Dear Dominic,
Good day to you.
Apologies for the delay as this is a long overdue letter as our Taiwan trip concluded 2 weeks back. The intention of this email is to express our thanks and appreciation to Katherine Lim, who has been a wonderful tour guide during our stay in Taiwan. Please allow me to cite the many occasions that Katherine had went above and beyond in making our stay a truly memorable one.
- On the second last day, we went to the garment district (Wu Fen Pu) which is adjacent to RaoHe Night Market. Sam, the local tour guide, supposedly told us to spend 1.5hrs in each location. I mentioned “supposedly” is because I, myself, and the rest of us from Sunset Way, were not aware of this instruction. The fact that he only speaks Taiwanese Hokkien or Mandarin, doesn’t help us much. Due to this, we spent 3 hours (3pm-6pm) at the garment district without knowing that there’s a famous night market nearby. By 6pm, we were back at the bus and by 6.30pm, we were in the hotel. Apparently, Sam had left us for the night and he had went back home. We were upset as we’re supposed to go to RaoHe Night Market but didn’t get to do so. This was when Katherine offered to bring us to RaoHe Night Market and she toured the place with us till past midnight. At the end of the personalized tour, Katherine was visibly tired but she kept a smile on her face.
- On the night that we went to Wu Fen Pu, Sunworld Dynasty Hotel Taipei messed up my room booking. Instead of giving me a bigger room, I was given a room for 2. Katherine proceeded to rectify the matter with the hotel management and got us a bigger room at the executive floor. This delay was the reason why we toured the night market until so late.
- On the last day of the trip, we encountered custom issues at HK airport. Apparently, a couple exceeded the hand-carry requirement for liquor. The only option was either to discard or check-in the liquor. The latter option was chosen and Katherine actually saw through the whole process. She and the couple, went through the entire checking and boarding procedure. This may sound straight-forward but if you were to factor in the fact that we were so time-constraint and the possibility of missing the connecting flight is high, Katherine took the risk and she really went above and beyond to ensure that we go and come back together. Nobody is left behind.
Apologies to Katherine if I did not mention other instances of her going above and beyond.
Last but not least, a big thank you to you and Going Places for organizing this trip. This has been a very memorable trip and we look forward to future ones.
Regards,
George Chan
Sunset Way Neighbourhood Committee
Group Tour of Taiwan (8 – 15 November, 2015)