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I was in Beijing back in November last year. It was a group wide company trip that had about 300+ staff across all 5 agencies. I got to say, this being my first time to Beijing, I didn’t know what to expect. The weather was about 11°C during the day, and as cold as 8°C during the night.

We were there for a good 6 days but unfortunately, with it being a company trip, most of the itinerary were already preplanned with a tour guide. Which meant we didn’t have much time to explore the city on our own except during the night. By then, we were all too tired to further walk with aching feet. One advice I would give to anyone going to Beijing…prepare to walk A LOT!  Of course the highlight of the trip was The Great Wall of China, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

These are some of the places we’ve visited during the trip. It’s not in any particular order, but because I do not want this to be a super lengthy post, I would let the pictures do more of the talking.

Temple of Heaven
According to ancient Chinese legend, Earth was represented by a square and Heaven by a circle. This place has several features of the temple complex symbolize the connection of Heaven and Earth, of circles and squares. Oh and it also sits on a hill, which mean closer to the heavens.

Lama Temple
Also known as the “Palace of Peace and Harmony Lama Temple“. I particularly like the entrance to this temple as it looks like a scene in a movie during autumn.

The entrance to the temple

Hutong
This place is actually rows and rows of bars and shops surrounding a large lake. Hutong (胡同) also apparently means “narrow road” in Mandarin. The main transportation in this area is via trishaw. We came here on our first night for drinks, and on the second time (following the tour), we went through the place on a trishaw. I got to say, I’m amazed at these trishaw riders. They are all elderly people and they can maneuver through these narrow roads at high speeds without bumping into others.

On the first night, I had this to drink…bottle told us to PARTY!

Rows of shops surrounding the lake

Pek Fui and I about go for a trishaw ride

Tiananmen Square & Forbidden City
Don’t think these 2 places need any introduction, but the Forbidden City really impressed me. I’m impressed not because of the engineering feat, but because how the Chinese think in terms of security for the Emperor. Back then when you’re riding a horse or on foot, it’s nearly impossible to get through to the main palace as there are layer after layer after layer of security walls with watch towers where they can spot someone trying to get in a mile away. Good thing for the Emperor back then, aerial warfare was non existent.

Inside the Forbidden City

With Yew Fai and See Wei

The Great Wall of China
The Great Wall, one of the Seven Wonders of The World. Again, amazed and in awe that these walls were constructed without machines and only using people power. There weren’t any use of cement either as they used glutinous rice to hold the bricks together…and it’s still standing until today!

Li Shan and I @ The Great Wall of China

Wangfujing
This is basically the area where we stayed. We only had time to walk around during the night.

Here I tasted deep fried baby scorpions for the very first time. It’s not bad really. It tasted like deep fried prawns. If you think that is bad, there are other more grossed looking food. The baby scorpion were the easiest to eat.

Starfish, seahorse and baby scorpions on a stick

Donkey penis!

Fuck…don’t want to even know what this is…

Trying out deep fried baby scorpions..

The Bird’s Nest Stadium & Water Cube
There 3 buildings are all located within the same place. The Bird Nest Stadium, Water Cube (or National Aquatics Centre)and a building shaped like a dragon (Pangu Plaza). Didn’t manage to get into any of these building (no point going in either), but did manage to get some photos taken within these architecture marvels.

Group shot in front of the Bird Nest Stadium

You know I’ve heard so much about the people in Beijing (and entire PRC for that fact) being rude to tourists and not being civilized when it comes to care for public hygiene, and I got to say they are absolutely right. Once you’re there to see their mannerism, you would think people in KL are not so bad after all. Overall, the people in Beijing were not nice, the public toilets are without doors, the food is erm…horrible (or rather bland) compared to KL, and shopping there is expensive. Apart from the weather and having the company of colleagues, Beijing for me was more of an experience and an eye opener. Would I go back there again? Well, no…not unless there is a very good reason to do so.

[Click here for more pictures of Beijing]

A couple of months back, our department went for a trip to Janda Baik…just a 45 minutes drive from the city. It’s actually just before the turn off to Genting Highlands if you use the Karak Highway. It’s surrounded by breathtaking scenery, fresh and cool air combine with lush greenery jungles.

It was a team building/get away/”get to know one another better” session with all our colleagues. We stayed in this place called Saufiville Resort, which is a villa consisting of 6 rooms. Nice enough to accommodate a group of 30 people. It also came with a private infinity pool which overlooked the mountain view. Well, with it being a team building trip, we also gotten outside help to organize some activities for us during the day.

A word of caution though. While the place promises great scenery and cooler than city temperatures, it has one drawback….BUGS! The place it’s filled with all sorts of insects and bugs as it is located in the middle of the jungle. So if you’re planning a stay there, please remember to bring insect repellent or bug spray.

Here are some pictures of the place

Courtyard surrounded by mountains

The infinity pool

Enjoying the view with a few cans of beer

We were split into smaller groups to perform some task during our team building activities…just don’t ask what the task were..

Awesome team members: Robb, Audrey, Jesrina, Lee Fen, Darren and Yoke Teng

Again did I mentioned about the insects…

Size of bug = size of lighter = SCARY!

And of course we all had fun and enjoyed the trip even more by playing poker, Xbox Kinect, Karaoke and drinking (what more?) during the night. Here are some group pictures..

And finally here we are having Banana Leaf rice after the trip :)

2 weeks ago, I was in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam for Mediaworks 2011. Now, if you don’t know what this training is about, it’s actually training on how to take on a real life pitch through strategy and presentation. It’s not exactly a “fun in the sun” kinda trip as it was sort of like a reality show situation where they split you into groups with other strangers from across the APAC region and given less than 48 hours to come out with a full presentation based on a given brief. Why I said reality show is because of the stress and the time it takes to put together a proper presentation deck with strategy to impress the client. Yes, there was a real life client there where he gave an actual pitch brief and requirements. Imagine being in Masterchef going through Pressure Tests and Mystery Box Challenges…that sort of stress.

I arrived in HCMC together with a fellow colleague Nicole around noon after our flight was delayed by nearly 1 and half hours. Event only starts at 4PM so we first checked in and proceed to look for some food. It’s the only time we will ever get to see HCMC as we both know that we won’t be going out of the hotel except on the final night.

Nicole and I at the arrival hall waiting for our transport

We were put up at the Sheraton Saigon, and I was supposed to be sharing a room with a random stranger as it was a twin sharing room. I will tell you why I said “supposed” later on. So after putting down our bags and checking in, we walked around our hotel area for a bit.

Twin sharing room

View from my balcony

A Louis Vuitton store in HCMC

Emporio Armani Cafe

Street food!

Nicole’s sad bowl of noodles for lunch

As you can tell, we’re staying at the “higher end” of HCMC where you can find designer labels. Ok, so when I went back to my hotel room, I got a shock as I found 2 ladies from China who were also attending the workshop in my room. They say they were assigned the same room as I am. There is definitely a mix up here as I don’t think they would put both guys and girls in the same room. Anyway, I went down to the reception and made a complaint. They say it was a mix up on their end and they apologized for it. They were so apologetic to the point that they offered me an upgrade to a larger room. So now, I have a really large room…all by myself! It seemed that the room mate that I was suppose to share the room with, didn’t turn up at all.

Check out the larger room…I have this all to myself for the next 3 nights! :)

After the minor drama, it was time to get into serious mode. We were assigned into groups and given briefs by the client. Each team was also assigned a mentor who are all industry leaders in their own regional market. My team consists of 2 Malaysians, 2 Singaporeans, 4 PRC nationals, and 2 from Hong Kong. Oh yea, I was also appointed the group leader by popular demand…probably because I spoke the most during the introductions.

Over the next 3 days, we were all “locked” in the hotel. First night we slept around 1 AM as most of us were tired especially we all woke up early to catch the morning flight. The second night, it was crunch time. We slogged it out till about 4AM and woke up by 730AM for breakfast and to rehearse and find tune our presentation deck before the actual pitch.

That’s me in the striped shirt briefing the team and our mentor

On the final night, there were 3 finalist being announced and they had to make the presentation to all other teams the next morning. Sadly, our team didn’t win, but we did had a really brilliant idea. The client gave good comments about our overall performance and liked our idea, we were just lacking a few minor details here and there. We all consoled ourselves by saying we finished “forth” overall. Hahaha…but seriously, I was really happy with the team despite some minor disagreements and communication problems.

Team photos

Overall, the trip was a real experience for me. I would definitely recommend this workshop for anyone in the media industry who would like to know tactics and training on how to take on a pitch. I definitely have no regrets going there and would do it all again if I have the chance to.

Chào buổi tối! That’s “Good Evening” in Vietnamese. I’m posting this from my hotel room in Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon as the old name goes. It’s my very first time to Vietnam, and it’s for a 4 day intensive training workshop. It’s a waste that I don’t get to go out to see more of Ho Chi Minh City, as I am literally stuck in the hotel throughout the whole workshop…like I said…intensive….call it SHIT (Special High Intensive Training).

During this workshop, I was paired with strangers from across Asia and we had group assignments and presentations to do to a panel of judges. I have time to blog now, as my team had just finished presenting after staying up till 4AM last night and waking up at 7AM this morning to finalize the presentation deck and rehearse. Well, I’m headed off to take a nap now, before me and my team mates head out for dinner and probably party!…until then..stay tuned for some photos in my next posting.

Last month, I was nominated to participate in my company’s regional conference called ConFest, which is a festival of conferences over the course of 2 weeks. It was held in Shangri-la’s Tanjung Aru Resort & Spa in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. The place was simply awesome. Imagine attending this event, held at a seaside resort for a couple of days, and working not from your office work desk but on the deck chairs by the pool or by the sea. My colleagues and I wished it was like this everyday at the office and didn’t want to work anywhere else!

GroupM Interaction ConFest 2011

So anyway, I’m not going to be focusing much about the conference itself as I thought that it would be too long and too many things to cover (and not like everyone will be interested to know anyways), so instead, I’m just gonna show you on how the place looks like.

And you know what??..I got a junior suite all to myself! It had a living room and a king size bed. I’m not complaining, but I did think the room was a bit large just for myself so it became the envy and the chill out spot of my colleagues.

The living room area

Can you see 2 LCD TVs?

The view from my balcony…

Oh, did I tell you..my company also rebranded and took over their resort bar! We had free flow of booze (from Heineken and Corona to self branded cocktails) from 6-11PM daily. I must say, if you were there for 2 weeks…it could really do some serious damage to your liver and your health.

We “rebranded” it the mbar

We even have our very own customized cocktails

Of course after the happy hours ended, we went into KK town to check out the local night life. A colleague had a friend to take us around town for seafood as well as a taste of the clubbing scene in KK. We were at KK Times Square where we bar hopped. We went for a live band performance and then ended the night in this place called The White Room. I must say, I have totally underestimated KK’s night life. The bands and music were better than I expected and the crowd is pretty decent too. Hey, it’s my first time clubbing in KK and clubs in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore have become sort of a benchmark. Nevertheless, we all had a great time.

The following day, before we left for home, we went to the Sunset Bar at the resort. They have this elevated bar facing the sea. Really nice place to chill and to watch the sunset (hence the name of the bar).

Imagine chilling and doing your work right here!

Sunset @ Sunset Bar

All in all, it was a really good conference. Learnt a whole lot, networked a lot and most importantly had a really great time. Up next in my company travel itinerary..Singapore in June and Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam in July…until then.. :)