Kehidupan Anak Dagang

Around Qatar's National Day

2009-12-15T10:43:00.003+03:00

Those who have free time and wanna join the people of The State of Qatar to celebrate their national day, you can join activities lined up throughout the week before the final countdown this Saturday, 18 December 2009.

You can get the information from http://www.nationalday2009.com.

For those photog out there, take out your camera and show your skills..

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha (Eid Mubarak)

2009-11-28T07:12:00.004+03:00

Wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww......

It has been a very very long time since I last posted in this blog!! The last posting was in 19 September 2009 ie on last Eid. I find it is time again to start blogging.. After a long log 'rest'..

For a start, let me wish you Eid Mubarak. We doa our friends in Mekah will have "haji mabrur".

As for us in Doha, Eid day was celebrated "Sederhana Tetapi Meriah" yesterday with Malaysian Association of Qatar (MAQ) together with Malaysian Embassy organised a small scale qurban and aqiqah. We then organised a gotong royong to cook daging aqiqah at the home of one of the embassy's staffs, En Ahmad. Many thanks to Encik Ahmad and family for having us!!

In the run up to qurban, I actually visited the Animal Market 2 times. Once I brought Alisha along for her to get close and personal experience with the sheep. She loved the experience even she complained of the bad smell..

As usual, this Eid is also filled up with open houses! We had 3 yesterday excluding the session at En Ahmad's house. I missed one of them though as I was busy with qurban session. We will have another 3 open houses today and now tomorrow, so far...

Eid Mubarak to all our Muslim friends..

Eid Mubarak

2009-09-19T08:15:00.004+03:00

We would like to wish Eid Mubarak to our family and friends.. No matter where you are, please ensure we have a good celebration.

May Allah accept our ibadah especially for the last one month.

For this year, we celebrate Eid with our families in Malaysia. We foresee that we will celebrate Eid in Malaysia from next year onward. This is mainly due to the fact that Eid will fall during summer holidays. We celebrated Eid for the last two years with our friends in Qatar.

Selamat Hari Raya
Maaf Zahir Batin

Exhition of The Year

2009-09-10T18:48:00.003+03:00

Fanar Expo to dispel myths about Ka’aba

DOHA: To put an end to misconceptions about the Ka’aba in the holy city of Makkah, Fanar will showcase a model at least half the size of the original at the Fanar Expo 2009. The exhibition at Doha International Exhibition Center will run from November 19 to 23.

The cuboidal structure of the Ka’aba, the annual pilgrimage by millions of faithful and the city closed to non-Muslims have all aroused curiosity in people around the world. Some have disguised themselves as Muslims to enter the city of Makkah and then the Grand Mosque that houses the Ka’aba, to witness the pilgrims’ rituals.

“We will show people images of the beautiful, historic town and its details throughout the history of mankind,” said Mohammed Ali Al Ghamdi, General Director of Fanar.

“We will also take a unique step in showing the Ka’aba from the inside. Many people think that the Ka’aba is just a stone worshipped by the Muslims; others think that it contains graves or treasures or swords and shields. The model will show the details of the Ka’aba from outside and inside, to illustrate clearly that it is just an empty mosque.”

The height of the model will be seven metres, with its sides measuring six metres by seven metres. The actual dimensions of Ka’aba are 13.1m X 11.03m X 12.86m. Touch screens with information about the history of the Ka’aba and the history of the Prophets who made pilgrimages to it, charts and various maps will also be exhibited.

“We will present a panoramic view related to all aspects of Islam, in a modern, professional and attractive way. The aim is to cover the various issues of every visitor to the expo, be they from any community in the world. Separate areas have been designated to give information about Makkah, the Ka’aba, all of the Prophets, the holy books, arts, Islamic arts and other cultural activities through the eight departments of Fanar,” he said.

Apart from the Ka’aba and Makkah, the history of the Prophets mentioned in the Quran and their relationship with Islam, what Quran says about them and how Muslims value them will also be discussed.

Posters and charts on Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) will include his biography from his birth until the revelation of his mission, the glad tidings about him in earlier books, the humanitarian aspects of his mission, as well as the value that he preached.

Islam’s stand on the Testaments will also be showcased, showing the relationship between the Quran and earlier religious books and other prophets. The holiness of the Quran and its miraculous aspects will be highlighted in the expo.

“We will make a great show about architecture, decorations, ceramics, wood works, binding and other fine arts. It will contain a workshop by Ahmet Cocktan, an Ebro artist, and Obaidah Al Bankee, an international calligrapher, along with their masterpieces. Works of Muslim scientists and their contributions will also be shown,” Al Ghamdi said.

Qatari traditions will also be exhibited, showing the close relation the land has with the sea. “The sea and the desert, its importance to the region, the history of Qatar and its morals and culture will be shown through some motifs and traditional pieces from Qatar,” said Mohammed Ammar Al Boni, Executive Manager, Seqlia Exhibition Organisers, the main organisers of the event.

The expo will have a traditional souq, which will showcase traditions of Qatar such as making markook (traditional Qatari bread), pearl jewellery and wooden boat workshops. Visitors can also get an insight into Muslim prayers through live demonstrations.

A mosque and two majlis — one for men and another for ladies — will also be opened.

The expo will also have a theatre. The theater will be a venue for cultural and educational events conducted by a team form Britain and various Islamic organisations in Qatar.

THE PENINSULA

Note : The article was published in today's The Peninsula

Back to school

2009-09-05T20:46:00.008+03:00

While people in Malaysia celebrating the country's 52nd Independent Day, Alisha was back in school again in Doha.

It was her 1st day at new school on 31 August 2009. She is now in Grade 1. We enrolled her at The International School of Choueifat. This is school which is on my way to work. It will be easy for me to drop her off and head straight to office...

I took 2 days off to ensure she settled well in her new school. The 1st day proved to be non-event...sigh.. Everything went so smoothly. In fact, it felt like any other school days for her. There was no registration! We went straight to the class. It did not even take us 5 minutes to locate her classroom.. List of student names for each class were published outside the classroom. You juts need to know how to read to locate the class..hehe. Everything seemed very much in order.. In fact, the school already allocated the table for her as well. Every table had names on them. Students just needed to go to the allocated table and ready for the class!! Everything completed in 10 minutes, I would say.. Then we left..

At 1st, I thought the only reason you would notice it was 1st day of the term was because so may cars parked at the road sides. But again, when I came back for the 2nd day to send Alisha to school, I could still see fleets of cars parked by the road sides... I suppose it was daily affair, not only on 1st day of the term.

I could not imagine how smooth the process was! I still remember how havoc any 1st day at school during my school years especially for 1st year or standard one students.

Merdeka, Merdeka, Merdeka

2009-08-31T09:33:00.005+03:00

We would like to convey our congratulation to all Malaysians for the country's 52nd Independent Day!

Let's join together to instil the true spirit of Merdeka in ourselves....

1Malaysia. People First, Performance Now.

Congratulation Malaysia!!!

Ramadan Kareem

2009-08-21T18:21:00.007+03:00

We would like to wish our families and friends around the globe, especially in Malaysia and Qatar, a very happy & blessed month of Ramadhan. May Allah accept our ibadah and reward us accordingly.

To our friends in Qatar, Malaysian Association of Qatar (MAQ) will be organising Ramadhan Bazaar for 3 consecutive Fridays starting from 28 August 2009 at Hyatt Plaza's Food Court.

MAQ will also hold an Iftar Programme on 27 August 2009 at Al Arabi Sports Club.

Selamat Berpuasa.. See you there!!! God Bless..

Happy Birthday To My Other Half...

2009-07-12T22:34:00.016+03:00

This card was from me, obviously

This card presented by our lovely daughter, Alisha

A very happy birthday to my lovely wife.. She celebrated her birthday today..

We had earlier celebrated her birthday with our extended family in Doha sometime ago before Dilla Damanhuri went for her summer holiday.. It was a surprise party handled very well by Dilla... The ladies presented her with a very nice necklace. It was Tiffany & Co, mind you... I gave me a great challenge to match the present.. huh.. My wife was dreaming of having a PSP for her birthday..And today, we just went out for a lunch at City Centre. Some adviced us to go to latest hotel in Doha, Grand Hyatt Hotel or Four Seasons..

A day earlier, we actually held a joint celebration with Meorfai's youngest daughter, Farhain at Bennigan's. Originally, I planned to give them a treat for the lunch.. At the end, Ms Exxon picked up the tap.. hehe. Thanks so much for the great lunch. Semoga murah rezeki, bole belanja lagi..

July seems to be a very busy month for us. We realised that so many people we knew were July born babies...

Happy Birthday, my love.. Let's pray for many happy returns, InsyaAllah.. As for the present.. It is for me to know and for you to find out.. Trust some of you out there already knew.. Consider that as privilege..hehe..

2 years & many happen returns.. Part II

2009-07-07T18:22:00.025+03:00

I 1st wrote about it in on our 1st anniversary last year. If you recall, Alisha made a statement about the heat while we were resting by the pool at Ramada Hotel on our 1st day in Doha. Till now I could still remember her words… But today, she never utters the words again. My guess she has been acclimatized to the heat in Doha.

Let me summarize our personal experiences for the last two years…

1. The Challenges
I would rate the experience to get a driving licence as the most challenging thing in Qatar. It is now a breeze for newcomers. They can easily convert their Malaysian licences to Qatari licences. I still remembered all Malaysians complained about it. In fact, I wrote quite a long article on my driving licence’s experience…

The 2nd challenge came in the form of house hunting. Two years before, it was landlords’ market. You either take it or leave it. If you want the house, put your money as deposit immediately. The real issue was that the houses/apartment here do not come standard. Back home, if you pay RM1,000, you can almost certain what you get. In Doha, you really need to see to appreciate it. Standard varies not in line with the prices. Today, it is more of tenants’ market. House rental has come down and we can see a lot of empty apartments around. I suppose the economics slow down has some impact in Qatar.

2. The Achievement
Achievement? It is rather difficult to say.. I will not go into monetary. It will be too controversial..hehe

What I knew I lost 10kg from the peak of my ‘prosperous time’. It was rather difficult task. It required sheer persistent and moral support. Criticism from Alisha was really a push factor. I still remember her first few word commenting “Daddy gemuk” or “Daddy is fat” whenever she saw me lay down with my belly up. How I managed to shed 10kg? 1st of all, thanks to RLC Football team especially the coach, Ali Musa, for allowing me to join the trainings. From there on, I kept losing the weight with the help of reduced food intake. The challenge now is to maintain the size! It was hard to get there, it is even harder to stay slim..hehe.

The only drawback when you lose so much weight is that you need new wardrobe which can be costly.. Most of my t-shirts & jeans are now 1 or 2 sizes too big..

On my wife's achievement, she passed her exam for her specialist programme, Alhamdulillah... Mabrouk to her..

3. The Great Loss
My wife lost her grandmother in our 1st month in Doha. May her soul rest in peace, amin.

4. The People’s Movement
The last two years witnessed the movement of our friends. There were few of our Malaysian friends who left Doha for Malaysia. Two prominent figures were Abe Zu & Deen. Both left us for Malaysia. Both of them were the 1st few friends we met when we 1st arrived in Doha.

Deen happened to my junior at school, way way my junior but we knew through our alumni. He was the one who helped us with our search for house/apartment together with Rizal ‘Cupcake’ Hamdan. Deen was also responsible to make it customary for us to take our newly arrived close friends in Doha to have dinner at Turkish Central. The restaurant was the 1st restaurant outside Ramada Hotel we went to have dinner. That was the restaurant we met Aizal & Yeen (Myra was still in her mum’s tummy then), Zu & Diba (we actually 1st met Diba on our flight from KUL-DOH). Through Deen also we knew Shah & family, Nije & Sha and Khizmie. The rest was history. Those are people who stick around with us during bad & good times.

Abe Zu was also the person who came up with his company’s pick up truck to help us move from Al Bayyan.

May be we should also mention about Aizal, Yeen and Baby Myra who had left us for London but returned to Doha in less than 1 year. Surely, Doha is so tempting..hehe

We also welcomed few of my ex-colleagues from Vietnam Operation here in Doha. 5 of them are now in Doha. That made Vietnam Operation as having the most casualties due to oil price boom.

5. The regret
After two years on this land, I have not been able to speak Arabic, the language of Quran. I have failed somehow.. I consider it as my deepest regret.. It may change now. Having the ‘Qatari Twins’ whom I consider like brothers may help me to speed up my Arabic learning... Ali & Jassim, you better help me to learn Arabic.. Wish me luck..

6. The Common Encounters
For the last two years, people keep mistaken us with Filipinos. I don’t blame them. This is especially true when we go to the restaurants where most waiters/waitresses are Filipinos. They tend to greet us with “Kabayan” or “How are you, Pok”. We normally responded to the greeting in English with a smile. After all, we don’t understand what they are talking about anyway…hehe. At the same time, we do not want to offend them..

7. The wish
We continue to stay in this blessed land unless suddenly an irresistible offer lands on my table. This is a country where we feel safety & security are essential part of life. In some parts of the world, safety & security have become luxury items.

2 years & many happen returns!!! Mabrouk...

2 years and many happen returns..

2009-06-30T17:50:00.006+03:00

We completed our 2nd year today! Some call it anniversary.. Some call it just another day, another year...

I will write more on this subject.. For now, many happy return...

Summer is here...

2009-06-27T10:31:00.011+03:00

Officially summer season started on 21 June 2009. This is for the geographically fanatic people... You can read about it here...

Here in Doha, you just know that summer is here when :

1. you get up for Subuh prayer at 3.15am in the morning and sunrise is at around 4.45am..pergh so early ma...

2. your drive to work at 6am with temperature around 38C. That rules out Picnic@Corniche all together...

3. the mercury hits 45C on midday. Hold on.. during the peak of summer the temperature will reach 50C! You will sizzle.. So, 45C is still mild.. huhu

4. the locals & expats leave in drove to enjoy better weather outside the country ( wonder what I am doing here in this harsh weather..hehe)

5. roads are clear just like Kuala Lumpur during Eid holiday especially early in the morning on your way to work... hehe

6. tap water become unbearably hot without you switching on the water heater (I can not stand this!!!). Thing I hate most during summer time...

7. flight tickets to destinations get more expensive

8. the 1st question asked when you meet people is 'When are you going for your summer holiday?'. Honestly, I get pressured when every single soul I meet ask me the question.. I have to repeat my answer time & time again. Probably I should issue a press statement or tape it and play the tape when the question arises again.. haha

9. the wives aka queens of the houses stuck with the kids almost 24 hours cause the school holiday has already started. This requires a lot of patient.. God help them...

10. Qatar Football Association (QFA) organises Beach Football Tournament under the scorching heat of 43C. You need to be serious!! I mean serious determination to play in the heat. Even the spectators give up.. haha. The funny thing is that the beach football is actually organised in the middle of open field, not at the beach.

You are now FIVE!!! Let's celebrate

2009-06-10T11:20:00.016+03:00

The Celebrant : Alisha Soffeya

The Venue : Cafe Ceramique, The Mall

The Date : Sometime in May 09

The Sponsor : Daddy & Mummy

The Profesional Photographer : Kharul Panjang

Million thanks to those who spent time with us despite their tight schedules.

My Angel.. You are now FIVE!!!

2009-05-26T23:57:00.008+03:00

Alisha Soffeya... you are now FIVE years old.

Today was the day when we 1st saw you in this world. I still remembered the moment you opened your eyes when you heard your 1st athan from me. The moment I would never forget, the moment of joy for both of us, your parents...

Alisha's 1st 5th birthday wish came as early as 3.54am on 26 May 2009. It came in the form of SMS. Off course it was not from us, it was from her عم علي.

On her birthday, we took out Alisha to Chilli's. Mind you, she chose the restaurant. We just took her there to have the meal. While we were at Chilli's, we ordered desert and asked the waiters to put candle on it.

The best moment came when the staffs at Chilli's came with the desert on their hand and sang Happy Birthday. Alisha was panicking. She did not know what to do. We could tell from her eyes that she was a bit worried. Instead of smiling, she was upset... hehe. Probably she was overwhelm with emotion? She only overcame her fear when we asked her to blow the candle. She did it in split second. I did not even manage to capture it on camera.Happy Birthday, darling. May you grow up and become the proud of your parents, insyaAllah.

مبروك to RLC Football Team

2009-05-19T14:23:00.011+03:00

Proud to announce the advance of RLC Football Team to the 2nd round of QP Chairman's Football Tournament 2009.

Not only had they qualified for the 2nd round, they also did it in style.. They beat Occidental Petroleum (OXY) 10-2. What a night to remember.. Players Of The Night were Ali Musa & Mohamed Juma. Both of them scored 4 each while Mohamed Harbi & Mohamed Derbali scored 1 each.

Unfortunately, all the achievements not without any drama.. On our previous game, we were beaten to the core. We lost 6-1 to Dolphin. I personally called it A 6-1 Night of Nightmare..

However, Allah must be on our side though.. HE rewarded us with our effort & surprised us with pleasant finding. We discovered that one of the players from Dolphin was actually a professional player who played in Qatar League under Qatar Football Federation. It was a breach of the tournament rule. Professional players could only be in the team if they were working with the Oil & Gas companies they represented but not as import players. For that reason, they were penalised & considered lost the game 3-0.

Once we had cleared Dolphin out of our way, the next hurdle was to take on OXY which we considered as an easy task. We knew that OXY lost miserably to Gas Operation (Ali's twin, Jassim played for this team) 16-1. Yes, they lost 16-1. You might think they played basketball... hehe. We managed to win 10-2..

The 2nd round will be a tough game as we will meet AMWAJ. AMWAJ has 2 supermen on its right wing. They run so fast & reach the goal before you can even blink... We had friendly game with them last time...

Whatever it is, hopefully the team will get through to semi-final... The next game will be on 24 May 09.. Will they bow out to pressure or stand tall?

If they sail through to semi-final, it will be the 1st time ever RLC goes to semi-final after 12 years of the tournament life.. Then we can celebrate..

My Wallet, Qatar & me....

2009-05-09T20:19:00.003+03:00

I wish I could never experience this moment in my life again...

At 1st I thought I misplaced my wallet in the house. I took it easy.. It was just me. Took things for granted. Something that my wife always nag about.. hehe.

I could not find it anywhere in the house. Occasionally, I left the wallet in the car. I tried to look for it in the car.. Nothing!! Then the panic started to kick in... Obviously I did not show it to my wife when I told her that I could not find my wallet. I just asked her if she saw it.. She started to drill me with all sort of questions. At that point I felt I was her patient... She asked as if she was taking the history of her patient.. Still I remained cool... At least I like to think I sounded cool to her...

Prior to that... That morning I drove around without any ID with me. No driving licence, no Qatar ID.. Luckily I had some cash with me.. hehe. Another habit of mine.. Keep money everywhere except in the wallet... In this occasion, it was proven that the habit helped. Otherwise I would go penniless..

When I still could not find the wallet. I realised something was not right. If we could not locate it in the house and in the car, it might be somewhere else.. The question was.. WHERE????

From my wife's interrogation, we concluded that I might have dropped or lost it when we were having dinner at Pendarosa with Asings & Kharul.. Scary thought!!!

At that point, I asked my wife if she ever received SMS from QNB for the usage of my credit card on that day... Over here in Qatar, the moment you charge your purchase to your card, you will be notified through SMS of your spending almost immediately.. Extremely super efficient SMS banking system we have in Qatar. My wife's mobile number was the official number the bank had for notification through SMS. The fact that no SMS came through to her was a big relief. It just meant that my wallet was out there and nobody used the ATM and credit cards for spending spree...

We decided to go back to Pendarosa to try our luck... I was a bit embarrass to ask the Manager On Duty. Certainly I did not want to look stupid (غبي)... To my surprise, the Manager On Duty admitted that his staff found one wallet under the table a night before. He did some simple check to confirm my identity.. I could not believe that I got my wallet back!!! I thanked Pendarosa staff for being honest.. Keep it up..

I was such a big relief to get my wallet back with EVERYTHING intact. Not a single Riyal missing from my wallet.. I told the Manager that if I were to lose my wallet in Malaysia, I would never see it again.. But here in Qatar, things are different. Hopefully it stays that way.... That also reminded me of Ali who always left his Lexus with engine running whenever he went into shops to buy something. I always told him that if he did that in Malaysia, he would never see his car again.. EVER..

Ironically... During the dinner that night, Asings talked about how he lost some money in Malaysia to email scam or better known as Phishing Scam. I was jokingly said that he needed to pay Zakat to 'clean' his money.. It must be very painful for him to lose the hard earned money to unscrupulous guy.... Here I was joking about it.. I sometime could be so insensitive...

For me, I considered myself lucky to have my wallet back, Alhamdulillah. I better be extra careful next time... I may not be that lucky next time..

For those who are still unaware of the phishing scam, be careful and don't fall into the trap... I copy this message from Maybank2U website..

Police alert!

NEVER respond to any phone call / SMS / email requesting your bank account details

NEVER reveal your bank account details / ATM PIN / Internet banking password to anyone

NEVER follow instructions from unknown parties to do banking transactions or make changes to your bank account details

NEVER be a victim of schemes that sound too good to be true

RLC Team Made Its Debut

2009-05-01T22:43:00.014+03:00

RLC means Ras Laffan Industrial City. It is for those who do not know what RLC stands for. It is where my office is..

The match was the 1st match after almost two months of training.. It was on 28 April 2009 ie last week.

Getting ready for the championship was not easy. What made it more challenging was to get the players who worked on shifts to attend the trainings. What made matter worse was that the coach, Ali was also a professional player who had commitment to his club. Even then, the coach seemed more committed & discipline than the players...hehe. I suppose it took a lot of discipline & hardwork to be a professional footballers. Else, everyone would be a professional footballers. I was very sure I would not be one.. haha. I could never play football.

The good thing about having involved with the training was that I had already lost 5kg, I still needed to trim 4kg more... With the tournament had been in full gear, I might not be able to fully participate in the trainings. The coach & players now concentrated more on tactics & strategy. I was really going for fitness.. I could still join them for early part of the training ie fitness part of it..

All the preparations were for QP Chairman Football Tournament 2009. It was officially launched on 22 April 2009. All Oil & Gas companies operating in Qatar had been invited to participate in the tournament.On its 1st debut on 28 April 2009, RLC team fought hard till the end. At the end, they had to settle for a 3-2 lost to Gas Operation, Maiseed. It was an interesting game with RLC team controlled the 1st half of the game. Unfortunately, luck was not on RLC side on that night.

They have two more games for the 1st round. Hopefully, they will win and qualify for 2nd round.

Thank you all..

2009-05-01T22:03:00.006+03:00

What a pleasant surprise!!! Another birthday present arrived at the door today from Azerdills. Accompanying the present was a card that would keep me going for the next few years.. hehe.

For this year's birthday, presents came at different times. The earliest was about 1 month before my birthday. It was from Alisha & my wife. The second came 1 week before my birthday from my brother..

Today's present was the latest, might not be the last..hehe.. I don't have to mention about my birthday present I bought for myself which arrived from Malaysia on my birthday itself.. Thanks to Kharul Panjang for being the excellent courier. Not fogetting the birthday present & luncheon hosted by Meorfai as well as the nice black tie presented by Naguib.

Thank you Dood for the present. It was rather unexpected... Sorry to miss the dinner last night... Duty call..haha. Otherwise, it would have been a grand present giving ceremony.I just can not wait for the next birthday...

Wedding of a local boy..

2009-04-20T17:44:00.010+03:00

Another opportunity to attend a wedding knocked at my door last night.. Ali invited me to his cousin's wedding... In fact, Ali mentioned to me about the wedding more than two weeks ago. I did not really think it would materialise as we never talked about it until yesterday morning. Then he reminded me about the wedding in the morning... As usual, I jumped at the opportunity.

I never wanted to miss the traditional sword dance again.. I missed the dance at the last wedding, remember? It was the wedding at The Diplomatic Club.. I was quite unlucky to miss it last time.

For this wedding, I took along my not-so-new camera. At first, I thought I would be bringing only my 50mm lens as I did not want to be seen as official cameraman for the wedding.. Honestly, I did not want to intimidate the official cameraman.. hehe.. Ali insisted that I must bring the camera with 24-70mm lens (I am sorry Kerel, I really need to mention about my lens. I am proud of it..hehe) for me take shots of the wedding..

Funny enough, I met the videoman from the wedding at The Diplomatic Club.. He recognised me! He still remembered my compact Canon A70 PowerShot I brought to the last wedding. He was trying to tell me that I came with small camera then. Now, I came with this huge camera. He spoke to me in Arabic. Rather unfortunate that I could not speak Arabic. I knew what he was trying to tell because he kept pointing at my camera... Ali was also next to me to be the translator..

It was the 1st time I tried to take photos of a wedding. I was nervous, obviously. I had to take 20 min crash course from Asings The Guru. As I was not sure of the venue, it made it harder. I had 50% chance of getting it right. It could be either in a hall or tent. As I was not sure what to expect, I had to borrow Kerel's speedlight. So, my crash course revolved around the use of speedlight SB900 ie the angle, the camera set up etc. After all the crash course, I just tawakkal..

For the wedding last night, I was not particularly alone. I meant, I was not the only one without thob unlike in my last experience where I was a complete stranger in the middle of the tent.. There were few guests came with office attire. I was fine.. That alone took a big load of my shoulder. The job for the night came 50% lighter...

The wedding went well. The guests congratulated the groom, took photo together for the memory.. Then came the most waited moment for me for the night-the sword dance... Apparently, they took few minutes rest in between the dances. I realised that the swords were actually heavy. Now I knew why the twins were sweating after each dance.. I stayed till the end of the wedding. The event after the wedding was also interesting. It was more of a send off event for the groom with few cars performed some kind of stunt with loud screeching sound. It was very loud with smoke & smell of burning tyres filled up the air..I reckoned it caused a massive traffic jam as well.. hehe

Strobist with the experts..

2009-04-18T14:38:00.009+03:00

They call it STROBIST.. New term to me.. hehe. Nevertheless, it was interesting especially when you were with the experts. I wanted to ask many questions but I was to embarrass to prove my stupidity.. haha.

We started the night with a dinner at Thai Smile. We bumped into Aizal, Khimie & Nije at the restaurant.. Marhaba to Aizal!! Welcome home!!

Then we headed straight to The Museum of Islamic Art, the location of our photography session for the night. Everybody took out their equipments and ready for action. For the session, we had 5 cameras, 3 speedlights and 2 tripods. The models were ourselves.. hehe.

It took a while before the session started as the gurus were busy setting up our cameras, the speedlights etc. Once it started, everything went well.. Only minor hiccups when the young models refused to pose.. They ran around outside the shooting area..However, the night did not start without a drama.. When I reached Thai Smile, I could not take my car key out. I decided to keep the car key intact and went to the restaurant. What the heck.. After all, we are in Qatar. Not in Malaysia.. What worry me most was that the car boot was full with football equipments such as 15 balls of QR350 each, training cones & about 10 pairs of brand new football shoes of less than QR500 each.. I still could not take the key out when we reached Museum of Islamic Art... I just left the car by the road side and headed for our target location for the photo session.

Only when I reached home I discovered the real reason behind the stucked key. Apparently, the gear did not fully disengage when I put it at P. Something stucked in between. I suspected it though. I could not do much as I was very excited to have my dinner and photo session. When I removed it, I managed to pull the car key out. What a relieve! As you can see there were 3 speedlight SB900 in place to get the strobist effect..

You can view few more photos from my flickr or Asings The Expert's or Kerel Let's Go Wide's or Kharul Panjang's.

3 birthdays, 1 belated celebration...

2009-04-12T22:23:00.017+03:00

Last Friday, our big extended family in Doha celebrated 3 belated birthdays for March borns.. I was one of them.. Che Le & Nije were the other two..It was rather a surprise party organised at Che Le's villa. Surprise but no surprise. What surprise were you talking about when the party was organised almost 1 month after the birthdates? hehe... You knew it was coming.. You knew your family would never forget about your birthday.. The only question was WHEN? Then you needed to find out when everyone was available...

Thanks to Ija & others for taking the lead and made it happen..

To be honest, it was quite normal for us here in Doha to celebrate the birthdays much later than the actual dates. Reason being.... it was a challenge by itself to have everyone around! When you have big extended family members who are busy with their careers, it is next to impossible to have all of us around at the same time. This is very true when we have mix of professions in our family members... Few need to be on the air most of the times.. Some need to work on shifts. Some need to work on Saturday.. Only the lucky few (read me & Che Le) are available all the times. Aren't we lucky? Nevertheless, we try to have the all members to be present...

Somehow, the ladies had been very lucky to have their surprise parties organised on the date they were born.. We do treat our ladies extra special in that manner...

We started with 'fat yourself ceremony'... The curry noodle was good, honest!! We had two types of fried rice. One what we called Tounge Burning Fried Rice or Nasi Goreng Kampung and another one prepared by Nije & Sha for those with sensitive tounges.. haha.. Pengat Pisang prepared by Abe Zu & Kak Diba was also excellent!

Then came the surprise birthday cakes.. I shared the cake with Nije.. Che Le had one on his own.... Not fair! Luckily, our cake was a lot bigger.. As Nije's name was smudged, it looked like my personal birthday cake.. hehe. Sorry Nije..

We also took the opportunity to present Baby Amir Ashraf with his present. This was long overdue... He is now almost two months old... Since Baby Amir Ashraf could not make it that night, his big brother, Aidil accepted the present on his behalf...

My 1st & 2nd outings...

2009-04-04T11:34:00.021+03:00

This is my 1st & 2nd outings with the new toy.. Rather challenging due to the fact that I needed to take shots of football games.. I tried my best.. What else could I do? Luckily, there was not so much action on the 1st outing though due to the fact that Ali, who requested me to take the shots, did not play on that night..

On the 1st outing, I realised that my lens was only sufficient for medium range photography...

The next day was real photography for me. This was the 2nd outing.. Lucky me, I managed to borrow a longer range lens for that night. Thanks to NKhairil79.

On that 2nd night of outing, the real challenge was to capture the best moments of the game.. It was rather difficult being a beginner! Trust me.. I did not manage to capture the moments when Ali scored two goals for his team. To begin with, I came late to the match.. hehe. I missed the 1st goal. He nearly scored three goals! He missed one goal. If he did not get cramped leg for the last 10 minutes of the match, he probably would have scored more... Well done to Ali & his team for winning the game hands down, 4-1!

I managed to capture his 2nd goal on video though. Could you imagine how busy I was that night? At points of time I needed to take photos & the other points I needed to record the game on videocam. A real challenge for me! They required skills and extra pairs of hand, definitely... I was very sure Ali was happy with the results of my skills.. Else he would not give me one of the medals presented to the players from Qatar Football Association (QFA).. تسلم.

There was actually official closing ceremony to mark the end of Season 08/09. All players were given a medal for being part of the tournament. Since they had extra medals, Ali took one and gave it to me. I hope we would not get into trouble with QFA.. hehe. I had yet to take photo of the medal.. Will do it soon and upload it here, InsyaAllah.

(As promised... here is the medal.. updated on 12 April 2009

The goal shown down here came from a free kick... At least I managed to get one shot for the goal.. Not bad for a beginner...Still I need to learn a lot more... It will take more time & effort to get the best out of this camera.. Luckily, I have few friends who are ever willing to part with the knowledge and skills... Thank you, guys...

I feel like home!!!!

2009-04-03T12:42:00.006+03:00

What a feeling today... Got up in the morning ( was it really morning? hmmm..) to the sound of rainfall!! At first I could not believe it. The exact same thing happenned like last weekend. RAIN!!!

Indeed, it was raining again today. For Qatar standard, I would consider it as heavy rain. For Malaysian standard, it was probably nothing.... However, it was slightly heavier around solat Jumaat time..

In fact, there were deep pool of water everywhere especially near Al Bayyan Gardens where I normally go for solat Jumaat.. It was quite deep really. I was lucky. I did not get stucked in the pool of water. Else I would have spoiled my car engine..

Thanks to the rain... I also realised that my Skoda's windscreen was not fitted properly when they replaced the windscreen long time ago. Traces of water & wet interior clearly visible near the driver's side..At 1st I thought I forgot to wind up the driver's window last night. Then I realised that all windows were properly wound up.. A good reason for me to send the car to my Transport Department for service..The rain did make me felt like home today. It would be perfect if the flash flood was also there, just like in Kuala Lumpur... hehe..

One weekend, two birthdays

2009-03-28T14:16:00.022+03:00

Finally, the weekend is here... Time for birthday celebration!!!

Somehow the celebration started yesterday. The celebration started off with lunch at Bennigan's yesterday. The only reason we celebrated it a day earlier was because someone had to earn a living today.. My wife is on call today on my birthday! It is not that bad considering I already received my birthday present 1 month in advance..hehe.

During the lunch at Bennigan's we asked Alisha what she had for me for my birthday... She spontaneously presented me with a bottle of root beer. It was so cute. She realised she did not have any money to buy me present. What she did was to give me the unopened bottle of root beer drink in front of us! How lovely... Thank you so much sweetie for being so thoughtful... It was at that point I realised the true meaning of the "Thought That Counts".. hehe. Alisha also presented to me a lovely birthday card... Thank you so much sweetie for being so thoughtful...
The mood was already also in the air yesterday because little Abdullah, Ali's son, celebrated his 1st birthday yesterday, 27 March 2009. For that, we presented him with a little present. It was only appropriate for me to continue with my own birthday celebration.. I always created reasons to celebrate anyway..heheHappy 1st Birthday, Abdullah. May you grow & become the proud of your parents. May you take care of your parents as much as they take care of you now.

And today? Early in the morning I received fews sms wishing me Happy Birthday... It was as early as 6.54am! Thanks guys.. So thoughtful.. You people must be dying to wish me happy birthday.. muahaha.. It is also good to note that people do use technology nowadays to wish happy birthday. Gone are the days people send you card for birthdays. Now, Facebook replaces cards! With Facebook, many of our friends are forced to remember our birthdays.. hehe. Good or bad? Bad when they keep reminding us about our age..

Happy Birthday to me...Here are the presents that I received for my birthday on top of the doas from all of you. One of them, I actually bought for myself as my birthday present. I let you guess which one.. hehe. Thank you so much for the presents!! Thank you so much for the birthday lunch. I shall remember to return the favours when the times come, InsyaAllah.During the birthday weekend, Allah The Almighty poured Qatar with rain. We seriously felt at home. It was heavy rain in the afternoon & at night... It must be the present from Allah for Abdullah, the people of Qatar and me... The rain actually started from Thusday morning till afternoon and continued over the weekend...

A Wedding Reception of A Qatari

2009-03-20T15:43:00.008+03:00

It was not in my original weekend plan last weekend. The original plan was to have coffee with my good Qatari friend. Unfortunately, it did not materialise.

What happened instead? Ali invited me to join him at his friend's wedding on Saturday night. One tricky issue was that we were supposed to attend football training on the same night! It was not really a football training for me. It was more of an exercise to stay fit. Ali was actually the coach for the team. It was mandatory for him to attend the the training session.

In order for me to attend both, I had to prepare for both occasions ie sports gear for training & dinner suit for the wedding reception.

We stopped in the middle of the training, quickly got changed and rushed to the wedding reception. Luckily the reception was held at The Diplomatic Club not far away from the training ground. It took us around less than 10min to get there. I was a bit embarassed when we reached inside the tent as I was the ONLY one wearing suit. The rest of the people were in dishdash. I was so stand out for the wrong reason.. hehe. It was really an experience... Imagine, hundreds of eyes were watching you... What you have to do? You act normally & try to stay cool.. haha.

It was rather unfortunate I missed the traditional swords dance that night... It would be a great experience, otherwise.. I did not miss the opportunity to have photos taken with the groom though.. For the precious memory..

Circus Night in Doha

2009-03-20T15:07:00.007+03:00

We took Alisha to the circus last night at Hyatt Plaza. We wanted to go earlier but we could not find the time. We made it a point to go last night as we realised that the last day of the show was 21 March 2009 ie 2 more days to go. Before the show, they announced that the circus would be extended until 28 March 2009. So if you have no chance so far to take your kids, you have 1 more week to do so...

We left home around 6.30 to catch the 1st show of the night at 7pm. Had a quick dinner at Hyatt Plaza foodcourt & off to the show..

This time around the circus was different from last year. It did not have animal at all. Last year they had snakes & crocodiles. This year? Nothing! However, I reckon the overall show was better compared to last year.

Beach day out..

2009-03-07T12:40:00.007+03:00

Thanks to Shahrin for inviting us to have fun in the sun at The Beach Club. The kids loved it. We too loved it. The bbq was great. The companies were even greater..

We must organise such an outing again before the weather gets too hot. It is a race against time. With today's temperature around 27C, it is a matter of time before it reaches 40C... Then all outdoor activities will be on hold....

Latest Malaysian in Doha...

2009-03-05T18:55:00.005+03:00

Congratulation to Azer Dood & Dills for the new born.

Congratulation also to Aidil for having a little brother to play with... Amir Ashraf was born last weekend while I was having fun in the dune..

Now we have to think what to give this cute little Amir Ashraf for his present.. Any idea?

We already presented to his parents a basket of chocolate last week. That was very Qatari, I would say..hehe. Unfortunately, baby Amir Ashraf will never get the chance to taste it..

It has been a very long time....

2009-02-21T11:42:00.006+03:00

It has been a very long time since I wrote in this blog.. So many things happened for the past 30 days...

We went to Muscat for 3 days in early February 2009. Yes, it was almost a month ago. No posting made to that effect. Only pix uploaded to the FaceBook (FB). With the existence of FB, I find it more convenience to upload the pix in FB. No story telling to do, just upload the pix. After all, pix can tell millions stories which can not be described with words... Unfortunately, not all of my friends out there join FB.. sigh...

In Muscat we visited all the places recommended by my Omani friend, Harbi, on top of our own agenda.. Places we visited included Mutrah Souq, the palace, The Grand Mosque ( this was really a grand mosque!!), Qantab beach, the forts etc. When we were there, Oman was organising Muscat Festival. We joined the crowd to experience festival in Muscat. We found out that Omani were really different people. They were more fun type of Arabs....

We also managed to watch dolphin in the open sea. It was really a memorable trip. Alisha was screaming all the way. She was panicking when the boat started to move as it was tilted to the left & to the right. She only calmed down when she started to see the dolphins..

Harbi also introduced me to his cousin, Ziyad, who was back in Muscat for his summer holiday. On our last day in Muscat, Ziyad and his 2 brothers organised bbq at Wadi Al Khoud for us.. It was rather unexpected. They went all the way to prepare the bbq complete with Omani style salad & humus.. It was a nice bbq. Alisha enjoyed playing in the water at the wadi... I enjoyed the bbq.. hehe.

On the way back to airport, Ziyad stopped over to show us the reservoir used to collect the water from wadis to prevent Muscat from flood. That was when the adventure begins.. When we wanted to leave after nice coffee, he could not start his Pajero. The battery was flat! We tried to push but it did not work. It brought back my Zikreet memory.. hehe. Fortunately, Salah was also there with his car. We decided to transfer our stuffs to Salah's car & headed for airport. We had just over an hour to reach the airport..

A week after we came back from Muscat, Alisha's mak tok left for Malaysia. She spent good 5 weeks with us in Doha.

On Monday, 17 Feb 2009, our good friend also left Doha for good for job re-assignment in Kuala Lumpur. We went to bid farewell to Imran and family at the airport.Last weekend, MAQ organised a desert safari... That kept me occupied from a long time.. Lots of thing we did to ensure the trip ran smoothly... There will be special posting for the Desert Safari itself later...

We also organised farewell for Ramzi & family. They decided to leave all the fun people in Doha for a more happening life in Port Dickson..

Stuck in the mud at Zikreet...

2009-01-30T14:00:00.012+03:00

When we planned for the trip, we planned it in such a way that the trip would be a breeze... Easy drive with early preparation with GPS coordinates..

The aims were to visit at least 6 places with picnic by the beach as our last stop.. Well, we did picnic by the beach but not quite at the place we intended it to be.. At least not before we visited all the planned places..

The story went like this... We departed from Doha at 10.30am. An hour late. We blamed it on the food preparation... hehe.. We must make sure we had enough of everything. It would be a long journey, mind you... It took us less than 1 hour to reach the entry point where the journey started on the off road ie jalan berliku.We stopped over at the scenic area for photography shots... I decided to leave my car at that spot. I certainly did not want to get stuck in the sand. I, once, stucked in the sand near Sea Line. It was really an experience. I was lucky then because there were many people around to push the car out of the sand.. We marked the coordinate of the place to make sure we would be able to find the car on our way home..

We continued our journey in 2 cars based on the direction on our GPS. We decided to follow the beach area.. That was when our problem started..

I was travelling in CX9 as a passenger, not the driver.. We noticed that the other car tried to do some fancy manouvering . It managed to safely get out on its first attempt. Deep in my heart I knew thing would get out of hand if he ever tried to do it again. I was also thinking aloud & talking to Khairil (the proud owner of CX9) about the possibility of the other car got stuck... From the rear view mirror, Khairil saw the action unfolded... We turned back & tried to help.. With limited equipments (that is understatement), we tried everything. We practically had nothing with us except kid's sand shovel. We tried to push. It was like pushing a brick wall. The car did not move an inch.. Instead, it got deeper in the mud because the tyre spinned the mud out.. sigh... We shovelled, we pushed. We found few metal plates near the area (That sounded like movies now but it was true).. We took the plates & inserted them under the tyres to provide the grip. In the process, I cut my finger... We pushed. Nothing happened. After almost 1 1/2 hours of shovelling & pushing, we almost gave up. The kids were already having fun on the beach (off course without their sand shovel.. hehe). They did not seem to worry about the car unlike the owner..

Then our prayers answered. A group of Qatar Aluminium ( Qatalum) staffs came to help. I noticed they had been watching us "terkial-kial" trying to get the car out. They offered us their help. Now, we had 6 men pushing the car. To cut the story short, we finally managed to get it out. It was not that simple, really... The good thing was that we managed to get the car out, the bad news was that the CRV lost its front left tyre. It could have been torned by the sharp metal plates... At least we could get the car moving now. It was much an easy job to change the tyre...

It was almost 2pm then. At that point, we decided to picnic at the spot itself. Everybody was tired & hungry then... We even invited the Qatalum staffs for lunch to show our gratitude.. They declined as they needed to head back to Maisaeed.. For memory, we requested them to have a group photo..

Right after lunch, we headed to Ostrich & Oryx Farm. On our way, we stopped to ask for direction at a Qatari camp site. He was a pleasant & nice guy with many helpers around him. He invited us to use the toilet as well as pray in his majlis. He even lead us to 3/4 way to Ostrich & Oryx Farm. However, he advised us not to proceed as it would be dark soon. We decided to call it a day & turned back to the main road but not before getting back my car...

At the end, we decided to visit our friend, Khairil & Kak Jas in Dukhan...

Missions unaccomplished .. We would come back, we promised ourselves..

p/s some photos are courtesy of D700 owner...

Weekend stroll..

2009-01-29T19:16:00.002+03:00

The place to be during winter is definitely The Corniche. Pleasant view, nice weather...

Great time for kids to cycle at the track.. I admire the sea. It is very calm & clear blue.

The above stroll happened a week before last..

Last weekend we spent with makan2 on Friday & Zikreet on Saturday.. Lots of thing to tell about Zikreet trip.. hehe.. We had heroes, we had stuntman.. Unfortunately, the mission unaccomplished..

Wanna know what I did during my last holiday?

2009-01-25T18:02:00.003+03:00

We spent considerable time for a wedding.... From preparation till the end of it. One on JB side ..

The other on Bintulu side...

Since bertandang was in Bintulu, we took the opportunity to visit Kuching... time off from busy wedding schedule...

We also decided to organise qurban to coincide with Eid Adha.. Mind you we were back in Malaysia solely for the wedding & Eid Adha. It was a great time as well since all of my family members were there during Eid. Kind of reunion after 1 1/2 years way from them...

Aidil & Aiza : Nice birthday party

2009-01-03T07:17:00.006+03:00

One turned 5 & the other turned 4!

They are not from the same father & mother. You may think they are brother & sister. Their names sound very much the same though.. Aidil is the son of Azerdood & Aiza's parents are Che Le & Ija.

Both parents decided to throw the birthday party for their kids at Cafe Ceramique, The Mall last weekend. We, the adults, were the lucky ones pasal dapat berkumpul ramai-ramai & makan-makan while the kids were busy with their activities arranged by the cafe. However, I needed to rush for a bbq at Dr Azhar's place. It was short & sweet encounter for me but fun. As usual, meeting friends was always the best part for any occasions. Interestingly, ada yang datang bertongkat semata-mata nak celebrate birthday Aidil & Aiza..

Happy 5th birthday Aidil!
Happy 4th birthday, Aiza!

The pix are extracted from FB of the proud parents. Thanks to Dills & Ija. I hope I will not get into trouble with the copyright infringement issue.. hehe

Somehow, the pix did not seem to have enough pixel once downloaded & saved to my folder though.. The pixel size far too small.. So... Please please don't feel offended if you don't look pretty or handsome in the slides. It is not you. It is the slide that we need to blame.. After all, we don't really want people to say that we look more handsome or prettier in the photos than the real life.. ;-)

p/s this posting meant to be up a week ago... huh

The fog is back!!

2009-01-01T17:44:00.006+03:00

The fog is back.. Yesterday, today and many more days to come..

It is just a sign that cold weather is coming, hopefully. The temperature was 12C yesterday on the way to Ras Laffan. The fog was not that thick yesterday.

Today? It was really thick in the morning. The visibility was around 20 meter. Technicaly, the whole Doha was engulfed with thick fog this morning.. Some people must have missed the experience pasal depa cuti hari ni.. Some people missed it pasal depa ada kat offshore...

p/s The pix above taken at 6.20am at Ramada Junction on the way to work...

Happenings..

2008-12-25T12:30:00.013+03:00

Apparently, 19th Doha International Book Fair has just started yesterday at Qatar International Exhibition Centre. It will last till 3 Jan 09. That will help us to be a bit occupied this weekend. Can also be used to instill the reading habit in our kids..

You can read about it in the Gulf Times.

Meanwhile, for the sport enthusiasts, you can look forward to :
1. ExxonMobil Open Tennis Championship 2009 from 5-9 Jan 2009
2. Qatar Golf Open Championship from 8-10 Jan 2009
3. Qatar Golf Masters Championship from 29 Jan to 1 Feb 2009

You can get detail schedule for sports activities in Qatar by visiting here.

For the time being, we wish our friends who celebrate Christmas a very Merry Christmas.

Qatar National Day Celebrations

2008-12-16T10:21:00.012+03:00

If you have no real plan for the next few days, I suggest you join the celebration for Qatar National Day celebrations organised by authorities. They have lined up activities starting from today.

For more details, please visit here and here.

We are back..

2008-12-13T07:36:00.004+03:00

Alhamdulillah, we arrived back in Doha this morning at 5.15 local time ie 5min earlier than schedule. The flight departed from KLIA almost 1/2 hour late due to heavy passengers. The check in counter did not help either. They opened up the counters exactly 3 hours before departure time...

The temperature was 15 degree this morning.. We managed to que for big cab that could fit in all our bags. Neither saloon nor 4WD could take all the bags... hint hint... The sole reason why we declined offers from our good buddies to pick us up at the airport. We appreciated the offers though.. Offer mu tetap dikenang... May be next time...

Let's start thinking the activities for the winter. We have 5 months to enjoy the pleasant weather...

Eid Mubarak..

2008-12-07T12:29:00.006+03:00

We would like to wish everyone Eid Mubarak! Let's together understand the true meaning of qurban...

The arrival of Eid also indicates that our 1 month long leave has come to the end.. sob sob..

We will be very busy packing up our baggages for the next few days. Hope it will not hamper our spirit to celebrate Eid tomorrow.

For our friends who are traveling to Oman & UAE, we wish you a safe journey. For our friends who are now performing hajj, we pray semoga mendapat haji yang mabrur.

It may take me a while to summarise my one month holiday activities in Malaysia. What is certain is that my waistline has been stubbornly increasing.. duhhhh

Landed safely in KLIA

2008-11-11T12:07:00.003+03:00

Just a short update about our travel progress..

We departed almost on time last night if not for a group of passengers who did not want to cooperate. First of all, they tried to get about 10 of them to seat near to each other. Almost impossible task considering the flight was fully book. Somehow they managed purely on the ground that nobody bothered top argue at 1am in the morning. We preferred to sleep.

It was a smooth journey throughout. Slight turbulence on the Indian Ocean, as expected. Smooth landing as well... Met also personnels from Proton who were on transit in Doha from Algiers, Algeria.

Now, here I am... Reach our home at around 4.30pm after struggling to get a big Airport Limo to accommodate 3 big check in bags & 3 hand luggages.

I am suppose to play golf tomorrow with good friends, unfortunately it has to be canceled due to last minute meeting arrangement. It is okay. Some people need to work to earn a living, I guess... hehe. I also need to work really hard to brush up my skill again after a long 1 1/2 years break from golf..

51st Merdeka Celebration in Qatar

2008-11-09T22:09:00.004+03:00

I had the opportunity to attend the 51st Merdeka Celebration organsied by Embassy for foreign dignitaries last Thursday. It was held at Diplomatic Club, Doha. Guests of Honour for the night were mainly foreign diplomats in Qatar as well as the representatives from Qatar Foreign Affairs Office.

Nice dinner served on during the night including famous "Satay Dukhan". It was also a best time to promote Malaysia to the ambassadors. For that, few Malaysian tradition dances were performed by daughters of Perwakilan & anak-anak from Dukhan Community.

The evening was more meaningful with the presence of previous Malaysian 1st Lady, Tun Rahah ie widow of late Tun Abdul Razak. Tun was here on personal visit...

I wish I could write more.. Unfortunately, my mind is already in Malaysia.. I hope the photos speak louder than my words...

We are catching our flight back to Kuala Lumpur tomorrow's night. It will be our 1st time going back to Malaysia after 1 1/2 years.. We are all excited... Only 1 small issue... banyak sangat barang nak bawak balik..huhu

Dato' Nicol David Retains Her Title

2008-11-01T00:54:00.006+03:00

Update for Qatar Classic Squash Tournament...

Defending champion for Qatar Classic managed to retain her Qatar Classic title today! The proud of the Malaysian sport beat her opponent straight set in front of cheering Malaysian crowd in Doha. Dato' Duta & family were also present to lend their support.. Well done!!

Nicol also maintained her unbeatable record. She seemed unstoppable for now.. The remark made by our current PM that she was more popular than him held some truth.. hehe...

By winning the match, Nicol David is now richer by USD82k..

You can read more here.

Catch Youngest Dato' In Action

2008-10-31T13:56:00.005+03:00

Dato' Nicol David showed us how she managed to be squash's World No. 1.

We saw her in action at semi final for 2008 Qatar Classic Squash Tournament at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex yesterday. Amazing performance. No wonder why she stays World's No. 1 for very long time ie 27 months! It also means that she has been unbeaten in every match she participated for the last 27 months. Wow....

You can read about yesterday's semi final here.

We will be there again to see the defending champion defends her title for 2008 Qatar Classic today at 5.30pm.

Hopefully there will be another lucky draw like yesterday. The prizes for lucky draw were impressive. Gift voucher from Ali Bin Ali (not sure the value though), 2 videocams & 3 iPod Nano (16GB & 8GB). Not bad for a free entrance tournament. Memang berbaloi pergi..haha. Ya la kan..dah la masuk free, silap-silap menang lucky draw lagi.

Happenings...

2008-10-26T20:13:00.004+03:00

Things that happened today :

1. British Winter Time is effective today. From today onwards, the time difference between UK & Doha is 3 hours. People in UK would have to adjust their time 1 hours late.

2. Temperature in Ras Laffan dropped to 23C today! 1st time since summer.

3. 1st rain in many many months in Ras Laffan. It was definitely a good sign. Last time, the rain indicated the beginning of cold weather. Hopefuly the same applies in this case..

Things to watch out for the next few days & weeks :

1. Squash Qatar Classic. The defending champion, Nicol David, will be back tomorrow. She is the favourite to win the championship again. You can read the article in NST here and The Peninsula here. Nicol is currently holding the World No. 1 title,

2. WTA Sony Ericcson Championship will begin on 4 Nov 2008. The final will be staged on 9 Nov 2008 and

3. Finally, we will be taking our flight back to Kuala Lumpur on 11 Nov 2008... yeehaaaaaa. We will be very busy collecting & buying souvenirs. Any idea what to buy? Please contibute,if any..

A case for learning Arabic

2008-10-17T21:56:00.002+03:00

WITHOUT the Arabic language, one cannot fully and deeply understand the details of our religion. It is in Arabic that the Qur’an was revealed, the Sunnah transmitted and that the scholarly works written. Our religion was preserved in that language and without it, there would have been multiple understandings of Islam. Arabic is the common medium that Muslims use when they need to resolve their differences. For this reason, Arabic is not a language specific to Arabs; it is the language of all Muslims. No matter how accurate translation to other languages may be, it can never carry the whole Qur’anic message.
In this article, the author beautifully presents a case for why Muslims should learn Arabic.

1. IntroductionSince the language of the Qur’an is Arabic, it is the main source of communication about Islam. About 1bn Muslims of the world recite the Qur’an in its original language. However, most of them cherish the desire to comprehend the Qur’an directly without having to read a translated version in their native language.This is an attempt to present a case for Arabic from the Qur’anic point of view. Most of languages, if they do not change with time, they either become obsolete, or extinct in term of their usage. It is as if their very survival depends on how these languages respond to the dynamic forces of change in the contemporary societies.

This could make one wonder how the Qur’anic Arabic language has been preserved over so many centuries. The obvious connection between the Holy Qur’an, and the language in which it was revealed to Prophet Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, explains the preservation of the Qur’an, and the Qur’anic Arabic. This is borne out by the following verses from the Qur’an:“We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it from corruption.” (Qur’an 15:9)“We have sent it down as an Arabic Qur’an in order that you may learn wisdom.” (Qur’an 12:2)

Qur’anic Arabic belongs to the Semitic group of languages. By the third century (CE), Arabic had developed into a full-fledged language.In the present time, most of the Semitic languages have disappeared. In addition to Arabic, the only living Semitic languages are modern Hebrew, Amheric, and a dialect of Aramaic. As for Arabic, it remains not only a fully living language but also enjoys a unique importance. It alone can serve as the source of knowledge for all Semitic languages. Whenever the Grammarians of these languages are faced with intricate grammatical problems, they refer to, or consult parallel grammatical rules in Qur’anic Arabic. These rules are exemplified in the Qur’an.Besides grammar, enormous changes have taken place in the vocabulary of all Semitic languages. The present versions of these languages have little resemblance with their origin. The only exception is the Qur’anic Arabic, the language of the Qur’an, which retains its original syntax and vocabulary.

2. Teaching methodology for Qur’anic ArabicIn Northern India, in the year 1942 Professor Abdus Salam Kidwai pioneered a method for teaching Qur’anic Arabic. His main idea was to make the Qur’an the prime source of teaching Arabic. He compiled a book consisting of 10 primary lessons for this purpose, and it proved very useful in learning Arabic.In 1984 there was an international survey sponsored by the Muslim World League to determine which country has the best Qur’anic Arabic teaching methodology. It was found, to much surprise, that a school in a poor neighbourhood of Northern India had the most well versed graduating class in Qur’anic Arabic in the world. It was found that this school followed Professor Kidwai’s curriculum. There, the principal came to school on a bicycle every day, and each month he would circulate a basket to raise enough money to pay the teachers. The teachers were so dedicated that they would wait for their salaries up to six months if there was no money in the school treasury.

There is a lesson from the above mentioned international survey. Muslims, and non-Muslims now living in most parts of the world are so fortunate to have access to audio, video, computer-aided instructions, elaborate campus facilities etc. We can do it, only if we set our minds to learn Qur’anic Arabic. Learn it for nothing else, but to understand the Qur’an in the language it was revealed.

3. Qur’anic Arabic as a Second Language for all MuslimsFor a Muslim, there is always a need to balance between the spiritual and material life. The material aspect of human life has to respond to the dynamic forces of change resulting from current research and development. Science and technology are constantly pushing the frontiers of material knowledge for human beings. As a result, the contemporary languages have to evolve and adapt themselves in response to these forces. On the other hand, the Message from Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, to guide our spiritual life has always remained the same. Therefore, the acquisition of spiritual knowledge requires stable language, in order to lead a balanced life. In this case the static power of the language is an asset, rather than a liability. There is no time dependency in the definition of the codes of conduct, and moral operating procedures for the benefit of human spirit.

It is hard to conceive how a single language can satisfy both the stable, and dynamic needs from the moral, and material viewpoints, respectively. Even in the 21 Arabic-speaking countries, the natives still need to refer to the Arabic Tafseer (explanation) of Qur’an such as by Ibn Katheer, al-Tabari, etc to comprehend the Qur’an fully. They will readily admit that their colloquial Arabic has changed over the years, and adapted to the extent that, for example a Syrian speaking in his native Arabic may not be able to fully comprehend Moroccan or Egyptian Arabic.This may be of some consolation to those Muslims who come from “Non-Arabic-speaking” countries in the West, or the East. It is a myth that the residents of Arabic-speaking countries know “the Message of Arabic Qur’an by default”, by virtue of the fact that they speak native Arabic. No one is therefore exempt from putting in extra efforts to learn the Qur’anic Arabic language, if they would like to succeed here, and in the hereafter.So, for a Muslim living in any part of the world, his/her second language after their native language is always the Qur’anic Arabic.

4. Standardisation Of Qur’anic Arabic-Script, And Pronunciation:As discussed above, Qur’anic Arabic as a second language, becomes a common denominator for all Muslims. However the preservation of Qur’anic Arabic means more than the language, the grammar, and the vocabulary. The script and pronunciation should also be standardised in order to facilitate the full comprehension of Qur’an, Hadith, and other scholarly writings of the past, present, and future scholars of Islam.This is a monumental task. However, with the advent of modern technology such as satellites, communication super-highways, networks, electronic mail, bulletin boards etc the task of international standardisation of Qur’anic Arabic, script, and pronunciation, should become easier.

5. Qur’anic Arabic In High Schools, Colleges, And Universities:Muslims in their respective countries should demand equal treatment for their revered language, Qur’anic Arabic. If Spanish, Latin, German, French, Italian, Hebrew, Russian, etc are taught as a second language in public places of learning, then why not Qur’anic Arabic? This may be easier said than done. In order to phase in Qur’anic Arabic in public High Schools, Colleges, and Universities, we need a co-ordinated effort between all Muslims.

From Gulf Times By Akhtar H Emon

New in Qatar : 24x7 help for cars in distress

2008-10-14T18:42:00.001+03:00

DOHA • Qatar's first specialist patrol-based roadside repair and recovery service, Raha Auto Assistance (Raha) was launched here yesterday.

Raha will take to the roads of Qatar with 27 fully-equipped patrol vehicles offering 24-hour on-the-spot repair and recovery service. It has plans to keep its fleet increasing regularly. Raha is also carrying out feasibility studies to expand regionally, the promoters said.

The promoters added that the Qatar Technical Inspection Company owns 60 percent of Raha while the remaining 40 percent stake is held by shareholding partners, Nasser Bin Khaled Al Thani Holdings and the Saleh Al Hamad Al Mana Company.

To receive roadside motoring assistance, individual Raha members have to pay an introductory fee of QR600 per year. The membership covers each vehicle regardless of who is driving it. Non-members can avail of Raha's services but will be charged QR 300 and QR 600 for membership fee. Raha membership is available for all cars registered in Qatar which are less than 10 years old with a maximum weight of 3,500kg — in simple terms, virtually all cars and pickups. The services of the patrols have been included in the membership fee so there are no additional costs, other than any spare parts fitted.

From the end of this month individual and business members who have had a break down or an accident can call to Raha's 24-hour Doha Call Centre and a fully-equipped, highly trained mobile patrol will be sent quickly to provide assistance.

The 24-hour call centre has highly-trained bi-lingual employees.

The launch ceremony was held at the Doha Sheraton and was addressed by Dr Khaled bin Jabor Al Thani, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of the Qatar Technical Inspection Company and Ikram Hamdad, Raha General Manager, Chris Clibbery, Raha Director, among other officials. Dr Khaled said: "Since 2004, there has been more than 100 percent increase in vehicle registrations to over 90,000 new registrations in 2007. There are some 600,000 vehicles on the roads of Qatar, and this rising trend is expected to continue in the future."

Raha membership includes round-the-clock access to emergency roadside assistance. The service provides emergency assistance whatever be the cause of the breakdown with patrols carrying a wide range of guaranteed spare parts and specialist equipment to perform repairs at the roadside. Routine repairs such as tyre changes, battery boosts and vehicle unlocking services will also be undertaken, he added.

Hamdad said: "Until today, there was no specialist roadside assistance service in Qatar focusing on roadside repair."

Clibbery said: "Our focus is on-the-spot roadside repairs to get their vehicles moving after a breakdown or traffic accident — giving motoring peace of mind for individuals, families and businesses."

He added the patrols aim to repair seven out of every 10 vehicles at the roadside. "In the unlikely event your car cannot be repaired safely at the roadside within a reasonable time, Raha transports your vehicle and passengers to a destination of your choice in Qatar."

Source ::: The Peninsula / By Mohamed Salem

A Raya Time Off for BBQ

2008-10-04T18:45:00.007+03:00

We took an afternoon off from our busy open house schedules to spend quiet time with friends yesterday. It was nice to have a bbq by the poolside with close friends. At least, we managed to have something different. Different from rendang, lemang, nasi impit etc.

Thanks to the host for organising the bbq. Bole buat lagik..hehe.You could just tell that Imran was actually an expert in bbq... Honestly, I am not trying to bodek here...hehe

It was a nice windy autumn afternoon. The beginning of hectic autumn & winter is just here to stay for the next 6 months. More bbq, more picnic to come...

However, we will be spending 1 month starting mid Nov 08 in Malaysia with our families in Malaysia. Balik Kampung!! The Balik Kampung fever is here to stay with us for the next one month or so till we board Qatar Airways flight to KL on 11 November 08 at 1am..hehe.

Salam Aidilfitri & Maaf Zahir Batin

2008-09-29T21:44:00.002+03:00

Salam Aidilfitri & Maaf Zahir Batin dari kami sekeluarga di Doha, Qatar. Qatar is celebrating Eid Mubarak on 30 September 2008, a day earlier than Malaysia.

Again, we celebrate raya in Doha this year. May be we will celebrate next raya in Malaysia with our family, insyaAllah. That's the plan so far anyway. From the look of it, we will have the chance to celebrate raya in Malaysia for the next 10 rayas as the raya falls during summer holidays.

Selamat Hari Raya
Maaf Zahir Batin

Ramadan Bazaar @ Hyatt Plaza

2008-09-22T14:54:00.002+03:00

This was the 2nd & final Ramadan Bazaar for the year..huhu. We wish there could be more.. Hopefully next year there will be at least three Ramadan Bazaar..

It was held at Hyatt Plaza this time. Thank God. Thanks to Hyatt Plaza Management for allowing us to have the fun in the mall. Few people stayed till the end. It was pleasant to be in the air-conditioned area during Ramadan.hehe.

Again, most of the foods sold out within 1 hour. Another record breaking for GAP (Gabungan Anak Perantau). GAP presented the most varities of delicacies including pulut kuning with rendang ayam, apam Cik Dills, laksa Penang, laksam, cucur udang Abe Zu etc. Again, GAP was also the most coordinated team with everyone wore orange t-shirt.

Garangao Festival - A Popular Children’s Festival In The Gulf

2008-09-14T19:04:00.005+03:00

Garangao Festival is a popular children’s festival in The Gulf. Apparently it is celebrated on the 14th day of Ramadan. On this day, young children will go around from house to house collecting sweets, nuts and money, after Iftar. How I wish I am still a kid & go around collecting money..hehe

This is the extract from Gulf Times on the festival : "Children throughout Qatar will today take part in a number of celebrations to mark Garangao, the most popular children’s festival in the Gulf. The celebration is traditionally held on the 14th day of Ramadan despite having no religious connotations, and involves a wide selection of cultural programmes and events for children and their families. Children attired in specially prepared outfits, accompanied by songs and drums, visit their neighbours in the hope of receiving treats on this special day..."

If you want to read more, please visit here.

Few outlets in The Mall also handed in the pack to children. We also bought few Garangao Packs for souvenirs.

Ramadan Bazaar at Embassy

2008-09-13T09:36:00.005+03:00

The most awaited Bazaar Ramadan finally came. This time around I was on the other side of the coin. I was the buyer. Last year, I had joined up to sell some food. It was a big hit.. Our stall completely sold out within 1 hour.

This year, team was equally well coordinated. Everyone put on red t-shirt. It gave the impression that the stall was sponsored by AERO NY..hehe. Last year, the theme was Orange.

That was the 1st Ramadan Bazaar. There will be another bazaar next Friday held at Hyatt Plaza Foodcourt. Hopefully, the same crowd of buyers & sellers will be there. I will definitely be there to spend..

See you next week. Same time different place...

End of one chapter, the beginning of another

2008-09-09T12:55:00.009+03:00

It has been almost week since Alisha left Marry Poppins. We bought the teachers some chocs to show our appreciation for taking care of our little Alisha for about 1 year. She joined Marry Poppins around this time last year. It was not easy for us. We felt very comfortable to keep Alisha at that nursery. The teachers seemed to enjoy her company as well.

Now the time has come for her to go to 'big school'-term used by the teachers to tell Alisha & the kids that they are already now big girls & boys. That itself prepared them mentally for the new adventure in life.

1st day at the new school was no different at any school in the world, I guess. You could hear kids crying. Alisha seemed very composed. She seemed to be prepared for anything. What she was not aware was the fact that the school medium is 100% Arabic. She was ecstatic to see the uniform! Maklum la sebelum ni tak pernah pakai uniform kan..

We decided to send Alisha to the Arabic kindergarten for her to grasp Arabic. We plan to put her at the school until she reaches 6 years old. We reckon two years is good for her to master Arabic before we bring her back to English medium school. Hopefully she will be able to master the language of the Quran soon...

It is now ok

2008-09-05T04:08:00.004+03:00

Today is the 5th day of Ramadan! Time flies..

I suppose it is now ok to put back Lagu Raya Collection. Just to keep the spirit of raya..

For those yang tak balik raya like us. Hope the songs bole mengubat rindu. Hope they don't make you homesick..hehe. If they do, I suggest you book your ticket with Qatar Airways online NOW to avoid dissappointment. We certainly do not wish to see you cry on the raya day itself.

Ramadan Kareem again to all of you.

Ramadan Kareem

2008-09-01T11:27:00.011+03:00

Ramadan Kareem everyone!! May the Holy month of Ramadan brings us the barakah.. Lots of them..

The fasting month in Qatar starts today, 1 September 2008. Malaysia also declared the 1st day of Ramadan for the same date. What is interesting in this part of the world is the way the start of Ramadan is decided. Yes, Saudi & Qatar also followed the sunnah to sight the moon and calculation to determine the 1st day of Ramadan. However, Qatar Government also appealed to the people of Qatar to report to the committee if they see the new crescent on the early night of 30 August 2008 ie 29 Shaaban. This Moon Sight Appeal was publicised in The Gulf Times. So much trust given by the government to the residents of Qatar.. Interesting!

During Ramadan, the working hours will also be reduced especially in the government sectors. Labour Law clearly states that maximum hours during Ramadan shall be maximum 6 hours.

Hopefully more time can be spent on sunnahs during Ramadan month.

Ramadan Kareem to every Muslims in all parts of the world... God Bless.

It is a glass door

2008-08-21T08:25:00.004+03:00

As the name dictates, you can see from the inside & outside.

Glassdoor.com is the new way to get an inside look at any company or job. On daily basis, real employees are sharing the ratings, reviews, and salary information for the companies and job they know best - and it's all there for us to see. This is the new website promotes the sharing of company's information including salaries.

An inside look at companies from the perspective of the employees, try the glass door website.

Asian oil sector losing talent to Gulf

2008-08-14T13:52:00.002+03:00

SINGAPORE: The Asian oil-and-gas industry is facing a labour crunch crisis amid the lure of higher salaries in the Middle East, a management consultancy’s report said yesterday.

The Hay Group found workers in Asia are paid only a fraction of what a person in the same job would earn in the United Arab Emirates. For every dollar of guaranteed cash that a senior manager earns in the UAE, his counterparts in Singapore and Malaysia earn only 74 and 32 cents respectively, the report said.

The manager in China earns 46 cents and only 17 cents in Indonesia, said the findings from the Hay Group’s compensation and benefits database. Employees in Saudi Arabia and the UAE do not pay tax, leaving managers in these two markets enjoying the world’s highest disposable income, the report said.

Vijay Gandhi, general manager of Hay Group’s Reward Information Services, added a note of caution.

“Although the pay differential is higher between the Gulf countries and Asia, the relative value change for a person to move from Asia to the Gulf is diminishing because of the high cost of living and inflation in the Gulf region,” The Business Times quoted Gandhi as saying.

Home rents and expenses for children’s education have doubled in the last two years, he noted.

Published: Wednesday, 13 August, 2008, 01:28 AM Doha Time in Gulf Times.

MAS named world’s 6th best airline (Qatar Airways 7th).

2008-08-14T13:15:00.006+03:00

SYDNEY, Aug 14 — Singapore Airlines has been named the World’s Best Airline in the 2008 Airline of the Year awards, with Qantas coming third in the annual survey, up from fifth place last year, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. Malaysia Airlines came sixth.

After a spate of bad publicity for Qantas, including last month's on-board explosion, ongoing maintenance issues and an incident involving drunken flight attendant that led to two staff members resigning, the results bring some good news for the airline.

The awards, run by UK-based aviation research agency Skytrax, are based on the world's largest passenger survey, with 15 million passengers taking part around the world.

Recent reports on Qantas woes did not escape the notice of Skytrax's CEO, Edward Plaisted, who said that the criticism of airlines from within their own regions did not reflect the experiences of global customers.

The global rating for Qantas is interesting, he said. “We do find that many flag-carrier airlines suffer fairly vitriolic levels of reporting in their local regions, and the airline industry remains a business that some areas of the press seem to love to hate.”

Along with placing third in the awards behind Singapore and Cathay Pacific, Qantas also won the award for best first-class lounge, best economy-class catering and best airline in Australasia.

“The lounge concept for both product and staff service has been modelled around the finest quality you would expect to find in a five-star hotel or restaurant, and the best part is that the concept is being so well delivered by Qantas," Plaisted said.

Singapore won the title for the second year in a row and the third time in 10 years. The airline also took the award for best business class.

Business-class standards continue to be upgraded by airlines across the world, and Singapore Airlines managed to retain its title amidst this growing level of competition, Plaisted said.

Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, who recently expanded its Australian routes, climbed into the top 10 for the first time, placing tenth.

The world's best airlines :
1. Singapore Airlines
2. Cathay Pacific
3. Qantas
4. Thai Airways
5. Asiana Airlines
6. Malaysia Airlines
7. Qatar Airways
8. Air New Zealand
9. Emirates
10. Etihad Airways.

Under various categories:
Best First Class — Cathay Pacific
Best Business Class — Singapore Airlines
Best Premium Economy Class — EVA Air
Best Economy Class — Asiana Airlines
Best low-cost airline — EasyJet ( where's AirAsia?? )
Best Inflight Entertainment — Emirates
Best First-Class Catering — Cathay Pacific
Best Business-Class Catering — Austrian
Best Airline: Transatlantic — British Airways
Best Airline: Transpacific — Air New Zealand.

From PACNEWS, the Pacific News Agency Service.

PETROMINWORK/HESS Merdeka Bowling Tournament

2008-08-10T20:37:00.002+03:00

Venue : Qatar Bowling Centre
Date : 15 August 2008 (Friday)
Time : 7.30-10.30am

Let's go & bowl!!!

08.08.08

2008-08-08T18:25:00.007+03:00

The date has different importance & significance to me. To the whole world, it is the official opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympic 2008 in China.

To me, it was on this date I passed my driving licence in Qatar! Yes, it has been one year since I passed my licence in Qatar. It was a big achievement & relieve to get a licence here. It was like having the key to your freedom. More than one month without car was never easy. The most noticeable problem was to get to work & back. With unreliable public transport, it was a nightmare to commute to work. I still remember I had to book Karwa taxi operated by Mowasalat one day in advance! What a nightmare... Not mention, my little Alisha kept asking me when we would have our own car again.. For one month she bombarded me with the question... hehe. What made it harder to swallow was due to the fact that I had been chauferred driven during my last posting in Vietnam before we came to Doha. Without a car seem unimagineable to Alisha.

A year ago, so many people informed me that not many Malaysians passed their driving test on the 1st test. That sent shivers to my spine. The pressure was so great especially knowing fully well that you had more that 20 years driving experience. To fail the test was not in the equation.
To begin with, I found the whole process of getting the licence unique :

1. You start with the filling up of a form complete with No Objection Letter from your sponsor for you to take the driving licence. Since the form is in Arabic, my Transport Department filled them up for me..hehe

2. 3 photos must be attached to the form (see note 4 below)

3. You must get the blood group confirmation from approved clinic (wonder why they need the info. Till now I still wonder...)

4. Get vision test for your eyes. The funny thing is that, you must make sure your appearance for the test is the same as in the photo in your application form. If your photo shows that you wear glasses, you must come for the vision test with glasses on. Else, the clinic will not proceed to do the test.

5. The completed form must be surrendered together with your valid Malaysian driving licence to the police to allow you to take 12 hours lesson. Without it, you will have to take full lesson ie 24 hours as they consider you as beginner.

6. Once everything is okay, you will be told the time of your class. Mine was from 8-9pm. Totally mencabar..

One driving school informed me that there was a que to enrol with them for the class. Guess how long the que was? 4 months! I almost fainted when I heard it. One month without a car was bad enough. To extend it for another 4 month was crazy. Totally unimagineable.

The learning part itself did not take place without any sweet experience. Some of us kept banging the door when they tried to change gear. Mind you, the gear is on your right hand side as we are driving left hand drive car. It was funny. Back home, we drive on right hand side. Imagine this... after 20 odd years of driving right hand side, you now drive on left hand side for the 1st time. Surely you disciplined and ever obliging left hand and your brain confuse.. The parking lot allocated for the test is also another issue. Back home, you can fit 2 Kancils in the test parking spot. In Doha, the test car can hardly go inside. It is so demanding. You have to stick to the formula. If you try to be creative, you will have to visit the test center again & again & again.. Fail la tu..

Now the test part... There are 4 parts in the test.

1. On the day itself, we have to come very early. The morning session test starts at 6am. We have to be there well before 6 to que to get the test card. Then we proceed to do oral Road Sign Test. In this part, you have to memorise every single road sign as they are written on the card. You are not allowed to use your own word. Imagine you have to say simple No U Turn in this manner - Turning Backward Prohibited. No Entry is called No Entry to All Vehicles. To name but a few... If you fail the sign test, see you again next time in 1 week time. You are not allowed to proceed.

2. If you are lucky, you will go to Slope & L Parking test. For experienced drivers, this is peanuts.

3. If you pass, you proceed to Pocket Parking. The most horrendous part of the driving test. So many people succumbed to this test.

4. Those who pass will proceed to the last leg of the test - on the road test. You need to decide whether you want to go 1st or later. If later, then you have to travel by the bus provided to wait for the car. Normally, the bus will follow the test car. It can be a nerve wrecking experience waiting for your turn. At this point, you really need luck. Sometime, people fail for no reason at this stage. In short, you are at the mercy of the tester.

If you fail at any stage between 2-4 above, you can only sit for the next test after 1 month. Imagine the pressure I was in during the test day. It was like going for a big battle & only luck not skill would decide your fate. If you fail for the 2nd time, you need to take full lessons of 24 hours.

Luckily, I passed 1st time. It was a huge relief... At that point, Merdeka month really meant well for me...hehe

Be Happy. It is your birthday, Dood!

2008-08-08T17:19:00.003+03:00

On 6 August 2008, we celebrated Dood's birthday. It was at TGI Friday. Original plan was to hold it at The Mint. Unfortunately, The Mint was closed for renovation. We headed to TGI Friday in Landmark instead.

Everything went well except the attitude of the waitresses & the food. We found the foods were not that tastefully cooked and presented. For the price we paid (actually the birthday boy picked up the tap..hehe. Thanks Dood!), we thought the foods were overpriced. Some of the foods looked like daging masak kicap! Yes, we are talking about steaks here. Even fried calamari looked weird. Not to mention the onion ring...

Nevertheless, we enjoyed the dinner largely due to the companies that night. To have everybody at the same time could be a daunting task as some of us work on shift & odd hours especially the QA staffs. That was also the reason why we held the dinner a day earlier than birth date of Dood. To accomodate the family members! We did miss Deen that night though.. hehe.

Happy birthday, Dood. Semoga panjang umur, murah rezeki...

Program Sumbangan Beras Sempena Ramadan 2008

2008-08-07T17:03:00.005+03:00

Program Sumbangan Beras to Vietnam's Muslim Community sempena bulan Ramadan tahun ni. This is an annual donation programme organised by my ex-PETRONAS colleagues in PC Vietnam Ltd, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. They also organise Program Qurban sempena Hari Raya Haji.

They plan to deliver the rice on 3rd week of August ie 1 week before Ramadan.

The two photos attached may give you some insight to the condition of one of the Muslim communities in Vietnam. Extraordinary dhaif!

This is the surau in one of the kampungs (above) &

the kampung (below).

I would say most Muslims in Vietnam are Malay origin. Most of them are Malay Champa.

Hopefully we can sedekah a lot more this time around. Last year, we managed to sedekah in total 17,146kg of rice to 64 masjids & surau. On top, sedekah also given to fakir miskin, anak-anak yatim, ustaz etc. seramai 243 people.

Malaysian Food Festival in Doha

2008-08-02T18:38:00.003+03:00

Malaysian & Indonesian Food Festivals to be organised by Marriott Hotel, Doha from 16 -31 Aug 2008. Indonesian food will be served from 16-22 August 2008 & Malaysian food will be served from 23-31 August 2008. It will be held between 6.30-10.30pm daily at Asia Live! Restaurant.

What a way to celebrate 51st Merdeka month & to welcome Ramadan!

Be part of this deliciously different culinary experience and explore an exciting lineup of exotic Indonesian and Malaysian dishes for your gastronomic indulgence.

For reservations or more information, you can call +974 429 8499 or email DineMarriottDoha@marriott.com

For more information on Marriot Hotel, Doha, please visit http://www.dohamarriott.com/

Doha to Mekah & Madinah via road

2008-07-22T13:17:00.006+03:00

If you plan to drive to Saudi for umrah or visit, this map is helpful. This is a simplied version and guide. Off course we need the necessary travel documents like umrah visa or visit visa to Saudi. Transit visa is only applicable if we want to cross Saudi en route to UAE or any destination within driving distant eg Oman, Kuwait, Yemen & Bahrain.

Latest Shopping Attraction in Doha

2008-07-16T20:09:00.005+03:00

We found out this new shopping attraction today. It is along C Ring between Ramada Junction & Lamborghini Showroom or directly opposite Burger King & sandwiched between two towers. The towers are called Al Mana Towers & the shopping mall called The Boulevard.

What attracted me to visit this newly opened shopping mall was the word SALES. The new mall houses BHS, Mango, Benetton etc. You can also find Gloria Jeans coffee shop. The BHS is now offering 25% discount for all purchase. I would say it was a grand opening sales.

Go & have a look at the latest mall to kill your time during weekend..

Doha Summer Festival 2008

2008-07-15T15:00:00.003+03:00

Here comes the Doha Summer Festival!!!! The festival runs from 15 July - 5 August.

The Summer Festival also hosts an international trade fair at Doha Exhibition Centre. Some 345 pavilions will be selling home appliances, garments, cosmetics, accessories and other goods.

There will also be a Qatari Heritage Village showcasing the country’s history and culture.

The attractions :

1. The Hyatt Plaza - A puppet show & story telling
2. The Mall -The Chinese dragon, acrobat show & education workshop
3. The City Center - The Smurfs cartoon show
4. The Villagio - The Children’s circus
5. The Landmark - The magic show
6. The City Centre - The acrobats
7. Doha Exhibition Centre - The jugglers, stilt walkers and clown magicians

On top of the above, there will be caricature and painting shows at all the venues, drum beatings by girls at City Center and Villagio, and mime artistes and live statues at the Landmark, Hyatt Plaza and The Mall. Shows will also be staged at the City Center ice rink.

The programmes run daily from 6pm to 10pm & FOC.

Hopefully, the hot summer days will be spent indoors. As most of them shows are at the shoping centres, don't forget to bring some cash & credit cards..

One Weekend & Three Birthdays

2008-07-13T20:01:00.008+03:00

Sound too much? Not so. That kept us over occupied last weekend. Birthday, birthday & birthday. The 1st birthday celebration was meant as a surprise birthday party for my wife. It was jointly organised by Rizal & Dills... The original venue was Seri Kebaya. Unfortunately, Seri Kebaya was fully booked that night. So we changed the venue to Al Majles...

What made it special was that all our Dohas' 'family members' were there. It was due to careful planning by Rizal & Dills. That was the night I declared Shah as the winner for the night. He managed to eat the most lamb... I was not so sure what we call it though..

Dan, a friend of mine invited us for the birthday celebration for their 1 year old daugther. They are new to Doha. They have been in Doha for only 1 month & 12 days yesterday.

Lastly, we also celebrated Farhain's birthday!!! She also turned 1 last weekend. Happy Birthday, Farhain! Sorry folks, no pix.

30 June 2007

2008-06-30T19:16:00.004+03:00

This is the day we set our foot in Qatar. It has been a year now. Time flies... When we 1st set our foot in Doha, we did not know what to expect. One thing we were sure off was the HEAT...

May be I should list down our experience for the last one year.. I would nominate the experience to get the driving licence as top of the list... It made the experience to get a driving licence in Malaysia was like a chicken feed..

I also had the chance to meet my junior whom I never met on the very 1st few days in Doha. He was far too junior..hehe. Thanks Deen. With his kind help, we managed to get around the city to look for apartments. Through him, I got to know few more Malaysians working in several companies in Doha. I would say that was the beginning of our busy times in Doha. Now, those people are like family to us.

In the space of one year also, we saw the departure of Deen, Dom and Aizal & Yeen from Doha. They chose to pursue their careers outside Doha.. People come, people go. The memory is here to stay...

We witnessed the Malaysians growing in numbers in Doha for the last one year.. We also met friends whom we lost contact long time ago.. They unexpectedly turned up in Doha. What a pleasant surprise!!

One thing for sure, the experience in Doha for the last one year is something to cheerish.

They are hillarious...

2008-06-17T20:51:00.002+03:00

I picked up these jokes from Marina Mahathir's blog. They made my day...

Birthday Clip By Aizal..

2008-06-12T18:17:00.004+03:00

The clip is a special present from Aizal & Yeen.. It came almost 2 weeks too late..haha. The reason? We forgot to invite Baby Myra for Alisha's birthday party.. hehe. Sorry guy. It was not our intention. We just forgot.

Thank you, Aizal..

BBQ@Singing Dunes (30 May 2008)

2008-06-03T18:40:00.019+03:00

This was the 1st activity organised by Malaysian Association of Qatar (MAQ) under the new exco..

Facts that we should know about the Singing Dunes :

1. Singing Sand Dunes in Qatar is one of approximately 30 sites in the world where sound is produced from sand dunes naturally. Yes, there are only around 30 sites in the world only that can produce such sound.

2. The Singing Dunes must shape in a semi circle, forming a natural desert amphitheatre to be able to produce the sound.

3. Noise from singing sand dunes, which have been reported in the Middle East for OVER 1500 years, have been described as "roaring, booming, squeaking, singing or musical".

4. For singing to take place, the sand must be extremely dry – even the presence of 0.1% moisture will reduce the effectiveness of the singing. There is still some controversy over how exactly the sand dunes produce the sound (see The troubled song of the sand dunes). However, it is certain that for the sound to be heard the sand needs to be put into motion. When the singing is heard, the sounds' vibrations can sometimes be felt reverberating through your body.

5. The location of Singing Dunes in Qatar is accessible with any saloon car.
Yes, there is no requirement to have 4WD to enjoy the mystery of the Singing Dunes.

You can surf also surf Singing to the tune of sand, Physicist solves desert mystery & Sand-dune science creeps ahead to learn more.

Sorento vs Civic

2008-06-03T18:02:00.005+03:00

Just guess who the winner was... May be the pix can tell the story better than me...

It happened in front of our apartment when our good friend from Shell waited for his turn to turn left. Luckily nobody was hurt...
The funny part was that the Civic left visible H mark on the bumper of the Sorento.. hehe. The not-so-funny part was that we waited for two hours for the police to arrive to record the statements from the drivers. It was not funny when you had to stand in the heat for two hours! I had to run for cold water at the nearby supermarket as we did not keep ice in our freezer.
From the accident also,our good friend managed to get to know a Malaysian lady staying at the apartment next to ours. We never knew her existence before..

Birthday Party - Part II

2008-06-01T18:30:00.004+03:00

This time we organised the party at McD.

The pix below contributed by Azerdills family. Thank you so much. We appreciate it.

Birthday Celebration - Part 1

2008-05-26T22:54:00.002+03:00

This celebration was held at Marry Poppins Nursery today in conjuction with Alisha's 4th birthday.

26 May 2004

2008-05-26T10:26:00.002+03:00

Today is the day... The day we are blessed with Alisha Soffeya.

On this date four years ago (according to Gregorian Calendar anyway).. I could still remember the stare from her eyes the moment I started Azan at her ears. The stare that I could never forget..

Happy 4th Birthday, Alisha Soffeya.

Note : Hopefully I can write more later.

As you are heading home for summer holiday..

2008-05-21T10:59:00.004+03:00

Browse Qatar Living and I found the top 10 souvenirs from Qatar...

1. The Quran - Available in an Arabic/English version and other languages

2. Locally made halawa also available in the souq area. OMANI halawa is also nice.

3. A dullah (traditional coffee pot with a set of small kahwa cups (for Arabic coffee).

4. A traditional incense burner with State of Qatar logo

5. Gold jewellery with a local & gulf designs

6. A sword used for ardha (Traditional sword dance performed at celebrations)

7. Good quality dates

8. An abaya with shayla and a thobe with igal and guttra (headgear)

9. A hardback coffee table book about Qatar

10. Gulf style 'Russian dolls"

Unfortunately, we are not going home for summer. We plan to go home at the end of the year. No urgency for us to shop around.

Happy Birthday, Imran

2008-05-20T18:23:00.005+03:00

Imran turned 4 recently...

Another reason to get together & makan-makan... haha. Get together on weekend is now our weekly activity. Without it, life is not complete in Doha.. Wonder if I need bigger size of trousers at the end of the year. At today's rate, I foresee I need to have new wardrobe... hmmm

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, IMRAN

I need a translator!

2008-05-12T14:46:00.002+03:00

Can anyone translate the following article? It appeared in Al Arab daily newspaper (page 2). Meanwhile, I will look for the translation..

Summer is definitely here...

2008-05-09T19:10:00.002+03:00

It is summer time... Temperature is rising.. It can be very hot during the day. I noticed temperature of 41C lately. It was still considered mild. It could and it would be hotter than 41C. At the peak of summer, temperature can easily reach 49C..hmmm

To be honest, I don't mind the heat. What I mind is the humidity. Luckily the humidity will only get worse in late August, normally. Nowadays, we can not really tell. The weather has become so erratic for the past few years.. Global warming I suppose? It was a pleasant surprise to us when it rained last Monday. Normally rain only occurred in Qatar at year end or early of the year. Imagine.. Now, we are already in May... Yet, it rained...

Summer time can also mean a torturous season for me.. It is not the heat that causes the torture. It is the tap water.. The tap water can be very hot during the summer. Sometime it feels like boiling hot water.. Today, I have switched off the water heater. We don't require the hot water tap anymore. Cool water tap is sufficient for us. Even in the early morning, the water from the cold tap is hot.. During the day, the water is boiling hot. I wonder if I could actually "masak telor tiga suku" using the water from the cold water tap.. May be I can try one day….

After a long silent...

2008-04-28T19:35:00.006+03:00

Almost 3 weeks passed since I last posted to this blog.. Some people complain about it. I have been busy with the new political scenario back home. Too occupied with the latest happenings in Malaysia. Everyday you would read new interesting things happening in Malaysia. In fact, to keep myself updated with the news in Malaysia, I decided to subscribe Malaysiakini for 6 months. So far, Malaysiakini has proven itself to be a good & independent source of information.

Enough about politic... My good ex-colleague from Vietnam Operation was here yesterday for a short trip. I took the opportunity to show him around. To ensure he got taste of the beautiful Doha, I took him to The Corniche where he experienced the fresh fish market by The Corniche. Off course, the souk was part of the tour....

We also invited him for dinner at our house. It was not easy to have a guest flew all the day from Vietnam to come to this part of the world. That alone gave us enough reason to invite him for dinner.. After all Khairil might be our neighbour in the future...

Dinasours came to town!!!

2008-04-07T22:16:00.012+03:00

Heard about it. Could not believe it.

At the end we took the initiative to verify it. It was a small exhibition on dinosaurs at The City Centre. Sufficient to keep the kids occupied for 1 hour or so. Unfortunately, the write up about the dinosaurs were in Arabic except the names..huh.. Time to learn Arabic I suppose...

Previously, the dinosaurs could make some movements & sound. Not anymore. My guess was that the mechanical parts were now faulty due to the trespassers. If you knew what I meant... Some kids loved to be very close & personal with the dinosaurs...At the end they damaged them....

It was also interesting to know that Alisha did not fear the dinosaurs. She used to be afraid of clowns..hehe

Welcome Home Azerdills!!!

2008-03-31T21:54:00.007+03:00

What is the good way to welcome friends home? Rizal organised a get together on the evening of Azerdills's arrival. It was meant to ensure that they would not too badly affected by jetlag..haha. Surprising all of them including Aidil managed to stay awake during the dinner till 9.30pm ie 2.30am Malaysian time.. Well done...

Thanks to Rizal for being efficient, two of us were given the honour to blow the candles. Surprise surprise...

Happy birthday to me & Nije.. Semoga panjang umur & murah rezeki...

Cute Cut

2008-03-30T22:30:00.003+03:00

Thanks to the exposure given to Alisha for the last few months. She is now ready to have her hair cut at the hair salon.. Well before her 1st experience with the salon, she has been following me to the barber. Effectively, we removed her anxiety towards the hairdresser..

When her time came for a hair cut, she just sat there obediently... Cute Cut is actually the name of the hair salon for juniors or kids... They can enjoy Tom & Jerry while having their hair cut... A good concept for kids. You can find the salon at Hyatt Plaza..

The temperature is rising....

2008-03-30T22:07:00.002+03:00

The temperature is now rising steadily in Doha.. On midday, you can get as high as 37 Celcius. It is still considerably low though.. During the peak of summer the temperature can be as high as 50 Celcius.. Yes, it is hot man. Really really hot..

Today is also the official 1st day of British Summer Time. So the time difference between London & Doha is only 2 hours now... Those who plan to go to London, please be mindful fo the time difference...hehe

Enjoy the summer everyone....

A Visit to the City of World's Tallest Building

2008-03-25T19:09:00.004+03:00

We decided to head for Dubai for a short break last week. We were honoured to be the guests of Emil & family, a good buddy of mine during my A-Level years. It was purely a leisure holiday. We did not plan to go to every single interesting place. It would be a very tiring holiday if we indeed went to every single possible place in Dubai.. We wanted a break from work, that was all...

It was the 1st time we went out from Doha after almost 9 months here.. Huh, time flies..

The only place that we really wanted to visit was Ski Dubai where we managed to introduce snow to Alisha. She was excited. It was freezing in the Snow Park. Temperature was -4 Celcius!! It was just amazing to see how they created a ski slope adjacent to a shopping mall. The feeling was real though..hehe.

We did not miss to get close & personal with Burj Al Arab, the only 7* hotel on earth. We could only admire the World's Tallest Building from far as it was still in progress. Once completed, it would stand at almost double the height of the tallest twin towers in the world, PETRONAS Twin Towers. Amazing...

It brought back the memory of my 1st business trip to Dubai way back in 1998. I was impressed with the green scenery. It was then... You can just imagine what happen after 10 years of development and oil price hovering around USD100 per barrel... The whole city is now like a tropical country, less the rain...

Alisha's Latest Cousin

2008-03-25T17:58:00.010+03:00

Congratulation to Yin & Lina for the arrival on their 1st child, nicknamed Baby X during the pregnancy period... Alisha has been equally excited about her latest cousin. In fact, she once mentioned that she would like to bring the baby back to Doha so she could look after him...hehe

Farewell to Dom & Jessie

2008-03-18T12:20:00.002+03:00

We bid farewell to Dom & Jessie recently. Chilli's was chosen as the place to have the farewell dinner. Originally we planned to have it at souq. Since we had a large group, the organiser decided to organise it at Chilli's instead.

They have been part of our colourful life in Doha.
Wish them both well & successfull in their career...

Till we meet again...

Last weekend's activities

2008-03-14T10:47:00.015+03:00

As Malaysian in Malaysia were busy for general election last week, we too were occupied with activities in Doha.

We started our weekend with breakfast at The Corniche. It was a brief one as we had to rush to Jelaiah Compound for a BBQ.

On Friday night, we attended a birthday party at Al Jazi Compound...

Malaysia Decides 2008 - The Verdict

2008-03-14T10:19:00.004+03:00

Malaysian went to poll on 8 Mac 2008.

By the dawn of 9 Mac 2008, it was clear that 4 states fell to the 'new government', a coalition of PAS, PKR & DAP ( Barisan Rakyat ) while Kelantan maintained under PAS. DAP took control of Penang in a clean sweep to form a new government with 2/3 majority.

At the Federal level, BN government was denied 2/3 majority in Parliament. Interestingly, Wilayah Persekutuan technically under the control of the Barisan Rakyat with only 1 seat won by Barisan Nasional (BN) in Setiawangsa Parliamentary seat. Amazing...

I would think the 12th General Election was the most interesting election in Malaysia's history. The landscape of Malaysian politic has now changed. I hope for the better.

The full result is as follows:

Malaysia Decides 2008

2008-03-08T00:20:00.002+03:00

Today is the 12th General Election Day in Malaysia. After 13 days of campaign, Malaysians will cast their votes today. The will decide on the ruling party to run the government of Malaysia.

In the course of the campaign, various methods used by the parties to woo voters. One particularly impress with the way the oldest candidate in the general election pursues her campaign.. At the age of 89 years old, she is using IT to reach out to potential voters. She has Facebook & blog!!! Pretty impressive for a grandma of 89 years old. Go & visit her blog at http://maimunbintiyusuf.blogspot.com.

Interesting... Wish her all the best..

Unplanned 45 degree slide trip

2008-03-03T22:22:00.003+03:00

It is definitely not for faint hearted people.. It can also be used to test the health of your heart.. Once the vehicle starts sliding, there is no turning back. You just pray the vehicle will not tip over.. At the same time, we need to ensure that our hearts are still beating (just in case the hearts stop... hehe)..

I will write more later.. It is difficult to sum up the experience...

Things to do next few days..

2008-02-26T21:01:00.004+03:00

Here are the list of activities in Doha to keep us occupied.

For the next few days world class tournaments that you can find in Doha :

1. WPPA Class 1 World Powerboat Championship - QATAR GRAND PRIX, DOHA from 28 Feb 2008 - 1 Mac 2008 at The Corniche
Read here if you more information and the official website is here.

The F1 Boat Powerboat Racing will come to Qatar on 29 March 2008. The official website is here.

2. Commercial Bank Motor Grand Prix of Qatar at Losail International Circuit from 7-9 March 2008. It will be held at night!!! 2008 Commercial Bank Grand Prix of Qatar will become the first motorsports World Championship Grand Prix to take place at night, an historic moment for MotoGP and Qatar. You can read more at its official website.

Those are on top of the 7th Doha Cultural Festival that is about to start in 2 days time ie 28 February 2008.

Go out & have fun...

Happenings in Doha

2008-02-23T07:08:00.008+03:00

The weather is forecasted to be below 15 Celcius again in the next few days. A forecast from BBC News in its website predicted that the temperature would be ranging from 2 to 23 Celcius tomorrow, Sunday 24 Feb 2008. Interesting... Most people already sent their jackets for dry clean & stuffed them away in the closet.. Look like they have to bring them out again...

Apart from the weather, we can always find something interesting in the next few days..

1. The Robot Zoo Exhibition.

The Robot Zoo Exhibition is currently going on at the Corniche. This is the 1st time such exhibition comes to the Middle East according to The Peninsula newspaper. According to a friend, the exhibition is pretty interactive & can be a good learning point for kids. Off course the parents will find it pretty boring.. ;-)

2. Doha Cultural Festival

Apparently this is the 7th Doha Cultural Festival held in this country. It promises a lot of activities. The festival will run from 28 Feb 2008 to 6 Mac 2008. Don't miss the opportunity. Several interesting cultural festivals have been line up for visitors.

You can always check for details at the website published by the organiser, National Council for Culture Arts and Heritage here.

The WTA Qatar Total Open 2008

2008-02-18T09:00:00.005+03:00

If you are interested in tennis, this could be your opportunity to watch World's Players in action. The tournament starts today at Khalifa Tennis Complex. The matches start at 3.30pm today.

For more information on the today's matches, please click here. If you want to know more about the tournamnet, click here.

The tournament will be from today, 18 February 2008 till 24 February 2008.

Selamat Jalan PM

2008-02-09T22:04:00.000+03:00

PM here means Pakcik & Makcik!!!! Not what you think. Sorry to dissappoint you.

The time has finally come to bid farewell to Pakcik & Makcik. They are actually parents of Yeen.

Both have been in Doha for almost six months to provide support to the proud parents of the new born, Baby Myra. Since Baby Myra is their first baby, both of them need every possible support. For that, Yeen invited her parents to be with them during the last month of her pregnancy and confinement period.

Pakcik & Makcik had been part of our live in Doha. They followed every single activity we organised from Breakfast@Corniche to makan-makan session.

Last weekend was the last weekend we spent time with Pakcik & Makcik. For that, Aiyeen organised a BBQ followed by karaoke session. Pakcik also contributed few songs.. My comment-Should I know Pakcik sing so well, I would not touch the microphone that night...hahaha. I would not embarrass myself...

For those who did not want to menSUMBANGkan lagu that night, they decided to play table tennis instead...

Such much activities, so much food.. What a way to bid farewell to Pakcik & Makcik.. Harap-harap berjumpa lagi..

Wheels & Heels 2008

2008-02-02T21:07:00.000+03:00

This is the 3rd consecutive year for such event to be held in Doha at The Corniche yesterday. We braved the temperature of 13 Celcius to attend the event.

The stunt by professional bikers attracted the most...

Thanks to our good friend working with Platinum Sponsor of the event for highlighting to us about the event. Else, our Friday would evolve around makan-makan
only..haha

It ain't over till it is over

2008-02-02T18:55:00.001+03:00

The cold weather does not seem to go away for now. Winter is not over yet. When we think it is over, it is here again.

Yesterday was very cold. Temperature was around 13 Celcius only.

When I received the forecast for the weekend from a colleague on Thursday, I shrugged it off. How could it be when the whole week last week temperature was around 20 Celcius. True enough, at around 7.30pm on Thursday evening strong wind started to blow. And mercury dropped!!! Yesterday, the temperature was back to 13 Celcius for the whole day.

And today, it is bright sunny Saturday. Is it not fun to live in this country? It is a challenge itself to keep up with the weather...

Still fresh in my memory about a comment made by Margaret Thatcher, ex-Premier of UK on British weather. She once said that you could have 4 seasons in 1 day in UK.. hmm. I just hope we don't have to face it in Qatar..

Qatar Masters 2008 - The Result

2008-01-28T13:57:00.000+03:00

Web posted at: 1/28/2008 2:51:50Source ::: The Peninsula

Doha • Australia’s Adam Scott captured his second Qatar Masters title, but did it in a most astonishing manner - breaking the clubhouse record with a blaze of birdies in the final round of the $2.5m title.

Playing impeccable golf, Scott yesterday carded 11 under par 61 for an overall score of 20 under par 268 to win his second title in Doha.

For his sublime efforts, the 2002 Qatar Masters champion went home richer $416,660.

The Australian bettered the efforts of nine under par 63 by Mark Pilkington and Robert Karlsson, both in 2001. It is the first time that Qatar Masters has been won by a player twice. Former Qatar Masters champion, Henrik Stenson of Sweden, finished in second spot, with a card of seven under par 65 and 17 under par 271 overall.

The third place was secured by Charl Schwartzel of South Africa. Schwartzel ended his Doha trip with a card of five under par 67 for an overall score of 15 under par 273.
“It was some day, yes. I came out of the gate firing and that got me going. I was able to keep pressure on the guys leading before play started today so that helped,” Scott said.

“Henrik did everything he could, shooting a card of 65, but I guess the guy who finishes the round first, and with a lot of birdies like I did, will always put pressure on the other players,” the Australian added.

Qatar Masters 2008

2008-01-25T20:47:00.000+03:00

Got up early on Friday morning just to watch Qatar Masters 2008 with Ramzi. We have been in this country for almost 7 months. Sadly, we have not got the opportunity to play golf here. Time is not the reason. Qatar has only one golf course. It is called Doha Golf Club. For its exclusiveness, it comes with a great 'price'.

I could still remember getting up at 4.30am in the morning just to play golf in Vietnam. Tee off time could be as early at 5.45am especially during summer time. You can call me crazy. But that what golfers do. Getting up in the wee hours in the morning just to tire themselves at the golf course. Yet we call it sport..hehe.

Adam Scott reading the game on hole 18 yesterday...

The golf club was virtually empty at around 8.45am on the 2nd day of tournament day and on weekend! Amazing. I once watched a golf tournament in Malaysia years ago. I could still remember how pack the golf course was. Here in Doha, you could hardly see any human beings. The car park was also deserted. Oh my.. The only reason I could think of was lack of serious promotion by the daily newspapers. Or perhaps the locals are not into sports especially golf?

I also consider Qatar is the only place in the world where you can have the world's top golf players walking beside you!!! You can also take a good shot of them. Shall I again consider myself lucky being in Qatar?

It was only during uploading the photos from my camera to laptop I realised that the photos had a foggy marks at the top half of them..For that reason, all the photos were not as sharp. The photos looked like as if we were having a terrible winter day yesterday when in contrary it was bright and sunny day yesterday with temperature around 17 Celcius. Major disappointment to me. Else it would be perfect photos of the world's top golf players.. Is it a good reason to watch the tournament today?

Wanna have breakfast?

2008-01-19T15:48:00.000+03:00

Breakfast!!! The was the first thing that came to my mind when I opened my eyes today.

The question is where you can find decent place for breakfast? We have tried everywhere. You just name them. We went to Johnny Rockets. We went to prata shops. We even went to Cafe Le Notre. McDonalds does not serve breakfast..sigh.. Recently we discover that The Opera at The Mall is also serving breakfast... hmm. We have yet to try it though.

Among the places we went, we gave Cafe Le Notre a thumb up. A bit on the pricy side but excellent environment. Meals were tastefully served.

Around Doha Today...

2008-01-18T20:16:00.000+03:00

If you drive to the shopping malls today, you will notice that there are sales going on.

We went to The Landmark again today.. ( Mind you we were there last week also )

- Marks & Spencer is giving 50% discount
- BHS Reopening Sales comes with 25% discount
- For mother-to-be, Mothercare is slashing away the price up to 50%
- Evans also come up with buy one get one for free
- Sergent Major also joins the sales
- The best Osh Kosh can offer is only Best Buy

The list continues....

One word of advice-Please come with tonnes of cash or credit cards..

You know what I did last weekend?

2008-01-13T19:59:00.000+03:00

You know what I did last weekend?

Friday

We started our weekend with lunch at Megat's apartment. He organised a small gathering to welcome his newly arrived friends from Malaysia as well as his mum who is here in Doha for a month long holiday.What was on menu? Nasi hujan warna warni, chicken curry, acar & sambal..yummy.. Masakan ibu!!!

At night, I invited myself to Zals house for a sweet mee bandung for dinner... tasty but sweet. Never mind, Zals will make it perfect next time.. Thanks Zals for 'inviting' us..

Saturday

We went to The Corniche on Saturday morning to buy fresh squids for the dinner.. We ended up buying the crabs as there was no squid that morning.

Then we off to Ibn Umran for breakfast at Nizam Ken's house. It is more of a gathering to welcome the arrival of his newborn from Malaysia.

We close our weekend activities with shopping at newly reopened BHS in The Landmark shopping mall... Up to 25% discount for all merchandises... Another reason to spend some money... haha

Our deepest sympathy...

2008-01-13T17:18:00.000+03:00

Our deepest sympathy to Azerdills family for the loss of baby Adam.

May Allah give them strength to face HIS test.