<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>MFA to the rescue: Of travel group stuck in Bhutan
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->MY PURPOSE in writing this letter is to commend the efficiency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).
Recently, a group of 32 people, including me, went to Bhutan from Nov 22 to 25. On Nov 26, due to the unrest in Bangkok, our original flight from Bhutan to Bangkok was cancelled. Luckily for us, we were not stuck in the Bangkok airport, but we were now stranded at Paro in Bhutan. Returning to our hotel in Paro, we had to worry about our visas and accommodation there, and think about how to get out. To make things worse, the only airline in Bhutan, DukeAir, flies only to Bangkok, New Delhi and Kolkata.
Thanks to globalisation, we managed to access the Internet in Bhutan and found out that the earliest flight to Singapore was from Kolkata on Nov 28, and fortunately for us, the flight from Bhutan to Kolkata was on Nov 27.
But another problem was that the flight from Bhutan to Kolkata was in the morning, and the flight from Kolkata to Singapore was at midnight. This meant that we would need to spend more than 24 hours at the airport in Kolkata. Furthermore, we did not have a visa to stay in India. The officials might detain us.
Therefore, we sent an e-mail to MFA Affairs explaining our problem and asking for a visa for the 32 of us in the group. Thanks to its prompt reply, we could successfully enter India. However, as our group included Malaysians and Taiwanese, the problem became complicated. The Indian officials in Kolkata did not approve the visa of the Taiwanese and said she could not leave the airport. On top of that, they did not allow anyone, even her husband, to stay with her in the airport. Fortunately, the Taiwanese had a high- ranking officer to contact those in India to let her off. The officials apologised and allowed her to leave the airport. But that was not the end of our obstacles in India.
Transported by a bus that rattled non-stop like a tin can when the engine started, we were given only one meal in the 30 hours we spent in India, when we were promised three.
However, the worst was that the officials kept our passports when we left the airport for the hotel. When we returned to collect them to travel back to Singapore, the immigration officer said he did not even know of such a thing. We had to wait as they argued among themselves and blamed one another. Moreover, most of our group members were elderly and one even had a fractured arm. Everyone was evidently tired, not of waiting but of the officials' attitude.
After about two hours waiting, we got our passports back and boarded the plane to Singapore. For these 30 hours in India, I witnessed the worst hospitality India could provide and many of my group members also felt like dirt. I know our sufferings were nothing compared to those waiting in the Bangkok airport, but as a teenager who has been through all this, I feel glad Singapore has a good, forward-looking government. Erica Wong (Miss)
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->MY PURPOSE in writing this letter is to commend the efficiency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).
Recently, a group of 32 people, including me, went to Bhutan from Nov 22 to 25. On Nov 26, due to the unrest in Bangkok, our original flight from Bhutan to Bangkok was cancelled. Luckily for us, we were not stuck in the Bangkok airport, but we were now stranded at Paro in Bhutan. Returning to our hotel in Paro, we had to worry about our visas and accommodation there, and think about how to get out. To make things worse, the only airline in Bhutan, DukeAir, flies only to Bangkok, New Delhi and Kolkata.
Thanks to globalisation, we managed to access the Internet in Bhutan and found out that the earliest flight to Singapore was from Kolkata on Nov 28, and fortunately for us, the flight from Bhutan to Kolkata was on Nov 27.
But another problem was that the flight from Bhutan to Kolkata was in the morning, and the flight from Kolkata to Singapore was at midnight. This meant that we would need to spend more than 24 hours at the airport in Kolkata. Furthermore, we did not have a visa to stay in India. The officials might detain us.
Therefore, we sent an e-mail to MFA Affairs explaining our problem and asking for a visa for the 32 of us in the group. Thanks to its prompt reply, we could successfully enter India. However, as our group included Malaysians and Taiwanese, the problem became complicated. The Indian officials in Kolkata did not approve the visa of the Taiwanese and said she could not leave the airport. On top of that, they did not allow anyone, even her husband, to stay with her in the airport. Fortunately, the Taiwanese had a high- ranking officer to contact those in India to let her off. The officials apologised and allowed her to leave the airport. But that was not the end of our obstacles in India.
Transported by a bus that rattled non-stop like a tin can when the engine started, we were given only one meal in the 30 hours we spent in India, when we were promised three.
However, the worst was that the officials kept our passports when we left the airport for the hotel. When we returned to collect them to travel back to Singapore, the immigration officer said he did not even know of such a thing. We had to wait as they argued among themselves and blamed one another. Moreover, most of our group members were elderly and one even had a fractured arm. Everyone was evidently tired, not of waiting but of the officials' attitude.
After about two hours waiting, we got our passports back and boarded the plane to Singapore. For these 30 hours in India, I witnessed the worst hospitality India could provide and many of my group members also felt like dirt. I know our sufferings were nothing compared to those waiting in the Bangkok airport, but as a teenager who has been through all this, I feel glad Singapore has a good, forward-looking government. Erica Wong (Miss)
