First Week in London

Without realizing it, I have completed my first week in London. What a first week it has been! I arrived on the 21st of September after a 12-13 hour cramped Malaysia Airlines flight from KLIA. Sitting on economy class for a long haul flight is not so pleasant after all. Fortunately, I have got a place to crash in at Leon's room when I arrive. Thanks Leon for the 5 nights stay in your room.
On the first day in London, we managed to catch the Chelsea vs MU game, not in Stamford Bridge though but in a pub nearby. It was a good experience as we sat in a pub with Englishmen drinking and cursing throughout the match. Most are Chelsea supporters (its London by the way) and it was quite a relief when Salomon Kalou equalized. A draw is a good result for a Liverpool fan.
Slept very early at around 6 or 7pm until the next morning which makes up to 12 hours of sleep. Blame it on the jet lag. The next two days was spent on finding a room which is a daunting task in London. Accommodation are darn expensive in London. Managed to find a room on Tuesday. A room for 2 awaiting my other half to come. It is quite a good deal for 2 but I had some doubts initially. Chanted about it and I hoped that this place will turn out fine.
Now that I have moved in and settled down, I await the start of my course on the 29th Sept. I am determined to do well and will give my very best shot at it.
Thats all for now.
Finsbury Park ( Does it look like Dialogue with Nature)

The Emirates Stadium ( not too far from where I am staying)

Yindee Lapidary Gem Scam

On my first day in Bangkok ( 2nd of September 2008), I was on my way to my hotel in Pratunam area when I asked a woman in front of Pratunam Complex for directions to my hotel.

She introduced herself as an employee of the Pratunam Complex and appeared to be very friendly as well as apologising for the state of emergency in Bangkok at that time. She cautioned us against going to the Grand Palace area and instead recommended us to go to Lucky Buddha which she said was open only once a year. She then said that we should go to Yindee Export which is having sales for the last day. She called up a Tuk-Tuk to bring us to the hotel for check in before bringing us to Lucky Buddha and Yindee Export. At that time, I did not know that Yindee is selling jewellery and we duly obliged feeling lucky to come across a friendly person. the Tuk-tuk brought us to our hotel for check in before bringing us to Lucky Buddha. The place was not what we expected it to be with very few people there and does not look like a tourist spot.

We were about to leave when we met a guy who introduced himself as a doctor waiting for her daughter. Again, he mentioned Yindee Export telling the same story as the lady just now. We then left and Tuk-tuk brought us straight to Yindee Lapidary. When we went in, we were given an introduction about gemstones by an old lady who speaks fluent English. She recommended some rings for my girlfriend to try and we were attracted to a white gold ring with red ruby. The price on the tag was 24000 baht and she gave us a discount to 15000 baht. She said that we can easily get a profit of double the amount if we sell it off in our country. She mentioned a few jewellery companies in Malaysia such as Poh Kong and Habib which imports stones from them.

It did not come across as a scam to us thanks to our gullibility. After much persuading and and convincing, I finally agreed to buy the ring for my girlfriend. We went off that day thinking that we have landed a great deal. The next day I googled on the internet on Yindee Lapidary and I instantly knew that I was conned. I immediately thought of going back to Yindee to get a refund. I met a policeman on my way there and I asked for his favour to follow me to the shop. When I arrived there, I demanded a refund and told the person that I have checked on the internet as well as checked with Poh Kong that Yindee Lapidary is a scam trying to con tourists. I warned that I will go to the Malaysian Embassy and will spread it in the internet if I dont get a refund.

After a while, she said that she can only give me a further discount of 3000 baht. I insisted on a refund which she gave in to. She issued a credit voucher which I was not very confident of. I called my bank and also checked with the Bangkok Bank branch in Platinum. She assured me that it will be credited in around 2 weeks. It was not credited in two weeks, instead it took 3 weeks. But it was a relief that the credit voucher does go through anyway. Having said that, I managed to get the refund but on the other hand, I spent quite a handful on the roaming charges for calling my bank in KL from Bangkok. Why are the roaming charges so darn expensive....

So what was supposed to be a wonderful holidays was tainted by this incident. It was however a good lesson for us to not be so naive and gullible in the future.

We have to use the internet to spread it to more people around the world to prevent them from falling into these scams. The authorities in Thailand have to do something to protect the tourists or else tourists will stop choosing Thailand as their holiday destination