Ola! I arrived in Barcelona yesterday to attend a week long conference. I took the taxi to the city center from the airport and it takes roughly 30 minutes and about 25 Euros.

Upon arrival at Hotel Barcelona Universal, I wasted no time to go sight seeing as my schedule for the next few days are packed with sessions that I strongly want to attend. As the day goes dark later in this time of the year, it worked out to my benefit as I still manage to take quite nice pictures at 8.30 p.m.

Hotel Barcelona Universal is strategically located next to Parallel Metro station on the L3 line. The underground rail is quite straight forward to use. Thanks to my research a day before, I found out about purchasing a T-10 ticket which will allow you ten journey on the network. Each journey lasts for an hour and 15 minutes which means you may travel as much as you want within that timeframe to be considered as a journey. The ticket costs 7.20 Euros and is purchased via the ticket machines. The Metro is a reasonable and convenient way to travel in Barcelona.

My first stop was Catalunya Station and I had a look at Las Ramblas. This is a 1.2 kilometer-long tree-lined pedestrian mall in the Barri Gòtic, it connects Plaça Catalunya in the center with the Christopher Columbus monument at Port Vell.

Las Ramblas

I soon continued my journey switching lines at Diagonal Station for my onward journey to Sagrada Familla station for the La Sagrada Familia. It is known as The Sacred Family in English. This is the most iconic site in Barcelona and one of Gaudi’s most ambitious piece of work.

La Sagrada Familia

Here is Casa Mila or better known as La Pedrera. It is yet another amazing work by Gaudi.

La Pedrera

I was soon searching for dinner whereby I settled for McDonald’s. It was nice to see something familiar and as a bonus, I stumbled upon Casa Battlo, The local name for the building is Casa dels ossos (House of Bones), and indeed it does have a visceral, skeletal organic quality.

Casa Batllo

Upon completion of quick walk today, I realised I visited all Gaudi’s main building work in Barcelona. Pretty good when I have not actually planned anything. If you are not seeing any pics as of yet, it will take a while before I can update them on my blog.

That’s all the highlight I have for you now. Will post more later.

Cheers,

Benny Ong

Look at what my dearest Song Yia got me!

A personalized plate with my domain name on it. Something that I always wanted! That is one tick off my wish list.

Thank you very much! Yay!

This is my first attempt at video blogging. It certainly takes less effort than having to type out what you intend to say and might have some appeal to those who do not wish to read.

Well, here it goes and hope you enjoy it!

Btw, it will be interesting to see what your suggestions are to fill up the urine sample with. My initial thoughts are apple juice but I am curious what other people might think.

Take it easy everyone and catch up with all of you soon.

Benny Ong

Thank god it’s Friday! Well, the weather for the weekend looks promising and I finally have my web cam installed for video conferencing with my team in the office. We are a virtual team you see and the video portion adds value.

This is a pic I took using the Creative Live! Ultra WebCam while testing it to ensure it is working fine.

As a bonus, you get to see the background of my small and humble office.

Enjoy your weekend folks!

Cheers,

Benny Ong

According to the website, I will earn this much of money in the next ten years! Wow! Try it and see.

17,319,680

How much will you be worth? Don’t know how accurate it is but it is a good start!

I can’t believe my time in Rhineland has ended and it was time to bid farewell and move on to the next stop which is Ghent. It is the 4th largest city in Belgium and is heavily populated by students.

The journey from Bad Salzig, Germany to Ghent in Belgium took near to 6 hours due to the mixed traffic conditions. Funnily enough we went through the Netherlands to get to Ghent which made our trip officially 5 countries (England, France, Germany, Netherlands & Belgium) in three days

Once we arrive at Ghent, everything was worth the journey. Here is a slideshow of the pictures that I have taken.

My favourite building of all in Ghent has to be St. Nicholas’ Church. It is just the roof top that caught my eyes.

St. Nicholas’ Church.

The Cloth Hall And Belfry

We made our way to the top of Belfry with a combination of steps and lifts. Entry ticket costs 3 Euros. It gave us a magnificent view of the city although it was a tight squeeze at the top.

Top Of Belfry

Inside Belfry

After Belfry, we countinue our walking tour of Ghent. Although equiped with a map, I just followed the pack and after countless of nice buildings, we ended up at the Castle. Due to the time constraints, we decided not to go in.

Castle Of The Counts

The must eat street food in Belgium are waffles and their Fritz (Chips or French Fries). The place we found offered us sauces with names such as Cocktail and Samurai. I went for fries with the Cocktail sauce simply because it tasted good.

Enjoying Fritz (Fries) with Cocktails Sauce

Waffles from An Australian Place. Doesn’t Sound Right!

The fun weekend was coming to an end when we started out journey back to Calais for the return ferry. As we arrive ahead of schedule, we stopped at this place called Cheers whereby alcohol are sold at a cheaper rate. It is like a warehouse/hypermarket with booze.

Cheers in Calais

I reached back in London just before 11.00 p.m. which gave me ample time to rest before the going to work the next day!

The Rhineland is one of the most picturesque areas in Europe with the gorgeus River Rhine surrounded by vineyards and stunning scenery! If you want to read up more about Rhineland, visit the page on Wikipedia. In 2002, it joined the list of Unesco World Heritage site.

After waking up from a good rest despite sleeping in a room with three empty beds being a bit spooky, I headed down for breakfast. We soon met up with our tour guide and coach driver for our short trip to Boppard, another small village for our cruise down the river.

A Group Picture in Boppard

Before I knew it, we were already on our two hour cruise along the river. We were going against the current which made the journey a bit longer. The sun was perfect and I have had so much sun in a while.

On Board The Cruise and Rheinfels Castle On The Background

The views were just amazing and breath taking. Take a peek at the following slideshow which gives you postcard views of the location.

The cruise ended at the other side of the river bank whereby we continued our short journey to Rudesheim for Wine Tasting. The private session was hosted by Sebastian and he explains about it being a family run business for generations.

We get to keep the shot glasses as souveniors

We were also given giant salty pretzels to kill the taste between the wines. We had three types of wines with the taste increasing in sweetness.

Giant Pretzels

I left with two bottles of wine at a total of 19 Euros.

An Old Wooden Wine Making Machine

It was then lunchtime in Boppard. We had lunch in the patio of a restaurant underneath the sun. Something that I will never do in Malaysia as the sun back home will eat me alive!

A Cheeky Glass For A Large Glass of Beer

Generous Portions

No time was wasted after lunch whereby we headed towards the hills for a cable car ride to the top to see the Niederwald Monument. Return tickets cost 6.50 Euros but saves you time from walking.

View From The Open Air Cable Car

The monument was the statue of “Germania” and built in the years from 1877 to 1883. The 38m high (114 feet) monument commemorates the Franco-German War of 1870-1871 and the re-establishment of the German Empire.

The Niederwald Monument

Greek like Temple on the hill

With more free time on our hands, we bid farewell to the coach to cross over the river to Bingen for a train ride to St Goaz where Rheinfels Castle was. It is the largest castle among the countless ones along the river. Like many, this one has been converted into a hotel.

The Hotel Part of The Castle

When we reached the top, the opening times has ended but we manage to enter through the unguarded exit to have a peek into the surroundings.

A Cool Part In The Castle

We took the train back to Bad Salzig to freshen up and for dinner. We decided to walk along the banks after the heavy dinner and it was straight to bed once again after a tiring and enjoyable day.

Cheers!

Woke up ar 4.00 a.m in the morning and made my way to Baker Street after a warm shower. I reached the pick up point 45 minutes ahead of time and decided to have McDonald’s for breakfast. I was privellege to have an Australian couple as company before the coach arrive. They were heading for the Paris trip while I was for Germany.

I boarded the coach which made a last pick up at Lewisham before making its way to Dover for the 9.20 a.m. Sea France ferry to Calais. I took the ferry before on my trip to Brugge with the same tour operator, Anderson Tours. Here are some pictures in the ferry.

Crossing Over To France

The Shop In The Ferry

One Of The Many Places To Eat On Board

After the 1 hour and 45 minutes journey on the ferry where I slept most of the time, we continued our journey from France to Belgium and then into Germany. We made two stops along the way for a loo break and this one caught my attention. It cost 50 cents to use the toilet but it was like paying a ticket to get in to watch this self cleaning toilet seat. Watch the video of it as follow:

Back on board, the tour guide started distributing rooms and I was given a free upgrade to a private room by myself as I was the odd one out. It will usually cost an additional GBP60.00 for it.

We soon arrive at our hotel in Bad Salzig. This is a peek into the hostel like room. It was meant for four person with en suite bathroom and a TV that was not working.

Hotel Rheintal

The Corridor Leading To The Rooms

Outside of the hotel

Dinner was included in this trip and there was a complimentary 3 hour bar running with local beers, wines and soft drinks. The dinner was three course and it started with a soup, pasta and ended with a fruit cocktail.

Dinner Time!

Dinner was the perfect time to socialize and since I was travelling alone, a good time to be in a group. I went for a walk along the quiet streets before heading straight to bed. The main road was so dead that you literally can sleep in the middle of it.

Read on for my exciting adventures!

Cheers!

I am a sucker for mini figurines and collectibles. The recent set that I completed my collection is Marvel Micros. It was sold in a box of three random figures which I cheated by ebaying the remaining ones to complete the set.

I got all of them delivered today but left the package in the office. I intend to take a picture of the whole set before blogging but will save it for next time.

I can picture my new house with cabinets displaying my cherish possessions from HeroClix to Miniature Gundam. If anyone of you intend to ask me to grow up, I am still a kid at heart. So don’t even try!

I will be in London tomorrow and then on my solo weekend getaway to a place in Germany called Rhineland. I won’t be having my laptop with me which means I won’t be blogging during that time but will attempt to update on any chance I have.

Will be sharing my experience as well.

Happy Labour Day everyone!

Yippie!

I love winning competitions and contest. This time around is the latest CD from Jack Johnson. Speaking about the latest craze on going green, this whole album is recorded using solar energy! Beat that!

Thank you Mix.fm!