If you enjoy your meat like I do, then Groniger is the place for you. Like most restaurants in Germany, they seem to specialize in pork and beer.

Ready For Our Meal

The atmosphere at the restaurant was an old pub and you have the option to buy your beers by the barrel. The serve the beer from an old wooden barrel. Not sure if it is authentic but it looks like it.

The Display At The Restaurant

They are famous for their pork knuckle but seem to have some consistency issue as they taste different the both times I had the opportunity to dine there. The portions are enough to feed an asian family for weeks but the serving was actually intended for a single person.

The Pork Knuckle

The serving costs just a little over 11 Euros and makes it a great dining experience. The waiters that we had was friendly as well which made our evening pleasant!

That’s all for now!

A trip to Hamburg will never be complete with an experience in the red light district, Reeperbahn. Apparently, it is the oldest red light district in Germany.

The street is filled with many restaurant, sex shops, theatres and brothels.

Street prostitution is legal during certain times of the day on Davidstraße. The Herbertstraße, a short side street of the Davidstraße, has prostitutes behind windows waiting for customers. Unlike De Wallen, the red-light district in Amsterdam, it is closed off with a large gate and juveniles and women are not allowed in. Despite the sign which says women are not allowed to enter the street, it is not officially prohibited, only strongly discouraged by the police.

Herbertstraße: For Men Only!

Entrance to Herbertstraße; sign to the right of the gate reads “No entrance for juveniles under 18 years of age and women”.

We ended the night for a show in Safari, one of the many places for adult entertainment. Our table was a main target as we were the only group without any girls accompanying. I went without any expectations but ended up being part of the show when one of the performers decided to give me a boob rub on the face. (Song Yia, where were you when I needed you!) All I remember was the sound between both of my hears on impact while the spotlight was shinning on our table.

Ear to Ear: After My Experience

It was certainly an experience. I was a bit traumatised but recovered within days.

At One End Of Alter Elbtunnel

From the harbour, you can walk though Alter Elbtunnel from 1911 to the other side of the river Elbe and have great views from there. A lift or stairs bring you the 24 meters down into the tunnel. You then walk through one of its two 427 meter long pipes having 12 meters of water over your head. The tunnel is decorated with ceramic arts of maritime motives (e.g. fish, mussles, seals, old boots). At the other side you again walk up the stairs or take a lift. Go out and back to the river to “Aussichtspunkt Steinwerder” for great views on Landungsbrücken and the sights behind. Even cars can pass though the tunnel (only Mon-Fri, 5:30-20:00, for 2 Euros) being brought down with 4 lifts. You find the tunnel at Landungsbrücken in the building having the biggest green dome. Signs to “Aussichtspunkt Steinwerder” also point to it. For pedestrians and bicycles it is free and open all day and night, every day.

The View From The Other Side!

It has been the third day working in the Hamburg office and things are moving at a calm pace. I went into another meeting today whereby the team was obliged to speak in English as I was the only non German speaker.

Everytime I made a point, there will be a moment of silence that follows. Someone will then advise me to speak slower. It is not that hard but I have to keep reminding myself over and over again.

However, I felt that I was slowing the conversation down and things moved faster when everyone was communicating in German and I was give periodic updates on things.

I just got back from dinner with my colleagues in a Chinese Restaurant operated by fellow Malaysians from Ipoh. Malaysians are everywhere I tell you! There are a handful running restaurants in Southampton and Hamburg is not short of them.

I went to some tunnel for a walk with Joe and his “friend”. The sun sets after 10.00p.m. nowadays and you always feel like you have a long and productive day.

I have not manage to upload any pictures as of yet but will endeavour to it in the next few days. Song Yia has shared some on facebook.

Till then, take care everyone and catch up soon.

With longer daylight, you get the sense that you achieve more within a day. After work and dinner, we took a short stroll to a park that has a daily musical fountain show at 10.00 p.m.

The Musical Fountain

The fountain lasts for about 25 minutes and apparrently the performances differs each night.

And It Is For Free!

Song Yia has a post on her experience as well.

Cheers,

Benny Ong

Greetings all,

I will be in Germany for a couple of weeks before I return home to Malaysia to be faced with reality with the fuel price increase. Yesterday evening, we saw Germany winning the match against Poland, 2 – nil for Euro 2008 and the noise of the crowd could be heard from the hotel room.

I am in the office now and am looking forward to the upcoming challenges and busy days ahead to sort out the situation and environment here. Will make myself proud as I always tell myself “No One Can Deny You Anything!”

Do apologize for the lack of updates you may experience in the coming weeks but I have had took heaps of pictures of my first full weekend in Hamburg which I can’t wait to upload and share.

Stay tune for updates chaps!

The weather was perfect and what better way to spend the day with a picnic at Stadtpark. Hamburg’s Central Park which is also known as the lungs of Hamburg.

Me Busy Eating

There was a lady sun bathing topless a stone throw away. She was a bit old, hence, the barbequed meat looks more tempting.

Click here for more information. Be Warn! Achtung! It is in German!

So here I am in Hamburg, Germany. The last time I was here was for a brief trip during the companies zone meeting.

Hamburg

I took loads of pictures but it is inconvenient to load them all using my office laptop. Will somehow start sharing them when I am back in Southampton or KL. I joined Song Yia and family on a day trip around Hamburg city and doing the touristy stuff.

Song Yia bought the Group Hamburg Card which allows us to travel on the public transport at a group rate and also offers discount at some of the attractions such Miniature Wonderland which was my most cherished and favourite visit of all.

The Display Spans Two Floors

It is a collection of ellaborate models of mini cities such as Hamburg itself, Paris and various major european cities. The trains are also inter connected within one another. The cars in the city are also smart enough to obey the traffic lights and also avoid from hitting one another. There is so much attention to details from the weather turning to dark, signal lights by the vehicles and also the customizations of the city for the 2008 Euro Cup.

Miniature Version of Hamburg

As you might know. I am a sucker for miniature stuff and models. I could spend days here admiring the amount of effort put in. It is a must visit for all!

Take care.

Benny Ong.

I finally made it to Heathrow’s newest terminal! It was good timing as well after all the mess that BA got itself into with missing baggages and flight cancellations. (Their on board service was still as bad though!, they feed us pretzels, breakfast bar + a glass of apple juice)

I left work in the London office via Heathrow Express to arrive at the spanking new airport. As most airports, it was freaking spacious.

Fully British Airways Depature

I checked in online to save time but the queue to deposit my baggage made it a time neutral effort. So nothing special and I did not get ahead of the line or crowd.

More Dining Places and Shops in the Terminal

It is a lucrative business to run F&B outlest with the ban to carry in any liquids through the security gates and passport control into the departure lounge. Even Gordon Ramsay has make his footprint.

Plane Food by Gordon Ramsay

Thats all from me now. Stay tune for more of my adventures in Hamburg, Germany!

Cheers,

Benny Ong

This blog post is a tribute to my fellow BTAs that I was fortunate to be friends with and our relationships has now been two years ago (although it felt like forever). BTA stands for Business Technology Associate, a fancy name for Management Trainees. This is the program that kick off my professional working life I would say and one opportunity led to another.

Where It All Began: People With Places In My Heart!

I am trully blessed to be a part of this program and am thankful for all the training and nurturing I have received. I still have a lot to learn in this working life and organization that I am in. A bonus of the program as well, this is where I met my dearest Song Yia.

They have open up the application for the next wave of trainees about a month ago and I am excited to see what the next batch would be like.