Not sure whether this is the front of the building.

A beautifully crafted marble staircase. It seems that you can rent the halls for functions.

Another corridor. Really unreal. You have to be there to truly appreciate the grandeur of this building.

Even the ceiling was intricately designed by local artisans.

Below is not a hall but a corridor to another cavernous hall.

The first room the guide took us is the theater. Here, a full opera can be conducted. Note the massive chandelier at the center of the hall. The guide told us that every material used in the construction of this building was sourced locally. The pride of the nation.

A selfie.

The guide. Behind her are busts of famous people from Romania and a tapestry that depicts the history of ancient Romania.

Green carpet and a green dial watch.

The tour starts. I though this first room was a hall but I was corrected by the guide, it is only a passageway...wow.

BPAM bag in Bucharest.

In Bucharest, the weather was just beautiful, clear skies without any clouds.

We are currently mingling outside the building waiting for a guide to come to us.

Very impressive facade. Some technical details of the building: 270 m by 240 m, 86 m hight 92 m underground 1,100 rooms 12 stories tall with four additional underground levels currently available and in use (another four in different stages of completion) Floor area 340,000 m2 (3,700,000 sq ft)

Made out of marble, the building holds the world record for the heaviest building in the world.

At the end of the conference, the organisers arranged a trip to The Palace of Parliament, a multi-purpose building containing both chambers of the Romanian Parliament. The Palace is the world's largest civilian building with an administrative function, most expensive administrative building and heaviest building. We took a bus to get to the building. It is massive!

The Suasana Loft Condominium. Part of the new Shell Corporate HQ can be seen between the two towers.

Here is Plaza Sentral. A lot of movies have used this place as a backdrop.

On Sunday had a walk around KL Sentral. Very quiet place on the weekend. Below is Sooka Sentral.

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I bought a present for my younger brother yesterday. I never recalled buying him anything for the last 42 years. Maybe I am getting old. So, I got him a Maranez brass watch. I hope he enjoys it. Below are pictures of the watch on his wrist.

Finally got myself multi-focal glasses. Been getting difficult to read small prints with my current glasses. So, ordered a new one after getting my eyesight checked by an optometrist. Lenses are expensive piece of engineered/policed glass. Cost me a bomb to get it.When it came to choosing the frame for it, my eyes caught this - a Seiko Titanium frame. I didn't know that Seiko also produces glass frames.

Since my previous posting about my first and currently only coconut tree in my garden (see: http://meoramri.blogspot.com/2014/02/first-coconut-from-my-garden.html), the first coconut has grown to a size that I felt was sufficiently big to harvest. As advertised, the particular coconut tree is supposed to start bearing fruit in 7 years time. I planted it in 2007 and the first fruit came in 2014, on schedule. Here my son is holding to the coconut after plucking it.

Just got myself the latest Call of Duty (or COD) codename: Ghost. This is a new chapter in the COD franchise featuring a fresh dynamic where players are on the side of a crippled nation fighting not for freedom, or liberty, but simply to survive.

Its noon-time in Bucharest (I've yet to change the Malaysian time on my watch - Romania is 6 hours behind Malaysia). My session has just ended. Time for lunch!

A question being asked by a representative of an Eastern European Central Banker (I believe from Poland).

On the third and final day of the conference was my turn to take to the podium to share the Malaysian bond market as well as the aspects of valuation experience in the last 10 years. This was the most liveliest moment of the conference as a lot of developing countries from Europe, Africa and Latin America have not had such concepts introduced into their respective jurisdictions. Questions came thick and fast. Quite proud to know that Malaysians do have another working idea to share with the developing world and I am in the thick of it. Another interesting fact about Romania: for the four days I was there, all mineral water comes from glass bottles. I don't see plastic bottle anywhere. The picture below was taken when I set down after my presentation for the questions and answers session. Too embarrassed to take a good photo so I took this subtle/sneak picture.

The Romanian Banking Institute is situated about 20 minutes walk away from the hotel. Here is where ongoing training of banking professionals in Romania are usually held.

At 15 meters, if you are using a basic .22 pistol, its very hard to get a good grouping. However, with a specialised .22 target pistol that comes with a very heavy barrel and ergonomic stock, it is easy. I am able to put in a nice 4 inch grouping (i.e. all shots landing withing the white circle).

Instead of having lunch, I would nip for a short shooting session at the shooting club. Target shooting with a Walther .22 target pistol calms me and is a great stress reliever. Below was my gear: Czech bullets, German gun and a Japanese watch for company.

With the democratization of Romania, a lot of the unwanted influences of "freedom" have gotten root in Bucharest. There are casinos and sex shops everywhere. In fact, I was prepositions many times by people offering sexual services. Even the Intercontinental Hotel has a casino! Another interesting observation is availability of a box of condom as part of the tidbits hotel rooms offer.

A selfie. Weather was a nice cold 6 degrees Celsius. Luckily there was no wind. Hence, one can go about town with just a scarf and a pullover.

Bucharest is like an old town. A lot of abandoned buildings. However, there is life in her and you can see the urban renewal programmes that are already being initiated. In this picture below, I was trying to take a picture of this sex shop that is just beside the hotel. Unfortunately, it got covered by the trees. Anyway, I will come back to this later.

The lobby was still empty.

Around this time, I was informed that the haze situation in Kuala Lumpur was bad. However, in Bucharest, it was bright and cloudless day.

Woke up very early the next day to have breakfast. I still have jet-lag and can't sleep pass 5 am local time. Anyway, breakfast is early in the hotel, starts at 6 am. Since I was early, I was able to choose the best seat in the room, a view of the main road. Surprisingly, there are a lot of early risers in the city. There's cars on the roads and the taxi stand is full of waiting taxis.

The sun is setting. It was a perfect end for the week.

If you think about it, resting in a pool surrounded by tall buildings on all sides is very creepy. If you not conscious about it, it should not be a problem.

Didn't do much over the weekend accept for chilling at the pool. Had the 50 meter pool practically all to myself. Downcast day which was fine for me.

Do you know how hard it is to find a rugby ball in Kuala Lumpur? You can't find it in Mid Valley or the Gardens. You can't even find it in Pavillion. What is available is just soccer balls. Anyway, I got this one shown below so that I can teach my son how to play the game of rugby.

At night had alfresco dining experience at Burger King overlooking Jalan Tun Sambathan.