Is Tong MIA?
 

Hi everyone. I have corresponded via email with Tong regarding spending a day with one of her guides for our visit this June. I have sent emails three emails to her in the last 10 days without any reply from Tong. I fear that I may have offended her or something. Though I have looked back at all of our emails and don't see anything that I may have said that may have put her off, but I am at a loss as to why she isn't answering my emails. Does anyone know if maybe she is on vacation? From all the rave reviews on the forum here, this really doesn't seem like Tong...I don't know what to do.

i have had numerous communications with her in the last 10 days ...maybe she did not receive them....

i will write her now...

i have written her....what name will she know you by??

robinson

I wrote to her last week and got an automated message from her email saying she was out of town.

Earlier on in my planning I had e-mailed her with my regular e-mail address. As it has gotten closer to our date I was e-mailing her with no response. Then I tried my yahoo e-mail address and I heard from her right away - and she said she never received the other e-mails. So if you may try that.

sorry rhkkmk, I read 'what last name will she know you by' my full name is Heather Robinson.


Thanks for all the feedback, I really hope that she is out of town, I didn't get an automated response back from my emails but maybe I am having email problems though nothing is bouncing back to me...who knows, I apprecite your responses. I will try from my secondary email address and see if I get a response.

Heather

I am in a similar situation--have been corresponding with her and haven't heard back in response to my last email for several days. I get the impression that she is often gone on overnight tours without good internet access, though I could be wrong. Will probably just email her again if I haven't heard from her in the next day or so.

PHEW! well good then, glad to hear it isnt only me. travelgirlatl: I figured the same thing, that she was away on overnighters, but when it got to be over a week with no reply I was sure I had said something wrong and was just mortified! I will just be patient and wait a while longer before I pester her again. :)

There are email problems between here and Thailand. I have people I regularly correspond with and sometimes my email does not get to them and vice versa. Sometimes it bounces back, but often I don't get any notice that it didn't go through.

danasgirl,

I was just with Tong this past Saturday 3/8/08. She is very well & her usual jovial, gracious self. As you probably surmise by now, she is in everyone's WANTED list. She does go on a number of overnighters making it challenging to respond to emails which she normally does at the end of her long day.

Hang in there. If you do your part in corresponding, she delivers in the end - there on time, cheerful & ready to introduce another client to her beloved city, Bangkok. At the end of the day, you will say goodbye to a friend & will probably be making plans to see her & her city in the very near future.

I know our family certainly did !!!

i just got a msg back from her....she says she gets as many as 1200 e mails per day....WOW....she responds to the urgent ones and the ones just before people come....

she said resend your mail today and write URGENT in the subject line...

i would write it 3 times to catch her eye..

rhkkmk:

Thanks for the email...I can't believe she gets up to 1200 emails per day. My husband complains about getting 100 emails per day...hah! I did get a brief email from Tong today, so we are back in contact, thanks to you. You're the best.

I believe that Tong also told me she has a long commute out of town for her family and sometimes she has a day or so that she can't respond: FYI Tong is really just an incredible guide and well worth trying!! She is just a top star person!

Update: I just emailed Tong from my Yahoo.com acct and immediately rec'd the auto responder that says she may take a few days to get back to me. So I guess my gmail acct was not communicating with her Yahoo acct and that's why I wasn't hearing back from her...she wasn't getting any of the emails I was sending!

Back from our 3 week Thailand & Cambodia trip... although Tong was not our guide in BKK (Jerry, who was a delight was)... we did meet her in person & had very unpleasant, stressful experiences with her... which was quite surprising, considering the glowing reviews she gets here.

We found her pushy, hyper, very aggressive, rude, obsessed with money, dismissive... harassing and she let it slip that she has "1500 unanswered emails."

We'd pre-arranged for her to send a sedan to pick us up at the airport & THAT was a frightening nightmare... she'd outright lied about whom she was sending to pick us up & he nearly killed us on the Skyway.

More details when I'm less jetlagged.

I know a lot of people think she is wonderful... I really wanted to like her, but I can only tell you the truth of our experience... it was very unpleasant.

She nearly ruined our first evening & tried to ruin our last evening... with phone calls & faxes, to the point I had to ask the Pen. to block her phone calls.

She talked non-stop, didn't listen & interrupted... like someone who had taken some kind of stimulant... her behavior the first evening was bizarre. My husband thought she was bizarre & hyper, like someone on drugs.

It was very different than other people's experiences... Tong was a nightmare to deal with... like a telemarketer that will not stop calling.

Jerry was lovely, reliable & IMO being taken advantage of by Tong... who booked the slight man with a party of 4 (including a large, elderly, disabled man in a wheelchair w/ NO one to help him lift/move/push the wheelchair).

When we were in REP, I had my licensed guide Tek hire a porter every day we went to temples & on the big temple days (Angkor Wat) two porters, whose sole job it was to lift, petite me in the borrowed wheelchair.

The notion that Tong was not getting a porter/assistant to help Jerry (who was not much bigger than me) is appalling to me.

To clarify my post, Tong had booked Jerry for 4 days w/ a party of 4, one of whom was a large, older man who was disabled & in a wheelchair... and she expected Jerry to take these people around for the same rate... and without any help.

Jerry's father had suffered a stroke a few years ago & Jerry was forced to sell his restaurant to care for his father & he now has compressed disks in his back from lifting his heavy father... the notion that Tong expects Jerry to push a wheelchair bound, disabled, large American man around w/o help is incredible to me.

I am not wheelchair bound & we only used the wheelchair when the ground was paved, flat & it involved a long distance to walk.

Tong is a crack addict?! Who knew?! The SCANDAL! All this AND she has strategically-placed wiseguys who pick folks up at the airport only to try and off them on the Expressway? I better reconsider my plans for this winter with her!

I would be slightly up-in-arms if I even had the energy to respond to this post right now--only that it's obviously no surprise that Oksana can somehow manage to villefy the kindest, most generous person I think most of us have had the pleasure of meeting in our lifetime. I don't think I can recall one negative thing said about her amongst hundreds of people who have used her here or glowed about her warm spirit, and her infectious energy. To say she's 'obsessed with money' is beyond insulting to me personally--since my experience, two years running, is exactly the opposite. So you'll pardon me if I rip into you a bit here. :)

Oh well--maybe it was just the canceled reservation at D'Sens (or the idiotic hostess there who didn't speak English)?...or the evil, abusive, torturous monks at the Tiger Temple?...or the horrible oysters outside of New Zealand? Something on your trip must've been worse than that pushy Tong, mustn't it have?

It's been so nice and calm on the boards lately--why, oh why, must you come back and torture us all with your misery?

I'm just picturing you being picked up at Suvarnabhumi in a full-length mink coat--holding a poodle in an Hermes purse--and surrounded by a gaggle of porters--and saying 'dahhhling, it's so awfully dreadful here!'. If that was the case, I think I'd find most of your posts more palatable, actually.

Your posts are rude, condescending, indicting, lacking any fundamental research or experience...and always negative.

But hey, welcome back! Happy you had such a nice trip--and such a warm and wonderful first post!

i have heard tong's side of this, and she says much the same things about you, so i guess it is a draw....as i know tong, i tend to side with her and quite honestly some of your private e mails to me were rude as well...

i don't want to get in the middle of this but i think billy has sent the appropriate message...

boy dana i bet you did not think you would get this kind of response!!

JM---i do need to ask one question however....did you refuse to go into the grand palace becasue the entry fee was 250 B instead of the 100 B you had read someplace?? did you also quibble about some other price which involved 100 B difference in price (slightly over $3)?

I am totally with you on this filmwil. Based on asko's earlier comments, I actually thought of warning Tong about her in advance, but never got around to it...Perhaps someone else did? >;-)

I have never had such a genuinely fun day with a guide who went to such effort to make us happy. She listened to what WE wanted and rearranged our day to fit. I had a number for a place to buy silverware; she called and got me the price and a website where I could order it. We loved her tee shirt...she tracked down the store where it was sold and drove us about 45 minutes out of the way (long after the clock had gone off on our day) to take us there. I was having a bit of Delhi Belly...she got me extra water and extra cooled towels. I could go on and on about her.

You must have really had a personality conflict!!

What horrible things to say about a person who I know as being kind, generous, friendly, helpful, fun-loving, adventurous.

I can only wonder if it was a Tong impersonator that AskOksana met. The Tong I met was far from obsessed with money, was talkative and friendly, a pleasure to be around, truly kind and generous.

AskOksana,
All I can say is I'm sorry for recommending Tong to you and for recommending that you come over to the Fodor's Asia board. It was only after I did those two things that I realized how truly high maintenance you were. Over 20 e-mails in a day to me put me over the edge of trying to be helpful to you.

Filmwill is dead right about your comments lacking fundamental research and experience...your lack of research about your flights got you into a situation where your travel agent told you not to call or e-mail them anymore and cancelled your tickets (and you fired them at the same time, right). Raffles staff were bored with your e-mails and quit answering you...I'm sure never suspecting that you would notify corporate headquarters about your distasteful experience. How was your stay there, anyway? Good service, or fine service masking disdain?

I'm going to write to Tong right now and apologize.

My apologies to Fodorites, too.

hey kim---have you seen spy-girl around lately??

No, but my God, could they be the same?

When did you hear from Tong? I've sent her an apology and an explanation of my experience...hopefully she won't worry about her.

Very disturbing posts.......

Wow, so I'm not the only one that got multiple emails from AskOksana? I'm stunned.
I'm also stunned at her comments and allegations about Tong. Like everyone else here, I've never met anyone so genuine, fun and full of energy. To allege she's on some sort of stimulant is crazy.
It's just plain crazy. I'm insulted for her.
Kim, "high maintenance" is a polite way to put it, thank you. Can we add "know it all" to the list? I can't write any more because I may say something I regret later. I'm disgusted.

Hello, everyone! I usually don't like jumping into a discussion with people who don't know me, but in this case I felt like I should.
As I said, you don't know me, but you do know my wife(KimJapan), so I figure I can put my 2 cents in.
Tong was fantastic when she was our guide. She was not "ushy, hyper, very aggressive, rude, obsessed with money, dismissive... harassing."
The best word I could think of to describe her was exuberant. She answered all of our questions before the trip and during it, helped us make plans and then made the plans into reality. She was generous with everyone she met, including the dogs at the floating market. She speaks a mile a minute, but that is because there was so much she felt we should know. The only time she was "pushy" was when she was worried that we hadn't done enough one day and wanted to take us somewhere else so that we would get what she considered would be our money's worth. I could not recommend her highly enough.
AskOksana, are you ever happy? I followed your e-mail conversations with my wife. You have some nerve complaining about the number of faxes or phone calls you received from Tong. Kim was inundated with your e-mails on a daily basis. Have you kept track of how many hotels, guides and travel agents want nothing to do with you? You complain about Tong's faxes and calls. I'm just wondeing how many faxes, calls or e-mails you sent her. If it is anything like the number you sent to Kim and various others at this board, it is no surprise that she had to send a great number in reply.
Yes, Tong is on a stimulant. The greatest stimulant of all: Enjoying life. You should try it.

AskOksana.

I was afraid this was going to come out sooner or later. Tong mentioned this while we were touring & asked if I knew the diva in question. I said OH NO !!!

If you get chased out of one forum then invited to join another, complain & respond with hear say about a lot of places you have never been to & bad talk about those other choices just because they were not the ones you made, slander the Forum's favorite guide, stay at the "best hotel" Riverside but quibble about a few baht, you are something else.

This thread was meant to find Tong not to rant about her- I would be very careful if I were you........................

Maybe Spy girl & this one are sisters.

WHO WANTS TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR 3 WEEKS AWAY? I have no intention of learning about the many other people whose day you destroyed just by the fact that they made contact with you. GO AWAY !!!

I know tong personally, and I find AskOksana's comments deeply disturbing. To say Tong is rude and obsessed with money amongst other things is beyond insulting. Tong is the kindest, most generous person I've met and she is absolutely nothing like what AskOksana describes.

I have heard from Tong, and after hearing her side of the story, I'm sorry she had the misfortune of having to interact with someone like AskOksana. I didn't want to get in the middle of this, but I just had to reiterate what has been said about Tong by so many people - she is kind, helpful, generous and will go out her way to make sure her clients are always happy.

When D and i met Tong in Nov 05 she was one of the highlights of our trip. Gracious, funny, generous and never ONCE mentioned money. She is a pleasure to be around. That's probably all i am going to say cause i think Filmwill put it marvelously.......

Tong helped me organise our wedding, holiday & tours for 20 wedding guests in August 2006. Meeting Tong was one of the highlights of the trip - other than marrying Mr Bluebell of course - she was genuine, has infectious enthusiasm for her country, people, culture - and food!

She helped me sort out so many things - presents for guests, my beautiful wedding dress - and was infinitely patient with all of us. As for money grabbing - my experience was that I had to give her money and run away before she gave it back. But she should be charging for her exemplary services - why ever not? She works incredibly hard for her family and her little girl.

I just can't believe this poster AskOsana met Tong at all - if it weren't for the history of posts, I would think she was a troll!! I only lurk on the boards at the moment - but had to post in response to this!!

Teaghan's response when I showed her askoksana's posts sums it up as well as any 10 year old could.

"Who is this freak?"

Tong gave us two wonderful days in Thailand. Her effervescent spirit propelled us through the day. She is a delight.

Now, on to the distasteful posts by AskOsana. If one ignores the venomous remarks towards Tong, she actually gives a very positive review of Jerry. Unless I miss my guess, AskOsana was given the opportunity to spend the day with Jerry throught the gentle auspices of Tong.

So, first, AO's posts focus on the negative rather than the positive. What does this say about a poster? Perhaps, it suggests a prediliction for the negative experiences in life. If I read the posts correctly, she and her group had a wonderful day with Jerry and some brief unpleasant interactions with Tong. AO elects to focus on the negative.

Second, the thrust of her post seems to be that Tong should have taken it upon herself to provide a porter for the wheelchair guest. This is absurd. Was the presence of the wheelchair guest a surprise to AO? Unless it was, AO should have requested a porter in the communications with Tong. To not do so and then vent is the epitome of passive/aggressive behaviour.

Third, one wonders why AO felt the need to launch into a personal attack against Tong. If AO did not like Tong, a simple expression of dislike would have sufficed. I suspect that AO relished the prospect of trashing Tong on this forum and starting the ensuing firestorm. AO must have known that many of us have thoroughly enjoyed our time with Tong. Anyone obsessive enough to have blanketed several posters with private E-mails must have read the many positive posts about Tong. AO's posts certainly have troll-like qualities.

Fourth, if AO truly did not like Tong, a simple post expressing unhappiness would have elicited many queries concerning the exact nature of the interactions. AO did not choose this path. Instead, AO decided to spill the venom.

Fifth, after reading the posts I can assure you that the farthest thing from my mind is an intention to "Ask Osana" anything. We can only guess about the origin of the screen name.

I note for the record that wasting my time responding to this nonsense detracts from my primary mission of ridiculing Bob.

I have not yet used Tong but I will be using her for two days when I am in Bangkok. I can't wait. My email conversations with her have been great. She is clearly a passionate, caring young woman. And I think we all have to remember that these guides are not corporations with full staffs and secretaries so sometimes it may be hard for them to keep up with the barrage of emails they receive while also being gone all day. Remember when Ratt became popular and there were similar problems with her?

I have had the pleasure of spending time with Tong before and like everyother person on this board other than AskOksana, I had an amazing time with Tong and found her to be a wonderful warm person.
The comments about her are unfounded and downright strange.

I'd like to AskOksana to crawl back under her rock. And then I would AskOksana to leave the Fodors board and find some counseling.

I have not used Tong's guide services in Bangkok, but I have met her, her DH, and her little girl. They are a lovely family. Tong is full of energy and of a love of life and her country. I think a day with her would be the highlight of any trip to Bangkok!

I think it might of been AO that smoked some yaa baa that day not Tong!

Will, I have always liked your posts, your response was one of my favorites so far!!!

Kim, I know that feeling you have. You try to help someone out, then realize soon afterword what you really got yourself into!

To everyone that is considering using Tong in an upcoming trip: Tong is an absolute wonderful person, is NOT obsessed with not, NOT pushy, or harassing. I am sure I didnt really have to say that as it is so well know how loved Tong is, just wanted to add our $.02 in.

Oksana: I hope we will be able to read your trip report very soon!

i might just add that i am guessing that she (AO) will post something similar on trip advisor, so any of you who use trip advisor maight want to be on the lookout for that as well....