Warsaw Business Trip (30 Nov - 5 Dec)

It was supposed to be a simple trip to witness my company's ONE Awards; an internal award to crown the best work done from our 110 offices worldwide, but it was an amazing life changing trip. Here are some pictures with some narration.

1) Stopover at Amsterdam for a transfer to Warsaw. Pictures of Amsterdam International Airport, Schiphol.

A Miffy T-shirt (Miffy, the small female rabbit drawn and written by Dick Bruna, a Dutch Artist)

A hand panted elephant gallery

2) Because we were delayed at KLIA, we missed our flight to Warsaw. The transfer desk suggested we take a flight to Paris and THEN to Warsaw. So...pics of Paris International Airport: Charles de Gaulle



3) Finally...Warsaw, Poland! 4 cities in 24 hours (KL, Amsterdam, Paris, Warsaw). Greeted with a beautiful temperature of -16C (note the negative sign). We arrived in the evening and we were extremely hungry and COLD! So we headed for a shopping mall nearby to eat a blockbuster meal.

For starters, we had Polish dumpling covered with pork lard. Don't underestimate the small-ish size of a dumpling, it's packed full with minced pork.

My pork ribs. Note the height and size of that slab, it actually casted a shadow.

Side note: The above is a traditional Polish soup made of beetroot and served with pork dumplings

The Palace of Culture and Science, located opposite our hotel. It's the tallest building in Warsaw, built during the Communist era. The nicest building in Warsaw but the locals hate it, reminds them when they were under Communist rule.

The hotel we stayed in, InterContinental Warsaw (it's a huge billboard if you're wondering what it is)

Warsaw Day 2: We had some time before the ONE AWARDS, so we did a 1-day walking tour with Adventure Warsaw (no, we didn't choose to walk in the extreme weather, their van broke down).

View of the city from my hotel room just before the morning sun had risen.

View of the city from the hotel coffee shop

Our tour guide was very informative. She explained the above buildings are the remains of The Ghetto where the Nazis rounded up the Jews and "packed" them in this small area. Conditions were terrible - diseases and starvation. Click on the link to know more about The Ghetto (warning: disturbing images)

To me, Warsaw is like Vietnam or Cambodia, a developing country, trying to find her feet again after decades of war and communism. The above pic is a wall with bullet holes at the Ghetto.

Pictures of a snow covered Saxon Garden

The only remains of the Saxon Palace, completely bombed by Nazis during WW2.


Warsaw Old Town (It's not actually old, cause they rebuilt it...as the old Old Town was completely destroyed). It's a UNESCO World Heritage site now.

Other buildings nearby the Old Town
The palace where the current President lives

St John's Cathedral

The rebuilt Royal Castle (note the colour of the wall on the right is different from the rest, cause it's the remaining piece of the actual castle before it was blowned up)

The remains of the actual Royal Castle

Bazaar area

Warsaw Uprising, a major WW2 operations by the Polish Resistance. Visitors must visit the Warsaw Uprising Museum for an express understanding and appreciation of Poland's history during WW2. When I walked out of the museum, my world changed. Everything I knew (or didn't know) about WW2 suddenly clicked.

Uprising Museum

What was left of Warsaw after the bombings. 85% of the city was wiped out.

Finally, the SMG ONE Awards which was held in a contemporary arts museum. Extremely cold, but it was a great night which ended with 5 minutes display of awesome fireworks.