The Queen Elizabeth 2 Conference Centre

The Queen Elizabeth 2 Conference Centre (QEICC) is located in Westminster, London. In terms of location, I think it is the best for any business conference, as it is just situated shadow of Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and the British Airways London Eye.

It has wide variety of rooms available on 6 floors, with syndicate rooms available for group breakout discussions (very useful for workshops!). It also offers wide variety of food for conference organizers. The menu is extensive, from a la carte to buffets, to cocktail party, etc.

They also offer event management service that would help event organizers. I've worked with these event managements people before, they help a lot in coordination and making things are in perfect order - less hassle for organizers like us.

In terms of accommodations, people can choose to book last minute or book in advance at nearby hotels in London. Hotel in London is always perceived as very expensive, especially after conversion to RM. I am surprised to find good deals for last minute London hotels booking. I always thought last minute (inside 21 days) bookings are always more expensive, not necessary. There are deals start from GBP10!

Brought to you by cheaperthanhotels.co.uk

The Obelisk

My friend forwarded this to me, and I think it is very interesting to share with you. This was originated from this blog.

First, take a look at the pic below.

Don't be lazy, try to guess what this obelisk is for?

Tips: You unassemble it to use.

Still cannot?

Okay, it is an outdoor furniture, 4 chairs and a table. Below a few pics from that blog to show you how it is unassembled and used as furniture.

I first thought it is a mobile toilet. :P You should go over to that blog for more pics and details of the product.

Are You Moving?

When do we move? Bought or lease a new house, or got a new job offering in other city or country?

It is not easy planning for a move or relocation. There is a saying in Chinese: moving from upstair to downstair, lost a barrel of wheat (which means things get missing when we move, even for a shortest distance!).

Moving can actually be easy, if you leave this to the professionals. My best friends were reloated to other countries, one in China and one in Thailand. Both used professional movers. These international movers are experts and able to advise and provide guidence, so that you won't leave anything out.

These relocation professionals usually provide a one stop solution, able to help in all aspect from real estate, mortgage, auto shipping, moving, insurance, home improvement, careers, etc.

One may ask: Why do you need 'careers' service from these agencies? Take my friend's case for example. She moved to China because of her husband's job. She had to quit her highly pay job to follow the husband. She may want to get a job there once settles down, so this service would be handy then!

Beijing

I am going to Beijing again very soon. This time, I will have a little more time for sightseeing.

When I went there on business, I always made sure I visit a site on my last day -- flight usually leaves at 4pm, so I could use the morning - limited to closeby areas. After a few business trips, even without extending on my own expenses, I've managed to covered quite a lot of places. Now, almost got nothing to do, except to shop.

For this trip, I discovered this travel blog that listed down the Top Ten in Beijing, which gives me very good ideas.

From this travel blog, I've found a few places that I've never known nor visited. On the top pick is: Red Lantern House. This is a hostel in Beijing's historic hutong neighbours. A good way to experience the traditional Chinese style of 'homestay'.

Another pick from the list is Wansheng Theatre for their Chinese Acrobat Show at No. 95 Tianqiao Market XuanWu District. I've never been there, but have seen similar acrobat show at Laoshe Teahouse. I went there after a whole day's meeting - a treat by the locals! Very fun thing to do, but not to be repeated too often!

Lastly, the third place that I haven't been, in the top 10 list in that blog is: Lama Temple. In the blog, it didn't write down the address, but I believe I can ask around for that.

These are another 3 places to fill up my next 3 trips to Beijing! :P

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Parking At Airport

Usually when I travel on business, I go to the airport by taxi as I could claim the expenses, so I've never have to face with parking issues.

Two years ago, we brought our son to KK, and we parked our car at the airport for 2 nights. When we returned, wow! the parking fee was nearly a hundred ringgits. There is no cap to the parking fee, as we were told, so if you park for a couple of weeks, the cost can come up to a thousand! In addition, finding a space in the small car park can also be a stress especially when you have a flight to catch.

In Gatwick Parking, we can online evaluate parking rates from more than 100 different car parks around the airport (see, unlike them, we only have 1 - monoplized!). They have a crawler collecting information from all car parks, help us to find the lowest car park fees from a single website.

After evaluating and finding a car park/rate that you are satisfied with, you can book the space online before your flight departure! Upon arrival, just present the pre-paid voucher at the car park, and there is free transport to the terminal from the car parks.

The whole process is actually very simple:
1) enter the flight information (depart and return dates/times)
2) choose a car park
3) guarantee a space
4) pay
5) receive voucher
6) give to attendant
Indeed, this is a very use friendly website.

I really wish we can have this kind of service in Malaysia. This can take away one hassle, especially people traveling with family!

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Paint Ball

I saw a new opportunity in PayPerPost on paint ball. Though the payout rate is not good, it reminded me of my last paint ball experience, and I wanted to take the opportunity -- but then, later found out it is only opened for US bloggers. :(

Anyway, since I've digged out the pic from my archive in 2001, I've decided to blog it away, but the advertiser won't get their link. :P

Okay, back to the topic - Paint Ball. Have you tried playing with it? I've only played once.

It was during my ex-company's trip to Bukit Tinggi Resort (now is renamed to Berjaya Hills), somewhere slightly further north from Genting Highland. We stayed in Colmar Tropicale, the only accommodation there, with a French theme. The buildings are made looks like French castles, and there are performance on the street, and very nice night views.

This is a very small hill indeed. There aren't many places to go, or many things to do. It would be good if you go in a group, so you can do group activities like what we did.

One of the things that we played was the paint ball. If you are not familiar with this, paint ball is kind of like a combat game, where you shoot the opponent with paint-balls. The paint balls are filled with paints and will colour you if you are shot. So, it is obvious that you can't play this if you just go there alone or with your girl friend/boy friend only. ;)

Our gang never followed instruction to keep a safe distance during firing. I got a shot on my thigh, at an extremely closed distance. The result is.... dadadada!


Scary or not? It took me 2 months to recover from that huge bruise! And that was the only time I played paint ball - not that I was scared of it, but couldn't find the chance and the group to do the same any more, especially as age grows. :P

Anyway, back to the resort, the other things that you can do there are:
- Donkey rides (for kids)
- Horse riding (for adults)
- Rabbit park
- Deer sanctuary
- Japanese village
- Golf
- Spa (I think this is a new resort, it wasn't there back in 2001)