Tiger Airways - Double Boo!

My parents wanted to fly to Hat Yai and got me to find some cheap tickets for them. As Thai Airways no longer fly direct to Hat Yai, it seemed to me that the only available choice was to find my own tickets on the Net, and Tiger Airways seemed to fit my requirements. So there I was entering all the neccesary data, and at the end of it, I found something amiss; How come the system only asked for the details of the person making reservations and the first passenger? What about the second passenger? And before I knew it, the reservation and payment for the tickets are complete, but the iternery had me as the first passenger and my dad as the second passenger! I tried their "modify booking" link on their website, and I can make changes to all data except the passenger's name, how useful! And their hotline is equally "helpful". The lady over the phone simply asked me to email to their reservations department as they only do phone booking and nothing else. What's best is that she gave me an invalid email address! Now that's great isn't it, there's no number I could call, there's no email address which I could send to, only one pathetic looking message form on their website which only god knows where the message will be delivered to, or worse, anybody actually reading and acting on the message. So all I can do now is keeping my finger crossed, hoping that they actually read the message and act on it, but for now, Tiger Airways - Double Boo for me! Hello and goodbye to you!

"Yellow" Singapore

Yesterday night on national television it was reported that there had been a sharp rise in the number of bush fires in Singapore this year, during the months of January and February. Ironically, this period had always been rainy season for the past few years. The weather this year, however, seemed to have gone haywired, as it is unusually humid and hot. Even the grass fields near my estate had all turned dry and yellow with heat. I hope this dry spell is only temporary, or else I can't imagine how the situation can turn into months down the road when the dry season comes!

Serving Thai Customers

My company is located in the first level of a shopping mall commonly known as "Little Thailand". You can see Thais sitting anywhere and everywhere on the floor outside the mall having "picnic". you can find grocery shops sellings anything from thai newspapers to "smelly fish". You can also find eatery stalls selling food which you don't find in Thai restaurants. Although the surroundings of my work place is very Thai, we seldom have Thai customers. However today, two2 Thai ladies walked in to buy air tickets. They speak very limited English and no one at work is able to interact with them. Although I had learnt Thai for about 2 years now, I am still far from being able to hold a decent conversation. However, seeing such a situation, I forced myself to step forward to serve them. They did not buy the tickets from me in the end, as they find the tickets too expensive. That was an experience! I was so nervous and really shaking all over. I think I made many lingual blunders, and I guess the two ladies had a hard time understanding me as well!