying heights of Huai Nam Dang

Nice pose here but my soles were actually coming off. It did come off 10 minutes later

Strange vegetable flower i kept encountering in the north

The valleys of Pai just before we reach the mountain top. It's a long far expanse of farmland, it's super idyllic and you feel so peaceful just being there and watching the scenery.

The valley plains

Pai bridge

Another quirky cafe on the way

At Coffee In Love, another place made famous by a movie "Pai in Love"

So we passed this place on the first day and it was super crowded. To get a shot like this where no one else is around, you have to wake up at 5am and drive down. It was dreamy, with a cloud of mist as background

We reached Pai at about 3pm and checked into our humble abode "Rim Pai Cottage". It's extremely well located as just outside is the weekend walking street. Unfortunately that also means that the car cannot come in after 5pm when the street is closed. Almost got lost getting back to the resort the next day.

Headed for a cheap head, shoulder and foot massage, THB 250 (SGD 10) for 1 hour's worth. Strolled around the walking street, had a cheap wash and blow dry at a local salon for THB 100 (SGD 4). Didn't get much shopping done there as they were mainly selling touristy souvenirs, but the hit thing there was to scrap-book your own postcard and send them. Lots of little cafes selling postcards of picturesque scenery of the area, and they setup colour pencils, cute stamps and stickers and you can make ur own personalised postcards. Lots of fridge magnets, keychains and T-shirts on sale too. It's almost a mandatory thing to buy a T-shirt that proclaims Pai there.

Met eccentric locals like Jack Sparrow - apparently now he sells postcards featuring himself

Cute cafe selling postcards for you to personalise and send

The streets of Pai - reminds me of Phi Phi island

Ending the night with cold cocktails

Misty early morning - view of river Pai from our resort

Next day was spent driving around Pai and the local attractions - a few temples (North Thailand is FULL of temples), a waterfall, a Chinese village right on the hilltop and getting lost in a Lisu village (which looks no different from any Thai village). After the Yunnan village, there was a sign stating that the Lisu (a hilltribe) village was just 200 m in front so we drove ahead. Didn't see anything "lisu-ish" in the village so we stopped and asked a little boy where the Lisu village was. He looked puzzled and said "here." So we asked "Are you Lisu?" He said "Yes". And he was dressed in a red Man-U jersey and shorts. Great, now I need to rethink my version of "hilltribe" people.

You make a wish by tossing a coin towards the stone and if it stays on your wish comes true.

At the top of Yunnan village

View from Yunnan Village

The Great WAll of Yunnan Village

It was after taking this photo that we saw the sign that we have to pay to take a photo, and a little box for you to drop money in. We didn't. Who pays to take photos like this on our own camera?!

The Yunnan village (山地村), from what i gathered, started when the people in Yunnan migrated/ fled the country during the Revolution. The migrants were mostly former army people and they settled in North Thailand. During the opium hey-days, they were actively involved in planting and trading opium through the Golden Triangle.

The story of North Thailand sort of plays out the same way for everyone living there. The Lanna kingdom was never fully Thai to begin with, they had their own culture and history, and they were made up of various hilltribes and indigenous people. When it became part of Siam, its remoteness and loose border control made it a haven for migrants and refugees from Myanmar and China to escape into. Because of the fringe status of the people there, as hilltribes and refugees with no access to education or proper work tools, and its difficult mountainous terrain, they were largely ignored while the rest of Thailand grew and thrived. To survive, the people got involved with the opium industry, by planting and trading it. It was with foresight and intervention by the king that the area managed to "rehab" itself, moving away from the opium industry into self-sustaining agriculture and tourism programs. Today they are famous for planting teas (as well as the Mae Salong area, where former Kuo Min Tang members escaped to) like Oolong and offering traditional Chinese herbal treatments. Yes I got suckered into buying "healthy" Chinese tea.

As my gang went to the various temples, I had fun taking shots of the setting sun filtering through the clouds.

The fourth day was a long drive for us. We started out at 5 am for the long drive from Pai (Mae Hong Son) to Doi Ang Khang (Chiang Mai) and then to Doi Tung (Chiang Rai). The early mornings gave us spectacular views of cold mist and sea of clouds below us. We got so excited we just stopped the car on the mountainside to take photos.

Clouds beneath us, it's so Avatar

The recent floods in North Thailand left its mark, there were parts of the road which has collapsed so need to be cautious when driving. There was a part where the road collapsed and it was a sheer drop down the mountain. Brr...

The drive down from Pai was pretty fast as there were no cars at 6 am in the morning. To get to Doi Ang Khang there are 2 ways, one from the highway 107 up to Fang where the road up is this super winding 30 degree turns up 60 degree slopes. Would have killed my car-sick proned friends. We chose the other way up on highway 1178 up to Arunothai (near the border of Myanmar). We even got checked by border patrol cos that area sees a large share of illegal immigrants. I was worried since I have such a Chinese face and that area is largely populated with Chinese immigrants. The typical rosy full cheeks slitty eyes look. The scenery up to Doi Ang Khang was dramatic. Sheer mountain drops, lush forests at one turn, and barren rocky hillsides at another turn. Villages built onto the mountain side. Apparently these Chinese villages are a community of former KMT troops.

Lake near the border to Myanmar

Chinese Village

Majestic mountain range

Picturesque valley and impressive mountain ranges

I only wished I had time to stop by one of the local villages, they seem so surreal and so "movie-like". Like a set built for a movie set in a faraway land. It didn't feel like Thailand at all, like some mountains in China. I kept having this inexplicable deja-vu feeling like I've been here before, and I was exhilarated and enthralled.

Reaching Doi Ang Khang - best if you can spend a night here as the sunrise is apparently super spectacular. They have campsites located right on the cliff so you get a panoramic view of the land beneath you. The main attraction here is the Doi Ang Khang Royal Agricultural Station. The hilltribes previously adopted a slash-and-burn agricultural approach, moving on as the land loses its fertility. Over time much of the land became infertile and people suffered. The Agricultural Research Station started as a program to help the land regain its fertility and to find out which plants thrive on the lands.

The place is an amazing collection of plants and flowers, but sadly as we could not book accommodations at Ang Khang, we had limited time to explore the place fully before driving another 3-4 hours to our destination for the night at Doi Tung.

There is a garden dedicated to the 80th birthday of the King, full of flowers in bloom. I've never seen so many colours and breeds of flowers.

Driving up we saw sakuras in bloom too!!!

never seen bird of paradise in this colour before

There also a restaurant there which serves only vegetables and fruits produced at the agricultural centre so the food is fresh and amazingly tasty. I had so much vegetables, fruits (strawberries and oranges galore1!!) I actually felt super healthy. And the cold country meant lots of fresh mushrooms - battered, roasted, grilled, sauteed - yummy!!! And did I mention strawberries, I must have had them by the kilos!!

Another picturesque drive down Fang and through the peaceful farmland of Tha Ton, then pass Mae Salong (famous for its tea plantations - no time this trip but it's a must-see next trip!!) up to Doi Tung.

We spent the evening at Doi Tung, another famous mountain retreat. Doi Tung's history is tied explicitly with the King's mother. She was inspired by her son's work for his country that she took Doi Tung on as her personal project. The area was poverty stricken as the land around Doi Tung became barren and infertile due to the slash-and-burn approach taken by the locals. It became even more intense when opium farming took over all the agriculture that took place on the land, hastening the destruction of the land. People's lives got hard and soon opium became a way of life too. The King's mother saw the poverty and the hardship faced by the people, and she started the Doi Tung project to help the people. What impressed me most was that she didn't just help give people food and money, she changed their entire mindset and got them working for themselves again. Charity work can be so easy sometimes, you turn up, you hand over some money, take some photo ops and then go home and never care again to these people. Like her son, she became concerned about the long-term goals of her projects. Here she taught the people to love their land, to not take it for granted, just use it and leave it, but to cultivate it for longer use. Due to the climate, they could not grow typical farmland plants like rice or fruits, so she taught them to plant macadamias and coffee trees. THe land thrived, the products grew famous and demand grew, people are now self-sufficient. Doi Tung also features the royal villa of the late Princess Mother, and her famous gardens (she loved gardening) and also the Hall of Inspiration where the stories of the Mahidol family is told to inspire the generations. They are a very hardworking family, particularly the King and his parents, with a real heart to work for the people. THe love story of the king's father and his choice to marry a commoner instead of royalty because he saw the true heart of the woman he loved, not knowing one day she would be the mother of a king. Her legacy sees parallels with Princess Diana, in which she chose to raise her children not as royalty but as normal children with a normal childhood, refusing to spoil them but rather with strict discipline. I am genuinely impressed with the morals and values she instilled in her children, so much so that the king today is the most industrious and so beloved by his people.

View from the hotel restaurant

The Princess Mother's royal villa, now a museum showcasing her life.

rare breeds of orchids at the Mae Fah Luang gardens

Mae Fah Luang garden

the Burmese border in the distance

Drove back to Chiang Mai that afternoon after an inspirational morning at the Doi Tung projects. Passed by the now famous Wat Rong Khun - a Thai temple designed in contemporary style - all white and shining glass. Personally, it was rather flashy and grostesque, like a high-class Haw Par Villa. The toilets were in gold. And there are weird designs with pictures of Doraemon, Ultra Man, Jack Sparrow, Matrix painted as murals inside the temple itself.

Hell

the posh toilet in gold

Last day, we had a late evening flight at 9pm so we squeezed in whatever we can into the itinerary, starting with a 5am morning call again.

Headed to Doi Inthanon, Thailand's highest peak. We were complaining that north Thailand was supposed to be cold, but so far we encountered warm sunny days only (but Thank God for great great weather, no rain at all!!!) However, at 7 am at the peak of Thailand, we were freezing! It was like 5 degree celsius, and i only had a sweater top and scarf and a flimsy cardigan.

View was spectacular, waking up early meant being able to see the seas of clouds again. The sight always make me happy. Though the waking hours don't.

Headed to Doi Pui where apparently there is a Hmong village, one of the hilltribes. Boy was I disappointed. THe whole place has turned into a tourist attraction with absolutely no authenticity to the place. Yeah, it looked dilapidated as you would imagine a tribe setting, wooden buildings built around the hillside, but the tons of tour buses, EVERY single household selling souvenirs and I mean EVERY single household, and not even selling traditional handicrafts but what you can get at the local night market in Chiangmai, one hilltribe dude playing internet at one shop. Then paying 20 baht to gain entrance to a measly "museum" which houses dusty pictures and old costumes of hilltribe fashion. Then a garden with a miserable wooden house of which you have to pay money to take picture with the one hilltribe lady dressed in full gear sitting there. As Yoda would say, Not impressed, was I.

traditional costumes.yeah.

apparently this is morphine poppy

sneakily took a shot of wooden structure with hilltribe woman, I'm not paying for shots like these.

for 20 baht, this is the toilet available for you tourists. Authentic yeah?

2nd final stop, Phu Ping palace, the royal family's northern residence. It's famous for its variety of roses, sourced from around the world and also interbred locally. Unfortunately when I went, it was still too early for the blooms so didn't get the full beauty of the place. It felt a little quiet and lonely there actually.

double delight rose...sounds like ice cream flavour

Then a quick stop at one of the more impressive waterfalls I've ever seen, Wachirathan Waterfall.

And final stop, the most famous Doi Suthep, the most "holy" of all the buddha relics are found here. North Thailand has a lot of "phra that" temples, which means a buddha relic is kept there. WHich got me wondering, how many parts of a person can you split him into? He must have parts all over China, India, Thailand, Tibet, Nepal etc!!!! The highlight of Doi Suthep for me was the cable car. The true blue pilgrim would make their way up the how many hundreds of stairs to the temple at the top. We took the cable car. And the highlight wasthe cute cable car opreator!! Finally a sighting of a cute Northern boy!! People keep telling me I'll like the boys from the North if I like Jay Chou that kind of look aka the sickly pale kinda look. 6 days and I finally saw ONE on my last day, and he didn't look like Jay Chou, just pale, skinny and weak-looking. Don't ask me why I'm attracted to these kind.

Overall it was a FANTASTIC trip. I love the cool dry weather and I begin to think I really belong to the mountaintops, where the air is crisp and clear and fresh. I kept having this sense of familiarity and deja-vu, maybe its the Chinese in me connecting with the Chinese in these parts of Thailand.

I am definitely planning my second trip back and it has to a week or more!!! Interested parties can apply now!! Best time to go, December to early February.

Corruption is rife

2011-12-14T15:37:00.000+08:00

Thailand seems to be going downhill…

Our driver met with a tragic accident last week, he was driving the company car when an illegal three-wheeler motorbike swerved out into his lane and the driver could not stop in time and hit him.

The driver did not flee the scene and in fact called for medical assistance immediately. Unfortunately the guy driving the illegal three-wheeler is REALLY old so he did not survive his head injuries.

The poor driver is in such a state of shock at having killed someone in an accident and is willing to bear full responsibility. The family of the victim claims that they have no money for the funeral so the driver put in his money and all of us at the hotel chipped in our own money as donations to help with the funeral.

It would have been the end of it all as all parties have settled the dispute (for lack of a better word), until the victim’s son’s second wife decided to be clever and take advantage of the situation. The second wife works at another hotel chain and thinks we are big corporations with bottomless pits for money. She has stopped the police from closing the file and has now asked for half a million in compensation, promising 200,000 baht to the police who files it for her.

Now I want to know what the police is going to do with the temptation of 200,000 baht. Witnesses have said that the three-wheeler strayed into the path of the car, though this was not officially recorded as the family didn’t initially want to press charges. And EVERYONE knows that three-wheelers are illegal vehicles, with the side-car attached on illegally. There is no law in the world that would protect a vehicle that has been illegally modified.

Just waiting to see what the police will do.

And I absolutely detest people who try to make money off someone else’s death.

Misconception of Sales People

2011-11-30T16:00:00.000+08:00

Tired of people misunderstanding us sales people.

These normal operations folks seem to think that we sales people have it easy – we sit in aircon offices and use the internet all day, we get to eat in hotel restaurants using officer’s check and entertain guests, we get to travel around the world, we have “normal” working hours from 8 – 6, we enjoy high salaries and benefits like laundry.

They don’t see the other side of our hard work – they get off work at 6pm sharp while we have to slog overtime without overtime pay. When they stay after work they get paid by the hour. We stay back to host dinners when all we want is to go home and sleep.

And hosting dinners/ entertaining guests is not all that fun, you have to think about things to talk about, answer tough questions, know how to handle difficult situations when a dinner becomes an interrogation. And seriously, the food we eat is the same, we order Thai food which you eat on a daily basis, just in a nicer setting. What’s with the comparison?

When we travel we are essentially working overtime – day time for sales call and tradeshows, night time for answering work emails. You don’t get time off to enjoy any leisure time because you have to account for every moment your company is paying for.

Laundry is not a benefit, we wear our own clothes to work so essentially I’m just sending in my version of the uniform which you get as well.

And high salaries, what can I say, I studied hard and worked hard for it.

So I can ask you the same question – if only you studied harder, you could be sitting in my chair now, why didn’t you?

Don’t feel sore cos you didn’t make full use of your education to better yourself. Don’t feel unfair cos you didn’t work hard to get to a better position.

So here’s to inspire your kids, tell them to study hard so next time they can also have officer’s check if it means SO MUCH to you.

Common Sense Business Etiquette

2011-11-10T10:50:00.000+08:00

You know, when you make an appointment with a client, if you don’t plan to be around, then either don’t accept the appointment, or forward it politely to a colleague to handle on your behalf.

Don’t make an appointment and then be half-hearted whether you want to come or not.

Now that I have made my own appointments, I am not available to help you. If you had handed it over nicely in the first place before you went on leave, rather than be all ambiguous and show off about it in front of the big boss (“yeah, I think I will come in to do it myself”), then I would have kept my schedule free.

But sorry, now that I have my own appointment at the same time, I’m not available to help you. Go find someone else who will. Worse of all, all you said is “I’m not coming in after all” and leave it to us here to scramble around, looking for a replacement who is available to make your appointment. I told my staff it is none of our business, if she does not want to come in, then she has the responsibility of finding a replacement, and that involves her calling the big boss and asking him to help.

I have the right to choose the type of rubbish to clean up, and I choose not to do yours. .

Did they not teach you any business etiquette? Then again I did not learn these things, they’re all common sense.

The Things in Life

2011-11-09T11:09:00.000+08:00

Why don’t people understand the meaning of NON-REFUNDABLE????

It means I do NOT refund your money back to you.

We have an advance purchase discount promotion which requires full prepayment and non-refundable deposit as part of the condition of getting this discount.

If you booked it, it means you understand the terms and conditions of this booking already. If you don’t, then you’re just one of the few million people who do not read fine print….and it’s not even that fine, it’s a standard Times New Romans size 11 font. And clearly stated in the website just before the “Continue” button for you to continue your booking process.

So why are you asking me for refund back now that you chance upon another promotion? You have to be responsible for your own research and your own decisions.

So no, my stance is clear, the booking is NON-REFUNDABLE!

I’m sure you’ve bought things and regret them later, but certain things you would never dare to ask for a refund. Do you go back to the cinema after a movie and told them the movie sucked, please refund your money? DO you eat something and tell them to refund your money cos it was not delicious? Even discounted clothes have no trying and no refund policies. So what makes you think a hotel can refund a non-refundable booking?

And I have a personal policy where once I’ve bought something, I stop comparing prices cos it’s just not worth the trouble and heartache of finding it cheaper later. Perhaps you can try. I’ll let you practice it for free.

And if this was a Singapore hotel, they’ll laugh at you for even thinking about it.

Bangkok Flood - Frustrations

2011-11-07T16:58:00.000+08:00

Darn….running out of supplies here in Phuket cos factories in Bangkok still not operational.

Frankly, or perhaps I’m just naïve, why don’t the government just declare 2 days of emergency, shut down the whole of Bangkok for 2 days so that they can finally release the water and let it through once and for all. Give the people 3-4 days to prepare, remove stock, move them elsewhere, leave the province, move to somewhere safe, then at a specific time raise the alarm and release the waters.

Then finally everyone can start to move on and clean up. Thai people are very good at picking up the pace after a disaster, but this stuck in limbo / purgatory is very very damaging to the economy.

Yes Bangkok under water will be bad news but seriously, everyone already knows Bangkok is flooded so what worse PR could come out of shutting Bangkok down just to get this over and done with?

This trickling of water through the floodgates is taking too much time and time is money. The longer the factories do not operate, the less supplies we get, the more money we lose.

Who, what, why, how are these people in-charge making their decisions?!?!

Where on earth can a flood last for months?!

Sitcom Formulas

2011-11-05T19:30:00.000+08:00

Was sick at home yesterday so spent the day resting and watching my new favourite sitcom “How I Met Your Mother”.

I couldn’t help but realize that the general idea of sitcom is very very familiar with a previous hit sitcom “Friends” and hence I’ve come up with my own winning formula that I’ll be glad to share with future producers on what makes a successful sitcom.

Group of friends, preferably 2 girls and 3 guys so that the third guy can be the said playboy who dates outside of the circle, or if you add a 3^rd girl, she will also be said playgirl who dates outside of the circle
Within the group of friends you need a nerd (Ross / Marshall), a playboy (Joey / Barney), and a guy with a sharp tongue (Chandler/ Ted)
Of the girls one of them is token beauty (Rachel / Robin) and the other a more homebody (Monica / Lily). A third is sometimes not necessary if you mix in eccentricity into one of the two girls (Phoebe’s ditziness versus Robin being Canadian) so that the eccentric point will always be pointed out and become a topic in itself
You need inter-relationships between the group including a triangle (Rachel-Ross-Joey / Robin-Barney-Ted) and a steady couple who has never dated the others in the group (Chandler-Monica / Marshall-Lily)
You must have an apartment setting where somehow the entire cast and crew and fit into it
You must also have a hangout place like the café or the bar where the cast will always have the same seats no matter what happens.
Lots of guest stars who date the cast.

Ok so I’m now starting season 4….anyone has season 5-6 dvds to lend?

Thai Flood and my POV

2011-11-02T15:05:00.000+08:00

On another note, this flood management by the current government is really atrocious. May – Oct is typically the rainy season and the north and northeast of Thailand is prone to floods due to the number of valleys and plains. Once the waters started building in the north, they should have released the flood gates to allow water to flow steadily across the land, past Bangkok outskirts to the gulf of Thailand. But no, some smart ass MP decided to hold the water so they can use it for during the dry season, which is about half a year away. That I can understand, but what I don’t understand is when the water levels got critical, they should have then risked a small flood through the outskirts of Bangkok instead of continuing to sit on the problem. I’m sure they get weather forecast which should have told them the rains weren’t gonna subside for a while. Did they do that? No, they waited and tried to find solutions on how to release the increasing volume of water and bypass Bangkok on its way to the sea. Then Ayutthaya went under, factories closed while they continued to ponder how to spare Bangkok from the waters. It built up and built up until there was no other way but to open up the floodgates and let Bangkok flood.

Why?

Becos they put inexperienced people in charge of the flood crisis situation. Most probably under Thaksin’s instructions to his sister but what do I know. People who know how to siphon off money and resources donated to the crisis perhaps? Why UN and America’s offer of help was turned down? Perhaps they were worried of the auditing process that would be involved when international organizations come in.

One reason why I refuse to donate money but material goods which they can use. Give them money and say goodbye to it as it’ll probably pay for some politician’s Mercedes Benz.

And Suvarnabhumi airport? It was LOW-lying marshland to begin with, why in their history of floods would they choose a low-lying marshland to be the airport is beyond me. A Thai friend told me that the area was meant to be a drainage area, with a network of outlets meant to drain water from the city into the sea. http://www.geonoise.com/articles_airport_city_opposition_mounting.html

Then they built an airport in a flood-prone area and now concentrating so much effort to keep the airport from flooding, re-diverting valuable resources that could help the other parts of Bangkok. The tarmac runway is constantly cracking due to the water draining system underground. I mean…Thaksin’s administration wanted to leave a legacy like Thailand’s new international airport (where they eat into the budget allocated for the project no less), but they sure chose an inappropriate location to place the legacy. And it’s still touch and go for now, if the new airport gets flooded, Thailand can say goodbye to economic growth for the next year as well.

And worse of all? Red shirts fighting the military as the military channels their effort to help flood victims. For all their camaraderie during the protests, where is their “heroism” now that their countrymen are in need? Red shirts as mentioned are made up primary of people from the Northernand Northeastern part of Thailand, where the floods are currently. Now that they are in trouble, they still want to pick a fight with the people who are helping them. So can you help yourself if not for the military, soldiers whom when interviewed have told that they have not returned home for weeks/ months as they remained in the flood zone to help.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/260959/army-chief-feels-hurt-while-helping-angry-red-shirt-flood-victims

http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/263367/real-heroes-out-there-helping-flood-victims

The Red Shirts aka Peau Thai party were planning to call for an amendment in Thai law, which states that military positions are only allowed to be shuffled with the authority of the Defence Committee , and they are asking to change it so that ALL authority lies in the hand of one man, the Defence Minister, who in turn is a person placed into that seat by the Prime Minister who happens to be Peau Thai party leader.

Isn’t this as good as giving the entire military to the Red Shirts? Who then can call on the military to act on their wishes. Yellow shirt protest? Shoot them all! People not allowing Thaksin to return to Thailand? Shoot them all! Go plunder the abundance of the south and give it to the north. Southern unrest? Shoot them all! Better still, drop a bomb! Faster!

If that truly happens, Thailand will be a very scary place to be in, when you give so much power to politicians who only want to eat their fill and more during their time in power.

The only thing stopping them now is that they need the military to clear the flood situation first. After this whole saga is done, wait for the knife flying into the back.

What gratefulness?

My charitable contribution for the year

2011-11-02T15:03:00.000+08:00

Don’t know what else to say….you can scream, nag, push, shove, nag some more, beg, coddle, plead, nag more, but I’m just not motivated nor obliged to sell the second hotel.

My contract agreement is with this hotel and I will do my utmost to work for this hotel.

You don’t just throw a second hotel for me to work for without giving me an outlook on the incentive or added benefits for doing this, and ALSO the OPTION to say yes or no.

And so out of the VERY kindness of my heart, and my entire team’s heart, we do it cos we kinda enjoy working with each other at the hotel and don’t really want to leave yet, and so we just have to grin and bear it. I do it out of charity.

And charity work cannot be coerced. Understand?

I do it when I’m free and feel like it.

I do it when I feel bad enough to finally get my hands dirty with it.

I do it at my own time, my own pace, my own conditions.

You did not pay me to do this, you cannot force me or pressure me for what you did not pay me to do.

Why can’t you understand it???!!!

Service in a service industry

2011-08-02T17:50:00.000+08:00

I think it takes a lot of tenacity to still be able to smile at someone who has just cursed generations of your family because you could not bring them the towels they needed.

You complain that we do not give you what you want.

We cannot because it is against hotel policy.

You insisted.

We tried to reason.

You scream profanities at us.

We gave in to stop you from disturbing other guests with your dictionary of foul words

Then you complain that we do not smile at you.

We are humans after all. Will you smile at someone who was so awesomely MEAN to you?

Guest from HELL

2011-07-22T17:06:00.000+08:00

Been a long time since I blogged, but just met the super guest from HELL.

E-Narok!

Could not get a room anywhere cos most are fully booked, insist that he must have a suite but would not pay the price of the suite. A normal sales person would just tell this person to look elsewhere – politely of course, but not my boss.

Any business also want.

And it’s not like we’re desperate.

Anyway, her business, she took this business at the ridiculous price, she is now responsible for the hell this guest is making.

11.42 am: Guest arrives at hotel. Check-in policy is 3 pm as checkout time is 12 noon and housekeeping, being humans, take time to clean the rooms. Bear in mind this is a suite and it takes 2 staff working at ultra speed to get it done. Lucky for them the guest checked out earlier in the morning, but still it takes human time to clean things up…so we told them that check-in will be about 1pm.

Oh my goodness.

The freakin ruckus they kicked up. How were they allowed out of their country? And then the usual “We stayed in so many 5-star hotels in the world and none of them has ever made us wait blah blah blah.” Perhaps because they kicked you out the moment you raised your voice…

Freak out whatever you want, the room is not ready is not ready is not ready. So go wait.

12.23 pm: Finally got them in the room.

“Oh my goodness the room is so far”

“oh my goodness you don’t have a Jacuzzi in the room?”

“oh my goodness you can see outside from the bathroom.” (it is a selling point, bathroom with daylight, and there are curtains you can close…)

“Oh my goodness you can hear the traffic and the people outside.” (hello? You are on the freakin balcony????)

“Oh my goodness it’s so windy.” (from mother)

“Oh my goodness it’s so hot” (from father)

“Don’t you have a bigger room?” (from father)

“You have to walk so far from one bedroom to the next.” (from mother)

12.45 pm: (Calling to room service) Please send some packets of instant coffee

12.48 pm: (calling to operator) Please send some more bottles of drinking water

12.50 pm: (calling to housekeeping) Please send some more bath towels.

12.52 pm: (calling to room service) Please send 3 more bottles of drinking water.

Room service: We have to charge as we only provide up to 4 bottles per day

Guest: No I want it free

Room Service: Sorry, for additional bottles we have to charge.

Guest: I want it free. Come on, it’s just water.

Praisie (if I was there): If it’s just water, go drink from the tap. It’s free and unlimited.

13.25 pm: (at the playzone – we do not allow parents/adults into the play area as we want it to be a purely kids area, some children get anxious if someone’s parents is there and not theirs, some parents are mean to other people’s children by stealing a kids’ toy for their own child so we don’t allow parents in there, only our own staff. And if the kid is too young, below 4 years old, they have to hire a babysitter to sit with them – help them to toilet, help them climb structures, watch over them individually etc)

Guest: I want my nanny to sit in there

Staff: Sorry, no adults allowed in there except hotel recreation staff

Guest: No, I want my nanny in there.

Staff: No sir, as per policy we cannot allow.

Guest: I am guest, I say yes, you do it.

Staff: No sir, we cannot allow. This is the policy for all guests.

Guest: I will complain.

Praisie: (if I was there) Where do I go complain about YOU???

And then he called my boss to moan and groan and whine. Serve her right. Sometimes quality matters over quantity.

And this is only day 1!!!!!!

Miserly Country

2011-04-28T16:52:00.000+08:00

Damn….Thai government is really corrupted and unfair towards foreigners.

For years every month I have to pay social security to the government, this is one of the welfare benefits of the citizen, which I get to enjoy.

They must have like taken hundreds of thousands of baht from me for the past 6 years I’ve been here.

I’m just trying to claim THB 4000 for my hospital fees due to my slipped disc incident last August. By right, besides medical fees, I can also claim for the days I was on medical leave due to my injuries. I would have been happy with THB 4000 just to show that they care and that they do pay out some things.

Went for this whole stupid process, submitting paperwork, getting copies from hospital, doctors etc. Then going for a bloody interview with the social security officer who asked me in a lot of details what happened. I brought a Thai friend so there cannot be any miscommunication. It happened during work hours, I was moving stuff for a guest when I hurt my back.

But now they have written back to me 8 months later that my claim was not approved as my job title does not cover the type of injury I sustained.

WTF.

So apparently if I am a sales person, the only type of injury I can claim must be sales-related?

So if your job is as an officer doing admin work for the personnel department, you cannot claim if you slipped and fell in the accounting department because it is not your job to be walking around the accounting room? And if you’re an architect who fell on a construction site, you cannot claim because your work is office work and not at the construction site?! So if you do paperwork, you can only claim for papercuts?

I am a sales person, I was helping a client, I got hurt. That has to be work-related.

Geez.

Seriously, no wonder everyone has lost hope with Thailand and Thailand has lost its luster among the tourists. They just want the tourist/foreign dollar but they don’t want to give anything back.

If they want a paper trail war, I will give them a paper trail war.

Wow, the injustices people remember

2011-04-26T10:13:00.000+08:00

My goodness, some people have such long memories of the “injustices” done to them.

Wedding couple got married 2 years ago, just made a comment on tripadvisor on how terrible the wedding was.

1. Hotel asked them for more money upon check-in despite the fact that they have already fully pre-paid for their accommodation.

Erm, are you forgetting that you still owe us money for the wedding setup? We have to book the photographer, the celebrant, order the flowers, invite the registrar etc. You did not pay a single cent for this yet?

And two, we DID NOT ask you to pay right upon check-in. We asked for a credit card to VERIFY. Which is worlds’ away from charging you. We simply wanted to check that you have enough credit on your credit card to pay for these things. After all, this is a business, we just want to get paid. And we are being nice by giving you the benefit of the doubt, not demanding full prepayment but simply to check that your credit card is ok and good to go.

2. No special treatment for you – no champagne etc. only flower petals on the bed

Sweetie, if you happen to look at the full wedding package, it includes the full works including champagne. Your exact words to your agent was “I just want something simple, none of the other items”

Why are you attacking me now, accusing us of not giving you champagne when you determinedly decided you DID NOT want the wedding package? You only paid half of what a full package is, you CHOSE not to take these things we offered.

3. Setup was average, nothing special for your wedding.

Again, your words was “I just want something simple, none of the other items.” You just wanted a ceremony (celebrant checked, venue checked, photographer checked) and a flower bouquet (checked). Under the wedding package we offer full flower setup for the venue etc, but you did not want these. You just wanted a SIMPLE ceremony, you did not want to pay for the extras. So don’t complain when you didn’t get the extras you did not pay for. You wanted SIMPLE, so why complain when we gave you SIMPLE? That it was too simple?

Geez... have you lost sleep over the past 2 years over this???

Gaddafi Second, the EMO childish kid

2011-04-01T13:16:00.000+08:00

Seriously…guy I nicknamed Gaddafi is such an EMO person.

You could never tell looking at his stature, his age, his position etc.

Like a spoilt kid who could not get what he wanted and he started sulking and refusing to cooperate.

I mean seriously? SULKING? For a man? Of your age and position???

Not just sulking but throwing of tantrums too. You slam, smash, slap things around you, you would do it to people do if there was not such thing as laws and regulations. What a Gaddafi. This lack of trust leading you to start massacreing people around you.

I should have recorded the scene where you held a knife and tried to “jokingly” threaten my staff. Not funny I tell you.

He could not get what he want, he lost an argument with me, he just slam his notebook shut and remained uncooperative the whole meeting discussion. What a childish idiot.

Do people from there all behave like they own the world and everyone should just bow down to them if not they will not hesitate to get rid of you? Do the people from there just live to terrorise others?

Life under a schizo dictator....

2011-03-29T10:16:00.000+08:00

You absolute schizo…working with you is like working with a faulty time bomb, you never know when it will blow.

What standard means to you is what your mood of the day dictates….

We have always been selling this cake flavour for freakin’ years and only yesterday you decided that it was not to be. Yes, how dare I sell cheesecake to the clients despite the fact that I am charging them extra for it.

Yes how dare I indeed.

Sick and tired of this stupid games you play so I decided to make it black and white for all the world to see what exactly is your “standard”

Asked you very simply how much to you charge per pound for standard flavours – I even created the blank for you so you just have to fill it in, and how much per pound for special flavours like cheesecake.

You don’t seem to understand English I suppose. You told me this case charge THB xxxx for 6 pounds.

You think I’ll back down, no, I’m gonna squeeze the answer out of you even if I have to get my hands bloody.

So I repeated myself how much PER POUND. And I will again and again until I get what I want cos I’m so sick and tired of you changing your mind like a hoe on PMS.

And seriously, if you read your own email you’ll realize you really are an idiot. You contradict yourself on every email.

So you said “Very simple standard one we give in the package if they want to add we charge them 450++. If they want to change the whole thing with different flavor 900 ++ per pound”

So I summed it up for you:

Just to sum it up,

Standard Flavour : Chocolate, Vanilla, Strawberry = THB 450++ per pound

Special Flavour: Cheesecake , Fruit Cake = THB 900++ per pound

Please re-confirm the above is selling price and that the prices are valid for the rest of the year?

You said:

Now my main thing is very simple thing

If the guest would like to change his standard cake with another cake you have to forget the 1588 THB and charge him new cake.

That’s what I want you to pass to your team. I explain it many times.

For the prices now will be one price for all

Any extra or changes is 650 ++ per pound

Ahhh….so now it’s THB 650++ per pound, where did this price come from? Did you just blink it out of thin air?

Unfortunately, it’s still too vague for me cos you used the word “standard” without giving it definition, so I called you. And you said standard is as per the picture. Wow, I didn’t realize you can tell cake flavours from a picture, especially since it’s covered in icing. I pressed, on, you screamed vanilla on the phone. And then like everytime when you are losing a battle of words, you just go “Do whatever you want, just do whatever you want.” I wish I managed to record that, rest assured I will be prepared the next time I’m expecting to spar with you.

And then true to your schizophrenic self, in one email you deny the right for us to use a standard menu cos everything is “case-by-case” and in the next minute for another event, you demanded that we stop asking you for menus and use the “standard banquet menu”.

Ah, what would I do without the turbulence you cause in my life?

Perhaps we should do a Libya-Egypt example out of your dictatorship?

Speechless....

2010-11-03T12:02:00.000+08:00

I know this can be quite mean, but really, people who are born ugly should try to at least have a nice personality so at least there is some redeeming factor in you. When you are ugly and your face is in a perpetual scowl, you just make things worse. And then that attitude of yours, the world does not belong to you alone, stop complaining and start finding things to be grateful about.

Yesterday it rained, and out of that 24 hours of rain is 2 hours of nice dry weather, exactly right in time for your cocktail to start and get into action. Why do you only concentrate on the last 30-minutes when it poured so heavily at the end? Be grateful you at least had 2 hours of dry weather.

And really, must you be stupid too? Everything that goes wrong must be someone else’s fault but never yours. The LCD projector is screening the video in poor grainy quality – have you seen the output on your own laptop screen? Same grainy quality – my LCD just projects whatever is on your own screen.

We are doing a lot of things out of the ordinary for you, could you at least muster up some sort of gratefulness? Just a short “Hey, thanks!” would be nice too…and gives us a bit more encouragement.

You should never alienate the people working for you though you think you pay them to work. Things might get done eventually, but how it gets done, when it will be done and what exactly you get would be affected…

Ok, I know this is a lot of words under the subject speechless….so….hai….

My Countrymen and their traits

2010-11-02T19:32:00.000+08:00

Are Singaporeans just so comfortable with our lives that we begin to get complacent and then complain and complain and complain?? We can be quite a pessimistic bunch huh…

Singaporeans : It’s too hot!

Other guests: Nice warm weather!

Singaporeans : Aiyoh so cold!

Other guests: What a cool evening.

Singaporeans: So far away!

Other guests: What a nice walk through the gardens!

Singaporeans: So crowded! So noisy!

Other guests: This is a vibrant place.

Singaporeans: So quiet and ulu!

Other guests: Nice peaceful and private corner.

Singaporeans: So sour / sweet / bitter/ spicy!

Other guests: Interesting taste.

Singaporeans: So expensive!

Hotel: Is there a reason to this charge? Like maybe this helps pay for the wages of the staff, the raw materials bought, the distance the raw materials travelled, the preparation process etc.

Singaporeans: Aiyoh, why the weather like that?

Other guests: Oh well, do you have a library for us to borrow some books to stay indoors and read for the wet weather?

Sigh….

Just that this one organizer is so full of complaints and no % of gratefulness in her entire being. And what you understand by yourself does not translate automatically into my own brain. I asked her if she wanted to keep the twin-bedded half of her connecting room, or the king-bedded half as her next door neighbour checked out first but she is extending by herself. She just kept repeating her room number, “Room 123”. By repeating “Room 123! Can you understand?” a million times in a rising volume does not give extra clarification to me. Maybe my own fault, I cannot tell if a particular room number in my hotel of 380 rooms is a king or twin-bedded room. My own fault for not memorizing the room numbers and the corresponding bed type. My own fault for having never stayed in room 123. What exasperated me the most was the condescending look she gave me for not understanding her, and I wanted so much to return the same look.

And what is it with the rhetorical questions? Pointing at a telephone and asking me, “Is this a telephone?” I know she probably wanted to be sarcastic cos the telephone was not dialing properly then, but the sarcasm kinda got lost in the Singaporean accent. I had a little victory by looking at her strangely and speaking slowly “Yes, this is a telephone.”

And then “Why is it raining again?” Are you looking at me to explain about evaporation and cloud formations? Didn’t they teach that in Primary school science?

And then pointing at the tray of pastries and going “Is this breakfast?” Well, if it’s the first meal of your day and it’s more or less in the AM part of the day, then yes, this is breakfast.

And then the selfishness – it was Halloween party at the beachfront restaurant and she was like “Can you tell them to just shut up?!” Like why would you choose to go eat at a restaurant where the theme is Halloween night? We have 3 other quieter outlets?!

Geez.

Positive thoughts…ooomm…..God please grant me strength and wisdom to deal with this….

Pissed with Tiger Airways

2010-10-03T10:00:00.001+08:00

Confusion with the Down Under

2010-09-27T11:36:00.000+08:00

I wonder why is it that there is such a communication breakdown between myself and the Australians? 2 groups already and they don’t seem to to give me the right instructions.

Say you booked 25 rooms of type A. Closer to the date, you have a clearer idea of the guests’ rooming list, you tell me you want to hold 24 rooms now, release 1 room. In the rooming list you sent me, you took 22 Type A rooms and 2 Type B rooms. So if you want 24 rooms, that means I change 2 of your Type A booking to a Type B room as per your list.

Then you tell me now you need 24 Type A rooms and 2 Type B rooms. I no longer have anymore Type A rooms because I released your rooms to be sold since you told me you needed only 24 rooms (22 Type A and 2 Type B). You cannot claim that you orignally booked 25 Type A rooms and expect me to still give you those rooms. When you tell me you only needed 22 Type A rooms, I have the right to release the rooms you do not use. If you expect me to still hold 25 Type A rooms, then you should have told me to increase your room block to 27 rooms, 25 Type A and 2 Type B. Then if you cannot fill 27 rooms, I have to charge you for the room you didn’t take.

2 groups already who cannot understand this concept. Am I the one confused? We are both speaking English right? My concept of Maths is universal right?

My ordeal with courier companies....DHL has let me down too

2010-09-21T11:17:00.000+08:00

Oh gosh….if Thailand wants to become the next MICE destination like Hong Kong or Singapore, they had better do something about their customs. Getting things into Thailand is equivalent to squeezing out pints of blood through a pinprick.

Is there a point in translating “lanyard” into Thai and explaining that it is made from plastic? Is it necessary to define a vinyl stand-up banner with metal base versus a cloth banner with no stand? And to translate it into Thai? And the redtape involved with government offices….

Do they understand that the delivery is time-sensitive and that it is of no use to allow the items through customs once the event is already OVER?

And the charges?! They keep trying to charge for everything. If something got stuck cos they were waiting for a Thai translation of the item sent, they charge for storage. Then they play hard to get by “not understanding” what the translation means, so the shipment has to be stored overnight cos hell forbids them from working more than 5 hours a day so all documents sent in are inevitably “too late” to be processed the same day, and then we get charged for storage for another night.

And this is the one part I DO NOT understand. They hold the shipment cos they are waiting for payment from us, but they cannot finalise the payment because they need to factor in storage charges, but they cannot finalise storage charges because they don’t know when they can release the shipment because they are waiting for payment from us????!!!!!

Heck, I hate dealing with courier companies after this.

TCEB should do something about the customs and what they can do to help things get cleared faster because most of the deliveries need to be made in time for the event.

The Things we Never learn...

2010-09-20T10:19:00.000+08:00

Hai…..2 years on and I still have to deal with the issue of the “sacredness” of the master account. Not everyone gets the privilege of charging things into the master account, and as the keeper of the master account, I have to be very strict with it.

The master account is the account setup for each group event and only authorized individuals i.e. the organizers are allowed to sign their bills into the master account hence the “sacredness” of it.

I tabulate the final amount to charge them so I am essentially the “keeper” of this account.

And I get damn right pissed when my staff just post any charge into it without telling / asking me first. Cos in the end when there is a dispute about the bill, I cannot do anything about it. Because a bill can easily be the issue of a dispute and result in the whole bill being put on hold until the dispute is cleared. I can only throw it back at you for having posted it without permission and you have to be responsible. So as much as I want to protect your ass, you have to protect your own first.

When will people learn????

And guess what, being director doesn’t mean you are immune to stupidity?! Did you, as a high and lofty director, ask the client if this is what he ordered and willing to pay for it? You don’t just secretly charge them for things and expect them to pay, and you expect me to CHASE them for the payment??? Go do your own dirty work.

Street vendor fruit not safe

2010-09-15T14:28:00.000+08:00

Urgh, thanks man….there goes my fruit diet…

Street vendor fruit not safe

The State
A survey of Bangkok's ubiquitous fruit carts that sell snack bags filled with juicy watermelon chunks, papaya slivers and exotic treats such as pickled guava, has found the fruit also contains unsafe levels of bacteria and chemicals that help keep it looking fresh in the heat.

The Prime Minister's Office launched a one-month campaign Monday to encourage fruit vendors and their suppliers to improve hygiene and provide consumers with safe, clean fruit.

Authorities warned that another survey will be taken at the end of the month, after which vendors selling contaminated fruit will face up to two years in prison and fines of 20,000 baht ($650).

The study, conducted throughout August by Bangkok City Hall, the Thai Food and Drug Administration and other health agencies, sampled fruit from 38 vendors across the capital, where baggies packed with chunks of watermelon or pineapple sell for 10 baht (30 cents).

Results of the study found that 67% of 153 samples contained unsafe amounts of coliform bacteria. Coliform is common in digestive tracts and does not necessarily cause sickness, but its presence may indicate fecal matter, E-coli and other disease-causing organisms.

http://www.phuketgazette.net/archives/articles/2010/article9245.html

Just asking for it

2010-09-06T12:55:00.000+08:00

On a really really negative note, I can somehow understand why guests get themselves beaten up and killed in a foreign land. Somehow when they travel, they elevate themselves to a position where they seem to be faultless and invincible. They push and prode and the most basic human instinct is to survive, so the locals here do whatever they need to survive. Most of the cases here are not premedidated. If you refuse to pay for what you bought, then you are just asking for it. If you threw a punch first, expect to be beaten up as well.

I would like to know when you hit someone in your country, do you expect your opponent to just take it in the face and do nothing? When you aggravate them and push them to the edge, do you expect them to sit there meekly and take it all in?

So what gives you the right to come to this country, behave like a spoilt brat, throw a tantrum, rant and rave with all your might, curse and swear at the staff, and then physically hit someone and expect no repercussions?

We are allowed to make some mistakes in life, so we might have given you some wrong information that inconvenienced you, tell us you have a problem and we will try to make it up to you. Why do you have to lose your temper and hit a staff? Rant and rave, fine, I can take it, but if you physically abuse a hotel staff, you have crossed the line. What did we do so wrong? Kill your mother? Murdered your father? Impregnate your wife? Why the level of agression then? Because we didn’t allow you to get onto the car booked by another guest? That we tried explaining to you many times that the car is booked by someone else, we made a mistake and told you it’s free but really it’s only free for the other guest? Ok, so we made the mistake, I’ll let you take the car this time. But because you hit my staff, you can forget about the next time. If I only knew this over the phone when I tried to reason with you and you whined about wanting to move out to another hotel, I should have said “With pleasure, please leave.”

They should really call in the police about this case, to instil some sense of fear into these arrogant people. People like these should never be allowed to travel because somehow they lose any inkling of respect for the local culture etc.

Rest in peace

2010-09-02T00:28:00.001+08:00

Recently lost a fellow expat & friend to a horrific car accident here in Phuket. Life is so fleeting.

And no matter how brief the acquaintance, you will always get affected when you lose a peer.

So rest in peace Vera. You will be missed.

Backstabbing requires skill

2010-08-17T12:57:00.000+08:00

I don’t get you. On one hand you brag about how close you are to this event organizer, and in the same breath you whine about Event Team not doing their job. How can we work when you insist on being around them all the time? If I were the guest, I would also contact you all the time cos it’s easiest. So if you want us to do our job by working closely with the event organizer, then back off.

And don’t go lying the next day. We all heard what you said the first day when you claimed full knowledge about the group details, and when things go wrong, you deny ever knowing anything.

At the end of the day, backstabbing requires skills. Cultivate your lies from day 1 and work on it till the end, changing tune halfway makes you look like a whiney fool. No wonder no one bothered when you shed your crocodile tears.

In fact, it was an entertaining and rather hilarious show when you just started bawling for nothing, about how tired you are. With what? So funny.

DO NOT USE FEDEX THAILAND PLEASE

2010-07-30T11:59:00.000+08:00

I would just like to let people know that if ever you are sending something to Thailand, DO NOT EVER USE FEDEX. Or if you do, please send things 1 month in advance because it takes forever to clear customs, in fact, even a month might not be enough because they will only send 3 days before you need the item, the list of inane questions asking you stupid things like what is this made of, what is it used for etc.

Then they take 2 days to process, then they tell you 1 day before you need the thing, you have outstanding payment for import duty/tax, and when you pay them, it takes another 2 days to arrive because their staff in Phuket don’t deliver if it doesn’t pass their way or if they don’t have a few deliveries in the same area, after which the event is over and you need to send it back.

Worst still if your airway bill is to be billed to recipient, that means FedEx has not gotten their money for this shipment, which means Fedex here can hike up their prices because they know you need this item no matter what, and together with the total value of the shipment, charge you 20% import tax and service.

So please, use DHL please if you are ever sending things to Thailand. I have never had any trouble with them.

All spoken through personal experience and making a personal comment.

Kanchanaburi and Bangkok Trip Report

2010-07-03T20:10:00.003+08:00

Been a long long time since I've blogged now that I have the Facebook app on my iPhone....but there are certain memories I want to keep so I decided that blogging is as good as keeping a diary.

Took a short break to Kanchanaburi and Bangkok, 5 days to be exact. Starting from a 6 am flight to Bangkok from Phuket cos we want to get as much into our itinerary as possible. After a bleary and sleepy flight, we landed at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport. Anyone asking, it's pronounced "Soo-Var-Na-Poom" don't ask me why there's an 'i' at the end of the spelling.

Lucky thing for us, while we were the there, the long-awaited Airport Link has just opened, not that I was aware there was such a thing, I'm used to taking the metered cabs in Bangkok. So anyway, it really just literally just opened and was in the probation status so they were giving out free tickets, so we took the very quick airport link to town, FYI, it ends at Phya Thai station where there is a BTS station, but unlike Singapore where everything is connected, you have to get off the airport link station, and cross the road to the BTS station. So we had to carry our luggages and walk down the stairs (apparently Thais don't believe in escalators going downwards nor do they believe in elevators for public transport).

Airport Link

My bell boy carrying all the luggage to get to the Phya Thai station.

At the BTS station, where do I get to meet Ken?

Stopping at Victory Monument, site of the Red Shirt protests just a month ago. Here we took the provincial vans to Kanchanaburi province, just 2-hours west of Bangkok.

We arrived at the bus station after a stuffy ride, they really do maximise their profits by squeezing in people to the max in the van. I was stuck on the backseat initially and was already car-sick before even hitting the Bangkok highway. Once out of the city, I was lucky someone got off at the first stop so I immediately moved in front. No matter how many Super Lemons I suck, I doubt I would have lasted 2 hours. Anyway, at the station we caught a private "songtaew" which is like the local tuk-tuk to our pre-booked guesthouse for the night, for only 60 Baht (S$2.5)!!! And not per person!

VN Guesthouse. I booked a raft room for a night cos I didn't know how bad it would be...I didn't come to expect much cos this only cost THB 400 (S$18) a night with aircon and private bathroom. And floating over the river as well. I don't do too good being suspended over something, I like terra firma.

Modest, cosy, clean room

But what made it all worth it was the view!!! Despite the prison feel to this due to the mosquito netting...I actually had a private balcony over the water, but upon venturing out, we happened upon a HUGE water monitor which resembled a komodo dragon swimming in the water, and promptly decided there would be no dipping of the toes in the river. And upon using the bathroom I realise that everything goes into the river and therefore, no dipping. Preferably no contact with the river water at all.

Shower and toilet. I got motion sickness sitting on the toilet bowl....bad timing too cos a speedboat sped by, causing waves.

A Chinese pavilion in the distant, as taken from the room.

Lazy cat lazing at the restaurant

Headed to lunch at the guesthouse's restaurant, the food in Kanchanaburi is really good. And they take very spicy food too for people this up north. Usually the Southerners prefer spicy food to the Northerners. And it was quite interesting to hear the rather Chinese lilt to their Northern Thai dialect as opposed to the sing-song melody of Southern dialect. I actually like the Northern accent better than the South.

And the guesthouse actually hires Burmese workers as reception staff, and it was nice to hear someone speaking worse Thai than me. Bwahahaha. But I always find it fascinating that two strangers in a foreign land speaking and understanding each other in the local language. Who would have thought I could converse with a Burmese in Thai?

We rented a motorbike from the guesthouse for THB 200 a day (S$8), automatic Honda Click which devoured gas like crazy. Turned out that petrol was more expensive than the rent of the vehicle. Headed off to Sai Yok district as I wanted to see the ancient city.

Frankly this whole trip, I had absolutely no idea on the geography of the attractions. If I had gone with my original itinerary, we would have wasted hours going in circles. There just wasn't enough information online for me to research on where to go. They will indicate the district each attraction is in but not on the map. We managed to get a photocopied map from the guesthouse and had to figure out how to go.

Driving around, I realise that Sup is an absolutely terrible navigator. There really is no point in getting a GPS system for our car because he just cannot read maps. Trusting a voice to tell you to turn right or left is not enough for me, I don't trust that the system won't mess up and send me to Nakhon Ratchasima instead of Nakhon Sri Thammarat. Thank goodness I am an excellent map reader. But I cannot read Thai roadsigns, which made going around slightly challenging. And the map wasn't drawn to scale, so that means what looks so near on the map is in reality so freakin far away. Anyway, we eventually got to where I wanted to go and more.

At Prasat Muang Sing, an ancient Khmer city dating back to the 12th century, located next to the River Kwai Noi. I like ancient cities and historical sites, I love being to bask in a place with a history, imagining how people once lived there, wat dramas went on there etc.

During excavation of the city, they actually discovered a pre-historic burial site dating back 10,000 years.

There had 4 main sites to see in this historical park, 2 of the sites were just piles of stones like this, and as much as I try to be romantic in my point of view, I don't see why they had to make this monument an attraction. And the description...they ought to get someone to re-write their brochure a little to make it more WOW. This was describe as "These ancient ruins are parts of a building of small scale, made of brick and laterite." Gee...

A Miniature Model of the city, the building you see is the city centre (known as Monument number 1), possibly where royalty / priesthood lives. And the grass area would be where the villages and homes would be, with the city wall surrounding it.

Part of the main city centre

This is Monument Number 2, described as "This building is also a building complex, situated to the northwest of ancient Monument Number 1, facing east." Followed by a massive description of the materials used and the structure which I can see for myself. Gee...no one wants to know what this building is made of, they want to know what it was used for.

Monument number 1, described as "This monument is a building complex comprising of wall, gates, gallery and several buildings." See what I mean, it helps nothing with my understanding of this place. Having been studying this site for decades, I'm sure the scholars would have better things to say than "This is a building with more buildings insides made of stone."

Me contributing to the general cleanliness of the place.

Back entrance of the main city centre

Front entrance, having to pass through a courtyard-like place before entering the building.

At the main entrance

Inside

Side corridors on the inside

I was quite disappointed that they didn't put more effort into describing the place or attributing any life to the place besides the obvious. Their brochure did nothing to help me understand the place. I'm sure they would have by now come to an understanding of what the city was like, what sort of livelihood was taken on by the people, how did it come to an end etc. Instead of describing it as a building made of laterite and stone and bricks, which I can see for myself, thank you very much. I hope TAT does something more, or at least get UNESCO interested so they can write a better brochure for you.

We drove around a bit on the same road and at the end of the road, happened upon this very lovely campsite, the River Kwai Cabin. We decided to book ourselves into their little cottage for the next night.

Idyllic getaway, this would be perfect for a youth camp, they even have a campfire place and plenty of space. But what won me over was the view...more of that later.

Driving back, Kanchanaburi's countryside is gorgeous with the rising limestone hills set in the background of the green ricefields. Wat I imagined Thailand would be before I got here. If you watched enough American Vietnam war movies, you would know what I mean.

That night after dinner we still have some energy left, bear in mind this is still the same day we woke up at 5am to fly to Bangkok and then travel to Kanchanaburi, so we tried to find out where the famous Bridge over River Kwai is. Apparently there is a movie based on the history of the bridge.

For those of you not into history, the short version of this was that during World War II, when the Japs have more or less taken over Asia, they wanted to build a bridge linking Siam to Burma, and so had their POWs build it. The POWs were mainly Australians and New Zealanders, with some British and some American Allies and they started building the railway from two points, one starting from Myanmar and one starting from Thailand (Kanchanaburi shares a border with Myanmar). The hardship and terrible conditions resulted in a lot of deaths among the POWs, from starvation, illnesses and other factors. Every year during ANZAC Day, thousands of Aussies and New Zealanders would flock to this province as a memorial to those who died building the bridge.

Not much to see at night so we went back again in the morning.

Self explanatory of where this is...the memorial cemetary for the Allies soldiers who lost their life building the bridge.

This guy died the same date as my birthday, though obviously not the same year.

We drove back to River Kwai cabin the next day to check into our little wooden cottage.

It was cosy and clean, and costs a little bit more since this is close to the famous Death Railway at THB 1700 (S$71) a night including breakfast, with aircon and heater.

If anyone is interested, this is their Bangkok office number. Or their Website.

And yep, this is how close we are to the railway tracks. View? Priceless.

We wanted to take the train to the last stop and come back again, but the guy at the reception gave us the wrong info about the timing of the train, or perhaps it came early, but we missed it by about 5 minutes. I have never taken a classic train like this before in my life, only the modern trains like MRT or LRT, so I really really really really really wanted to take the train. Going over the dramatic bridge perched against the mountainside somemore~!!! So we decided to walk up to the next stop to catch the train on its return route for 1 stop back to our original station. Better than nothing.

Now walking across the bridge over River Kwai to the next station is not for the faint-hearted. It is a 30m sheer drop on either side with no handrails and you can only pray that the train doesn't come your way while over the bridge cos the only option is to jump down 3m onto the bridge supporting pillars. The walkway is made of wooden planks loosely laid out so I prayed that it would hold my weight. Rain, soggy woodwork = very nervous. YOu get a sense of vertigo as well once you are on it cos there is nothing on the side, nothing to hold onto. You just keep looking at the walkway and put one foot in front of the other.

Occasionally I feel brave enough to take a photo.

Terra firma again....

This sign, next to the bridge, says that water level once reached up here. Apparently the date is Sup's birthday right to the very year. So we figured that when he was born, there was a massive flood in Kanchanaburi Sai Yok district.

There was a cave temple next to the raiway line as well.

View of the bridge from the cave, see what I mean about sheer drop on both sides?

Looking back at our campsite, feeling proud of the accomplishment.

We waited about 30 minutes for the train to come back from the last station. So excited!!!

It was just a 5 minute ride back for 1 stop but oh so worth it. The view is spectacular and it just blows me away that this train is on the very platform I crossed earlier.

I am a fantastic photographer and I managed to get this shot of Sup with the train going across the bridge.

Him? He took a picture of me with trees.

After the train ride we rode out to look for elephant camps.

Inquisitive one.

We took an elephant trek at 100 Baht per person~!! That's S$4 per person for a 30-minute trek!!! THe prices in Kanchanaburi continues to surprise me especially when compared with Phuket. An elephant trek for 30-minutes in Phuket costs THB 750 (S$32) per person! 8 times the difference?!

We even went into the river for the elephant to play a little.

You can also bathe an elephant for THB 650 (S$27) which gives you an up-close experience with the gentle creature. This couple was climbing up and down the elephant and the cheeky elephant kept moving side to side to try to topple them, and once it used its trunk to spray water at them. It was a heartwarming sight to see the elephant so gentle and so full of character.

We also went bamboo rafting. Actually this bamboo rafting was different from what I expected. THe pictures I see are of a narrow bamboo raft with a person steering with a long bamboo stick.

This one has shelter and is wide, very wide. There were 3 groups of us, so they tied us together and used a motorboat to drive us to the top of the river, then release us to let us float back down with the current. We had our own bamboo raft for THB 100 per person. It was very peaceful going down the river, lush forests on both sides, the peace and quiet, hearing forest sounds and river movements. Unfortunately it was that moment I got a crisis at work and my office called me and I was anything but peaceful for the moment. Wasted really.

Back at the campsite, watching the next round of train coming back

Back at the campsite, we had a late lunch, then Sup convinced me to go ATV-ing. It was...an interesting experience, my first and most probably last time at ATV-ing. I'm not very good with this whole driving thing, my brain gets confused with the multiple buttons, one hand on brake, other on accelerator, the foot on the gear. Check gear in neutral, hand on brake, start the engine, released brake, test accelerator, hand on brake again, engage gear, release brake and accelerate. Took me 15 minutes to coordinate all these movements together and I know I will forget everything the trainer taught me once I panic. And there's the reverse gear somemore! I was about to give up cos I cannot get the accelerator and gear thing together, my foot and the gear don't seem to meet so in the end I had to use my hand to change gear, and you know how filthy the gear is?! Well, it was raining a lot and someone had used the ATV earlier and the entire thing was just filthy and muddy. Anyway, I decided to just go for it, if I die at least I died trying. We went off, trainer first, me, and Sup following behind. It was tough terrain, made worse by the muddy conditions. Many a times I panic at a bumpy turn and forgot what I had to do and I just pressed everything, so essentially I was braking and accelerating at the same time and sent a spray of mud flying in Sup's direction. THe muddy terrain was also slippery so my ATV slid and the back wheel got stuck a couple of times. The trainer told me to just accelerate to the fullest while she tried to lift me out and my back wheel squealed with the exertion and I felt so bad cos mud was just spraying all over her. We bought a half hour package for THB 250 (S$11) per person and it still felt too long to me cos I was absolutely terrified and exhilarated, if that makes sense. The power I feel riding on the ATV coupled with the bumps and sharp turns that threaten to toss me off...But I was relieved when we finally left the forest and onto the main tarmac road where I can control the ATV better. But I feel so proud of myself for managing it. Will I try it again? Probably in a dryer season when there is not so much mud around. I was absolutely filthy at the end of the day.

The tracks our ATV left as we emerged from the forest. Sup went crazy trying to create a rubber track with the ATV. He almost tipped over at one point when he made a particularly small circle.

We cleaned up and went on a ride around the Sai Yok district.

Man fishing in River Kwai

Enjoying the cool evening outside our jungle hut

Was a nice night to end our stay in Kanchanaburi. Next morning we headed back to Bangkok for some shopping and pampering. Heading back to Bangkok, the traffic was a killer. Got stuck on 500m of road for 20 minutes?! Whoever does the traffic light system in Bangkok ought to be fired! Imagine a crossroad, traffic heading in the north-south direction has to wait 4minutes at the red light, meanwhile traffic heading the east-west direction keeps going and going, with super poor coordination, the traffic light further up east or further up west turns red so that the cars start accumulating so much so that when it's green light for the north-south traffic to go, they cannot go because cars from the east-west traffic are stuck in the junction due to the red light further up. When the east-west traffic traffic finally clears, the light has changed already for the north-south traffic so they have to waste another 4 minutes waiting for the light. WHy are their traffic lights so long??!!!

Thanks to a lovely friend, we got a room at Dusit Thani Bangkok for a very very reasonable rate, can't say how much cos it's private staff rate, but let's just say it was less than 20% of their normal BAR rates.

And we got upgraded to a Dusit Grand Suite!!!!!Two TVs!!! One in the living room and one in the bedroom means Sup can watch his World Cup in the living room while I indulge in my Discovery Channel in bed.

The Super Huge Bathroom. And a toilet without doors. Which I don't like....the bathroom has two entrances, one from the bedroom and one from the living area, and no lock, so while sitting at my throne I worry about people walking in.

View of Sala Daeng from my room

View of Dusit Thani Bangkok from Lumpini Park. During the REd Shirts protest, the Reds were in the park looking into Silom area. They fired a M79 grenade at Dusit Thani from here as well.

Lumpini Park. Thailand recovers well from crisis. Just a month later you see no signs of the violence that took place earlier.

That evening we went to Sup's auntie place on the outskirts of Bangkok, a good 1 hour drive away. I hate city commuting.

We went shopping the next day, starting from Chatuchak Market, then JJ Mall, then Siam Square, then Siam Centre, Siam Paragon, then MBK then I lost track

On a tuk-tuk from Chatuchak to Siam Square. BIG Mistake. Sup never took one of these 3-wheeled tuk-tuks so thought we'll try, but bad bad decision. We were caught in a typical Bangkok traffic jam for a journey tat would have taken us 15 minutes on BTS but took us 40 minutes instead, and most of all, the noxious fumes!!! Never again...

We also saw the famous ZEN World, part of the Central World complex that burned down after massive looting by the REd Shirts. It was quite a sight as ZEN world is huge, it must have taken a long time for the building to be burned as much as it did. THe Red Shirts blocked the fire-fighters from coming in to fight the fire, which is why so much of the building was destroyed. Whatever they were thinking when burning this down?

Another burned building on Siam Square. To aid the shopkeepers whose shops burned down or were destroyed or whose buildings are not safe to enter, there is now a walking street for these vendors to sell their wares. Prices in Bangkok are not as cheap as before. Shopping was not as lucrative as I thought, there was this shoe shop which used to sell shoes for 199 baht but now they costs 299 baht. What I would pay 150 baht for now costs 250 baht. But the weather and the pollution and the walking really took a toll on me and we got back to the hotel at 9pm. Then did the walking street down Silom until my feet really could not take it anymore. I was willing to be dragged back to the hotel at the end of the day.

It was a good trip, probably felt longer cos we covered quite a lot of places, but glad that I finally managed to make my way to Kanchanaburi since studying it for Secondary School history. Next stop, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Mae Hong Son.

*****ns Again

2010-06-17T14:42:00.000+08:00

Geez….just saw this really crappy complaint email from an ****an guest to the hotel and seriously, why are they all born so ANAL?

They made an online booking for a room and under number of guests they put in 2 adults. Our standard price includes breakfast for 2 adults, so in our confirmation letter to them, we just mentioned room rate inclusive of breakfast.

They came as 2 adults and 2 children.

Then they complained that we charged breakfast for the 2 children by saying that our confirmation letter states that the room rate is inclusive of breakfast so that should include for the children too.

Two can play this game so we should have told them that their booking states for 2 adults so we should ban their children from coming as well.

Then in our information kit, we stated that the Kids Club is available in the hotel, so he brought them there and found out that there’s a charge to leave your children with the babysitters there, and he complained that we didn’t state in our kit that there are charges involved so it should be free.

You know, if we state everything there is to know, it would take you 3 years to finish reading all the policies, terms and conditions before you can come stay with us.

Kids Club free also can, but if your kids kill themselves in there don’t blame us cos we never stated in writing that we would take care of them for you.

And then they get a dinner for 2 included in their package. The mother and child went to eat first and then he and another kid joined them later. He complained that the portions for “two” was not enough, only starter, main course and dessert. He refused to order more and pay by himself but just complained that the portions were too small for “two” people.

I would have told them that the package states dinner, and we never stated what kind of food they get. We should have dished out HUGE portions of dog food for dinner cos we never stated that it was human dinner.

Any wonder why they keep getting bombed?

UN egos

2010-05-18T08:33:00.002+08:00

I do think some of these UN pple think too highly of themselves... They are given a daily allowance to spend at a UN meeting/ event but they refuse to pay for anything and want to charge everything to the master bill. So wat is their allowance used for?? To fatten their own pockets?? Is that where our donations are going to? Their own pockets??? I thought they were a non-profit organisation?? So what is this profitting of oneself? Perhaps their systems works in that organisation cannot, but individuals can.

I suppose I should not look a gift horse in the mouth, but I can understand why some people will question why they can spend this kind of money when they are a non-profit organisation. Every cent counts in this case isn't it?

And then you would think that as a humanitarian group, they would be a little more humane and understanding of other cultures. The way they speak down to the staff here cos their English is not as perfect as theirs... disillusioned man. And the way the speak, "I have been to many countries, stayed in many luxury hotels blah blah and none of them have charged me a cancellation charge." right, so now UN pays you enough to stay in luxury hotels huh? And that hotel policies are not applicable to you because you are...UN?

I am not against the instituion/organisation as they do offer a lot of help and I know the idiom about one rotten apple in the barrel and should not assume that all are equally lousy, but I think too much hype is given to them. They used to be so WOW to me, but now meeting their representatives face to face, I'm disappointed. I want to help kids, but now I really really want to know where my donated money goes to, to the children or to these arrogant, pompous representatives who apparently think they are above everyone else and above every rules.

Don't jump to conclusions too quickly!!!

2010-05-11T09:26:00.000+08:00

I have a problem with this wedding guest who jumps to conclusion too fast without reading carefully all the information I sent.

First case, I sent them an email with all the information required – catering, reception, package, decorations, even pictures of past events. She clicked “reply” abd sent back to me the same email with all the information given to her below, asking why didn’t I send her any information on catering, reception, package, decorations etc.

Second time, we discussed the process of booking the wedding. She said she is ready to pay up to AUD 1000. I sent her a credit card authorization based on 30% of total costs but the amount stated was in Thai Baht, and in conversion does not amount to AUD 1000 as yet, about AUD 800 plus only. She asked me didn’t we discuss that she will pay me only AUD 1000 for the first deposit? I was wondering if I thought wrongly, that this guest actually wants to pay more than I am asking for? I wrote to her and told her what I’m asking for is actually less than AUD 1000 and she went quiet. See, if you just did some simple calculation, you would have realized that I am not asking for more than what you can give.

Third time, she sent me an excel sheet with all the questions she has in mind, and I sent it back to her with my replies in blue and attached a lot more photos for her reference. She sent back within minutes and asked “There are pictures but NO ANSWERS” And here I am thinking….but my answers are all there in blue!!! Any idiot would have seen it. I know the pictures are bigger than my font so they are easier to see…. But still….don’t you think you are jumping to conclusions too quickly? Maybe just take that few minutes to look at what I’m saying before clicking reply.

Chavalit heaps blame on Abhisit

2010-04-25T09:49:00.002+08:00

By Naya Kaikawang
The Nation
Published on April 13, 2010

Pheu Thai Party chairman Chavalit Yongchaiyudh called yesterday for an immediate dissolution of Parliament and accused the prime minister of lacking the leadership to steer the country out of its political predicament.

"Abhisit Vejjajiva bears the sole responsibility for causing the clashes between the riot forces and the red shirts on Saturday," he said.

Chavalit compared Abhisit to the head of a household who had failed to heal the rift among fellow Thai citizens.

Despite repeated warnings about ruin, Abhisit chose to be "indifferent" to the red shirts instead of heeding their demands.

He said he was ashamed that Asean had cast doubts on the future of Thailand under Abhisit's leadership.

Even though all sides saw the necessity for a snap election, the government had offered a nine-month road map, as if it was unwilling to address or see any urgency in the problem.

The veteran politician, who was PM from 1996 to 1997, said he repeatedly reminded the government that agitation would escalate into violence. He described the bloodshed as "unprecedented" and being caused by the government ignoring the voice of the people.

He lashed out at sending armed soldiers and police to crack down on the red mob.

Abhisit could not deny his involvement in the order to crack down and the "blunder" in carrying on the anti-riot operation into the night which led, in turn, to the attacks by a "third hand".

Crowd control was flawed and, based on evidence available, the public could almost identify the "third hand" that incited violence, he said, adding that wounded soldiers claimed their injuries were not caused by the red shirts.

"The situation may deteriorate further and unconditional dissolution of Parliament is the only way out."

He urged coalition parties to realise it would be futile to talk about a timetable, arguing it was nonsense to prolong an election for six or nine months in the face of public agitation.

He said he supported an investigation to uncover why the bloodshed happened- but this should take place under a new prime minister.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think this is just rubbish, that they think this guy’s words are worth anything. If he is anything to go by, he is a PM for a year, coming from a military background as defence minister before, and ousted because he made the Thai economy crash in the 1997 Asian financial crisis. He was deputy prime minister again in 2008 but forced to resign because he used violence against the protesters (the yellow-shirts then) as well.

So why would anyone think there is any gold to his words?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chavalit_Yongchaiyudh

Test

2010-04-23T17:21:00.001+08:00

test

2010-04-23T17:14:00.000+08:00

testing

Crap

2010-04-22T11:24:00.000+08:00

Is this how you work? You take an infinite amount of leave - work like 2 weeks a month and have the others off. Then you come and meddle on your day off. You work one day, get a lead, take the next day off and hand everything over. Fine, hand it over then hand it over, don’t call me every 5 minutes to tell me what to do. You want me to help you let me do it MY WAY. You want it YOUR WAY and YOU do it. And don’t make promises you cannot fulfill. You say you will take half day but you never showed up to work. You come at 10 leave at 5. People like us come to 8 and leave at 8. You say you will come today to do this inspection, we are all waiting with abated breath.

She did this group, took leave, then the group wanted an inspection of the hotel on the day of her leave, called me and asked me to do it. I told her I have another appointment the same time with a supplier of AV and equipment for a group. I, as a Service Manager, has to be there for this appointment. She said call the supplier to cancel, the supplier is not important, and guess what time she told me, 15 minutes before the supplier was due to arrive. How do I tell someone who has already left home/office and on the way to the hotel that I want to cancel now? I said no, she refuse to take no for an answer, so in order to get her off the phone, I told her I’ll see how but I had no intention to dump my supplier. And she went on and on about the clients, how to conduct the inspection, how to show them around, bloody hell, the clients are Thai and my grasp of the language is not that fantastic. I can converse, but when it comes to the technical terms, forget it. Esp polite terms since I’m always talking to friends, I have absolutely no grasp of the formal style of the language. I told her again and again that I will meet but I cannot be the main person for the inspection trip, again she won’t take no for an answer. I know she trusts me and my level of work, but that doesn’t mean you get time off for that.

Anyway, I’m a woman of my word so I met my supplier, heck her clients. If they are that important she would have come down on her day off anyway. Or get management to do it.

I didn’t realize that me getting promotion means her being able to get out of her responsibilities. That is what I hate about being middle management. You are of a level senior enough to take charge of everything, but too junior to say no to more work.

The Tragedy in Thailand

2010-04-12T18:49:00.000+08:00

For those concerned about the political situation in Thailand, rest assured that Phuket is safe and that most of the incidents are happening in Bangkok and the northern provinces.

Phuket is South Thailand, which has a strong support for the democratic party (i.e. Yellow Shirts). South Thailand is largely anti-red-shirts and residents here would never allow a red shirt protest to take place here.

That said, I have to add my two-cents worth on the situation in Bangkok.

For those just catching up on this, the geist of the whole thing summarized as follows:-

Thaksin got ousted as PM of Thailand after he sold the satellite to Singapore’s Temasek Holdings (satellite belongs to govt, he used his power as govt to make it a private entity and sold it and reaped its benefits)
He changed laws so as to avoid paying heavy taxes for the sale
Got caught on both counts and had to flee the country/
Political upheavals as new PMs come and go,
Elections took place and Thaksin’s political party won again because they managed to buy votes.
yellow shirts protested to overthrow the govt because the previous PMs after Thaksin were all his puppets and under his payroll, and they were about to change the laws again so that Thaksin can come back again without getting jailed for his corruption
Finally peace prevailed with Abhisit coming into power after a constitution , a righteous and sauve politician who is NOT under Thaksin’s payroll.
Verdict on Thaksin’s fortunes about to take place, Thaksin got his puppets in place to stage a protest should the ruling be unfavourable. (He was already sentenced to a jail sentence and is effectively a fugitive. A freeze on his assets would mean he would have no more money to escape to other countries in style and luxury. Interesting how it is the other corrupted countries that were willing to let Thaksin into their country to stay. He must have paid millions as a token of “investment” in order to be able to stay, so you can imagine if he has no more money, he will have to come home to Thailand to face the music)
Courts ruled that 50% of Thaksin’s assets would be forfeited. Given that he has billions of dollars, this is quite generous.
Red Shirts come out from the poor northern regions of Thailand to protest in Bangkok. They are obviously PAID, no one really does this for free. Apparently the going rate is THB 500 – 1000 day depending on the activity. This amounts to much more than they would earn per day as a poor farmer in Isan. The women can also finally hold a dignified job as a protester than as a prostitute. Imagine, if you hold the fort for 1 month you get the equivalent of a manager’s salary! So these poor people with very low education took up this easy job. Not hard to convince them as well since they have so little education and who doesn’t like earning easy money?
During the protests, Abhisit got the army to standby in case of violence, as the Red Shirts are very unpredictable and prone to violence, unlike the yellow shirts. The Red Shirts see this as Abhisit being scared. In the meantime a series of grenades were going off in the city, mainly targeting government offices and Bangkok Bank (the bank involved in the freezing of Thaksin’s assets)
The Red Shirts’ leaders were going towards the idealogy of how the working class of society eg. The farmers, unemployed and whores are being taken advantage of by the rich and elite i.e. normal people with an education and working in a decent 9 – 5 job. They are saying that Abhisit is an elite because of his high education and working for the good of the elite only. Like they would ever get a PM with only high school education, so this whole point about being educated is what? You are going to blame Abhisit for studying too much? This also worked well with the lowly educated cos it seems like a worthy cause to be fighting for. But just to be clear, Abhisit did ask them what policies did he make that they thought were pro-elitist and they erm and ahh their way through the interview. Someone didn’t do their homework or perhaps because there really wasn’t anything wrong with the policies to begin with. Whatever they threw at Abhisit, he threw it back at them with a clear concised answer that they couldn’t really say more.
Red shirts want to Abhisit to resign and call for new elections. The problem with this is that 70% of Thailand is made up of these poor northern pple ( I don’t want to generalize cos I’ve met really kind-hearted and smart Isan people as well) and judging by what happened in the last election, it is most likely that a puppet political party of Thaksin would win again and thus begins the whole drama once again. Abhisit is wary of this vicious cycle and has repeatedly asked for the real reason for re-election and to ask for time for this government to phase out naturally based on the normal 4-year election period. It is like…another 9 months to the new election date anyway, can’t they wait?
Abhisit requested to meet with the Red shirts leader and the negotiations were broadcast on national TV, live. There the whole nation see what bumbling fools these Red Shirt leaders are and they are going along without a plan. Once again, when Abhisit asked about which policy they were unhappy about, they said this and this, and Abhisit was like “Do you know that this policy was implemented during Thaksin’s government and that I am only continuing it?” and they were like uh…then they talked about stupid stuff like how Abhisit lied to the nation that he was in a car that was attacked by Red shirts at the ASEAN summit incident last year. I was like “Does this really matter to future policies?” and Abhisit was like pissed too cos he was in the car and there are pictures of him in the car, but the Red Shirts kept insisting that he wasn’t in the car. Like….if he wasn’t in the car, why did they still attack the car anyway? This stupid line of reasoning took up a good 10 minutes of negotiation time, all because the Red Shirts didn’t know what to talk about. They have no clear picture of what they really want besides to get rid of this government and let Thaksin come back to Thailand again. I particularly like the part when they said that Thailand has caused Thaksin not to have a home and Abhisit was like “I want him to come home too. There are lots of people waiting for him to come home and answer to the troubles he cause, so please tell him he is always welcome in Thailand.”
Abhisit asked also what they plan to see in the new elections, and they were like “True democracy” It’s like reading off a script, and when Abhisit asked what is true democracy, they were speechless. You can so tell they are just mouthpieces for Thaksin, people with no true understanding of a country’s politics, just puppets being used for a personal gain.
During the negotiations, the Red Shirts have demanded that the army back away from the protest site, and Abhisit has ordered them to move away as well, to avoid the situation from flaring up. The Red Shirts see this as the Army being sympathetic to the Red Shirt’s cause. I’m sorry but it’s just utter bullshit lah, whenever I listen to their channel. I never thought people could use such foul language on public TV – calling Abhisit’s team members a shithole, asking him to eat shit…stupid things like that? It’s like playground taunts, how professional is that? And after a while they run out of things to curse the person with, they start criticizing his physical appearance – fat like pig, short like monkey, skinny like pole…and the Red shirts there just keep clapping after every sentence. Most absurd scene of brainwashing I’ve ever seen.
After two days of negotiations, it was an obvious failure because not only did the Reds not have any clear plan of what they want, they are stubborn as hell. They won’t back out of their demands even though they could not properly explain why they want a new election. So why waste time talking?
In a bid to shut down the protestors, they cut the transmission to PTV, where Thaksin phones in regularly to video-conference with the protestors, to stop Thaksin from fanning the fire. Army was also sent to clear the protest venues. The Reds went crazy and stormed the TV station. Army deployed to control the crowd with pressure jets and tear gas.
The next day, the protestors stormed the capital city. Armies were put in place to clear the venues once again, and there were rumours that it would be a violent confrontation as word has gotten out that the Red have got hold of ammunition like machine guns and hand grenades. The army, however, was only equipped with tear gas and rubber bullets. I mean that’s fair, the army cannot go out into a confrontation with civilians using real guns right?
Violence erupts as the Reds threw live grenades and fired real bullets into the crowd. The media caught scenes of this, the media, who was standing alongside the army filming the whole process, was attacked as well. Resulting casualty – 19 dead, 800 over injured.
A ceasefire was agreed upon at 9 pm that night as the injured were rushed to hospital. The Reds held 4 army troops as hostage. And then the Reds went into hospitals to steal the bodies of their dead comrades to parade on TV (which I think is totally barbaric and dates back to Middle Ages), so as to fan the flames, to incite more hate against the government whom they accuse of killing the people, but the media caught everything on film, all the grenades and bullets came from the Red side, not the armies, whom they saw were only using tear gas and rubber bullets. So the media refuses to film the gory sight, and as of yesterday, the media were banned from the protest grounds by the protestors cos they refused to side with the Reds.
A Japanese reporter was killed from a gun-shot wound from a real bullet. The Reds leaders are claiming that the army killed the people, but it’s just backfiring on them because no sane army leader would allow his soldier to carry a live ammo when dealing with civilians, not when the situation is as volatile as this.
As of today, the Reds just kidnapped the CEO of CATS Telecom in an attempt to get the connection back for PTV. It’s like a drug, this video conferencing with Thaksin. I guess they don’t know what to do next if they don’t talk to the guy who started it all in the first place. Great leadership really.

So basically, my conclusion from this fiasco? It’s time to use the law to clamp down on these idiots. Abhisit has been patient enough, and some has accused him of being weak because he waited too long in handling the Reds. But like I said, it’s like a father with 2 sons who are fighting with each other, who are not agreeing with each other. He cannot side with anyone but be objective. He is PM of both opposing parties, the Reds want him out, the yellows call him weak, and then there are those like us who see his actions was properly considered, with the right amount of thought put into it. You cannot rush a plan, what kind of government are you if you used force and violence to push the Reds out? You are just a tyrant, and that gives more cause for the Reds to fight.

I sympathise with Abhisit because I think he sincerely believed that he could win the Reds over with persuasive reasoning and logic, but unfortunately, those barbarians don’t understand enough politics to tell right from wrong. Like I said, like preaching to a bull, utter waste of time. You can tell all along that they have no clear goal, and no clear plan on how to achieve the goal. I mean the blood splashing and all with no considerations to health and sanitation issues? All they know is that they get money for every day they are there to protests, if they lost a limb for the cause they get paid more, as long as Thaksin can pay, they will stay. I guess now that Abhisit knows that it’s a waste of time to use reason, I will fully support him to use brute force to get these criminals out of the streets. They shoot at people, they kidnap people, they steal bodies and they killed innocent people. They deserved to be tried as criminals.

Water Baby

2010-03-31T15:15:00.002+08:00

Been a long time since a happy positive blog.

Before the huge group came, we took time off to go white-water rafting at Phang Nga province. That was fun, except that it was dry season so they actually had to collect enough water before releasing it so that the rafts would actually move. And that mean a mass exodus of rafts going down the same time. The water released still wasn't enough at some parts of the river, and at one point my boat got stuck in an awkward angle, I was sitting at the back, and then another raft came crashing over us. It hit me at the back of the neck and I was thrown to the bottom of the raft. The crew riding behind fell on top of me, and on top of him was the raft full of tourists. SO basically I was at the bottom of this sandwich. Sup and a friend said they got a shock cos I disappeared under all the pile and they weren't sure if I was still in the raft or thrown overboard already. Other than a really sore neck, the day was pretty fun, and I got sunburnt. Somehow i didn't think that I need to put on sunscreen in a jungle. Sunscreen = swimming pools and beach, sunscreen = blue, not green. Jungle = green. If you get what I mean.

on the raft, looking happy

THis is the mass exodus of rafts I was talking about, waiting for the river to be released.

We also went up to the waterfall, where we had an hour to ourselves before the tourists came.

I think it's super therapeutic to be sitting at the bottom of the fall. The water is so icy cold and refreshing in this heat.

After that when the tourists came, we were entertained by a Russian lady in a g-string determined to make a calendar shoot. She had her legs up in the air and she was crouching like a tiger and arching her back in impossible angles, all in a tiny bikini. Very sultry stuff and we were all riveted.

Then after the huge group, I needed a break desperately. We went to the latest water park that opened in Phuket. Tourist prices were THB 1,500 per person which was ridiculous, but they finally came up with a Phuket Resident rate at half price so we decided to go. This is similar to Singapore's Wild Wild Wet, but they had more thrilling rides in my opinion. More water slides.

THis is the wave pool. They didn't allow floats on the wave pool. Only life jackets and that was no help when you are being tossed about in the pool. Swallowed like a gallon of water cos I can't seem to find the rhythm of the waves with a life vest on. Would have done better without it.

THis is the Boomerang. Where you get down the slide and without time to draw a breath, immediately go down a steep slope and go up the slide. I didn't even have time to scream and my stomach was twisted tight on the way down. Once was enough.

Multi-coloured water slides....I tried them all and much much more. I'm an adrenaline junkie. Sup thinks i'm crazy.

Got super burnt again.

There is this one slide that Sup calls the Suki Pot cos you go down the slide and end up in this pot-like thing and you go round and round and round before funnelling down into another hole and end up in the pool. Quite boring. And that has to be the one Sup likes.

And it's back to work tomorrow. Crap.

Familiarity breed contempt

2010-03-26T13:17:00.000+08:00

Just thinking how difficult it is now, to work with my current boss. I guess the longer you stay with someone, the more you see their flaws and as they say, familiarity breeds contempt.

As an event planner, I believe in mutual respect with the clients. Yes, they are the customers, but we should also set boundaries on how far we can go. I make myself clear from the upfront that whatever I can do for you, I will do my best. But don’t expect the impossible from me. I think that is a reasonable boundary, and as much as I am flawed, I try to find the balance between pleasing the clients and not burning out my operations team. I’m not always successful but that is my intention and that is how I work.

Now I realize why doing groups confirmed by my boss is sooooooo difficult. She comes in the messes up my system. Whatever I hold back from the client because of costs issues or because my poor staff are overworked, she gives it to them, they asks and she says yes. The clients are not stupid, once they see that someone in the hotel can be “used” they will go to that person for good. So I lose control of the situation and I cannot control the clients anymore. In the end they don’t come to me to ask for things, they just go to my boss, and the wonderful news is, who does my boss turn to to make things happen? Me.

Seriously, if you want to do events, then come and do it fully. Don’t just close the deal, say you hand it over, and come and mess my work up because you want to “curry-favour” the clients. I know you are Sales, your job is to do that, but once the deal is closed, hand it over properly. And then you make it seem like it’s my fault the client keeps bothering you when they are on-site. If you had handed over the group to me to control, they wouldn’t need to bother you at all. And I refuse to bow down to every whims of the clients. I am in operations too, I need to consider costs and do-ability. Don’t go promise things that we don’t have and then expect me to work miracles. Whatever I can do, I will do my best, I reiterate.

So if this is how you want to work, I step aside then, let you take control. Let them call you for everything. After all, they already know that you will say yes to everything. That is not how mutual respect work. I need the clients to understand my point of view too, we are all humans. Do you know because of you, the staff has to go back after midnight everyday and come to work at 6 am? Do you know because of you, my staff has to change a meeting room 3 times in 1 day? And what do we get in return, a pissed-off look from the clients because we couldn’t turn the room fast enough. Try moving a room for 60 people within half an hour and have everything setup – mints, water, writing pen and paper. Just try.

I don’t have any issues with groups confirmed by my 2 sales people off-site. And not to say that the groups I did in its entirety leave pissed off. In fact, they are the ones asking to return and making enquiries for future events. But those for whom I got the poorest reviews are those you came in to meddle with. They get pissed that I cannot deliver the stars that you promised. Is this my fault?

And most of all, I don’t understand your sales tactics. Your version of closing a deal is to drop the rates and throw in all the freebies. The other sales people’s tactic is to sell the product – raise awareness, state the advantages of the hotel, basically sell the idea instead of dropping the rates only. That is what I thought sales is. To make the product so WOW that clients want a piece of it, not to cheapen the product so that clients think it’s not a big deal if they bought it or not.

Which is why everyone is so pissed off with this group now, cos they knew they had a better group for less work and at twice the revenue. But you wanted this to make your own production budget. You undercut the Asst Director because you are director and made the decision that your group gets priority even though it meant lower revenue and more work. So this is how it works.

And I have decided, that the next group you meddle with, you can handle it all on your own.

Wow, you amaze me.

2010-03-16T11:56:00.000+08:00

My goodness, I never thought I’ll see the day when someone says they are doing this to test my alertness.

Idiot Diva.

I know his style, he doesn’t work until I give him full information including the budget, the preference, the profile of the guests etc. Fair enough.,

Which is why my first email to the client is “what is your budget”

Client says no idea, but just for me to give some suggestions.

So I suggested a menu, very simple 3-course menu and asked Diva how much, copying the entire conversation between the guests and I.

He asked me back how much is the clients budget.

So to cut the discussion short, I gave him a budget cos since he cannot be bothered to read the rest of the email, cannot be bothered to trust me, then fine, I shall make it very easy.

Turns out he read the email correspondence below cos the next email was “How dare I lie to him? The client said they have no idea of the budget” And he went and added another 200 baht over my suggested budget.

I said thank you for your answer, but if you can read emails, why did you waste my time by asking how much? I only suggested the budget to cut the story short.

He actually said he was trying to test whether I was alert or not. And he said he knew I was being sarcastic when I said Thank You. Yay, finally some signs of human intelligence. Not that I was hiding it very hard.

I can take stupidity having worked with him for while, but please don’t pretend to be something you are not. This reason is just beyond stupid ok. If you can read the email correspondence, perhaps you can continue reading even further where you see I actually asked the same questions you asked and got the exact answers from the clients. You didn’t bother to finish reading it and said you were testing me? I really have seen it all now.

I think it’s really the beginning of the end for me. Not even 10am and I already started the war on terror. That chicken is also another one. I already said that the group request is in very initial stages, that we are still gathering information and there is nothing to report, but she insisted that she must know everything from step 1. Then maybe you should change department to Sales. And the best part abt these people is that they forget whatever they said. She might say she wants everything from step 1, but when you present to her something that is still lacking information, she would come back to bite you and said why didn’t you do your homework first before consulting her, waste her time and all. So what exactly do you want? Step 1 or step 10?

Seriously. I’m really really tired with this lack of cooperation within the same team.

2010-03-10T11:29:00.000+08:00

You know something, if you are getting dementia or just plain demented, if you are menopausal or just plain maniacal, just go see a doctor ok. Don’t take it out on me.

You ask questions which I have already answered. And you get angry asking the questions I have already answered and said you are sick and tired of repeating yourself asking the same questions again and again. And I do agree. Are you losing your memory cos of age or stupidity?

Trip to Surin Island

2010-03-04T16:04:00.001+08:00

Last Sunday went on a "free" trip to Surin Islands, off the coast of Khao Lak, Phang Nga province. It's about a 1.5 hours drive out from Phuket, and another 1.5 hours of speedboat ride out. It was free courtesy of Sup's friend. I find it funny that the guy is so "pai-seh" of me cos I got my friends to book trips with him. If he gives good prices, why not right? Anyway, he offered this free trip cos I was unhappy with the services of a previous tour operator (the bloody driver starting calling me 20 times a day) and I actually felt so bad I kicked such a big fuss. Actually I thought I was very calm about it, though must say 20 times a day is a little too much. But he felt so bad he was looking for ways to make up, so hence this trip.

Anyway, Surin island is still relatively unknown among the tourists, which is actually a good thing. THey opened Similan islands to the tourists and everything was destroyed. At first I thought the corals were damaged by the tsunami, but having seen Surin, I now know better.

The pier for the speedboat out to Surin Island was at Ban Nam Khem, in Khao Lak. As you might have heard, Khao Lak was the worst hit province in Thailand from the 2004 tsunami. The local village, Ban Nam Khem, had the highest fatality. When we were there, we passed by the new housing erected by the government - small boxy looking buildings on concrete stilts. We also passed by the facility where they are still keeping the unidentified bodies from the tsunami.

The memorial park near the pier. A lot of locals and European guests esp Germans and Scandinavians died in Khao Lak as the place was popular with them.

A symbolic structure to remember the tragedy.

Personal "shrines" dedicated to those who lost their lives.

One of the fishing boat which washed ashore and left to stand as a memorial. Further up in Khao Lak there is one of a big navy ship stuck on land as well. I thought that was very poignant, especially since this was the same navy ship on duty to look after the royal family the day of the tragedy. The Thai princess' young son died in the tsunami.

Going out to sea, this was a great expanse of water, and according to our guide, she saw whales and dolphins in the open waters before. I'm skeptical though. Is there actually still marine life in Thailand, where fishing and trawling and have taken much away and control is hard to implement? 20-minutes to Surin island, one of our engines broke down and we had to cruise on one engine. Choppy waters meant a lot of people were throwing up their breakfast, and the last few minutes stretched for eternity before we actually saw land.

I have to say the snorkelling here is HEAVENLY. Nothing beats the Samui Ang-Thong experience cos we had the whole place to ourselves and that was my first time. But this was a close second. The corals were amazing. The waters here are deeper than Ang-Thong so the marine life was more diverse. Back at Similans, it would have been so fortunate for me to see a single clown fish aka Nemo, but here we saw families of them. So many multi-coloured fishes it was just...amazing.

http://fishslates.com/Slates%20Album/images/3a%20%20Fish%20Slate%20Side%202_jpg_jpg.jpg

http://fishslates.com/Slates%20Album/images/3a%20Fish%20Slate%20Side%203_jpg_jpg.jpg

I saw 70% of the fishes listed here including pufferfish, longfin bannerfish, nemo etc. It was so exciting.

Then I also saw a huge lobster and a morray eel. I actually blurb out loud when Sup pointed out the eel to me and had to go up for air cos I was choking. And I actually encountered a shoal of barracuda. They were just long silver thin fish the size of a forearm swimming together, I thought they were just normal fishes you see in the market cos silver is a very common colour for fish, until i saw the chart and found out they were barracudas. Wow.

My only regret is that I didn't get to see a turtle. I love turtles.

The weather when we were approaching was actually dark and stormy. But thank God the weather cleared and we had a wonderful sunny day. It's just amazing at how much fun God must have had when he created the fishes, all the colours He painted on them, where they live, and how He shaped the corals and all. This world is just so diverse and gorgeous!

Me and my unsightly T-shirt. That's the thing about packing at 5.30 am in the morning to rush for the 6 am pickup. You forget to bring clothes and I had to buy a Medeys T-shirt in pink, which absorbed all the water from my bikini to make a nice pattern.

We encountered mostly Thai tourists on holiday. It was a long weekend due to the public holiday, and the place was packed with Thai people. There are bungalows and tents for rent there too.

Found an interesting rock structure. Enough said I guess.

Oh, and spotted a sloth-like animal on the tree. At first thought it was a flying squirrel cos it had long arms and cos a local guide said it was a flying squirrel, then it started moving its head oh-so-slooowly I doubt it can fly fast enough without falling... I think it's a sloth. Sup, the nature life expert, cannot confirm cos he does not know the English name for it. It's a sloth. i'm certain. Not like I'm an expert either. The closest we Singaporeans get to nature is xiao qiang and xiao ming.

Hermit crab. When we first found it, it was holed up in a tree trunk, not sure how it got there since this thing lives in the sand and needs to be near the water. So Sup, the nature life expert, took it out and placed it on the sand hoping it will find its way home. I sure hope that hole was not it's home already.

Overall it was a great trip marred only by the engine incident, but it was fixed by the time we finished lunch so that was ok. I would definitely want to go back again, preferably before word gets around and this place get swamped by tourists. FYI, the national park only opens from November to March, during non-monsoon seasons.

Shopping City Level 5

2010-02-27T14:31:00.001+08:00

Shopping City Level 5

How to beat it

http://www.flonga.com/play/shopping-city.htm

New parents and blogging

2010-02-23T17:31:00.000+08:00

You know what I cannot stand? I cannot stand new parents who blog on behalf of their kids. Who write in the kids’ point of view. I’m sorry if this offends you. I can understand how obsessed you can be about your kid, everything is a thrill especially for first time parents, and you want to record every single dirty detail down to the nastiest nappy change, and I’m sure your kids would appreciate knowing how they peed and pooed for the very first time sometime down the road.

I can understand if you blog ABOUT your kid, but to blog on behalf of your kid and what he seems to be thinking…excuse me, are you psychic? Are you possessed? Did you just possessed your son’s body and found out what he was thinking? Or is it just one big silly assumption on your part?

Perhaps one day I might get into this whole motherhood thingy and blog about the tissue paper I used to wipe my kid’s lovely soft bare ass, but for now, I just have to throw in my five cents worth.

Thank you.

Great job DHL

2010-02-06T18:36:00.000+08:00

Continuing the theme of courier services and comparions between FEdUp and DHL, I have been duly impressed by DHL once again.

Client has a delivery to send back to Australia after an event and I was sooooooo grateful she has a DHL account. I called DHL’s call-centre in Phuket to verify the client’s account number. A “live” person answered the phone, not an automated machine (like some FedUp company) that makes me press all the possible combination of numbers only to tell me their customer service staff is currently unavailable, please hold the line and I have to hold it like half an hour before someone tells me the lines are still busy, please continue to hold after which at that point you just want to shove the phone down someone’s throat.

Anyway, DHL call centre, a live person answered, took my orders, verified my number and told me that the pickup would be within the hour. WOW. FedEx told me I had to wait till they were passing by their delivery zone before they would come round. DHL told me they are coming directly to pick up the box.

20 minutes after the call, DHL arrived at the lobby. They checked and verified the airway bill and invoice and was off in 5 minutes. The FedEX delivery men, smelly as they were, asked me a million questions that they could have read from the invoice I attached with the delivery. It was 15-minutes of inhaling their toxic body odour and answering stupid questions in Thai because they cannot bother to read the English list. Yes, this is the same FedEx who asks me to translate the shipment list written in English into Thai. I cannot cannot believe a company as big as FedEx would hire English-illiterate staff. Are you telling me Thailand’s FedEX only receives shipments from countries who write their invoices in Thai? Do they only handle domestic shipments and not international? And the fact that they think it’s a good idea to ask the receiver what the sender sent.

Anyway, the shipment cleared the same day, and 2 days later safely delivered to Australia. I seriously love DHL’s service here.

Sales and Marketing Team Party

2010-02-06T11:19:00.000+08:00

Twas a fun night…we held a dinner party for our agents and afterwards went off to Timberhut.

Killing me Softly with his flaw

2010-01-28T17:20:00.000+08:00

There is this sense of hopelessness right now. It feels like things are running out of control. We just cleared one difficult group with a lot of grit and determination on operations part. A lot of late nights, hard work and thick-skin to get through the period. I cannot begin to tell you how it felt to get over this obstacle, and as we emerged stronger, we knew what to do better and what NOT to do. Those directly involved agreed that the experience was enough to teach us to never do it again, and we conveyed this message loud and clear to management. And then now when we can take a breather, the management people throws us another curveball and decided to do the exact same thing over again. These same people sold the rooms then went on holiday the first time, I have a feeling they will be doing the same this time.

It feels like suicide, this total mis-management of rooms. Then I realized it’s actually murder. Cos they are NOT the ones sitting down to clear this mess, we at middle management are. They never felt the pain of it all, so they were more than happy to make the same mistake again. So here they are, killing us all over again.

And the best part is the decision-making process. If we were starved for business I can understand this desperation to heck care our room inventory, but the most painful thing is, there is a second option which presented itself as an answer to our prayers. No overbooking situation, and twice the potential revenue. But did management take this group? No. They took the suicidal group, overbooking of 30 rooms, half the revenue, lotsa cheap bargain and request for free this free that free everything.

Now debating whether to find a new job first and quit, or just quit and see how. It’s just too painful to contemplate going through the same ordeal again.

What is wrong with these people??!!!