Well, it’s the final day of the training already today. In the morning session, we continue a little more on server managament, especially the log analysis part. And in the afternoon session, it is just a summary on what was trained for the past 2 days.

Overall, I think this training is really good. This surely concludes the missing part that I’m curious about Dimension.net platform as a whole.

So before we all go, I suggest to them, why not taking a photo. So, here is the training team for Dimension Server training.

From left to right:
Ben Gray (CAI Manager) from Synovate Fieldwork International UK, Andrew Miles (European IT Manager) from Synovate Healthcare UK, David Ellis (Network Administrator) from Synovate Healthcare UK, Ketan Keshav from Synovate Fieldwork International UK, I don’t quite know who’s the next person is as there was a technical error with the camera and the photo got blurred (hehehe), Mithat Olut (R&D Manager) from Synovate Turkey, Hakan Adolfsson (Managing Director) from Synovate Sweeden, and lastly, Mr. Trainer himself, Zora Scoric from SPSS UK.

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Before I came to London, I did contacted Romeo a little bit about London, how to get from Heathrow airport to hotel, how to get to Synovate office there etc.

Romeo Solas, once worked as Project Manager for Viewscast Singapore. We worked together a lot last time on a few regional projects. But ever since he moved to Synovate London office, and ever since I don’t support Viewscast anymore, we kinda lost contact already.

So, since I’m here in London, it’s best to meet him, just to catch up old stories. We decided to meet at Piccadily Circus station. So my first visit today is Piccadily Circus area.

Feel so glad to me Romeo, and I feel glad to know that he likes working here in London, and I even glad to know that he’s been promoted to Manager already.

So today is London touring day I guess. We keep walking, and not far from there is Trafalgar Square. It is very nice to hang around here. But we didn’t stop there long, as it getting late, and it will get darks pretty soon.

We kept walking and finally reached Buckingham Palace. Not the best time to come here though as there’s no ‘changing the guard‘ takes place.

Kept walking and finally we reached Big Ben. Took a few photos here, and took one for my blog as well.

Not far is London Eye. Hey. I guess the term ‘eye’ is synonym with this thing already. We have Eye On Malaysia in Malaysia, and The Singapore Flyer in Singapore.

And here is the panorama photo that I took for London Eye,

and this is the photo that I took when standing under London Eye.

But the time seems not allowing us to walk more, and it gets dark, and most of the places around here start to pack up. So, London Eye is the last stop for today, and it’s time to call a day after that.

Anyway, so glad that I had a chance to meet Romeo while I’m here.

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The training will start tomorrow. The reason why I’m here early is due to get myself used to UK time. The condition that I’m experiencing is what we called ‘jet-lag’.

Jet-lag, is a physiological condition which is a consequence of alterations to the circadian rhythm. The condition is generally believed to be the result of disruption of the “light/dark” cycle that entrains the body’s circadian rhythm. It can be exacerbated by environmental factors.

So just imagine, while it is noon here, it is already 8pm in Malaysia. As as the day goes, my body that is used to the day and night cycle in Malaysia feels that it need to rest already. As a result, I will feel so sleepy and weak.

Today, I actualy woke up around 2pm. So before it gets dark, I guess it’s better for me to have a walk around this area first, and most importantly find where is the Synovate office which I will be at tomorrow for the training. It’s better to find it now rather than rushing to find the place tomorrow morning.

And again, Google comes to help. Prior coming to London, I have actually surf Google Map UK on the location of my hotel, and the location of London’s Synovate office. And below is what I get from my search result.

Pretty neat huh. From yesterday’s entry, that is why my last stop is Putney Bridge station, as the hotel I’m staying at is just about 300 metres from the station. And it seems that the Synovate Healthcare office is just a walking distance from the hotel as well, and it seems that I got to cross the bridge.

Below is actually the Putney Bridge that I crossed to the other side of land. From here, according to the map, it’s not very far already to the office.

And walla. They you go. I found the Synovate Healthcare office. From hotel to office, it took me about 10 mins walking.

Anyway, it’s very nice over here. The office is overlooking River Thames. As always, taking panorama photos is a must for me.

I then walk around a little around Putney area when it gets dark already and all the malls are about to close. It’s still winter here, and it gets dark really fast. Really looking forward for tomorrow’s training.

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I woke up as early as 3am this morning, getting the final preparation done for my trip to London. I guess all checked. I have ticket and passport in my laptop’s bag, put all the money in my wallet, get all things packed in the luggage. Off I go to KLIA.

Thanks to my housemate for driving me there, where I spent the time sleeping in the car again with the little sleep that I had last night.

Arrived at KLIA, get my luggage checked in, and off I go to the satelite building for departures. The journey to Bangkok took about 2 hours, where I fell asleep again as soon as I’m on board, and wake up for a while during meal time.

Finally, I reached at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport. This is the photo that I took from the flight’s window as soon as I reached there.

As soon as I’m out from the plane, I’m headed to “Transfer to International” area,

and check which gate that I should go for the next flight.

During my way, I found this interesting sign. Wow. At least here they have a big sign for this. I wonder where is the Muslim prayer room in KLIA.

The local time when I arrived was about 9am, where my next flight to London will be at 1:50pm. It’s like I have almost 5 hours to kill during transit. Gosh. Only god knows how boring I am, and how tired I am. So, to kill time, what else better to do that to hook up on internet. Luckily the airport provides free wireless internet.

It almost time for my next flight, but before that, lets take a photo of the depature hall first.

As soon as I arrived at the gate, the flight is ready to be board.

If you notice, for the new Malaysia’s passport, instead of the original passport photo is pasted into the passport, it is actually being printed. During the passport check while entering the departure hall, I got stop by the staff there, and they spent almost 5 minutes verifying my passport. They also asked for my IC. I kinda feel mad as all the “mat salleh” in front of me got to get in without much questions. What they did, just look at the boarding pass, and let them go.

Anyhow, I got into the flight after that, find where my seat is, put the hand luggage into the overhead compartment, got seated, and fasten my seat belt. Then I look at the front, and, oh shit. Where is the screen? When soon I realize this flight only have centralized screen. “Oh tidakkkkkk!!!!!” How am I suppose to spend 12 hours on the flight just by looking at the centralized screen? Furthermore, I got window seat, and the screen is block by the head of tall “mat salleh” at the seat in front of me. This is not what I expected. The last time when I’m on MAS, every seat has its own screen.

So, what I do for the 12 hours in the flight? What else then to sleep and sleep and sleep. Just woke up for a while for the 2 meals that they have in between.

At about 7:35pm, London time, I arrived at London Heathrow airport. Oh. It’s been 6 years already since I last here, the time when I got back to Malaysia after my 3-year degree in UK. Nothing much changed I guess.

So, same thing that I need to do upon arrival is to go through the immigration counter. But again, another unpleasant thing happened here. Below is the conversation that I (Me) had with the Immigration Office (IO).

Me: Hello there. Good evening (pass my passport to IO)
IO: Where you from?
Me: Malaysia
IO: How long you’ll be in UK?
Me: About 6 days
IO: What you are here for?
Me: I’m here, sent my company for training in London’s office
IO: What kind of training?
Me: It’s a server setup training
IO: So, you already have a place to stay in UK
Me: Yeap. I’ll be staying at Premier Travel Inn, Putney Bridge
IO: Do you have any letter from the company?
Me: Yes (get the fax that I got from London’s office and pass to the IO)
IO: It doesn’t stated here where you’ll have your training
Me: Actually it’s written there on the letter, at the top
IO: Oh. It’s here. Synovate, Putney Bridge. So all the hotel cost will be paid by the company?
Me: Nope. I have to pay first, then I’ll claim from my company later (damn. why I be so honest)
IO: How much you have with you now?
Me: About 700 pounds
IO: Is there any other sources of fund here, if what you got is not enough
Me: Yes. I can always ask for money for London office here
IO: How much is it cost for the hotel?
Me: About 70 pounds something per night. You see, I should have more than enough money for that. Futhermore, I also have credit cards with me
IO: Ok. (not looking at me, stamp my passport, and let me go)

Lets face it. Islam and Muslims have gotten a very bad image nowadays, and we got to do something about it. Furthermore, my name is with Mohd and bin. They’ve been so paranoid about muslim getting into their country.

After that quite long interrogation from the immigration officer, now I can claim my luggage, and walk to Heathrow Terminal 1,2,3 underground station. I’m on Piccadily line, stoping at Earl’s Court station, and change to District line.

It’s quite easy to move around in London on tube after you have understand the underground network here. At I said earlier, I will stop at Earl’s Court station, change to District line to Putney Bridge station. Well, find where is Putney Bridge from the map below.

Something that I don’t like about UK is, the outdoor life there ended at 7pm. Usually, all the stores are closed at 7pm (and some earlier), and people started to get home, and never go out. It’s cold here anyway, and that’s the reason why the night time here is so solitary.

I got scared myself, travelling in an empty train, while carrying big luggage with 700 pounds in my wallet. If I got mugged, then that’s it.

Alhamdulillah, thanks to Allah for making my journey a safe one, where I finally arrived at the hotel. First thing that I do is to take a shower. Feeling so tired from the 19 hours journey (KUL-BKK-LON).

Then what else, I feel so sleepy. This cosy bed awaits me.

Good night. I really had a good sleep that night.

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Oh dear. How I miss my blog so much. And for those of you who keeps coming here to see a new post, a thousand apologees. And also to those who left comment or left message on TagMe!, a thousand apologees too since I still didn’t have change to reply all of the messages.

It’s been a real busy month for me. With my last entry dated 5th of March, that is actually the point where I got really busy. Let treats Sunday 4th March is the first week of March.

First week of March
There’s a training to be held in Malaysia office, and I am the trainer. You can imagine how busy I’m getting ready for this – preparing slides, preparing training materials, preparing exercises and doing my own homework too so that I’m 100% prepared for what I’m about to teach others.

Second week of March
There’s a continuation of my last week’s training, and this time, is on more advanced stuffs. Gleen Tweedie from Australia office came down to Malaysia to give the training. There will be a seperate blog entry about this training, once I got all the photos that my boss took using her digital camera. I didn’t bring my digital camera for the whole training session. Huhuhu

Third week of March
My big boss from Hong Kong, Howard and Madhava from London office came down to Malaysia for a kick off meeting on one of the multi country project. Believe me, the I kept yawning thorough out the meeting sessions. It’s really tiring. I feel my brain paralyzed already, and can’t think properly. I’m so exhausted. My part in this project is quite big.

Firth week on March
There’s Dimension server training in London, and my big boss sent me there. There was a similar training last time in US, which I insist not going. Someone from Muslim country entering USA? I guess getting the visa is really hard, and that’s the reason someone else was sent last time. But according to the person who went there, US being so protective and stingy of passing the knowledge, and he came back empty handed, without knowing on what is really going on. I guess I didn’t face the same fate. But UK people ok I guess. With me being in London, got to meet all those people that were in that multi country project that I mentioned earlier. Arrgghhh. This will be anoter tiring week for me – 3 days training, and 1 day meeting all those poeple in London office working on that project.

I hate flying anyway, with the fact that, it’s not for holiday. I always feel this travelling fatique – me worrying of whether I have all items packed, sleepless night worrying I might overslept and have to rush to the airport.

Anyway, I have all the important items lined up on my table. Money that I made travel advance from my company, e-ticket and passport. If I happen to forget of not taking any of these 3 items, I’m doomed.

As usual, whenever someone needs to travel, the finance surely give the coins one for us to spend at the originating country. As you know, coins are not accepted any any of foreign currency excange. So, when they knowing someone going somewhere oversea, those finance people surely will dig their petty cash to find all the foreign currency that they have, and give to the person that will do the oversea travelling as part of the claim made.

Gosh. It’s been ages I didn’t see Britain’s coins. Anyway, from left to right are the coins of the following denomition: £2 -> £1 -> 50 pence -> 20 pence -> 10 pence -> 5 pence -> 2 pence -> 1 pence

And what will add the fatique is, there’s no more direct flight available. My office’s secretacy check all – MAS, Singapore Airline, Cathay Pacific – none to avail. And the best that she can get is Thai Airways connecting flight to London transit at Bangkok airport.

Oh no. My flight outbound to LON has to transit at Bangkok for nearly 5 hours. Sob! Sob!

Well, I’m going to get a little nap now. Going to wake up again around 2am, and get ready to KLIA. I prefer to be 3 hours earlier there at airport before my departure time. Check in counter sometimes tend to be very pack, and I have when have to do things in rush, like running to the depature hall due to the gate is almost closed.

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