Letter of Complaint to Tour Agent...

I have decided to post up our email to the irresponsible tour agent called Sedunia Travel in which cost us alot of inconvenience during our trip to Dubai. If you guys have read my Dubai experience on earlier post, you will know what I mean.

From the first day of arrival in which we got the shocked of our life of being sent to a hotel that looks like our 2 star "Bukit Bintang" prostitute hotel to the local tour operator who never did contact/update us on our half day tour & cruise!

We spent hours and days to contact the local tour agent (which was arranged by Sedunia) to let them know our changed of venue from the prostitute hotel to Laura's uncle condominium ....and yet his line could not get through. Needless to say more...this was our letter when we touched down to Malaysia!!

OUR EMAIL TO SEDUNIA TRAVEL:

Emmy, we are very disappointed with the arrangement in accommodation and city tour.

Please see the below comments and i want an explanation from your management.

• The hotel you booked was located in the red light street and it's very inappropriate for 2 ladies to put up in this Fortune Hotel in Al Rigga Road.

• The hotel service was very rude and unpleasant, they want to keep our passports til the following dayand we see no good reasons for the keepsake. I've traveled other countries before and i've never encountered hotel staff to keep passport.

We need passports to move around. What if we were caught up and we have no documents (like passport) to present? We have to insist our passports by slight argument and made us wait at the lobby area for 20-25 minutes. We had some much qualms about taking our passport and we have strange treatment from the people at the lobby.

• There were no drinking water provided in the hotel room, we ended up paying DHR10.00 for a bottle of drinking water.

• We have to check-out at 9pm-9.30pm ( Dubai time) & it's 1am Malaysian time to look for somewhere else to stay.

• City tour was not arranged well and there were no one called us about our tour in advance. We have to call you from Dubai to make sure. No effort from your agent and your goodself. Your representative agent only called on the 26/02/08 and gave us only 1 hour to prepare ourselves.

They are supposed to take us to spice market but ended up did not go due to the driver was in a rush to fetch some tourist to desert safari. The driver was not designatedfor taking us for city tour. We practically stop in few places and photo stop in the car, except for Jumeirah beach & museum. The driver was really in a rush to pick other tourist to go their meet point for desert safari.

Tasha and me are very unhappy with entire tour including the accommodation and other arrangements. We are expecting an explanation and compensation for our traveling expenses.

We hope understand that we have to face so many difficulties during our trip in Dubai.

cheers

Laura & Tasha

A REPLY EMAIL FROM SEDUNIA TRAVEL:
Dear Laura/Tasha,

The hotel is a 3 star tourist class hotel and is not located in a Red light district area. It is the general practice of some hotels to request for the safe keeping of passports whilst others just require an imprint of the credit card. We had lodged a complaint to the hotel via our operator regarding the purported rudeness of the staff.

For your information reconfirmation of the city tour & other transfers were not necessary as we have already made all the necessary arrangements with our tour operators for pick up in the arranged hotel. But as in your case you changed your hotel and only on the 26th Feb we know about it and we had a challenging task to inform our operator on time to change the pickup point.

Nevertheless as soon as they were open the next day we immediately informed our operator the change of hotel and the new pick up point at Escape Tower.As you are aware there is a time difference of 4 hours between Kuala Lumpur & Dubai.

The emergency contact number was not reachable as the designated driver had meet an accident & had been hospitalized therefore our operator had to arrange another driver with another number which we apologise was not communicated you as the change was done at the very last minute.

With regards of the flight date change Emmy had checked and confirmed there were be no penalty if you extended the date of your return flight to the 29th Feb. In addition she advised it was better for you to call Gulf Air office in Dubai to make the changes as at that time you were not able to make a decision on the extended date.

We did not make any changes at all.

I am grateful for your business and hope you will accept my apology for this incident.

It is unfortunate, but occasionally delay of responding and communication happen despite how careful or well trained the personnel are.

(PLease note the letter written in which he did not apologize and still insisted his staff was careful and well-trained....I could laugh!!)

We will take the necessary steps to ensure that such incident do not happen.

Thanks for bringing the situation to my attention and for being so patient.

Best regards.

...

My Dubai Trip-Day 4

Phew, another hectic week for me...and thank god it's Friday! Just finished my dinner and decided to continue posting my last day of my Dubai trip here. Some of you may wonder how their building looks like, and all I could say is " Magnificento" and totally unique. Each one of the building has it's own touch and flavor! It's classy and very detail. Picture this, our Malaysia proudest architecture building is KLCC right, so imagine dozen of it found in Dubai. And their shopping mall is so beautiful and ours is really nothing compare to theirs! I'd took pictures of the Jumeirah shopping mall...Tell me what you think.


















































































































There are more open over there...They even have an open beach where there's alot of "Kwai Lo" sun tan with their bikinis!





Finally after our half day tour which was part of the tour package on Day 4...we were hungry and requested to be driven to a typical local food. And you be surprise that you will find more Pakistani and Indian restaurants than their local Middle East restaurant! How cliche can you get? I was then told by their locals that the majority of their population is made out of 20-80, meaning 20%="Dubaian" and 80%=foreigners (Mostly Indian and Pakistan). This foreigners job are mostly taxi driver or tour guide! You also be surprise that pork is actually allowed there. I was told that the locals don't mind going into restaurants that sell pork but they of course won't eat those dishes with pork in it. Hmmmm...It makes you think ain't it cos comparatively with our country, Malaysia...we are more close-minded than them! Anyway, both of us went into a Pakistani restaurant and called for dishes like "Capati", Naan Bread served with chicken.







No kidding...look at picture below of what I meant soft! It was more yummy than our local "Capati"

My Dubai Trip-Day 3

Thanks to Laura's uncle who helped us arranged a ride of our life that I will always remember! The ride that I'm referring to was their infamous "Safari Desert" ride which cost us roughly RM 140/per person. The name was indeed deceiving....I was picturing, "Land Rover-camels-rattle snakes-lizard-sands-and more sands". Well, I did see some camels along the way and it was really cool. You could actually hear the sound of their feet...like "tak, tak, tak". Hmmm...how should I put it. The sound was similar to "Equestrian" horse tapping elegantly! Get my drift? Okay, good.. Anyway, the experience was way beyond my expectation!!


1pM: We were picked up at our condo by this Paskistan tour-guide that i referred to as "Ali" (Can't really recall his name..). He was really friendly and told us he had to detour to another hotel to pick up a family of 4. When he called the husband, apparently they were in a cab caught in a heavy jam. Ali was kind enough to talked to the cabby to drive him to a meeting point where he'll pick them up. So, since our Desert Safari won't start until 3pm....Ali was so nice to us and drove us to see the King's palace. Never in my life have I've seen so many peacocks surrounding the outside garden entrance to the palace. It was so magnificent and magical......

2.30PM: After picking them up, we went straight for our ride in a modified Land Rover. Before we even start, he had to deflate the tyre so he can maneuver it easily. He then asked us to strap on our seat belt and hold on to the seat handle. When, the vehicle started to move, it was like a wild roller coaster ride! One minute we were sliding to the right then left....and another minute going on top then down the hill! Ali was so expert driving the Land Rover with one hand on the steering wheel and another inchanging the gear! Do you know that, this kind of tour guide need another license called, "Desert License"? I guess with his kind of skill, he will have no problem driving in K.L. Hahahah....

5pm: The wild ride was finally over..."Thank god!" Cos a minute longer, I would have thrown out my breakfast and lunch!!!....Don't get me wrong,I love the ride but my stomach can't take it! Anyway, it was a surprise that this package also includes dinner....(Sorry guys, no pictures can be shown here...so just use your imagination!). We were then driven to their camp site where you'll get a camel ride (Only 2 rounds!), free "Henna" drawing, "Eat-all-You-Can" buffet, free flow of "shisha", and coffee. They were even serving beers and alcohol (It used to be free -flow but the Ali told us that they had to stop it cos it got out of control! Apparently, the "Mat Salleh"( Better known as English people) got themselves so drunk and disturb others who were not....). The food was the typical Arabic food like hummus, pita bread, chicken, lamb, raisin rice and etc..The best part was they even included the "Belly dancing" show while you enjoy your food. So, it was a typical Arabic style....how chic!

My Dubai Trip-Day 1

Finally, I managed to select a few pictures taken in Dubai to be featured here (trust me it was NOT easy!!). Yup, I was lucky enough to make a trip to Dubai on the 23rd February, Saturday....Well it was a business and also partly leisure as well. There were organizing a food Exhibition, called "Gulf Food" where all the food manufacturers and hoteliers will be exhibiting there.
We wanted to check out how we will fare if we were to participate at their event on 2010 as packaging designer. We wanted to explore a wider market with our service. Plus, I always wanted to see this 7 star hotel, "Burj Al Arab" after watching on some documentary channel, the way they construct the hotel from scratch. Oh and not forgetting the man-made island that shaped like a palm tree located at Jumeirah. It was truly magnificent! Well, I'll just summarize what I did and you guys will get a clearer picture. Read on....


11.30am: Boarded the plane at KLIA. It was the first time I took the Gulf Air. Hey, it was the cheapest package. I really wanted to try the Emirates but the price was a "killer". I got the package with returns+hotel+half day trip+night cruise at RM3600 in comparison with Emirates that charges RM 4800. So, you do the math! I was nervous of course, thinking it'll be full of middle east people with cloak over their head and we'll be the only Chinese. Luckily, there were some "Kwai Lo"(means Englishmen in Chinese in a polite way. Impolite or rather direct translation would be "ghost man"). The good news was their service was good cos they kept serving us snacks before and after our main meal. We were even given a decent menu, laminated card to choose what type of food we want. You can choose either their local style of "Briyani" with chicken or Pasta with chicken. I chose the latter one.






7 hours later: We reached Bahrain as our pit stop. On the screen where they show you where you are now, and we just passed by Dubai to stop at Bahrain! So, now we had to wait for another 2 hours at the Bahrain airport just to transit back to Dubai. What choice do we have cos Gulf Air is own by Bahrain and no matter what, you have to transit there.

2 hours later: We finally touched down at Dubai but there were 4 hours time difference between Malaysia and Dubai. It was only 5pm in Dubai but 9Pm in Malaysia! My stomach was growling like nobody business and I can't wait to get to our hotel in which the tour agent told us was a 4 star. Along the way I was imagining a hot long shower then jumping into a nice comfy bed. To our shocked, we were driven to some street that looks like our "Chow Kit" or "Bukit Bintang" back area where they are filled with 2 stars hotels for prostitution activities! When we got out, I asked Laura, "Are you sure this is our hotel". I was standing at the front door in disbelief....

At the hotel: When we stepped in, the concierge was rude and threw us some weird look. I looked around and saw 2 Asian girls sitting at the sofa and 1 "Kwai Lo" sitting by himself. To my left was a tiny shabby-looking cafeteria. To my right was some run-down pub with some kind of cheap music/band playing at the background. After handing over our passports, he gave us the key and asked the bell boy to carry our luggages up. I was standing there tapping my shoes waiting to collect back our passports and guess what happen next? He told us to go up to our room and he'll send it back tomorrow morning. I said, "What??, No, we want our passport back!" Luckily, Laura's uncle is currently working in Dubai at some construction company called "Zealan" . We called to check. And he told us that there is no such practice in Dubai. So, we sat stand at the counter, refused to budge and he had no choice but to give in. When i asked for our complimentary breakfast voucher, he told us he will send it to our room tomorrow. Pointing towards the "cheapo" cafeteria, i asked, "Is that where we are going to have our breakfast??" He just answer like he doesn't bother, " Yeah".

In the room: Upon unlocking the room, it was a tiny room with 2 single beds, a T.V that doesn't work and shower head that fell apart. The best part was that there were NO WATER at all. I thought every hotel should have at least 2 complimentary bottle of water! Ok, so i thought to myself that maybe water is expensive in Dubai cos we are in a dessert after all. Well, at least give us a pot or something to boil our water right? Well, there was none to be found. And the refrigerator is the best joke of the day cos there was NO snacks in it!! So i just looked at Laura and said, "Confirm.This is a hotel is for prostitute and 1 night stand people, so who needs water right?". Laura looked at me in distressed and felt like breaking down any moment. And,right at that moment, the phone rang and it was her uncle. He was so worried about us and offered to pick us up and stay in his company's condominium.

11pm(Dubai time) @ Laura's uncle Condominium: It was definitely a luxury for us. What a big difference! I felt like heaven here compare to the stupid hotel (Btw, the hotel name is "Fortune Hotel" located at Rigga Road) that looks like hell. The whole place was so spacious with huge kitchen and dining area. There were 3 rooms with 1 maid's room.

My Dubai Trip-Day 2

4am (Dubai time): I woke up with my stomach growling cos it was already 8am in Malaysia. This is my usual time for breakfast. The day was still dark but I was already searching for food to feed my hunger. Weather was cold. Temperature dropped to 10 degrees at night. I was shivering and longing for our Malaysian hot weather! I gobbled down some bread and headed back to sleep.

8am: Woke up again and got myself ready to head down to "Gulf Food Exhibition". I really thank god that we were staying here cos the Exhibition Centre is just 15 minutes away across from our condo.




Exhibition Centre: One word, "WOW". It was really impressive. Much better than our KlCC Convention Centre. Looking around, we were surrounded by "really" beautiful women with attractive features, with modern clothing! Before coming to Dubai, I was skeptical on the dressing and whether we should be covering our head with scarfs. Let me tell you that Dubai women have better fashion sense than some of us. Even women with scarfs have their own style of wearing it and making them look hip/modern. We just have to accept the fact that no one will even throw us a glance! And men over there....Let's not even go there! Most of them have either the looks or body/height. Our Malaysians are in no league with them. The most ordinary guy who works as a ticket collector looked like "Pierce Brosnan". So what else can i say? So then, before into the hall, we headed down to their Coffee Bean......










Inside Exhibition Hall: The booth design was amazing. It was very well organized with 1 side processed food, 1 side sweets and dessert and etc etc..... As i strolled along, they were giving out free samples to try. I was just picking and eating...& eating.....& more eating.....I guess it covered my lunch! I tried their local version of "hotdogs". I even lined up for some free scoops of "Gelato" cos back in Malaysia, one scoop will cost you RM 6.00! Hey wouldn't you be rushing in too?? Oh, and the surprising thing was there was a huge chunk of pork being exhibited there. When I went near to check, the guy came out and nodded and said, "It's allowed"!! And what do you know, when I asked Laura's uncle, he told us that the restaurant over there is allow to serve pork. And the locals will even walk into the restaurant that sells pork but order non-pork dishes of course. Hmmmm...makes you think doesn't it....








5PM: We were both exhausted and drained out with all the walking and surveying...It's time to head back to our condo and relax. We went out trying to catch a cab and there was no cab to be found! How strange....We continued walking like a couple of lost souls wondering around for almost 40 minutes. We were directed up, down, left and right and finally spotted a sign that says, " Shuttle Bus to Carpark & Taxi Stands". We went up to a crammed bus and were ferried to a dusty open-air construction area.

Construction Site: As we got down from the bus, we were shocked to see the massive lines. I could easily say there were about 300 hundred over people waiting for merely 30-40 cabs! We waited in line for 3 hours for our cab!




P.s. Please watch out for my next entry which is the Day 3.....More photos and excitement on the way!!!

The Post-Election Syndrome.....

As our nation cast their vote and their right as a Malaysian citizen on Saturday, 8 March 2008 which marked down as one of the most historical event after 50 years. I myself, who after 28 years of living and breathing the air of Malaysia also did my rightful duty to vote for the first time. It was a nerve wrecking event as I did not know what to expect. Questions like, "Will I cross it wrongly?", " Will I get stuck in massive jam?", "Will I get influence to swing my votes?" This were the thoughts that kept running through my head as I headed down to my assigned location @ 10.15am, which was my primary school, "Sekolah Kebangsaan Kepong Baru". Yup, I'm a Kepong girl, and I'm proud of it....although many snickered and laughed when I mentioned where I'm from. For some who are not familiar with Malaysia, Kepong has always been associated with "gangsterism" and "money-laundering" activities. In fact the case of a couple who got shot was just kilometres away from where I'm staying! One could say Kepong is something similar to America's black area like the "Bronx". But of course the difference is that people in Kepong are filthy rich but they are look down upon...... probably because the way they dressed? However, there are huge changes in the past years and not as dangerous as one would think so. Roads are wider and cleaner, crime has lessen and big shopping mart like "Carrefour" and "Jusco" had been built around there. Prices on the house has quadruple!Plus, you could find some very delicious & famous delicacy around, like our "Bak Kut Teh"( A popular Chinese soup dish with meat)!Anyhow, I could go on debating about this till dawn, which totally defeat my entry for today.

As I was saying, upon stepping back to my old school, it somehow transported me back to my childhood memories. Memories like, "Hey i used to pee here", "That's my canteen", "That's where we used to squat near the drain, learning how to brushed out teeth"! Then, my cell phone suddenly rang and my sis was on the other line, " Hey, don't forget to cross the party that you wanted to elect and not the other way around!"(with the typical Chinese cum "si-lai"/aunty accent). That's her advised...Hmmm... Anyway, as I got my number and designated room to cast my vote, I was lucky that my line was short compare to all the other rooms. "Woo hoo"....But one thing I noticed while standing there was how "cheap" the voting booth looks! I always picture it that as a solid plastic material with some red-maroon curtains covering it...Probably i watched too many Americans movie! But the one thing I didn't like was the use of 2B pencil to vote? What the F**k? Are we still in some primary school that still uses pencil to make such important decision in your life? My first thought was that, anybody can just erase it and cross out the party that was suppose to win! Why can't the SPR (The official Malaysian electoral commision that governs the election process), provide us with some pen?

Sunday 9th March 2008: I got up sleepily at 10.15am yet excited to the breath of fresh air.....waking up to a new change of government! Yes, like many other Malaysians I stayed up till 4AM waiting for the result to be announced, which never in my life did unless if I'm out partying....The result was in and that the opposition (DAP-PKR-PAS) has took 5 states (Selangor, Penang, Perak, Kedah and Kelantan) and and 2 which is the major states . Me, who is part of Selangor state will definitely embrace the change and hope for the better. I definitely would like to see more changes in terms of business opportunity in which the past has hindered my company (yes, I own a company called "Antswork Communications Sdn Bhd) due to corruption. So I do hope the new state government would do something to bring in more investor and fight corruption as well as better usage of our tax money (Instead of "stupidly" spending a whopping 90 millions on projects like sending A person up the space and called him an "Angkasawan" =Astronaut)

I was celebrating the new change @ Cafe 888, located at Kota Damansara, PJ with my bf and friends while receiving non-stop sms and calls of joy! It was also a double joy for me as i got to know that 3 bloggers who contested for the seat also won. Hats down to one of the famous blogger was Jeff Ooi who managed to raise the money from his blog asking people to contribute for his campaign up to RM120k! I have never been following his blog but is now a big fan of his! He is an inspiration to all bloggers and also to Malaysian who fight for their right....I think his biggest appeal was that he knows what we wanted and needed. He was just an ordinary person with some journalism background that speaks the truth. He even played guitar and sang songs during one of the campaign! How cool was that. I just hope he will now live up to the Malaysian's expectation who voted for him and do the right thing...

So, for now everyone is still in shocked with the opposition's "tsunami" win and is slowly getting back to work! Well on my side, life still goes on but the only difference is I will be reading more on the front page news and learning who is the new state MP!