Travel Report : Roadtrip II - Dubai - Doha (Day 8 - Final)

(above, muttrah corniche at night)

Finally... hari terakhir our trip to UAE dan Oman... hari terakhir ni, kitaorg ada separuh hari je, by noon nak ambik flight... aku plan utk cuba the new train system kat dubai. Aku ingat kan dah extensively open rupanya cuma beberapa stesen je buka. although station dia cantik and i can see the connection between the lines and system satu tiket (not like malaysia) tp location of the station tak lah yg terbaik. aku g ke dubai mall dr apartment, station dubai mall/burj khalifa tu agak jauh, kena tunggu shuttle and shuttle tu like 15 mins satu. so, aku tak sempat pun pusing2 mall tu to shop hehehee... sempat dok situ 15 minutes je... spend like 1 hour plus utk travel to the place, kalau drive pun cuma 20 mins (on weekeends' morning).

so... utk wrap up for the trip, aku rasa sgt bersyukur atas kesempatan aku bawak parents aku jalan2... Alhamdulillah... mmg aku berangan nak buat trip macam ni.. next, kalau ada rezeki, nak buat roadtrip kat New Zealand, together with my bro's family insyaAllah (harap2 dapat g tahun depan :-).

to wrap up... here are more pictures of the trip... such a personal and memorable for me...

muscat - bar al jissah...
nizwa (with kg tinggal kat belakang tu)
nizwa - over the top...nizwa - the gorge and wadi...bahla - the fort yg tak buka2 tu...wadi dhar - certainly the best pic ever... :-)dubai - with my brother

Travel Report : Roadtrip II - Dubai - Abu Dhabi (Day 7)

after a tiring day the day before, ari ni plannya jalan2 ambik gambar je. It was friday, traffic agak kurang berbanding hari2 kerja... and kedai2 pun tak buka sgt... so blh je lah cover lebih byk tempat. first stop, burj al arab.. bukan masuk pun, ambik gambar kat luar. aku dah 3 kali ambik gambar kat same spot... hehehe... next atlantis, first time aku g situ... ingat tak leh masuk, rupanya boleh...cantik lah lobby n hotel... but i wont pay the price utk stay situ, mahal gile.. tak ingat berapa... spend good one hour pusing2... situ...
dah tengahhari tu, straight ke Abu Dhabi (abu dhabi from corniche), menuju ke Masjid Sheikh Zayed... tak jumpa signboard, dekat sejam pusing2 around the masjid surroundings utk cari entrance masuk... kali ni berpeluang masuk ke ruang utama... alhamdulillah... mmg cantik... my parents love it... then back to Dubai (fyi, dubai to abu dhabi dlm sejam setengah). g Mall of emirates jap. then sempat g kejap ke Nayef road... my mom cakap dia tak minat nak shop, but then bila bg time kejap utk shop, kata tak cukup time.. hehehe... but it was satisfying lah... :-)

Travel Report : Roadtrip II - Muscat - Dubai (Day 6)

Kitaorg meninggalkan Muscat jam 9am. On the way leaving Muscat, kitaorg singgah kat kilang Amouage, salah satu arabic perfume yg popular. very expensive indeed. nothing to shout out pun visit ni, since dah sampai, singgah lah.
setiap perfume tu dia explain dr mana bahan2 dia. benda2 normal like flowers, citrus, daun2,kemenyan... tp masa tu br aku tau yg white musk tu binatang, and ada bahan2 ganjil mcm muntah ikan lah, kuku kucing lah, batu2 dan ada yg bau exactly mcm taik kucing/lembu (tak ingat mana satu) hehehe...
unik abt amouage ni, packaging dia semua manually done. and tempat packing dia mcm dlm gambar above... kecik je...

after that visit, we travelled 6 hours to Dubai... semua tido... aku je drive :-)
after a quick rest and lunch/dinner at 4pm. terus g ke dubai mall, kat burj khalifa. Hajat nak naik ke atas burj khalifa, tp before dtg sana pun dah tahu yg platform tu tutup for maintenance. and kalau dah beli tiket lah. sure rasa membazir, masa kitaorg kat dubai, the sky was full with dust and sand... putih je.. kalau naik atas sure tak nampak apa2. but to make thing worst, pagi tu (on the day kitaorg kat sana) ada rumours yg dubai aquarium punya tank nak pecah, so depa tutup the tank area and surroundings, so byk area tak leh masuk dan tak leh ambik gambar kat aquarium. (hmm.. belum apa2 lagi tempat ni, byk plak rosaknya... macam malaysia.. hahaha)so, end up, cuma dpt tgk the musical fountain je lah.. which was good lah... impressive...
right after that, around 7pm, kitaorg head to Global Village. mmg popular tempat ni, but certainly not a place for my parents... semua penat... not really enjoying (sadly, my dad said it was a bad decision to go there) penat cari parking and nothing much inside, mcm g funfair/expo pulau pinang... for me, i decided to bring them there sbb tempat tu popular, dah sampai... g lah.. anyway, nak g mana lagi pun hehehe... tp for sure, it was so tiring for them indeed... tu lah complain2 tu...

Travel Report : Roadtrip II - Muscat - Nizwa (Day 4)

hari ni kita org g ke Nizwa. its about 190km from Muscat. I came to Nizwa masa buat roadtrip 2 tahun sudah, now i nak bawak my family plak. yg utamanya, nak g ke jabal shams, the highest point in Muscat (and gulf kot). and surroundings lah..

Perjalanan ke Nizwa mengambil masa sejam setengah. jam 10.30 kitaorg dah sampai Nizwa. since it is still early, we opted to stop kat Nizwa Souq and aku pun decided utk masuk Nizwa fort sbb masa aku dtg dulu aku tak masuk pun fort ni. said to be the largest in Muscat.
Nizwa ni famous for its pottery kot. kat souq ni penuh ngan pasu tanah liat... mcm pekan kuala plak. souq dia agak besar i.e. ada souq sayur, binatang and ikan kat satu tempat. tempat ni meriah especially before hari raya korban, sbb org2 berebut beli kambing.
Nizwa ni i think 2nd or 3rd largest town kat Muscat ni (tak sure mana besar, Nizwa or Salalah). tp, town dia mmg centered kat souq yg bersebelahan ngan Nizwa fort yg sebelah nya ada jame' (masjid). so... 3 ni lah center town Nizwa. gambar kat atas tu taken from the fort, nampak masjid dia and the residential area.

lepas went through Souq, kitaorg g ke fort. a good one indeed. aku rasa kagum sbb very informative, something yg aku tak expect kat negara2 arab ni. and mmg ramai pelancong org putih kat sini. fort kat doha ni, no where near ngan fort ni. siap ada tunjuk mcm mana depa trap org masa perang and ada videography sebelum masuk ke fort. its something normal kat european countries, but kalau kat negara gulf ni, information mcm ni mmg takde.spend a good 1 hour kat fort... then we all terus menuju ke jabal shams i.e. abt 30km from Nizwa town. hari dah tengahhari, we ate snacks kat dlm kereta je.nak naik ke atas tu ada pavement road... but not to the peak, dlm 7km akan lalu gravel road. tu lah sbb i have to rent a 4wd. kalau tak, tak sampai ke atas. but apparently masa aku kat situ, ada plak kete sedan dengan beraninya drive sampai ke atas...
on the way tu, we did few stops for picture taking session... seriously beautiful... bila sampai kat atas, sibuk plak tgk bawah... ada gaung (kata org perak) or canyon... a deep one indeed... sapa gayat tu, tgk dr jauh je lah...terjumpa plak pakcik ni yg aku takpaham... sama ada minta duit or jual batu or nak caj kalau ambik gambar dia...utk trip kali ni, aku go to other points yg aku tak pergi masa aku dtg dulu... lepas settle tgk semua, kitaorg turun and solat kat small village kat kaki gunung... actually semua org dah lapar... snack pun dah abis... hehehe...

mlm sebelum g nizwa ni, aku sempat g kedai buku n aku baca there's actually a better place to enjoy the gorge and the canyon, i.e. ikut jalan bawah, lalu wadi an nakhar. aku tak g area tu sebelum ni, so i determined to try out. lepas solat, terus aku ke situ.. even masa org dah berlapar. based on the book, it is less than 7km je nak sampai bawah tu...but utk ke tempat tu, mmg lagi tough., kena ikut jalan kat kampung yg kitaorg solat tu. first kena pass by satu kampung tinggal/lama then br continue ke wadi... jalan dia dr batu2 bulat2 yg kecik mcm batu sungai. so u rasa the terrain mcm keras but terperosok ke dalam... aku belasah je lah ngan 4wd tu.. n jalan sempit... kalau berselisih mmg ngam2... since the road was not that good my parents dah suruh2 patah balik je.. until lah sampai section wadi yg cantik... depa decided utk turun n ambik gambar...lepas ambik gambar depa kata jom patah balik, cakap jalan tak elok lah.. dah lewat dah lah... hehehe... but i moved on :-) ... i wanna reach to the end hehehe... (aku pun tak tahu apa ada at the end). but from the view so far really amazing... so aku continue sampai lah terjumpa a group of archeologist (dlm gambar atas tu) yg cakap depan tu dah kena tutup... and aku kena pusing balik... archeologist ni tgh study batu2 kat situ... since kena patah balik ngan ruang yg sempit n jalan berbatu... mmg buat kereta tersangkut, so depa lah yg tolong tolak kereta... hehehe... seriously i can say the view from wadi ni is as good as on top and at certain part even better... :-)
out of the wadi kitaorg g ke bahla, singgah ambik gambar fort bahla then to jibrin castle, pun ambik gambar kat luar. Bahla fort masih ditutup for refurbishment, jibrin castle pun dah tutup masa tu, dah sunset pun... anyway, i've been to the castle and it is not that good. in about sejam setengah br sampai muscat. sbb semua dah lapar, i've decided to go to thai restaurant, senang nak pilih makanan... and nasib baik sedap, my parents love them... that's the end of day 4 (day 3 in oman).

Travel Report : Roadtrip II - Muscat (Day 3)

The apartment provided breakfast, so senang lah tak payah fikir pasal tu kan... we started the day around 9am... breakfast n the first place we went was the the museum. Aku decided bawak depa g museum dulu, sbb i think it is better kita tahu overall cite negara tu, br blh appreciate more. plus, aku rasa the museum (bait al baranda) is one of the best museums in gulf (ni my personal opinion). and plus museum tu pun dekat muttrah, depan corniche n sebaris ngan souq...right after museum tu, terus je menuju ke souq muttrah. spent good 2 hours there. souq ni tutup everyday dr jam 1pm to 4pm... so kalau plan nak g sana, make sure take note on the opening hours. aku dah 2 kali pergi souq ni sebelum ni, tp kali ni first time aku tahu yg ada gold souq gak.. and ada lagi banyak small alleys yg aku tak g... aku jumpa semua ni sbb aku sibuk cari mana lah mak aku ngan makcik2 tu sesat... hehehe...masa kitaorg kat souq tu, ramai giler org2 putih yg maybe dtg dgn cruise. gile ramai... sesak gak lah souq tu. on items yg jual kat situ, basically byk yg sama mcm kat doha, therefore tak lah aku beli apa2... yg special benda kat sana n tak dapat kat sini (yg aku tahu) halwa muscat (kalau org perak, mmg ada halwa maskat masa org kawin, so i guess ni original halwa muscat) dan komma (its the kopiah yg org omani pakai mcm pakcik dlm gambar bawah ni). lepas shop, sebelum pkl 1, kitaorg g cari lunch. we had arabic lunch for today. since masa kat doha, my brother tak merasa pun nak makan makanan arab, so now nak try lah... tried omani traditional dish (apa ntah nama nya) n mandy (ni asal from yemen). very nice restaurant near Qurm Park. Lepas lunch, straight g ke Masjid Sultan Qaboos (ye, yg ada carpet paling besar dlm dunia) utk solat zohor n asar.it's 3pm... mostly kedai tutup... so apa lagi... sessi bergambar lah.. since muscat/muttrah ni cantik... almost everywhere good utk ambik gambar... of course, we have to see the Sultan Qaboos Palace...and Bar al Jissah...and Corniche...
Since my dad still agak demam, we end the day early and my mom cooked for dinner... dia mmg beriyer nak masak. :-) anyway, if u have only a day in Muscat, i guess my itinerary here mmg suit for 1 day trip, maybe u can change to do souq later bila dah malam n siang lepas museum tu, blh lah g tempat lain... perhaps, g tgk dolphin. (i did the dolphin trip dulu, so tak nak buat lagi dah. yup, i saw dolphin, tp tak byk).

Travel Report : Roadtrip II - Doha - Dubai (Day 1)

We took Fly Dubai dr Doha ke Dubai. since sehari sebelum tu kitaorg join pasar malam, so i've decided to take the noon flight at 3pm++... tak lah penat n terkejar sgt. Thanks to Che Le for sending us off.

Sampai kat Dubai Terminal 2 dlm pukul 5pm lebih. flight sejam je... tp sebab time difference, mcm flight 2 jam... Dubai Terminal 2 agak jauh dr Terminal 1 dan Terminal 3. maybe sbb dr terminal ni ada flight dr afghanistan dan iraq, tu sbb depa asingkan jauh kot. anyway, aku sewa kereta for the whole 8 days trip ni. sewa dari Hertz sbb depa cuma caj AED100 extra for the days kat Oman, ada sesetengah company charge more than that. Tp Hertz takdak kat T2 so aku kena naik cab ke T3 utk ambik kereta ni.

Masa aku tempah, aku dah specifically request utk bg kereta Honda MRV atau Dodge Durango and dah clearly tulis, no Toyota Prado (semua ni in same class). tp alih2 depa bg Prado gak... nasib baik later that night aku blh dpt tukar... and dapat MRV, and it is really spacious, i like the car... (macam nak beli je kereta ni). On average, sewa kereta ni dlm AED600 sehari termasuk insurance, which i think not bad lah since kereta besar. Btw, apart from entourage from KL (my parents, adik n 2 makcik) trip ke Muscat ni joined by my good friend Razi. dia fly direct ke dubai. He was supposed naik AK (air asia) tp since kes kena cancel flight dia naik Qatar Airways. good thing was, flight tu cuma RM500 more than AK. lucky him.

Malam tu, kitaorg jalan2 sekitar hotel je. Bapak aku demam plak. kesejukan masa dok kat pasar malam. anyway, masa keluar tu pun dah jam 10pm... so takde apa pun... and we have to rest early sbb esok nya dah nak start travel masuk Oman...

Doha Visit...

it was my parents second visit to Doha... but the first for my brother, Maksu n Makcik Ani (kawan Maksu). kebetulan hari depa sampai tu Doha tetiba sejuk (ok, this is last February, 2 months ago punya cite) since the most memorable and talkable experience masa my parent dtg sini 2 years ago was g beli ikan kat corniche, tanpa berlengah first night kat sini dah turun ke corniche nak g beli ikan... tp kan.. sbb sejuk sangat ada 2 org je jual ikan, frustrated. beli je lah apa yg ada... (gambar bawah ni masa kitaorg g the other day, byk la ikannya)hmm... kalau aku tulis aktiviti tiap2 hari kat sini mau 2 page entry ni... :-) so aku tulis ringkas je lah...walaupun mcm 4 minggu depa kat sini, apparently depa cuma ada 3 weekend je, 1 weekend doha ni dan 2 weekend lagi kat muscat-dubai (aku cite pasal ni in the next entry). so takde lah nak berjalan mana... tp parents aku dtg sini bukan nak jalan mana pun, dia nak bg anak dia makan je.. hik hik hik... so, main activity was g corniche beli ikan or else g pasar beli ikan (lagi) and sayur.. selang 2-3 hari g situ..so the only weekend kat doha, aku bawak depa g main quad bike, actually bukannya utk my parents n3 hari aku g pasar jam 6am... hehehe.. weekdays tu, bgn awal giler... makcik2... more kepada experience for my brother je... n g ke bir zikreet utk tgk burung kasawari, tapi seekor burung pun takdak.. abis masa je... hehehe...
on weekdays, sempat lah g mall, souq and the pearl. gi pun malam lepas dinner... aku plak ada kelas french, so tak lah g mana2 sgt... sian depa... hehehe... tp kan ke nak bawak ke dubai and muscat, so tak lah bersalah sangat... hahaha...
oh... tapi sempat gak buat bbq kat beach... mmg mak aku nak sgt buat bbq kat beach ni, sebelum datang lagi dia dah cakap nak makan bakar kat tepi beach. dulu masa dia datang aku buat kat simaisma, but this time around, aku pilih spot lagi dekat ngan doha... seriously good place utk buat bbq... (gambar last tu, view doha from the place kitaorg buat bbq)

and... mak aku mmg nak experience sangat nak jual2 kat pasar malam (aku selalu cite kat dia pasar jual2 bazaar ramadhan n pasar malam). so mmg aku dah set kan utk ada pasar malam doha while they were here... hehehe.. there goes 2 nights sbb depa sibuk nak siap kan benda2 nak jual :-) dan hari pasar malam tu... seronok gak depa dpt join. siap plan utk guna hasil jualan buat belanja gi trip muscat n dubai... berbaloi gak lah depa angkut brg2 yg banyak dr M'sia utk buat jualan ni... Alhamdulillah, 80% abis :-)

byk gak aktiviti blh buat kat doha...kadang2 aku tgk... cantik gak doha ni...