Maggie buys airline tickets online

We have been spoilt in the US with websites that work, electronic ticketing, online bill payments and online shopping in general. Getting things done here is definitely harder and more frustrating than in the US. For example, the AC is leaking in my studio and I complained 3 days ago to the maintenance guy who promised he would "come fix it soon".

Also, I recently bought some air tickets online on a Singapore website called "Zuji.com - your online travel guru" for us to go to Vietnam next year. When they asked for my billing address on the website, naturally I had to give our Round Rock (Austin) address for the credit card that I was using. When I checked out they said the tickets will be mailed to the billing address, but they changed the country from US to Singapore: Foppiano Loop, Round Rock, Singapore! This is AFTER I have paid and checked out, assuming we would be issued electronic tickets. Nowhere did it say they were actually going to mail tickets through snail mail!

So I had to call them and ask them to send it to the correct address here in Singapore. There was a lot of confusion. Conversation went something like this:

[Robot says: "Hi Welcome to Zuji, your online travel guru. Your call is imporant to us. Please hold and your call will be ansered by the next customer service representative" - goes on for 18 minutes]
Zuji Customer Service: [Loud cough/snort] Haao, thi ee Zuji, how ken hell yoo?
Maggie: Hi, I just bought some tickets online and at checkout it asked for my billing address, which is in the US because that is where my credit card is from. However, the site never asked me where I would like the tickets mailed to and it bungled up the US address by adding Singapore as the country.
Zuji Customer Service: Mem, wha is bookee numbah
Maggie: 39847758892
Zuji Customer Service: Okee, mem, plees holl why I get yoh bookee. Yes, your ticket will be mailed to 1515 Foppiano Loop, Round Rock, Singapore.
Maggie: That is not the correct address. There is no Foppiano Loop in Singapore
Zuji Customer Service: Okee, mem. But tickets heff reddy been mail.
Maggie: Ok, so when the tickets are returned to you by the post office, can you please send them to this correct address: [gives Singapore address]
Zuji Customer Service: I will go check to see if mebby I ken fine tickets.
[Puts me on hold for 5 minutes. Robot says " You can now book all your travel needs online at zuji.com. Our website makes your trip easy!" I groan]
Zuji Customer Service: Okee, mem. Tenk yoo foh holdin. I was lucky to fine ticket in mail basket. [paper shuffling noises]
Maggie: Thank good ness!
Zuji Customer Service: [Loud cough] Okee, mem. Wha you say is that you put wrong address on website?
Maggie: No, I put the correct billing address for the credit card I am paying with, but it is US credit card.
Zuji Customer Service: Mem, then the ticket will be mailed to thet address.
Maggie: No, it won't because the Zuji website assumed that I wanted the tickets mailed to my billing address but then added Singapore as the country instead of what I put in the first place, which is USA. It is an error on the website. I do not want the tickets to be mailed to the US.
Zuji Customer Service: Okee mem, can you hold for a minute?
Maggie: Sure
[Puts me on hold for 6 minutes. Robot says " You can now book all your travel needs online at zuji.com. Our website makes your trip easy!"]
Zuji Customer Service: Ok mem, thak yoo for wetting. You send us fax. Can?
Maggie: Excuse me?
Zuji Customer Service: You send us fax with yoo new address to where we sen the ticket. We nee to heff yoh signa-chair.
Maggie: My what?
Zuji Customer Service: Your SIGNA-chair
Maggie: Oh, my signature. The fact that I know the booking number, reference number, flight number, address on the booking and email address isn't enough for you to validate my identity as purchaser of these tickets?
Zuji Customer Service: No mem, you send fax to 6758-4498. Put booking number, reference number, flight number and new address on fax...wif signa-cher.
Maggie: Ok, can you give me that number again? I will send that out this morning. Shall I put "For Attention....."?
Zuji Customer Service: Can, 6758-4498. Just put For Attention Ingrid
Maggie: Ingrid, my I have your surname?
Zuji Customer Service: Only wan Ingrid in office.
Maggie: Ok, thanks, Ingrid

Maggie sends fax. 2 days later.....
Maggie gets email from Zuji confirming that tickets have been dispatched to 1515 Foppiano Loop, Round Rock, Singapore...

Grilled seafood at East Coast Park

Darin once went to East Coast Park with some of his colleagues and said that he had the best food in Singapore there. So naturally, I wanted to go also!

We arrived at East Coat Park after a 90 minute bus ride (ok, this was due to my inability to accurately read the bus schedule - I picked a bus that took us in a wide loop from our apartment west and then up and then east...long story). Five minutes after we arrived, it started to rain - our timing was definitely off, but luckily we had an umbrella.

East Coat Park is a long stretch of green along the coast, and the beach and landscaped terrains make East Coast Park a weekend favourite for Singaporeans. And where there are Singaporeans, there will be food! At the hawker centre there, located on the beach, we ordered grilled calamari, satay and roasted sting ray and some Tiger beer with ice chips to wash everything down.

I was surprised by how delicious the sting ray was. It is served in a banana leaf and covered in a tangy lemon chilli sauce that is to die for. The fillet is about half an inch thick and you scrape the tender meat off of the soft bones. I felt bad about eating a stingray because I know how beautiful and graceful they are. But it was very tasty and worth the try.

Maggie's Birthday Steamboat

For my birthday I wanted to do something real Singaporean - go to Marina Bay and enjoy a Steamboat dinner under the stars while enjoying fabulous views of the Singapore skyline. Sounds romantic, doesn't it? Well, it really isn't that glamorous, but it is certainly very tasty and a lot of fun!

Hot pot, also known as Steamboat, is a communal dish which originates from Mongolia, but now eaten in a variety of forms throughout East Asia. It consists of a simmering pot of stock at the center of the dining table. While the hot pot is kept simmering, ingredients are placed into the pot and are cooked at the table. Around the pot there is a little grill on which you can put meat and fish to cook.

Typical Steamboat dishes include thinly sliced meat, leafy vegetables, mushrooms, wontons, egg dumplings, fish and seafood. The cooked food is usually eaten with a dipping sauce, which you can mix up yourself from various condiments on a table.

Marina Bay is famous for it's various Steamboat restaurants and many Singaporeans flock there to enjoy their outdoor dinner buffets. You get to select your items from (very clean) refridgerated display cases and then you bring it all back to your plastic table on which your hotpot is standing. It is almost like camping - families stand around the hotpot, drinking beer and chatting just like around a campfire - the cooking of the food is very sociable and communal.

We had a fun time!