The Personal Blog of Benny Ong – bennyong.com » General
Jun 17
Waking up on Father’s Day, I tried calling my dad but he was unreachable. So I send him a text message instead. I woke up quite early despite it being the weekend. This must be because I have been so used to going in the office for my out of office hours project roll out.
Yesterday, we have officially completed the project phase of the roll out and all that is left is tying up the loose ends before I leave for home. I am not exactly flying directly home but will spend the upcoming weekend in Amsterdam which I am extremely excited about.
It would be nice to have some time off and relax. I will then be flying home from there to Malaysia in time for my Graduation ceremony.
While I was in the office, the Vendor’s project equivalent of myself asked me what I would miss most of London when I leave after being here for about three months. I had to think and I would say it is the ability to take my 20 minute morning stroll to the office and back without having to resort to be soaking in sweat. I would also miss my apartment where I have made my home because this is where I have unwind.
London holds a special place in my heart because I learned and gained so much from this city. I have met people from every walk of life from the time I first arrive in Uni up, working with H&M to being send here for Project. I am pretty sure this will not be the last of London will see of me because I will be back in the near future.
Oh well, everything has to come to an end and I am glad to because I can’t wait for what else is in store for me.
That’s all for now and do take care!!!
Jun 07
I just had a warm shower and most definitely one of the best flights ever which arrived as scheduled in Heathrow. I finally felt the privilege of flying Business Class as you are given access to the lounge, better selection of food, spacious seat, fast track passes and your baggage arriving earlier on the conveyer.
The fast track pass was the best of all as I usually spend ages in the queue to clear immigration. The baggage arriving ahead of others was also very helpful as I am always the person to check in early which often causes my baggage to arrive later.
The only problem I had was with the amount of advertisement showed on the in flight entertainment. Theoretically, there should be no ads at all reason being we paid to fly. It is the same thing with the amount of advertisements shown on Malaysian paid satellite TV Astro. Oh well, Malaysian Airlines also kept repeating themselves on their radio channels to vote them as the best in flight entertainment. I was tempted to vote for them but the amount of advertisements have changed my mind. I can remember the Maybank, Maxis, Digi, Celcom and Visit Malaysia Year 2007 ads more than the content of the shows and movies I have watched.
Uncannily when I collected my keys to the apartment, it was the exact same unit but just a floor up. This makes it easier as I am familiar with the surroundings of the room.
That’s all for now as I try to stay awake till midnight to instantly cure any jet lags and I can’t wait to get into the office tomorrow to get my engines running.
Jun 06
Here once again I find myself in KLIA and getting ready to board my flight to London. I have been flying a lot this year but nothing compared to the amount or frequency that some of my colleagues do. One of the bonuses of frequent travelling on the same carrier is the Air Miles. Since we are in that topic, MAS still owes me some air miles that will entitles me to an upgrade on my Enrich card. I will chase them up when I am back in KL at the end of June.
Looking back on the 10 days that I spent back in KL was well worth it. Although I did not get all the things that I wanted to done, I got most of them out of the way. I renewed my passport, settled some paperwork and the most important thing, met up with my loved ones.
One of the major highlights of my trip is that I am now a permanent staff within BAT. We will be having a graduation ceremony at the end of the month which I will be returning home for. Below are some pictures that we have taken in preparation for the event.
Me Seated in The Middle
Having Fun in the Karaoke Room
A lot people did mention that I lost weight and my medical check up showed that I shed off roughly 5 kilos. Let’s hope when I am back after this trip, I would have a firmer tummy 
Oh well, that’s all for now and I will post a quick update once I have arrived in the apartment.
May 19
Today, I attended my third wesak (Vesak) day celebration in London. The first was in 2004 when I was still a humble student at London South Bank University, second one in 2005 when I was working with H&M and third this year. Oh well, to the uninitiated, on Wesak Day, Buddhists all over the world commemorate events of significance to Buddhists of all traditions: The Birth, Enlightenment and the Passing Away of Gautama Buddha.
Although the date might have been a later from the exact date, I believe it was because of the arrangements and availability of Leicester Square Gardens for the event. The annual event in Leicester Square was made possible by London Fo Guang Shan Temple.
I had the company of my three other colleagues from KL at the celebrations which I believe gave us all an insight to how diverse the UK is and how people openly celebrate their beliefs.
On the topic of beliefs, I entered the 20 Million Pound Church of Scientology the other day after work. It was out of curiousity since I walk pass it daily on my journey to the office and after hearing about ages ago since Tom Cruise gave it the celebrity touch. I was amazed at the way the teachings are being presented and showcased. I would have stayed on if I wasn’t that hungry.
There was a documentary series called Panorama. Here are the links on Youtube (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4) on BBC’s investigation on the religion which I believe was very bias. However, everyone is entitled to their opinion. My beliefs are that everyone should have the freedom to choose whatever they want to believe in and we should not judge them if it brings happiness to the believer and not harm any life.
May 15
Well, I can’t believe that I am returning to KL in two weeks time after being in London for close to two months working on rolling out printers in the head office. It has been a very interesting time for me and I have learned a lot.
What may seem to be a very straight forward thing turned out to be the other way. Here is a quick peek of me after completing one of the floors roll out. The printers are temporarily stored here before they are transported to be recycled.
It does not end there as I will be returning to London for another month to complete the whole roll out.
Well, wish me the best of luck and I will use the capabilities of Word Press to update some back logged posts so that there is not a big gap of not having posts on my blog.
Take care.
Apr 28
I decided to drag myself out for the weekend and guess where did I go? Well, one of my fave museums in London, the Natural History Museum. Watch this Video I captured on my newly purchased 4GB SONY Memory Stick. It is of the T-Rex.
Apr 21
It is the weekend again and guess where I choose to spend my Saturday at? Oh, well the title was already a giveaway. Myself, Eunice and Jin Siang whom are colleagues from work that I managed to convince to join me on the trip set off to the island in South of England.
We departed from London Bridge at 7.30 a.m. on Anderson Tours coach and left London after the last pick up at about 9.00 a.m. in Earls Court. We arrived at Southampton whereby we took the Red Funnel ferry to Isle of Wight. The journey took us 55 minuntes before we arrived at Cowes.
The first stop at the island was Godshill where there was a church on top of the hill.
We soon made our way to Shanklin where there was the Chine and the beach. We had burgers for lunch here and spend just little over an hour. The beach was of reasonable English standards.
The next stop was along the coastal road for a picture opportunity before heading to Yarmouth.
I was dissapointed when I heard that I would not be able to go to the Needles at Isle of Wight but can understand the limitation of hours we have in the day.
Oh well, to me it was a well day spent out of London. Please look at my flickr page for the pictures as I will update them on this post soon.
That’s all for now…
Benny Ong ; )
Apr 09
Once again I started off my day late. I was planning to rot in the apartment until I received a text message in the morning from Margherita. She was a colleague of mine when I use to work at H&M. She said that she will be working today and I figure I might as well just drop by then.
It was 3.00 before I finally pulled myself out to Knightsbridge. I arrived at the perfect time as she was on her lunch break whereby we decided to grab some drinks from Starbucks before comfortably seated ourselves behind the store. It was nice because it used to be the spot where I spend my lunch times and tea breaks.
She shared her stories on what was happening and I shared my portion as well. I continued on exploring the store to see a few familiar faces where I met a couple of them. We exchange contact details and agreed to have a drink before I leave London.
I headed on to High Street Kensington to look for another ex colleague of mine Geoffrey. It was nice to see him as I enter the newly renovated store. High Street Kensington is the flagship store for H&M. He looked much thinner now. Well, he commented about my website.
I then drop by Boots to get nail clippers as my nail is growing at a surprisingly fast rate. I headed home after. What a way to end my long Easter weekend.
Well, I am going to force myself to disconnect from the internet to catch up with some work for tomorrow. Till my next post, take care!!!
Apr 08
Day three into my super long weekend break from work. I still have not got into finishing up some stuff for work which most likely I will get to later.
I met up with two friends today, Alvin (High School Friend) and Sarah (Buddy from H&M). I started the day late at about 2.15 pm where Alvin came down to Mansion House Station. We bought Subway for lunch (The Sub of The Day Meal Deal is only GBP 2.99!!!) and headed to sit outside of St Paul’s Cathedral to soak up the sun.
We started to catch up on things and went off to walk across the Millennium Bridge to South Bank to kill time before picking up Sarah which arrived at 3.30 p.m. We decided to head on to Tate Modern where there is a new display by an artist consisting of spiral slides. With me being afraid of heights and due to the other slides being fully booked, we tried the lowest level one.
After walking into a couple of the other exhibitions, we left South Bank to my apartment where everyone had a drink and chilled before 6 p.m. when we joined up with Alvin’s friend Michael and Carrie for Easter Sunday Service at St. Paul’s Cathedral. We bid farewell to Sarah who had to leave. The service lasted about over an hour and I joined the queue to receive blessings.
Soon it was dinner time whereby we headed to Earl’s Court for Thai food in an apparently well rated restaurant called Adie’s or something like that. I had Phad Thai and Green Curry. The bill came up to £ 55.00 for four of us which is reasonable.
I bid farewell to the bunch and called it an evening after that. That’s all for now and till next time. Take care.
Benny Ong
Apr 07
Today, I manage to get my lazy bum out of the apartment for a day trip to Wales on Anderson Tours which only cost GBP 37.00. It was one of those trips that I did not manage to get around doing when I was in London last time.
We departed from Earl’s Court station at 9.00 a.m. and made our way on the M4 directly to Cardiff. The coach was full and the journey took us about 3 hours inclusive of a 45 minutes break.
City Hall, Cardiff
We arrive at Cardiff a little over noon when we picked up our Welsh guide (luckily the guide speaks English or else I would have never understand a word!) and headed straight for the city center where we commenced our sightseeing tour on board. I was kind of struggling during the one hour sightseeing tour as the weather outside was about 23 Degrees and the bus was cold. I couldn’t wait to get out as I can hardly snap any pictures from inside the coach.
Cardiff Castle
Once we pulled to the side, we were only left with about an hour to do our own leisure sightseeing. If you can’t see any pictures attached to this post is because I am still waiting to upload it. Places that I managed to take photos of were the entrance of The National Museum & Gallery, Cardiff Castle, City Hall, Cathay’s Park and the Millennium Stadium.
Caerphilly Castle
We left at about 3 for Caerphilly Castle which is only just 15 mins away. According to the guide, the castle is one of the largest in the UK along with Windsor and Dover Castle. This castle even has a portion of its tower leaning which out leans Pisa’s famous example.
We started our journey back to London 45 minutes later with a scenic view of Wales. The journey home seemed longer and I arrived safely back at 8.30 p.m. I quickly ran into the first supermarket I can see to stock up for the long Easter weekend.
That’s all for now and I am still deciding where to spend my next weekend. Definately not in London.