Delivery Fee

I called silkair today to check with them how could I make purchase. They said I could fill up the purchase order and then they would have it delivered to me. Or I could take their flight again within this half an year and bought on flight. I told them it's not very likely I could make it within such a short time frame. So I asked them how much it will cost to have it delivered to my house. They said S$15/piece. I told them it's not flexible in this case, because the voucher itself was only US$30, then almost half must be used for delivery fee, it did not show much of your goodwill. I hope whether this delivery fee could be waived. After a short discussion, they agreed. I think silkair is really a world class carrier.

Complimentry Inflight Gift Voucher / 30 美金的购物券

总算受到了Silkair的答复，他们说退钱是不可能的。为了表示歉意，给了我一张30美金的购物券。
I just got the reply from Silkair. They said it's impossible to refund any money, but out of their good will, they were willing to give a 30US$ inflight gift voucher.

Elephant Tour

第三天一早，我们参加了大象团。包括骑大象，看大象表演，猴子表演等等。还平生第一次尝试划独木舟。也骑了水牛，坐了牛车，听了种稻子讲解，还有现场示范做泰式青木瓜沙拉，嗯，味道还不错。他们拍了很多照片，都放在粗糙的自制像框内，卖的时候不单卖，必须连像框一起卖，价格超贵，本来有两张我很喜欢，但一听价格，也只好忍痛割爱了。
吃过饭我们就打听怎样去机场。酒店提供的车需付700株，可书上说只需400株，我们考虑这里四六不靠，很难叫车，所以才贵，就打算去海滩，那里车多，应该好叫吧。可去海滩的车需200株，而按实际距离应该20株就够了。没办法，只好等酒店的车，他们收每位80株，也不便宜。到了海滩，发现这里同样是乱收费，没有一个肯打表，好容易找到一辆嘟嘟车，同意收450株，但香说再走走看，如没有便宜的就回来。没想到真的就没有，回来找他，他却说要700了，你说气人不欺人。活该他们没生意。最后我们找到了计程车公司，他们同意500株，并交了钱，坐上车后，总算松了一口气。可司机突然说要加收100株，我气得掏出收据同他理论，最后他总算同意放过我们了。
终于到机场了。回家的感觉真好。

The third day morning, we went for an elephant tour. We enjoyed: an elephant and buffalo ride and we even tried a ride in an oxen cart. We watched an elephant and a monkey performance. We tried canoeing as well for my first time. We enjoyed it very much. They demonstrated rice planting and harvesting as well as how to make Thai green papaya salad. It tasted very good. They took lots of photos, but they sold them together with a frame which made them extremely expensive. There were 2 or 3 photos I really liked, but I have to give them up due to the high and unreasonable price.

After lunch, we had been trying our luck with getting to the airport. Based on the guidebook, the cost should have been 400 bhat. But hotel charged us 700. We were thinking because of the isolation of this area, why everything was so difficult. So we decided to go to the beach. There were many taxis there, so should have been cheaper. But the taxi’s that went to the beach cost 200 Bhat, which by right should be a tenth as much. We had no choice but to wait for the hotel shuttle which cost 80 Bhat per person. When we reached the beach, we found it was the same situation there. Nobody was willing charge by meter. The average price they asked was 600 Bhat. I found one tutu driver who was willing to accept 450 Bhat. But 香 suggested we walk further. If we couldn't find anybody cheaper, then came back to him. In the end, we really did not have the luck and came back to him. Guess how much he wanted? He wanted 700 Bhat! Thai are most greedy people in the world. Then we decided to go to the taxi company which agreed to charge us 500 Bhat. We made payment and got in the car. Just when I was about to feel relieved, the driver asked for 100 Bhat additional. I was so angry and took out the receipt and argued with him. Finally he agreed to let us go.

We felt so good when we reached the airport and returned back home. Home sweet home!

Phi Phi Island

第二天，我们去了Phi Phi Island. 感觉船搭了好久，这是我平生第一次晕船，几乎要吐了。风景超美，只可惜我无福欣赏。所有的能量都花在克服运船上了。岛上有好多可爱的小猴子，我们下岛后就忙着喂它们。但他们不懂得配合，要抓拍一张这样的照片真是太难了。这之后我尝试了潜水，当然是穿了救生衣的，因为我连游泳都不会，更不用说潜水了。水里还真美，珊瑚啦，鱼儿啦，都是七彩缤纷的，可爱极了。很想伸手去触摸他们，但他们的动作实在是太快了，很难做到。不过这却消耗了我很多能量，以至于我中餐吃了好多好多。中餐是自助式的，种类很多，但都很难吃。吃完饭很想像电影上演的那样，在沙滩的躺椅上休息，可这里的躺椅都是要钱的，而且还很贵，还是算了吧。

The following day, we went to Phi Phi island. It was loooong boat ride and it was also my first time to get seasick. I felt almost vomited. However, the view was splendid. But I couldn't enjoy it. I spent all my energy to overcome my sickness. There were many monkeys on the island and it was fun to feed them. But they were not very cooperative for posing for pictures After that I tried snorkeling. Of course, I had a life jacket on. I did not even know how to swim, let alone diving. The sea was truly beautiful. I saw lots of colorful corals and different kind of fishes. It was extremely lovely. Many times I tried to touch them, but they were too swift. It was not an easy task. It consumed lots of my energy; so until lunch time, I was soooo hungry and ate a lot. Lunch was a buffet with many varieties. But it all tasted bad. After lunch, I wanted to lie down in a coach on the beach just like showed in movies or TV dramas. But it needed to pay for it and it was quite expensive. Forget it.

Our flight had been delayed/飞机误点了

终于要出行了。不可思议的我还是拿到了去普吉岛的机票。6号起了个大早，之后便赶向机场。办理了托运手续后，我和香一起去吃早餐。当我们要登机时竟听到了另一个令人吃惊的消息，我们的飞机误点了，而且误点将近四小时之久。他们说他们已经广播了，通知大家有免费早餐。机场那么乱，我们根本没听到，再说我们都吃过了，我们要求能够返回我们一些现金，但遭到了拒绝。我们感到很不满，要知道这可不是廉价航空，是很贵的，怎么也出现这种问题? 而且还解决得那么不好？本来我们订了下午两点的大象团，现在也去不成了，给我们造成了很大损失。但工作人员坚持没办法解决，让我们写信去航空公司。于是我们当场写了信给航空公司。（后来有香收到了回信，我却没有，难道因为是种族的问题不成?) 总算平安到达了，竟花了整整1个小时办入境手续。有什么办法，谁让我们选择了落后国家？
出了机场，我们按照guide book上所说的，去找mini bus。因为比较便宜，每人只要150铢，而计程车要400铢。看到有一个计程车服务台，就去问那些工作人员，他们回答这机场没有什么mini bus 站，只有计程车。我们给他们看我们的书，他们这才指着旁边一处说，就在那里。那车把我们载到旅馆下面的山底，说你们自己上去吧，我只拉到这里。我们两人费了九牛二虎之力，终于到了山顶。妈呀！这山好高哦，路又不好走，从服务台到我们的房间，我看至少要有十层楼高，而且没电梯，全凭双腿，给我锻炼身体提供了良好的机会。看来定旅馆时还真要小心才行哪。因为我们看到有游泳池，房间也蛮漂亮，于是就订了，可不便宜呢，每晚93新币。到那儿一看，游泳池倒是有，只是还没俺家的大嘞。算了吧。优点嘛，倒也不是没有，比如说绝对不许怕海啸，就是全城都淹了，俺们这里也是绝对安全的馁。
说是离海边很近，其实呢，乘车也要最少15分钟。他们只提供有限的几趟小巴载送至Patong Beach. 其他的均要收费，而且还不便宜。我们那晚到海滩的时候，天正下小雨，见没什么好玩的，我们就去按摩。这里按摩不贵，感觉还挺享受的。

Finally we were going to our holiday. After so many difficulties, I received my ticket to Phuket. I got up very early in the morning on 6/12/08, then rushed to the airport. After I had checked in, 香 and me went for our breakfast. However, when we went for boarding, we heard some more shocking news. Our flight had been delayed for almost 4 hours. They said they had announced that a complementary breakfast would be provided. Unfortunately, it was extremely noisy at the airport. We did not even hear the announcement that the flight had been delayed and we paid for our own breakfast. We wished at least we could receive a partial refund but, our request was refused. We were not happy about this. You know it's not a budget airline, it's quite expensive. We wondered why these events added to our unhappiness. The unprofessional behaviors of these people was not at all acceptable. Besides, we had already booked the elephant tour in the afternoon. Now we could not make it. It was a severe loss to us. But the staff there insisted they could not do anything. The only way was to write to the airline and so we did. Finally we reached our destination safely. But it took us exactly 1 hour to check out at the Phuket airport. What to do? We had chosen to visit this country.

After walking out of the airport, we followed the instructions of the guidebook and looked for the mini bus stop. It's much cheaper than a taxi. The mini bus only costs 150 Bhat/person while taxi cost 400 Bhat. We saw a taxi service counter. So we asked them where the mini bus stop was. They said there was no mini bus service at the airport, only taxi service. We showed them the guidebook. Then the lady answer it was near us. The mini bus brought us to the foot of the mountain. The driver said he would only stop there, asked us to go to the top ourselves. It's really a good climbing. My God, this mountain was quite a big one and the road was meandering. I think it at least 10-storey high from the reception to our room and there was no elevators. Alright, it provided me a good opportunity for exercise. It seems that we must be careful when we book the hotel. We saw the picture on the internet, there was a swimming pool and the room looked very decent. So we booked it. It's not cheap, cost S$93/night. It really has one swimming pool, but it's just slightly bigger that a fishpond. Never mind. The good thing was we definitely did not need to worry about a tsunami. Even if the whole city was swallowed by water, we would still survive.

The hotel homepage stated that their hotel is very near to the sea. However, the actual distance is quite far. It at least took 15 min, even by bus, to reach the sea. The Hotel only provided very limited mini bus transport to Patong Beach. The for the rest of your transportation needs you must pay and it's not cheap. It was drizzling when we reached the beach. At the beach, we didn’t see much interesting. We then went for Thai massage. The massage here was not very expensive and we enjoyed it.

Finally I got my ticket

Dear Sir/Madam,
Attached in this email is the Electronic Ticket Receipt for your booking.Please verify that your booking is correct. Should you have any enquiries, please visit our website athttp://www.silkair.com to obtain the contact number of the CustomerService Office nearest to you. To ensure that your flight departs on time, please check-in early:With Baggage: 2.5 hours before departureNo Baggage: 1.5 hours before departure Check-in online is available from 48 hours to 2 hours before departure.To access the online check-in feature, please click on this URL:http://www.silkair.com/mbe/en_UK/CheckIn/checkin.jsp Print your boarding pass now in the comfort of your own home or office.To Learn more, please click on this URL:http://www.silkair.com/mbe/en_UK/content/help/InternetCheckIn/helpBoardingPass.jsp Thank you for choosing SilkAir.
Yours sincerely,
SilkAir
This is an automatically generated message. Please do not reply to this address.If you do not have acrobat reader installed, please download fromhttp://www.adobe.co.uk/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

My friend asked me to pay first by my card

Hi, Mr Li,
My friend just called me. She asked me to pay by my card first. So did you just charge S$547 to my card. Mine is a Diners club card, the same as last time. xxxx xxxxxx xxxxThank you so much
Regards
Jenny

Here are the replies

Dear Jenny
The airfare is SGD268 and Taxes 21SG (Singapore Airport Tax) / 30TS (PhuketAirport Tax) / 124 (Fuel and Insurance surcharge).For your was fare diff SGD60 and YQ Tax diff SGD14 and Phuket Airport TaxSGD30 = SGD104.00 For the return flight from Phuket was the last flight depart 8.10pm andarrrive SIN 10.55pm. It is ok to have 2 diff credit card payment, so long 2 of you all need topresent the card for verification apon check-in.
Thank you
Regards
LiMeng

Relieved..but with some questions(same day)

Hi, Mr Li,
I confirmed that we will go. She just replied to me. Kindly let me know the schedule and advise us about the payment. I can give you her phone number. She can understand a little bit of English. I still need to know the individual itemized costs that sum to the $443 total.
Thank you very much
Jenny

Hi, Mr Li,
Thank you so much for your effort. I've already informed my friend and I am now waiting for her reply. Now I have some questions because I need to answer my friend.
1.The fare is $250 so is $193 the tax?
2. What's the departure time to fly to Phuket? I hope it'll be in the morning. What is the departure time to return to Singapore? I hope it'll be late at night. So we’ll have more time to stay there.
3. Is that possible We can pay for our individual costs using separate credit cards? Sorry for the trouble.
Many thanks
Jenny

Ah, finally confirmed..

Dear Jenny
Sorry for the late reply. We had confirm the flight for you to phuket on 6-8Dec08. Following will bethe fare diff for u and total fare for your friend. Original Fare difference (6292100436848) = New fare $443.00 - Current fare> $339.00 = $104.00>> For a booking, the total amount is $104.00 + $443.00(new passenger) =$547.00 Booking refer as following and apprec u cud kindly reconfirm your friend'sname. You may adv me your credit card no withexpiry date for ticketing issuing if you agree with the fare diff plus thenew fare.
Many Thanks
Regards
LiMeng

No reply, worried...

Hi, Mr Li,
I guess it looks like a little bit problematic for you. So we decided to look into to some additional places, such as Kota Kinebaru & Siem Reap. I finished my work at 5:30pm on Friday night. So if it is a late departure on Friday, we can also fly on 5/12. I Hope that will ease the problem. Sorry for the trouble.
Thank you so much.
Jenny

Lombok is expensive...

Hi, Mr Li,
I think Lombok is a bit expensive and unfortunately the two of us not very keen on going there. If it is cheap, we don’t mind. Today, I saw your advertisement. Langkawi is only $300 & Phuket is $250. We have no problem to go to these two places. Can you please help us to book these two? Or can you put us on a waiting list? Sorry for the trouble.
Regards
Jenny

OOps... Some miscommunications

Dear Jenny
Thanks for your reply. I had follow and confirm for you original station on your ticket, that wasLombok (Mataram). Flight to Langkawi on 6-8Dec08 will had problemto confirm due flight is very very full. Apprec you could kindly reconsider and reconfirm. I await your advice onthe next course of action. Original Fare difference (6292100436848) = New fare $435.00 - Current fare$339.00 = $96.00 For a booking, the total amount is $96 + $435(new passenger) = $531.00 *** ELECTRONIC TICKET ***
1.1WANG XXXXX/WANG XXXXXMS
2.1香/MSQQFSQLM 7JUL NGYXRL1 MI 128 Q SA 6DEC SINAMI HK2 1545 1830 Y QQFSQ2 MI 127 Q MO 8DEC AMISIN HK2 1925 2200 Y QQFSQFONE-QQFSQ -B 822352682.QQFSQ -E LAVENDERZIYI//HOTMAIL.COM
Thank You
Regards
LiMeng

My friend's info

Hi, Mr Li,
Here is my friend's info.
Name: 香
passport No.: TGxxxxxxx
Date of birth: 01 NOV 1980
Registered Domicile: SAITAMA
Date of issue : 21 FEB 2003
Date of expiration : 21 FEB 2013
Kindly help us to reserve the tickets to fly to Langkawi from 6/12/08 to 08/12/08. Thank you so much.
Regards
Jenny

My reply

Hi, Mr Li,
Ok, I'll provide the detailed information early next week after I meet her. Thank you so much for your help.
Jenny

This is their answer...

Dear Jenny
Thank you for your reply. Will DAPO ourend and will get back to you by next week. Apprec u cudkindly adv your partner's full name according topassport / passport no. / date of birth / gender.
Many Thanks
LiMeng

My response to that..

Hi, Mr Li,
Thank you so much for your reply. As part of the teaching staff, I have class on Tuesday. As a result, I must come back on 8/12. I would not mind if you placed me on your waiting list or changed to some other destination. Since December is still far ahead, I believe we shall be able to solve this problem.
Regards
Jenny

Unfortunately.....

Dear Jenny
Sorry for the late reply. There is no problem on 6Dec , but refurn date on 8/11 Dec flight fullybook. Apprec u cud kdly adv other alternative date.
Thanks
LiMeng

Decided to fly to Langkawi with 香

A long time has passed since then. I thought there was already no hope. Right at this moment, I received an email from 香，who is also a travel lover who comes from Tokyo, Japan to study her English here. We decided to go to Langkawi. So, I wrote another email to Silkair to confirm that my friend and I would like to fly on 06/12/08 - 08/12/08. Here it is.
Hi,
I've found someone who is willing to travel with me from 6/12 - 8/12. As I’m free only on these 3 days, I would be in your debt if you could kindly advise me whether there's a promotional flight for this period. Besides, since am I bringing someone else to your airline, I hope in this case, extra fees can be reduced. Your consideration will be highly appreciated.
Regards
Jenny

Reply from them

Dear Miss Jenny
Sorry we do not fly to Bali. It fly by Singapore Airline.
Thank you/Regards
LiMeng