Pasir Berdengung...

Last weekend aku g ke area singing dune which aku translate as pasir berdengung... kawasan bukit pasir ni akan menghasilkan bunyi bila ada angin kuat tp kalau takde angin, kita slide kat pasir ni pun blh buat bunyi gema yg lain mcm skit.
According to ustaz wikipedia.... ada lebih kurang 30 tempat je dlm dunia yg ada kawasan pasir berdengung ni... kalau kat Qatar cari lah... coordinate: N25.02.446 E051.24.540. atau kalau takde garmin tu... ikut salwa road, keluar kat exit 24 pergi menghala ke mesaaied then pass 2 roundabout... pastu ada simpang ke kanan. jalan lah terus sampai jumpa area singing dune tu... :-)
lokasi dia ni dekat dengan US army base kat Qatar ni... kalau korang tgk transformers the movie, awal2 ada scorpion serang army base, tu konon nya kat Qatar lah tu... katanya army base ni adalah US base paling besar kat Middle East... anyway, kalau korang tak ingat movie tu... ni trailer... at 0:38 dia ada cakap base US kat Qatar kena attack... (tak jumpa lah clip tulis tempat tu kat Qatar).


In april selalunya area singing dune ni ada Dunestock... i went there once in 2007 dan tahun 2008 plak tetiba berhabuk satu doha... read up here on 2007 Dunestock... and read here what we did 2008 Dunestock...
oh... when i said berdengung and bergema... korang sure terfikir, camner bunyi tu... ni clip kitaorg ambil masa kat sana last week... ooh semua pelakon amatur... and cameraman pun amatur... hik hik hik.. thanks che le for the video...
ooh.. btw... turun bukit tu best... nak panjat tu yg pancit.. sekali tu... sampai out of breath aku... sbb laju sgt nak panjat ke atas.. :-) selain menggelungsur dan memanjat... apa lagi boleh buat... melompat je lah... :-D

Anticipating a tough 2 weeks...

hehehe... ada 2 minggu lagi sebelum aku balik Malaysia... hooray!!! tiket dah beli...

tp tadi aku ada baca satu email dr big boss aku yg aku tak expect from him... no.. no.. no.. it's not about retrenchment... but it is about future... yup... the future of my career...

I am anticipating loads of discussions and tough decisions would be made in the next 2 weeks... and i'm hoping everything would be settled and in place before boarding the flight to KUL...

But definitely I won't be long here... InsyaAllah...

It ain't CNY, neither V Day...

Dah lama sebenarnya kitaorg tak buat proper makan2... selalu nya makan ramai2 je.. hahaha... ada beza ke... so che le's planned to have a proper makan2 kat umah dia... and the main menu is satay... yum yum... lama gak tak makan satay... for me plak... since dah nak buat proper makan2... aku cadangkan why not buat theme color. merah dan hitam.. baru lah mcm berangan happening... although it is among the same faces, ada gak muka2 baru... termasuk 3 org yg mmg baca blog aku i.e. zaireen... fairul... n shafei... yg buat aku rasa lagi kelakar, fairul n shafei read my blog even before depa datang doha... besar kemaluan bila depa ulang2 citer pasal apa yg aku tulis kat sini... really malu... hik hik hik...
the night before the party, che le (ooh ija pun baca gak blog ni.. hehehe) panggil semua 'crew' makan2 utk cucuk satay... ada dekat 500 cucuk satay rasanya.. or even more... tp ada daging n ayam je... kalau ada satay unta surely best...
the party itself was fun... almost everyone wore red... since semua ada... we have decided utk wish farewell pada ramzi and his family sbb depa nak balik malaysia for good next week... ada rezeki lebih baik kat malaysia katanya... good for him...apart from makan satay, we also as usual have karaoke session... with the kids started with nusery rhymes and later shafei n ramzi himself nyanyi lagu2 indon :-) fun fun fun...

Travel Report : Liban - tidbits

Some tidbits on my trip to Lebanon recently... (hehehe.. still talking abt the trip... hahaha)

1. for the first time i travelled without any map in hand... mmg serious, tak pegang map.. n belasah je lah mana driver kitaorg bawak. setakat 3 hari tu, our driver quite reliable. although none of them tahu mana tpt nak g visit, especially the first driver tu... but they know apa tempat yg patut pergi. so depa bertanya. meanwhile, in beirut, teksi2 takde bermeter... with price max LL10,000 (approx. USD6.67) u can go to almost everywhere in town. the price maybe pricy... but we are tourist, mmg selalu kena ketuk ngan harga mahal... :-)

2. Hotel location... Hamra Street is a good place... hotel near Rouche pun ok especially yg dpt meditreanean sea view... but i think (my personal opinion) area downtown tu a bit upscale... food around that area pun mahal2... but night life ok lah kot :-)

3. If you like Roman history and batu2 lama ni... Baalbeck and Sur/Tyre is a must... kalau tak minat, still try go to Baalbeck... impressive... tp kalau tak cukup time tak per... and in my opinion Harissa mmg blh skip... and Byblos u stop in case u nak g Tripoli... maybe i should go to Faraya hari tu... different experience. To the south plak, Beitaddine ok to be missed... Saida have loads to offer if u have plenty of time...

4. Ka'ak is delicious, try one... menurut kata arab2 kat sini, one of the best thing in lebanon is their food... better than other countries. but i would say the price is a bit pricy, sama mcm doha, or a bit more... sbb at least kat doha portion dia besar blh share ramai2. i do not know how to guide u to the place, sandwich tepi jalan tmpt pakcik to bawak, seriously sedap. oh, u also can try armenian food. plenty of restaurants around Dora area (tk g sbb tak sempat melawat beyrouth)

5. Loads of festivals in Summer... lebanese org yg suka berparty... Baalbeck, Anjar and Beitaddine mmg ada summer festivals. so if you plan to go in Summer checkout the shows... :-) anyway, during summer blh gak g ke beach... enjoy the meditrenean beach... surely best... (lebanese girls are pretty... tp masa sejuk2 ni semua pakai bertutup... hahahaha)

6. Kalau ada plan keluar dr Beirut... save ur shopping (for souvenir) kat luar dr beirut... common sense... shopping kat beirut mahal skit... saida souq gives u a reasonable price for souvenir same goes to Byblos... anyway, Saida souq best gak pergi... loads of things... and its meant for locals... tak lah superficial... byblos souq tu agak touristic skit...

A Qatari Wedding...

Baru-baru ni aku berpeluang untuk kali pertamanya menghadiri majlis perkahwinan orang Qatar. Dah 2 tahun aku tunggu invitation, tak pernah ada. tp at least aku 2 tahun, abe zu yg ikut aku g wedding ni dah 4 tahun keje sini.. ni pun his first time... tak seperti malaysia, kita senang jemput org g kenduri especially yg bukan kat dlm dewan... sini depa tak berapa rapat ngan bukan local. btw, majlis yg aku pergi ari tu, majlis lelaki, so takde perempuan langsung... majlis perempuan celebrate only by women, kat dlm dewan rasanya. mmg lelaki tak blh diinvite, sbb dlm dewan tu dengar katanya depa berhias cantik2 tak pakai tudung n sexy2... (uiks... rugi tak dpt gi.. hehehe)

Majlis dah bermula selepas maghrib, tp as advice by tuan rumah aku dtg lewat i.e. lepas isya'. actually itu pun aku kiranya awal... ramai lagi lewat... like our majlis kahwin, first kita dtg dan bersalam dgn family/bapa/pengantin lelaki... sama jugak kat sini, salam ucap tahniah dan kemudian duduk lah mana2. bagi org kita selalunya kita salam je, tp dah ikut budaya depa, kena lah laga2 pipi... hehehe... tp for those local yg i think sedara mara or sesama qatari, depa lagi hebat... siap laga2 hidung... :-)
sementara menunggu tu, akan ada org bawak teko arab bg sesapa nak coffee arab or teh arab... rasanya mmg pekat... but at the same time ada jugak serve teh o (chai ahmar) atau teh susu (chai halib). dan kat atas meja kecik2 tu ada kekacang, manisan (i think from oman) dan air kosong. sambil duduk2 sebelum makanan tiba, ada persembahan tarian pedang. although it is a normal tarian pedang, tp camera video yg ambil gambar mmg hebat, siap ada jib lagi... and pakai 2 cameras. in fact, tempat bersalam2 tu pun ada satu lagi kamera... i think the amount of camera used lagi banyak drpd production telefilem melayu... ye ke?
around 8 lebih... few ppl datang bawak lapik plastic alas carpet. dan mula menghidang kan makanan. very simple indeed. ada salad, ada air gas, ada few things yg aku pun tak sure... dan lastly, baru lah turun nasi makhbush kambing... and org pun turun makan atas lantai...
ooh.. this is how we ate...
i can say that was one of the best'est' nasi yg aku pernah rasa... gile sedap! abe zu sampai sendat perut makan!!! but after the makan2... one scene yg aku tak expect berlaku. those south asian workers yg maybe keje utk majlis or perhaps keje construction sekitar2 tu pun mula masuk majlis and makan balance makanan. uiks... and bukan tu je... depa siap bawak beg plastic n tapau the food... apparently i guess its normal, sbb takde sapa pun halang...

anyway, it is another experience. it's as not much as i expect sangat lah... but at least aku dah pergi. one of the thing yg aku mmg impikan utk pergi sebelum aku tinggalkan doha (oooh another thing is pergi Umrah...) so since aku dah dpt dtg wedding ni, so blh lah aku tinggalkan doha dah kan.. hahaha...

this is the bridegroom and the father... with abe n me... and 2 org arab yg jadi tetamu dlm majlis ni... :-)

Travel Report : Liban - Day 3 - Beirut and around...

Disebabkan small argument dgn driver tentang masa keje dia, setelah berbincang ngan dia mana nak g, dia decided utk ambil kita org jam 9pg. As discuss pada hari sebelumnya, hari last day ni kitaorg akan ke jeita, jounieh, harissa dan jbail. Cuaca hari ni tak secantik 2 hari sebelumnya. Hari ni very cloudy, langit putih je... tak mendung dan tak berapa sejuk.

since pagi keluar lewat, we've decided utk pusing2 sekitar beirut utk sesi photography... ye lah.. kitaorg sebenarnya tak melawat pun beirut setelah 2 hari kat sini. asyik keluar dr beirut je... we took pictures kat tempat rafiq hariri (ex PM) dibomb - 14 Februari 2005. Rafik hariri ni kiranya PM yg byk merubah kehidupan kat lebanon. dia dibunuh masa naik motorsikal, dibom dgn 1000kg TNT. katanya berlubang jalanraya tu sedalam 15 meter... bangunan hotel tu pun rosak. sekarang ni ada monument menandakan tempat tu... dan dekat dgn tempat tu ada patung rafik hariri (for more citer rafik hariri, blh tgk kat wikipedia... mcm tak tahu kan?)

pastu, kitaorg bergambar kat pigeon's rock (rouche). ni lah batu yg boleh dikatakan simbol beirut. tp aku tak tahu plak naper dipanggil pigeon's rock :-)

right after that terus ke hotel. our pakcik driver dah tunggu dah... awal dia datang... after pack the bags dalam kereta terus menuju ke jeita grotto. jeita ni gua batu kapur. nominated one of the 7 nature wonders. tapi based on my personal opinion, aku rasa lebih kurang gua tempurung kat perak tu, not really impressive. but facility disediakan kat tpt ni jauh lagi bagus lah dr gua tempurung. gua tempurung tu tak commercialise langsung... apa punya government lah kat perak tu! (ooopss... termasuk kisah politik plak)

2 jam abis kat situ sbb ada naik cable car, naik train n naik bot. kitaorg terus ke bandar jouneih utk menuju ke harissa. ramai org naik ke harissa naik cable car dr jounieh. tp our driver kata buat per bazir duit haram (ooh btw, he is christian) since dah naik cable car kat jeita, dia kata dia nak drive je ke atas. dia kata nanti dia menunggu kat bawah, dia kata haram (oooh dia cakap all in arabic, aku assume je ni translation dia). anyway, harissa tu actually tpt letaknya patung christian and ada notredame church kat atas tu... other than that... takde apa2... tp view from above cantik lah.. nampak jounieh seluruh nya.. kalau weather good, takde awan... surely lagi cantik.

sekejap je kitaorg kat harissa... dan terus ke tempat seterusnya... on the way ke sana, kitaorg singgah beli ka'ak. sejenis roti yg selalunya dijual oleh org berbasikal. tp kitaorg g beli yg fresh from oven on the way dr jounieh ke byblos. ada mcm2 perasa.. but we all like the chocolate taruh pisang :-) yummy.... a must try kalau korang dtg ke lebanon.

next, byblos/jbail.. said to be the oldest town on earth. katanya sejak town ni wujud, ia sentiasa berpenghuni... longest inhibitant town in the world. we went to the old town... pusing2 souq... dan menghabiskan all our USD... hahaha... tot nak makan kat one of the restaurants kat situ... again, our driver kata... haram... sini restaurant mahal2... buat per sorang nak abis kan USD25... makan sandwich sudah...

so we stop at a local eatery beli sandwich dan pakcik driver bawak kitaorg makan kat beach... really a local taste... best giler!!! baru lah hidup macam local... and indeed the sandwich was really good!!! mcm kebab wrap je rupa dia, tp roti dia dibakar penuh, so a bit rapuh... sedap!!! hang out sekejap sambil sembang2 ngan pakcik tu (cakap ayam ngan itik, sebab dia cakap arab... aku paham lebih kurang je.. hahaha). before kitaorg g ke airport, we turn back to kedai ka'ak and beli lagi utk bawak balik.. hahaha... oh on the way tu, singgah kat casino besar kat lebanon ni. casino du liban... sekadar bergambar hehehe..

masa check in aku dpt privilege berehat2 kat first class lounge :-) since aku ni Qmiles silver card holder... at least blh relax2 n makan... ye lah duit USD aku semua dah abis pun.. hahaha... flight was uneventful... sampai doha at 1am... :-D

Travel Report : Liban - Day 2 : to the south...

Hari kedua bermula agak lewat... driver kitaorg on first day cakap (on the night before) yg dia kena buat keje kat tpt lain, so new driver akan ganti... kita org mengharapkan seorang yg lebih tahu pasal jalan or at least berbahasa inggeris... but too bad, kitaorg dpt org tua yg hanya bertutur bahasa arab... jadinya dlm kereta... kitaorg sembang sesama kita je lah...

First stop is Bettadine Palace... Istana yg dibina oleh salah seorang emir 220 tahun dahulu... it's huge courtyard, but the finishing is pretty simple... tak lah kagum mana sgt... :-) tp lokasi dia kat atas bukit make it a good place to hang out... therefore, istana ni masih diguna oleh presiden sekarang, dia buat jadi dia punya istana hinggap masa musim panas. in fact ada bilik dlm istana ni dikhaskan utk mesyuarat dengan tetamu kerajaan...
An hour selepas Beittadine, kitaorg sampai kat Sidon atau Saida... dahulunya bandar ni famous sbb pelabuhan... masih ada lagi bot-bot nelayan kat situ, tp pelabuhan dia tak lah besar dah. Saida ni famous ngan souq dan sea castle nya... from Saida sea castle, kitaorg menikmati pemandangan laut meditrenean dgn membelakangkan pekan2 kecil kat atas2 bukit... cantik...

like other souqs, pasar ni mmg digunakan oleh local, so harga barang tak lah giler2 mahal. in fact ada souvenir yg murah kat sini berbanding kat Beirut. tp yg tetiba aku fikir masa jalan2 dalam souq ni, mungkin kah begini rupanya gaza... pekan yg agak padat dgn rumah2 yg bersambung antara satu sama lain. mmg aku rasa begini kot rupanya gaza.
kitaorg enjoy the souq dan seterusnya makan lunch kat restoran yg menjerut leher... sekembalinya kitaorg ke kereta, our driver cakap dia nak kena balik ke beirut sbb dah lewat... lagi 2 jam cukup tempoh 8 jam dia bekerja... kalau nak teruskan ke south/sur... mmg akan lebih masa... tp kita org suruh jugak dia ke sur... so perjalanan kami ke sur selama lebih kurang sejam tu dihiburkan dgn perbalahan... driver tu dgn boss dia... dan kawan aku (kak tak you yg in charge pasal kereta) dgn org yg kita book... alhamdulillah semua settle... dan kami sampai jugak ke sur... anyway, mesej of the arguments... kalau nak guna driver lebih masa... hulur siap2... jangan konon2 nak bg tips later... depa prefer dpt siap... 'haram' keje lebih masa sehingga dia penat, nanti bahaya kalau dia tertido semasa memandu... anyway, in our part plak... dia dah berehat lama while we were in souq and makan :-)

Sur is the closest town to Israel. dr pantai di sur (or in english Tyre) kita blh nampak tanah israel. the town is small which again aku nampak strong influence of Hezbollah. merata-rata ada bendara hezbollah dan gambar pemimpin dan syuhada mereka. pada asalnya, aku bercadang nak mencari2 khemah pelarian palestine kat bandar ni. tp since kitaorg sampai agak lewat... kena lah cancel (plus, setelah gaduh2... aku takut nak ajak dia g ke khemah tu.. hik hik hik). But one thing for sure, perjalanan ke selatan ni lebih banyak askar checkpoint and more ppl with guns surrounding the area...
another thing kat sur ni yg worth a visit adalah hippodrome zaman roman. serious besar and terpelihara... siap ada main stage lagi.. am impress :-) - kalau nak tahu apa hippodrome, cari lah kat wikipedia...
malamnya kitaorg had dinner kat HRC dan jalan2 kat corniche... and by 11pm kitaorg balik hotel n tido....zzzz...