viva espana!!!

it was fun.... extremely fun... enjoyed it very much....

che le.. nak gambar lagi... :-)

All the best Aizal & Yeen & of course Myra...

Last Thursday Ruby plak buat farewell makan2 kat umah dia... :-) it was the last makan2 for them as they left Doha utk memulakan hidup baru kat London :-) good for them... :-
Setahun lebih je korang kat Doha ni.. dah meneruskan cita-cita kat london pulak... anyhow, of course perkenalan setahun lebih ni penuh dengan kenangan indah... (anyway, bila korang blah blh lah aku claim am the only malay malaysian kat AJE :-) )

- as i remember kat umah depa lah first time buat makan2 besar-besaran... i.e. more than 20 people... somewhere early feb 07... which u can read it here.. or here...
- and dengan lucky yeen lah aku dapat lesen :-) thanks yeen
- of course various makan-makan... especially the pink n blue party, the first ramadhan sahur & Aqiqah for Myra
- of course lah, the best part bila depa voluntarily bg umah depa jadi port karaoke & main ping pong :-)
- and kehadiran Myra yg cute... :-)

InsyaAllah... ada rezeki kita jumpa lagi (make sure ada tempat utk org2 doha lepak kat london nanti!!!)... Bye Bye for now...

Bloated @ Regency

selasa sudah aku treat Aizal n Yeen for scrumptious seafood buffer kat Gourmet Restaurant - Sea Harvest @ Grand Regency hotel... memang giler banyak seafood, tp mmg lah rasanya tak sesedap cara org kita Malaysia masak, but good enough. memandangkan kat Doha ni mmg kurang serve ikan kat kedai2... kira mmg berbaloi buffet ni.

from top left: tower of udang, deep fried hamour, lauk pauk seafood based sedap
second row : cold starter n salad, beriani seafood, desserts
3rd row : - my meal - deep fried crab + big prawns, oysters + various cold starters, beriani + grilled prawn + oyster bercili + other lauks

Buffet ni hanya ada hari selasa. masa buat reservation, they've told me the price per pax was QR140nett. and i've agreed with it (mmg hari tu aku pernah g sekali n harga mcm tu) tp bila nak bayar, jadi QR199 plak... apa lagi aku pun argue lah... at last they charged us for 5 pax, when sebenarnya 7 pax.... so dapat lah jugak lebih kurang QR142nett per pax. and it was really worth it.

pas ni nak cari hotel mana lagi best for makan2...

Tal!ban & Afghn...

dah menjadi habit aku, setiap kali aku plan utk travel or jalan2 aku akan beli buku cerita utk baca throughout the journey... aku rasa masa travelling ni lah byk time membaca... masa dlm flight, sementara tunggu train, dalam train, kalau2 jet lag blh baca since tak leh tido...

for my previous trip aku baca these two books from Khaled Hosseini. interesting books with afghanistan as the background of the stories. both citer keadaan afghanistan masa kegemilangan sebelum perang ngan Russia, then menang perang, pastu melalui perang saudara then Taliban.

The Kite Runner mainly citer pasal lelaki, i mean the main character is a guy so he talks abt the country based on man perspective while the other book more on women perspective. both books menceritakan mcm mana seronok nya negara tu sebelum perang dengan Russia, then unity among afghan berpecah setelah habis perang sbb perang saudara dan betapa sengsara nya rakyat setelah kedatangan Taliban (takde cite pasal penjajahan Amerika lagi).

aku tak de lah nak buat sinopsis dan komen panjang lebar pasal buku ni... blh banyak cari review tu kat internet oleh yg lebih pakar. cuma apa yg aku fikir2 kan setelah baca buku ni adalah berkenaan kesengsaraan afghan masa pemerintahan taliban. penceritaan dalam buku ni mcm bg valid reason utk US serang Afghanistan dan menjatuhkan taliban...

masa perang afghan tu, setiap kali aku tgk klip video pasal perempuan afghan yg ditindas. kena paksa pakai burqa dan dihalang kebebasan. aku anggap its just a rare case. utk situasi tertentu je. dan aku membayangkan bahawa pengamalan undang2 berdasarkan syariah menjadikan negara tu lebih sejahtera.

tp buku ni cite seolah2 disebabkan taliban (on top of perang saudara dan perang rusia) ramai org afghan fled to other countries. masa taliban lah macam senang2 je org kena bunuh samada sebab tak menurut perintah mengarut taliban atau sbb kan org tu kasta lebih rendah. masa pemerintahan taliban byk berlaku genocides. dan sesapa tak kenal org taliban, ada harapan lah kena bunuh without reason.

then i thought how far should we trust the writer of the book. its a fiction je... tp mesti ada jugak benarnya. adakah buku ni satu lagi propaganda Amerika? who can really tell me whether taliban tu bagus or mmg betul2 teruk. mungkin kah taliban akan kembali menjajah afghanistan since masih wujud perang kat afghan this days...

by reading this book makin berminat aku nak g ke afghanistan... to see the real life and experience it... the same feeling i have towards iraq dan lebanon... and also iran (wonder will america/israel akan betul serang iran before the year end?)

It's Makan time again...

Last weekend we had glorious makan-makan time again...

1. by Azerdills...

Dilla dengan rela hati nya organise makan-makan for 2 valid reasons...

- first farewell utk Aizal n Yeen (hehehee... there'll be few more farewell makan2 for them coming!!!)

- surprise birthday party for akak diba yang telah mencecah usia XX tahun...

Dilla served nasi ayam n import laksam dr Eja... both were wonderfully sedap... yes they are mmg sedap... plus... dilla dah mula buat kuih yg pakai steamer... keep making kuih dilla... lama-lama nanti sure perfect! and we of course don't mind jadi ur tikus makmal utk test all the kuih muih tu...

actually we had few other makan-makan kat umah dilla ni dulu... but entah mcm mana it was not in this blog... sorry dilla... i think at 1 time tu, my camera was out of battery, so tak de ambil gambar... that was makan-makan for aidil birthday cum surprise birthday utk kak ruby, abg kimie and frans :-). but when it comes to dilla's place... one won't miss this item... hehehe....

back to the makan-makan last weekend... diba was so surprised yg ada birthday celebration utk dia. disebabkan dia memang tak sangka and this makan2 ni like normal makan2. it took her and abe more than 10 minutes (ntah2 lama dari tu) utk naik tangga ke tingkat 3, kitaorg ni plak dah lah duduk dalam gelap n sha terpaksa lah pegang kek yg dah berlilin... sampai cair lah lilin yg ada kat kek tu n kena replenish taruh lilin baru. apa lah yg digaduhkan akak n abe kat dalam kereta tu. to kak diba, hope u enjoy the surprise birthday bash.

2. by Adam's family

on saturday plak adam buat makan-makan... ada nasi goreng cina, ayam goreng with yummy lemon sauce and superb mee bandung! oh, the choc cake pun sedap... plus org lain bawak cendol, kuih ketayap n sagu gula melaka... penuh meja!

actually no one knows why there's a makan2 kat umah adam... but anyways, its makan-makan... so who cares apa reason dia... enjoy je lah.. but i guess most of us were not around masa anak dia punya birthday ari tu, ni kind of bg kitaorang tengok hadiah yg kitaorang bg kat anak dia (hahaha.. we gave the money to dilla n dia je yg beli, tak tgk pun.... :-))

and both makan-makan ends a bit late... because the guys sebuk tgk bola... hehehe... and the underdogs won!!! i like!!!

*update... We had another makan2 again tadi.. and buat projek besar-besaran... heheheh... anyway, best spain menang!!!

change...

hey... anyone out there... sesapa tahu ada keje kosong sesuai for me... let me know... ada tak headhunter baca my blog ni??? hehehe...

my plan to move to Riyadh... tak kesampaian... :-) anyway, am not really keen to move there, plus they can't doubled what am getting here hahahaha... seems that they can't afford it... too bad, am stuck here...

Hurricane???

Don't know how reliable is this info... anyway, it's a forecast... got it from forwarded email...



Hurricane coming from the Indian Ocean hit the island within the Arabic Tuesday evening (and God knows)


Riyadh :- The U.S. Navy expected the arrival of the hurricane to the Sultanate of Oman and then to the Saudi capital Riyadh where it will be at it's most power. The anticipated Hurricane will be directed towards the Arabian Peninsula until it reaches Riyadh and the eastern region, and expectations that the ratio of rain to hit Riyadh 70 mm especially south of it, God willing. On the other hand, warned meteorology person Khalid bin Mohammed Al-Awad that there is a hurricane coming from the Indian Ocean approaching from the Arab Gulf states including Saudi Arabia . He added in his statement to "Al-Riyadh news letter:" There are three possibilities for the path of the hurricane around the Kingdom in the way to the North between the Riyadh region and among eastern region, and second bath to be derailed over the waters of the Arabian Gulf and the deepening Ras Tanura until after the strike many of the Areas bordering the waters of the Arabian Gulf from the West, the third possibility to beat the Sultanate of Oman and then go strongly to the UAE and south-west Pakistan.


According to the forecasts site (Weather), which is one of the most powerful positions in the weather news in the world:


DUBAI : Heavy rains with strong winds may be accompanied by thunderstorms and hail on Friday and Saturday.


Abu Dhabi : Heavy rains with strong winds may be accompanied by thunderstorms and hail on Friday.


Doha : Heavy rains with strong winds may be accompanied by thunderstorms and hail on Friday and Saturday ..


Manama : Heavy rains with strong winds may be accompanied by thunderstorms and hail on Saturday.


**update
the email reminder keluar kat Qatar newspaper and govt cakap its a hoax... and the thunderstorms did not happened...

but for straight 2 weeks (lebih kurang) Doha diselaputi debu and pasir... very bad conditions.... everywhere is white and yellow... no more clear blue sky.... really wish ada thunderstorm and heavy rain to clear the air.... sigh

EuroTrip : London

After 5 hari kena dengar announcement kat train in french, directions in french, makan makanan arab... at last kitaorang ke London menaiki Eurostar.... it cost me 44GBP for the journey.3 full days in London... went to various touristic places... to the main monument near river thames... plus natural historical museum dan madame tussaud... ni kali kedua aku ke dua dua tempat tu... i can definitely go to the museum again and again... tapi madame tussaud tu aku rasa dah cukup.. and i dont think i would recommend anyone going there... it's extremely expensive!!! GBP22.50 per pax.. mmg mahal and not worth it! in fact aku rasa memang mahal lah touristic places kat london ni, mahal melampau.. or shall i say london ni mmg semua mahal (perhaps due to conversion) i really enjoyed the museum.. and hopefully aku dapat g ke museum-museum lain gak.. especially british museum... and the good thing.. all museums are free and they keep very informative and interactive exhibits... best... apart from that... we went to other free places and really enjoyed it... one of it, masa hari jumaat pagi, we went to the buckingham palace and tgk pertukaran palace guard... and kebetulan Rejimen Askar Melayu Diraja yg menghabiskan duti... :-)

then on the last day, we managed to catch 2 market at one go... Portobello market and Covent garden... :-) pictures explain all...one day, bila aku berkesempatan ke london lagi, aku nak tgk theatre plak... kali ni nak cuba g tgk theatre tapi sbb tak plan awal, tinggal seat yg mahal je... too bad... so sambil jenjalan tgk badut jalanan je... hahaha that's all about my short trip... :-) (am not a chelsea fan... sesaje je menjenguk stadium, tgh sale plak tu... beli lah sehelai, dua, tiga, empat baju... hahaha...)

EuroTrip : Strasbourg & Dijon

Setelah 3 malam kat Paris, aku ngan razi bergerak ke luar dari Paris. asalnya mmg cadang 5 malam kat Paris, tp rasa mcm lama sangat plak... so we've decided to go out... based on soalan aku kat Lonely Planet forum, ramai yg cadangkan Dijon, Burgundy, so kitaorg decided to go there... plus, i feel like going to Strasbourg, Alsace... so we go to both with one night at each place.

Strasbourg turned out to be a surprisingly exciting place to visit... cantik bandar ni, we enjoyed our time there. for me, i enjoyed strasbourg more than Paris... 1. due to the unique character of the town's buildings, 2. macam venice, 3. no need to take train or bas... jalan kaki blh cover semua, 4. the city yg sesuai utk pedestarian... no cars... tp ada tram 5. the interesting places blh cover, and nice for a day...

however, sikit ralat, sbb air sungai dia kuning... hujan pd petang hari... sampai situ hari isnin, byk museum tutup... dan mmg just nice for a day visit, more than that bosan gak... hehehe. Btw... the whole town is listed under UNESCO world heritage.

so where did we go... oh, we bought a 11.50euro day pass yg include entrance to the cathedral, museum and boat ride... n further discounts on other places... a real bargain i can say.

1. the Cathedral...

Cathedral ni mmg famous throughout Europe. it's one of the tallest kalau tak silap. we went inside jam 12pm sbb nak tgk one of the oldest astronomical clock... ada 30 mins slide shows.. then jam 12.30pm br lah jam tu bergerak.. its interesting mcm mana org christian perlu bina jam tu utk mengingatkan umatnya ttg penting nya masa... bila dgr2.. teringat surah al-asr...

then kitaorang naik ke atas rooftop... the view is breathtaking... hilang penat naik 329 anak tangga... in fact i like the climbing :-)

2. Museum...

kita org sampai sana hari hari ahad. few museum tutup hari tu. thought of nak masuk historical museum or museum of alsatian... tp tutup.. end up g ke palace of rohan je... once dah g versailles, the palace is nothing to shout out.

3. Stroll around...

hehehe... jalan2 kat seluruh pekan ni mmg best... cantik binaan bandar ni... oh.. perhaps, teringat kan bukit tinggi... rasanya bukit tinggi tiru binaan kat sini.. sebab colmar is a neighbour town ngan strasbourg ni, still kat dalam daerah alsace, tp strasbourg besar lagi.

4. Boat ride...

this is a must... strasbourg ni umpama venice di Italy. dikelilingi air. kat strasbourg ni jugak letaknya parliament European Union dan beberapa bangunan EU, sehinggakan dia dianggap EU city center. so this boat ride bawak dr area petite-france sehingga area bangunan EU. Unluckily petang tu hujan, the pics taken on EU buildings semua tak cantik.

Boat ride ni melalu petit france. dan ada satu part tu, yg boat ni berhenti, paras air dinaikkan dan baru meneruskan perjalanan... really interesting. audioguide disediakan.... so u will understand a little bit history of the town. sayangnya air sungai tu kuning plak... tak tau sbb apa... pollution perhaps...

all these done in a day... complete satu hari... and stroll around dengan udara nyaman... memang best... i consider this is the highlight of the whole trip :-)

>hotel... we stayed at a cheap hotel named Lil hotel... location dia dekat ngan cathedral n jeti utk boat. murah pun murah... and the best is sebelah hotel ada muslim food.. :-) although its again arabic/algerian food... tp best... siap dapat discount lagi sbb tahu cakap arab... hehehehe... :-)

but sadly Dijon didn't rise up as per our expectation... nothing much to talk about... except i think bandar ni best for wine tasting activities (which we won't do) and kalau sesapa nak beli mustard.

next.... London... :-)

EuroTrip : Paris

After 2 hari kat Manchester, aku g ke Paris. Plannya 3 hari 3 malam kat Paris. Sekejap je.. tapi aku rasa cukup lah tu... apa buat kat Paris, aku rasa aku tak nak lah citer detail sangat... aku citer some of the places plus the following pictures dah cukup utk describe Paris :-)... from top... the Arc de Triomphe (betul ke eja ni), then Eiffel Tower versi malam dan siang, Notre Dame dan Sacre Coeur (ni satu lg aku tak sure cam ne eja).











ok... apart from the main monument... ni more details on some places we went, which i think kurang maklumat kat internet:

1. La Vallee Village - Factory outlet.
tempat ni letak nya satu stop sebelum sampai ke Disneyland Paris, i.e. Val d'europe punya stop. Dari Paris dalam 35-40 minit naik train. cost Eur6.50. dr train station blh jalan terus ke boutique. (sepatutnya x leh ambil gambar kat area ni, aku ada satu dua gambar je pun)

Kat sini ada banyak gak outlet for designer shop i.e. Salvatore Ferragamo, Polo Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, etc etc etc... tp brand mcm prada n LV tak de lah kat sini. harga nya blh dapat up to 70% discount tp mostly dalam 20% - 40% je lah. but still kalau convert mahal gak, tp mmg dah branded item kan. sapa yg brand conscious mmg best lah g sini. org macam aku ni, jenguk2 kejap2 je... :-)

2. Versaillesni antara kompleks palace yg besar kat europe. sbb aku ni g sendiri2 tak sure lah apa significant nya palace ni. kitaorang sengaja sampai lewat kat tempat ni, utk dapatkan tiket half price. itupun Euro 10, tp ye lah dah sampai masuk je lah. sesapa yg tak mengagumi palace2 org putih ni, not advisable to go... really wasted je.. hehehe... but still it is really huge palace with extremely huge garden... :-) cost dr paris Euro 2.5o, time to get there dalam 35 minit je.

3. Moulin Rouge
no... aku tak de lah masuk tgk show moulin rouge... tak jugak masuk mana2 kelab jual perempuan ni... tp saja-saja je jalan-jalan around ni... walking distance from hotel. sesapa yg datang paris it is advisable to stay kat area montmarte ni. near moulin rouge area ni. not because senang dapat makanan halal. ntah kenapa ntah, dekat area sex shop ni, byk plak makanan halal... hmmm...

4. The Lourve

our timing was good, i.e. ada kat Paris on the first sunday of the month. hari ahad pertama ni, semua muzium free... oleh tu kitaorg habiskan hampir separuh hari kat the lourve, wandering around. mmg ramai orang pun masa tu, but still u can enjoy the arts at ur own pace. am no art lover... tp seronok gak ambil2 gambar, mmg ada yg arts yg mengagumkan... dan ada arts yg mcm tak tahu apa punca... again, am not art lover, how can i judge...

5. Masjid Paris
jangan terkejut, kat paris ni memang banyak muslim... mainly algerians... so selain cakap french, tahu arabic would be useful lah jugak especially masa nak order food kat kedai.. hehehe... ok, back to the picture. tu lah masjid utama kat paris. kalau nak g sana, blh naik train (stop at Gare d' Austerlitz) atau batobus. stop kat perhentian paling hujung (jardin des plantes) selepas notre dame. kena jalan skit sehingga ke hujung garden tu.

i thought ada lah makanan halal kat sekitar masjid. tp harapan meleset. cuma ada satu kedai morrocan je yg agak pricey plus ada hammam kat sebelah masjid tu. hmm... heran gak, kat masjid takde restaurant islam, tp moulin rouge byk pulak... apa nya strategy berniaga ntah... hehehe...

6. Eiffel Tower
yup aku naik eiffel tower tu. this is my 2nd time... it cost me 12euro nak sampai atas tu, quite reasonable lah... here are some of the views from the highest platform...

Paris mmg best... kitaorg ni kira sekejap sangat kat sini, tp cover lah lebih kurang semua tempat. cuma takde lah g tpt shopping sangat but we did stroll around kat champs ellyse tu... tak de duit buat pe nak g situ kan... we travelled around naik metro... its a bit complicated metro tu, tp aku rasa no hal lah jugak.

met few malaysian masa travelling... tak macam kat london, kalau kat paris masih lagi tegur menegur sesama malaysian kan.. :-)

anyway, walaupun paris is great... tp sesapa yg kawin ngan aku nanti jgn lah minta nak honeymoon ke paris.. hehehe... one thing i hate beratur nak beli tiket naik eiffel... then hotel pun kena duduk hotel kecik, sbb hotel berbintang2 mmg mahal... n kena naik metro je... apa kelas nak honeymoon macam tu.. hahaha... :-D

EuroTrip : Manchester...

dah hampir 3 tahun aku tak jumpa anak buah aku... tu lah antara sebabnya aku buat trip gi ke manchester ni... now dah besar dan sihat (in fact arief sangat sihat :-) )... hopefully dia dapat bersenam skit2 pas ni... :-)

from Doha aku, aku fly ke Manchester naik Emirates. transit kejap kat dubai, and took the same flight with razi yg datang dari KL. spend 2 nights kat Manchester.

tak banyak sangat jalan kat Manchester... sbb mmg plannya nak spend time ngan arief n aqielah...

manchester tak lah besar sangat, although team Man U tu mcm bagus kan.. hahaha... anwyway, here some pics of Manchester...

Setelah 2 malam kat Manchester, kitaorang berangkat ke Paris, naik kapal terbang kecik yg bertambang murah... memang kecik sangat kapal terbang ni... and delayed like 1.5 hours!!! anyway, alhamdulillah.. sampai gak paris.

Next... Paris