HIQ - New Traffic Control In Doha...

Kat dalam Gulf Times last week... or perhaps the week before...

New Traffic Cameras Qatar are not just nice looking - they are intelligent technology.
First thing is that these cameras do NOT flash. They can take photos in complete darkness through ultra-light sensors, so even if it does not flash, it could have caught you. They also automatically read your number plate from the picture taken.

Now, here comes the catch. These cameras are continuous photo-taking cameras and they will take your photo regardless if you have been speeding or not. Then the next camera in 3-5 kms again does the same. Now, instead of checking your speed through advanced radars, these cameras are very simple and all they do is calculate how fast you traveled between the 2 cameras. If you arrived at the next camera faster than 120 km/h (or whatever the speed limit is) then you get fined.

What does this mean?

It means that you can stop speeding up between cameras and slowing down as it does not matter anymore. If you are speeding in between 2 cameras you will get fined.

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Giler betul org sini nak kawal speeding, yg konon nya sbb org2 bangsa pendatang yg selalu speeding... tp yg mati sebab speeding pun org depa gak... boleh ke implement kat Malaysia benda ni???

dulu masa depa taruh 2 camera with flash kat traffic lights dah lah org kecoh.. satu trap utk lampu, satu lagi for speeding... dgn saman QR6k kalau langgar lampu merah... mmg agak gila lah jugak rule sini... anyway.... ada gak org main2 pasal camera ni...


One might wonder is it really difficult driving in Doha... yes indeed for newcomer... sbb sini style driving org2 yg dtg dr negara2 yg traffic rule yg tak betul... plus org2 yg dah civilised pun terikut2 ngan perangai org yg kurang betul ni.... sbb if u don't follow their style.. u go nowhere... :-) for example, ni gambar one of the small junctions very near to my apartment... ni bukan main junction ni, tu lah sbb takde traffic lights... but this is how they drive around... u have to be slick to survive...

HIQ : Take over???

Rumours yg later confirmed to be fact, Manchester United team have their training kat Doha 2-3 weeks ago. people said due to extreme cold weather kat UK, depa dtg sini for training at our world class aspire sports training center. dengar cite kat dlm aspire tu, training ground dia blh change the climate mcm tempat kita nak bertanding and also blh change the pressure to accomodate change in altitude tempat bertanding... i.e. walaupun kat di hot n sunny doha, u can train as if u are in the freezing cold top of the mountain kat switzerland... dunno lah betul ke tak...

and last week rumours spread katanya Qatari or Qatar government or Qatar backed instutitions akan take over Man United. In Dec, dah ada mentioned kat 'News of the World' (u know the credibility of the news here) yg ada potensi abt the take over... so mungkin kah training kat Doha ari tu, bukan dtg kosong... mmg datang utk discuss2 abt taking over...

hmm.... so since dah ada emirates stadium kat UK... mungkin kah stadium Man U akan nama Qatariah (sempena Qatar Airways in arabic)? :-) or perhaps, kalau ada player nak kena transfer mungkin depa perlu dpt NOC (only org keje doha je tahu ni - a letter yg benarkan u tukar keje by ur sponsorship, kalau tak dpt, kena deport n keje elsewhere for 2 years then br blh balik keje sini)? or perhaps, kena qatarisation dlm man u team, so ada peluang lah player team umm slal main kat Man U... hahaha.. yalla yallla....!!!

ooopsss. apahal lak aku bg ruang pada Man U kat blog aku ni... lantak lah apa nak jadi kat depa... kalah pun tak pe... hehehe....

Visa Umrah dah ok...

Pagi ni aku terima email cakap dah boleh apply visa utk g Umrah... so sesapa bercita2 nak g umrah tu, dah blh start apply and probably dah blh pergi dah weekend ni... and aku ada baca satu iklan umrah anjuran org2 indon, utk pakej 7 hari naik bas, cuma 1600 je for adults... so, sesapa nak g umrah, blh lah cepat2 daftar.

Tahun lepas aku ada plan nak buat umrah tahun ni... i.e. even lepas baru je balik haji. sbb aku tak pernah lagi drive sendiri cross border utk buat umrah.. driving kat tanah saudi arabia tu. so i've made initial discussion ngan kengkawan aku yg sama2 g muscat dulu utk pergi buat umrah soonest visa dibuka. masa discuss2 tu, haji aku pun tak tentu dpt lagi ke tak. then bila haji dah dapat tahu, alhamdulillah nama aku naik... then aku keep on hold pasal umrah.

Once balik haji, ada lah discuss2 skit pasal umrah. tp aku rasa i may not able to go. aku dpt boss baru yg demanding. aku tak rasa aku dapat cuti lagi for the next 3-4 months. and since baru je balik haji, nak apply lagi for 1 week mcm susah je... plus, in a very short notice parents aku pun nak dtg (actually aku yg pujuk depa datang, tak sangka plak agree... hahaha) but my parents cakap, dia datang if aku blh bawak depa jalan2 out of doha. depa kata doha ni bosan je dok lama2 (demanding).

so i have to back off from the trip g umrah :-( (sorry bebanyak guys, i've made a promise but i didn't keep it) and i think it is better for me to go for umrah masa bulan ramadhan nanti... different experience la kan.. although masa tu tgh musim summer and panas on the way to Mekah... but luckily, since dengan alasan parents nak dtg doha, my leave has been approved by my boss.. :-)

so... aku akan bercuti 1 minggu end of february... dubai and muscat here i come!!! (again!!!) I so love muscat... hahaha... for this 3rd visit am going to find the real wadi!!! :-)

HIQ : Haiti...

Berita dunia lepas kecoh pasal gempa bumi kat Haiti. sebuah negara paling miskin di benua Amerika yg kali terakhir kena gempa bumi adalah 206 tahun dahulu. Sampai hari ni, berita gempa bumi ni masih lagi menjadi tajuk utama berita dunia. Ramai turut memberi sumbangan.

Kerajaan Qatar telah menghantar bantuan pertama mereka pada 14 Januari sudah... 2 hari setelah gempa bumi ni berlaku. 50 tan bahan makanan, pakaian dan ubatan dihantar dgn team 26 org askar dan pakar perubatan. ada gak sorang budak office aku sempat join the flight, dia ikut utk buat liputan lah...

(pic's taken from my officemate FB)

u can read more about Haiti Earthquake almost in all international newspaper... or blh je cari detail abt the catastrophe event kat internet... ramai pun org memberi sumbangan including Jolie-Pitt couple yg bg USD1mil... after 206 tahun tak kena earthquake, and estimate lebih 50,000 org mati...

utk sesetengah org Haiti, gempa ni umpama hari Kiamat sudah berlaku... kuasa Allah... bila2 pun blh jadi...

ALLAH...

As much as possible aku tak nak cakap pasal topik paling hangat kat malaysia ni... sbb aku bukan ahlinya dan aku rasa Allah maha berkuasa untuk menjaga namaNya...

anyway, ni ada keluar kat Al Jazeera... first program inside story... ntah kenapa depa interview mamat ni.. buat malu je... mcm tak de org lain... tp aku cek ngan office mate, depa kata pihak authority yg suruh depa interview mamat ni.. and masa on the phone mcm confident je... hehehe


pastu... ada satu lagi program, 101 east, yg ni best!!!... enjoy!!! selamat ber jumaat...


hmm... apa pendapat korang??? setuju atau tak utk membiarkan Allah digunakan utk semua umat manusia?

HIG : Burj Khalifa...

sebelum ni aku ada cite pasal bangunan ni.. thru <entry ni>...

minggu sudah... to be exact 4/1/10 (eh.. ni tarikh birthday adik aku... happy birthday pa!!!)... bangunan ni dirasmikan pembukaannya... ada satu perkara yg dirahsiakan sebelum perasmian ni, iaitu ketinggian sebenar bangunan ni, yg akhirnya revealed as 828meter. tapi satu perkara yg tak dijangka berlaku i.e. bangunan ni yg selama ni dikenali sebagai burj dubai (Dubai Tower) telah dinamakan sebagai burj Khalifa pada hari perasmian...

Penukaran nama tu bukan suatu yg diketahui umum sebelum perasmian... nama khalifa tu bersempena nama ruler of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan... (for those yg tak familiar, UAE ni terdiri dari 7 emirates - Abu Dhabi dan Dubai being 2 of the 7 emirates. Ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa is the ruler of Abu Dhabi yg juga President UAE. Manakala ruler Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, pulak PM for UAE) penukaran nama ni most probably bantuan USD25 billion yg disumbangkan oleh Abu Dhabi bulan sudah bila Dubai World (salah satu syarikat bawah kerajaan Dubai) yg mengumumkan penstrukturan semula hutang2 mereka... so agaknya deal antara dua sheikh ni.. aku bg bailout USD25billion... ko taruh nama aku utk bangunan paling tinggi dlm dunia ni... (Emaar, developer utk burj ni pun bawah govt dubai but not part of dubai world)

berita pasal masalah kewangan dubai ni was a shocking news end of last year... tp mmg jadi sejarah ada bgnn tinggi lain yg mmg dibina zaman kemerosotan ekonomi e.g. empire state building was build during the US deep recession.. dan in fact our Petronas twin tower pun dibina zaman2 kemerosotan ekonomi asia.... zaman2 soros vs mahathir tu.. 1997-98...

anyway, walaupun kemerosotan ekonomi melanda dubai, dgn byk projek berhenti dan harga property merudum... sampai beratus ribu kena buang keje.... perasmian bgnn paling tinggi dunia ni mmg giler gempak... one of the most spectacular fireworks display i've ever seen... giler gempak... tp kan, aku tak sure plak kenapa empunya nama sheikh khalifa ni.. tak muncul masa perasmian ni...

enjoy the show (upacara perasmian burj khalifa):

New in 2010...

Aku dah mcm malas nak update blog ni dah... for no obvious reason... maybe takde cite nak update.. or mcm seasonal je. sekarang ni winter.. seronok buat aktiviti luar umah.. so takde lah masa nak update blog...

anyway, 2010 dah 7 hari berlalu.. for me nothing special pun tahun 2010... takde special pun new year ni... but am thinking of buat new feature for this blog... nak tukar layout tu mmg tak pandai and malas pun nak fikir... but sedang berangan buat new kind of entry.. i.e. a weekly entry abt things happened in Qatar especially more on the round up news story kat surat khabar kat Qatar ni... or kalau takde benda menarik (which mmg gitu selalunya) it will talk abt Gulf area ni... and later kalau tak de jugak.. then it will be about middle east news... but trying so much not to talk abt war around here... there are other things than war in this region...

macam dah malas nak cite pasal life kat Doha ni.. dah tahun ke3 dah cite benda yg sama je berulang.. no more makan2.. tp kalau ada event yg lain dr lain, ok lah... hehehe.. but travel report still akan tulis :-) and by having this new feature, aku kena lah paksa diri baca news around this region - baca surat khabar, which i do not do that often... i hope i can be consistent.. and try to publish this entry every sunday/monday... (hopefully rajin)

aku still tak tahu apa nak bagi nama column/feature ni... for now.. any suggestion??