Pasar Malam 2010

Before you know it, january is almost over. Yup.. we've survived nearly a month of year 2010! Last Friday, the MAQ has organized yet another 'pasar malam'. And this time my dear hubby along with his partner-in-crime paricipated to sell 'ayam percik'. And guess who's the pakse-rela volunteer? Yeah.. moi~ Actually I do not want to get involve, because I'm sure I'll be too tired, and when I'm too tired, I'll get too cranky, and nobody like a cranky old lady (not that I'm that old.. hehehe). But, memandangkan my hubby n the partner seems a bit kelam-kelibuts (maybe sebab first time nak buat jual2 ayam secare besar-besaran).. I then menyinsing lengan to help in the kitchen.. Oh well..

The theme of our gerai (yesss.. believe it or not, we are theme-crazy here in Doha!, semua benda mesti ade theme! including pasar malam! hahaha) is gerai KOBOI - so kenalah semua orang dipakse pakai topi koboi and mangse tukang beli from souk, tak lain tak bukan, moi again. Coz, I was the one yang belikan topi koboi aizal during our last Masquerade Birthday Party @Ju's (Oh yeah.. totally forgot to make an entry for that ocassion.. hehehe). Anyway, alhamdulillah although jualan agak banyak tak abes, kami still tak rugi, and yang paling penting gaye kena adeeee.. yeeeehaa!!

Things to do (outdoor), with zero riyal in ur bank ..

Sape kate everything cost money? Good news is, you could always have some fun without bocoring your pocket!!.. here's how.. ;)

1. Main sepak takraw..(with sepak takraw ball obviously being borrowed..)

2. Some football games with friends (disregard the kakibangkuness)

3. Cycling (menumpang basikal orang.. even sendiri punye ade)

4. Flying the cheap kite (bought like a month ago when there's still money in the bank.. hiks)

5. Tengok Cheles beraksi with his powerkiting

6. Volley (with the lil one sebok nak join)

7. Enlarging 'the behind' on the kerusi (or also known as bench warmer)

8. Sleep (well.. you could do it at home too if u like)

9. Makannnn (potluck - masak & bawak je ape yang ade kat dlm dapur.. hiks)

10. Exercise (with one volunteer to lead- and obviouly not Myra!! hehehe)

11. Rollerblading (pinjamm slagi boleh!!! haha)

12. Bergamba, bergamba, bergambaaaa

Well.. that's basically our activities for the past 3 Fridays.. Picnic & Riadah at Aspire park with friends and families. Although we've been disturbed by the annoying guard on his super-fancy-golf-buggy- itu tak boleh... ini tak boleh.. menyampah! You are NOT gonna patahkan semangat beriadah kami! never! hiks.

MidEast Roadtrip - (Wahid: Qatar-UAE-Oman)

Day 2 - Dubai-Dubai-Dubai (10th Dec 09)

Well, this is not our first time here. Been to Dubai shortly after my confinement period's over, as to celebrate my success for not being super-hysterical-pregnant-woman-in-labour...hiks.

So, that was 2 years ago.

Sayanggg... Dubai, the city that gained the-biggest, the-bestest, the-first & the-of-everything just won another title 'The biggest loser'... If only they slowed down a little. Well, that's that, but I'm here to tell story of our trip, other facts, google sendiri la.. :P

And, while in ZowwoBowwo's home, we discover the most interesting things about nature.. Can you see the garlic pic? Yeah.. that's the pucuk ginger.. dunno how long they've got them for, siap bleh tumbuh pucuk, yang tembus through the garlic's net! With no watering, no nothing.. semulajadi jek.. hehe (and nampak sangat la dah lame cik Zowwo tak masak2, hehehehe)

Since we've been to Dubai before, I didn't think about doing another double-decker-hop-on-hop-off-bus-tour again. We just thought, well, lets just go to Global Village, inside the Palm area, and to see the completed Burj Dubai and some shopping at Dubai Outlet mall. We weren't very keen on getting the city tour again... it's mostly mall mall mall anyway (plus, the pocket pun sudah agak bocor..hiks).

And, as I mentioned on my earlier post, this time around, we went for the most unprepared trip ever. I didn't do any of my usual research for places of interest or let alone a complete itinerary list! And I'm not a kaki-shopping myself, sebab tu even dah alang-alang kat Dubai yang macam-macam-ada pun, not really tempted to include shopping trips sangat, inikan pule my dear hubby.. So, mostly during this trip, we just went with the flow, with the minimal info taken from google and blindly following the GPS route... we went ahead to our first stop; Dubai Outlet Mall (saje nak tengok, best ke tak). Not that grand a place, boleh la nak shopping sikit-sikit, selection agak kureng on certain brands. Nak kate murah sangat pun, takla jugak. Tapi nak tak nak, abis jugakla dalam 3-4 jam round2 situ..hehe. Then, we left for our kodak moment at Burj Al-Arab. That time, Myra is already in her cranky mode, takmo posing2 cam selalu :( .

We then melencong to be at the tip of the Palm Jumeirah, tengok the Atlantis dari luar jer.. sebab dah janji nak pick up ZowwoBowwo for Global Village tour. Janjinye 7-ish.. tapi around, 9++ baru la sampai Global Village ; biase la typical janji melayu.. hehehehe

Pic: The GPS snapshot of us, being on the tip of the Palm's top.

Then, we left to get ZowwoBowwo and Aishah for our late tour in Global Village. Our arrival was somewhat welcomed with the series of fireworks, as my hubby kept saying- 'macam manela tak bankrupt, asek main firework je!' . In the Global Village, boleh tahan menarik.. banyak gile booths negare2 like Africa, Turkey, Egypt, China, Lebanon, KSA, Russia (to name but a few). Yang paling tak best is our visit to booth Malaysia-Singapore, no unique stuff to malambangkan both countries, there were more stuffs that you could find in any of the Souk yourself, barang merapu2.. , except for the Kelate booth yang ade jual some foods. Tapi, still overall agak memalukan.. :(

Pics: Some of the many entrance to the booths

Anyway, dalam kesejukan meronda kat Global Village, we got the chance to see the African performances- dancing, hoping and some fire~. Heating up our chilled flesh! My personal favourite was seeing the lampu-lampu and ceramics kat Turkey's booth.. sangat cantik! Pastu siap ade mamat2 Turkey yang tibe2 pasang lagu then joget2 lambak kat dalam tu.. Ni yang mengoda nak gi Istanbul sangat-sangat ni! Hiks.

Not forgetting seeing the unique crafty woods in Africa's booth.. sayangnye sume kedai cam jual bende yang lebih kurang same, and agak mahal jugak nak beli, baik tunggu beli bile dah visit South Africa or something.. barula ade alasan kukuh untuk ke sane.. ;)

Pics: The cool stuff from Turkey & Africa's booth

To be continue..

Oh yeah.. to get all the extra details on the road tour (coordinates and everything), please visit http://wahyuinqatar.wordpress.com - our major guide, thank you again Pak Wahyu!

Our date with Roger Federer..

Only that, he didn't quite know our very existance. And the date involved thousands of other fans...hiks. Anyway, we never would have dream to get to see him live. Yeah, like my dearest hubby always says; kat london mane nak dapat.. doha jugak bes, itu free, ini free, tiket tennis pun murah lagi.. then siap dapat t-shirt free! (yess hunny, ur 'doha' is simply the bestest place on planet earth!) Last time when they started the tournament, they gave out free tickets, but they failed to tally the number of tickets out with number of seats available, so ended up, if the stadium is tad full, you're not gonna get in. But still, after they start charging, the price ticket isn't that bad at all, so sebab tu la dah tak sempat nak rembat tiket semi or finals, sekelip mate je sold out! :(

I remember last time when we live in London, berangan nak tengok Wimbledon, then I saw on the website, we have to register one year ahead to be on the waiting list! Man.. seb baik the Qatar Open lom sampai taraf tu.. tapi I think it will get to that point soon, I just hope it won't be that soon. Anyway, we thank god to be apart of the crowd to see the world number one in action.. selagi dapat, enjoy jeee..

MidEast Roadtrip - (Wahid: Qatar-UAE-Oman)

How time flies, it was not long ago when I wrote about my life journey in London, then all of the sudden I'm back in Doha, to start off yet another journey here, maybe it's a second chance to something, I'm not quite sure. Berserah.. I strongly believe, everything happen for a reason, just like when we decided to leave Doha for London last time, many said we were stupid.. but we did it anyway and berserah... Then, when we came back to Doha, some people asked me why I ever left London, giving up on my career, when everything seems so right and smooth... and yet.. here I am, throwing all of that, for Doha, which some regards as the boringest place ever. Well, truth is, Doha felt more homely to us, and it is still safe to bring up a family here; as she's still in the middle; not-yet-too-developed, but not-that-under-developed either; the just right era. We always knew we'd come back, but we didn't want to come back when Doha is already in Dubai-level, so now is just the right time. Oh, well.. I don't want to elaborate more.. I guess, 'the grass will always seem greener on the other side of the road'. .. kami hanya berserah..

Anyway, I'm thankful to be back again, although it's hard to adjust from work-minded to domestic-goddess, I'm sure it'll get better, Insyaallah.

When I was in London, I always thought about my life in Doha, and regretted the fact that I didn't quite take the opportunity to explore it's neighbouring country. But last time, It was quite impossible to get a transit visa from Saudi (yes, no matter where we wanna go by road, we hafta go through the Saudi border, so it is quite an annoying process). Just because of our sponsor, we'd get rejected for any Saudi visa (I guess due to some politics issue), but thank god they've put that behind now, so now we can freely request for a transit, or umrah or hajj visa; just like others. With the so-called second chance of life here, we begin to potrays another set of travel journal, and our first pick is to go by road from Doha-Dubai-Muscat-Nizwa-Abu Dhabi-Doha. Insyaallah kalau ade rezeki, lain kali nak dikembangkan ke arah Mekah and beyond..

So here goes, our story of the journey, might not be new to some, but still, a story told by others are always worth a listen...(or in this case, a read ;)

Day 1: Doha-Abu Dhabi-Dubai (9th Dec 2009)

At 06:00am we are all ready to make our move to the Qatar-Saudi border, Bu Samra. I think it is still eid holiday to some, so, not that heavy traffic ahead. We reached Bu Samra at 07:34am, blurred and pointless. This is the most unprepared trip that I ever planned. Because, 1) I didn't quite think we'll get the transit visa ready within 3 days after the embassy open from eid's holiday and 2) Our original plan was to go on the 6th, so bile dah delay, the feel pun dah agak lari. Tapi alhamdulillah, sume berjalan lancar, on Qatar's side of border, the process is quite simple, drive through all the way from one immigration booth to the other.

On Saudi's side of border, we passed through 5 checkpoint; Before the first point, we stopped at the side, there's a small booth for ladies untuk ambik gambar and finger print, same for guys. Then off to the checkpoint, drive through all the way. On the 3rd checkpoint, they did car inspection then, on the next one, we have to buy car insurance for Saudi; 70 Riyal for a week and 100 Riyal for 2 weeks. So, if your entire trip is more than a week, it is much better to take the 2 weeks (it is counted from the day you enter Saudi and remain valid for the number of days irregardless if you exit & re-enter). Then on the last checkpoint, they'd check on all the papers, passport, then we are good to go! And time is already 8am.

At 10am, we reached the Saudi/UAE border.

At the UAE border, we fill up some form, then went for eye scan. Make sure to get your details entered to the system with a stamped paper (on the same building) coz we missed that one stamp, and asked to turn back for it. After that we just drove through for passport stamp and car inspection. Then, on the left, there are some insurance booths, where we need to buy UAE side of insurance, cost AED100 for 10 days (the bare minimum). Settled, went to the last checkpoint, then khalas... so, officially entered UAE at 11:22am.

The first plan is to drive straight to Dubai, but since our host is still at the office, we figured, why not go and jalan-jalan until she's home, so melenconglah kami ke Sheikh Zayed Mosque @Abu Dhabi, that we reached at 4pm! Sempat solat jamak ;)

The magnificient Grand Mosque: Although I'm all covered, still need to wear abaya for touring inside!

After 750km, and 13 & half hours later, we arrived in Dubai (at 7:30pm .. journey time includes breaks , blurred and all). Oh, before entering Dubai, you gotta buy that SALIK tag thingy, for your automatic-toll deduction. You can buy it from any of the pump station nearing Dubai; starting cost of AED100, which annoyingly need to be activated by calling their NOT-toll-free-number (so the typical big city must-charge-em-all-bla-bla-bla).
Luckily, when we arrived Dubai, the kind host; Miss ZowwoBowwo provided such an excellent room for us, a comfy knockout for the nite after the very long drive.

To be continue..

Oh yeah.. to get all the extra details on coordinates and everything, please visit http://wahyuinqatar.wordpress.com - our major guide, thank you Pak Wahyu!

The good thing about diarrhea is..

it helps to lose all the extra kilos on your body.. so now I'm like 1 kilo away from my Wii weight target! ahahaha. Ade jugak faedahnye penyeksaan kene diarrhea 2-3 hari ni. Hiks. Err.. talking about it, I think I hafta make another trip to the loo. Grrr..