"1001 Kisah Melayu Perantau . . ."

Ad Dawhah Abaya... (Iklan!!!)

2012-12-31T09:44:00.002+03:00

nak iklan skit... entry ni akan diletakkan diatas blog ni for the time being... and u can read the new blog update kat bawah entry ni...a few of us started business kecil-kecilan ni... sepanjang kitaorg kat sini, kitaorg nampak tgk abaya or jubah arab hitam memang pakaian harian utk perempuan2 arab sini. berbagai fashion ada dijual... and selalu jugak kitaorg beli utk souvenir for family. lama2 we could also see ada potential utk jual abaya ni. tp we could see kat internet yg org byk beli abaya ni dr dubai n saudi. and at the same time, bila kitaorg compare dgn abaya kat doha ni, we could see the material quality dan jahitan dia lebih kemas. therefore, we thought it would be good to enter the market and start jual abaya yg dtg dr Doha ni. we can create different market. tp I can't deny that the price of abaya yg dijual ni maybe ada yg lebih mahal skit dr yg korang blh jumpa kat website yg jual abaya dr dubai n saudi. tp u have to feel it n try, and u can see the different.and satu lagi, kitaorg selalu nampak org jual online, and ada sizes. tp abaya dr doha ni depa tak manufactured byk2.. i.e. mostly made to order so design2 ni mostly 1 design 1 size. and size dia berbeza2 susah nak iklan kat blog or website or fb. mmg kitaorg rasa, to be fair to the buyer we have to set up a booth or join any bazaar bg org try and appreciate it.therefore, ramadhan sudah, kawan aku yg balik malaysia dah buka booth kat bazaar ramadhan. alhamdulillah sales was very good although bazaar ramadhan tu mcm tak ramai org datang pun. and then we also joined Halfest. another good place utk kitaorg start market our abaya. in both places mmg kitaorg dpt good feedback dr pemakai abaya yg cakap mmg the quality is so much better compared to dubai and yg makin byk sekarang, indonesian made.

and as we developed slow2... now kitaorg dah ada permanent booth di Anggerik Mall tingkat 1. so, bg kawan2 yg nak tgk abaya... sila dtg nak try abaya. for those yg tak sure apa itu abaya n nak tgk sample, please check us out kat fb... Ad Dawhah Abaya. please like our page ye :-)

NY : Long last day...

2012-01-27T04:01:00.001+03:00

It was our last day in NY. plan asal kan patut ada 3 hari kat NY, tp since first day tu abis perjalanan DC - NY and g outlet mall and hari ke 2 pun start lambat n bateri abis. so we planned to do all out for the final day, try utk keluar seawal blh n complete apa yg mampu pergi. and flight mlm tu, so mmg kena keluar pagi n check out terus and balik petang and ambik teksi ke airport pkl 7pm. and kena plan jugak supaya wheel chair tak abis bateri lagi... hehehe...

our first target was Statue of Liberty. sbb semua plan dah berubah and actually mmg takde proper plan sgt pun, aku br je baca pasal how to get to statue of liberty mlm sblm pergi sana. and according to the website kena g sana naik ferry and kena g awal sbb akan beratur panjang. we've decided utk pergi ke pulau tu instead of ambik free ferry ride to Staten Island mcm aku buat dulu, reason being, wifey on wheel chair nanti tgk org je bukan statue tu. and from the website tiket nak ke crown statue dah abis, but we didn't plan to go pun. we arrived at the ferry area jam 9am, naik teksi dr hotel. and good for us, queue yg patut ambik masa lebih 30 minit tu, kitaorg dpt potong, again sbb pakai wheelchair. we even cut the security check point. :-) (gambar bawah ni, org ramai beratur kat belakang tu, but we were given bench kat depan utk jadi yg first naik ferry)

perjalanan ke situ interesting lah... tp island yg ada statue tu x de apa sgt... nothing much there, boleh skip kalau korang dtg sini. takde stunning view pun. and it was too hot during summer ni. tp sbb ferry ride dia ada timing so nak tak nak spend jugak lah sejam 2 kat situ.

from there we went straight to main terminal and took a metro to get there... nope the metro not really handicapped friendly for newbie... dlm station tu, berpusing kitaorg nak cari lift utk keluar... as the metro station dia besar and complicated mmg agak membazir masa. we went to the main terminal ni sbb mmg byk scene movie kat sini, esp. wifey teringat series 1 ep. 1 gossip girl.. exactly like in the movie/show. and ingatkan nak lunch kat situ, but kitaorg decide beli je magnolia cupcakes and have lunch kat central park instead. :-) (bawah terminal and chrysler building as background)from terminal, g plak central park, sbb nak save battery, we took a teksi. mmg relaxing kat central park tu. aku g beli makanan halal kat street vendor. ada gyros and ada beriani. best! although panas tp dpt berteduh bawah pokok... we spent sejam dua jugak kat central park, relax, tgk org... makan2 sembang2 sebelum take a stroll at 5th avenue shopping area.

too bad for wifey, shopping ain't really enjoyable for her. tak blh nak try baju, nak maneuver wheelchair tu between the baju2 bukan senang, plus mata pun tak dpt nak tgk semua n takut langgar2 brg... ok, sorry ye.. next time kita dtg lagi... sorry jugak takde bajet nak beli brg2 best yg u nak tu... :-)and we stroll around until times square... sempat terjumpa naked cowboys buat show tepi jalan. last time aku nampak postcard dia... and kelakar sbb susah nak kona kona pakai wheelchair tu, tak leh nak mengelak, wifey jalan straight next to him... mmg close up hehehe... and from times square kitaorg buat last minute shopping kat macy's and by then dah pun pkl 6... very tiring...

we took a cab to the airport. and dgn 4 bag, wife pakai crutches mmg susah nak handle kat airport. luckily i had a gold card Qatar airways privilege card, semua jadi mudah. Qatar airways bg porter angkat beg mcm org keje hotel and one guy yg tolong bawakkan wheel chair and tolong semua process. dr check in, security check and masuk ke lounge and siap tolak sampai gate nak boarding. but disadvantage, tak sempat langsung nak jalan2 kat terminal JFK... ye... JFK yg besar tu aku tak sempat g... no picture at all... tp masa tu pun dah penat... not a perfect holiday but we made it almost perfect with the constraint we had... eventful, adventurous, spontaneous, wonderful trip indeed...

NY : Jalan-jalan handicapped style...

2012-01-26T15:00:00.004+03:00

We were very tired due to the full day travelling semlm and plus dgn wifey yg sakit, agak slow pergerakan first day kitaorg kat NY. As said in previous entry, our pre-ordered wheel chair tak sampai ke hotel semlm, tp pg tu kitaorg dpt the wheel chair. cost us $110 for 3 days. mmg harga dia utk 3 hari even kalau kita pakai sehari je. aku ambik wheelchair yg mcm scooter, senang nak jalan instead of tolak tu, cepat penat. even dpt scooter ni, kita org keluar bilik pun dah tgh hari, siap brunch kat bilik, balance makanan kedai india semlm (aku beli byk giler makanan sbb sgt lapar n halal food hehehe).

due to kecederaan n ketidakselesaan jalan pakai scooter ni, we have to scrapped our earlier plan utk travel extensively so our target for that day pergi ke times square and naik atas rockefeller center. Dah 2 kali aku naik rockefeller center, although empire state building probably lagi famous, and lagi glamer utk naik and our hotel mmg dkt dgn empire state building. aku stick jugak dgn idea yg kalau kat atas tu, better ambik gambar empire state building yg cantik. jalan2 dgn handicapped ada byk advantage gak e.g. nak naik rockeffeller center tu kena queue panjang, tp sbb ada org berwheelchair, kitaorg potong line dpt terus ke concierge :-)....

oh... sebelum sampai ke rockerfeller center, kitaorg lalu across the times square... as expected mmg ramai org bersesak.. and as per my previous experience mmg terasa mcm kat dlm movie. tp sian wifey, dia pakai wheelchair, she didn't enjoy the view especially masa jalan2 kat tepi tu, dia kena berhati2 takut terlanggar kaki org, therefore, her view was bontot2 org yg kat depan je, sebab semua org yg kat situ sibuk pandang2 view atas, ramai yg terlanggar dia. sian... but we've decided to go the center area tempat panas yg tak ramai org, br lah sempat tgk view bangunan2 kat times square tu... :-) and sessi bergambar bermula...

on the way dr times square ke rockerfeller center, kitaorg pass by the radio city hall and saw promo Circue du soleil show br and pg tu dpt promo beli 2 tiket for $99. due to susah nak jalan sgt, we opt utk beli tiket tu. show for sure best... so we bought 2 tickets for the show at 2pm i.e. timing baik je lepas turun rockefeller center. and as expected mmg best.. one of the best experience we had while kat NY ni... tak rugi masuk... ni gambar2 nya... sebenarnya sarkis show je, cuma music best, equipment best, ada nyanyi, stunt best... cuma takde binatang je...

as walking around wasn't enjoyable sgt bila berwheel chair ni, so after the show we decided to queue for tickets for broadway. mmg antara plan asal aku utk tgk broadway kat NY. i remember my first experience dulu mmg best... and since jalan pun tak leh, broadway show waktu mlm mmg best lah. tp bila beratur kat tkts (tmpt jual tiket broadway yg murah skit) - ni pun beratur potong barisan sbb pakai wheel chair. kitaorg dpt tahu takde broadway show yg murah n available with good seats for handicapped. mostly semua broadway are not handicapped friendly :-( too bad... and at that time pun dah pkl 5-6pm mcm tu and show pkl 7pm takut tak sempat nak solat and we were too tired therefore we decided utk balik hotel, refresh solat n mlm br keluar.

mlm tu kitaorg keluar utk g times square, ingat nak cari makan n jln2 waktu malam... tetiba wheelchair mcm tak jalan... rupanya bateri habis n terlupa nak recharge masa rehat kat hotel. tried to recharge kat satu kedai ni, tp dia tak fully loaded and wifey mcm takde mood dah (konon kesian sbb aku kena tolak dia). so we ended the day early, and try nak tahan teksi. agak susah nak dptkan teksi yg wheelchair friendly, 20 minit jugak lah.. walau beribu teksi susah dpt yg blh bawak wheel chair. once dpt, we went back to hotel (2 block je dr tempat tu), then aku g cari dinner... a bit frustrated, tp apa nak buat... but still we had spent the night sembang2 and count our blessing... walaupun kecewa tak dpt jalan n explore NY ni, mcm tak sangka semua experience ni... and nasib baik dapat jugak merasa jalan :-)

DC - NY : The roadtrip...

2012-01-24T11:39:00.001+03:00

wo hoo... aku tak pernah terfikir yg dlm trip kali ni aku berpeluang driving dr DC ke NY or in fact driving di US. apparently, mlm yg tak jadi travel (see the reason in previous entry) tu, aku br lah tgk2 internet n cari kereta yg bersesuaian. with limited time and with no experience aku pilih kereta and company. first criteria was kedai tu dekat dgn public transport n senang aku nak ambik kereta pagi2 sabtu and 2nd nak return kereta tak jauh dr hotel. *aku tak terfikir langsung naik train masa tu, tp dgn condition my wife, kesian dia nak lompat2 masuk train.

so i chosed the National Rental Car, sbb dia ada office kat Union Station i.e. the main train station kat DC and tempat return kereta 3 blocks away from hotel yg dah siap booked plus harga pun considered ok, not the cheapest but beza tak byk. but the 2nd factor tu sgt penting pada aku, sbb kalau blh aku nak hantar kereta on time utk sewa sehari n tak nak simpan kereta mlm tu. i've checked parking kat NY 1 mlm paling murah pun $40 tu pun ntah celah mana. tp aku kena bayar mahal skit sbb return kat NY bkn pulang balik ke DC. so total cost for 1 day rent ($60), pulang kat NY ($100++) for 1 day plus GPS ($12/day) and taxes was $219! ok lah...When you rent a car kat DC ni, based on experience aku depa akan offer few things. 1. whether kita nak bayar prepaid fuel i.e. masa pulangkan kereta tu, tak payah isi penuh minyak tu depa akan isi semula sampai penuh n kita dah byr siap. according to the person, rate dia murah dr fuel price kat luar. aku accept je sbb malas nak fikir. apparently it was a good decision sbb aku tak perasan kat NY tu (aku dok kat empire state building area) mana kedai petrol, luckily dah siap bayar or else, rate charge isi penuh lagi mahal.

2nd question, whether nak beli ezpass toll card, which aku ambik je, aku tak tahu berapa toll kena tp it was again another good decision. kitaorg mcm lalu dkt 10 toll pelbagai price... and queue for paying cash panjang gile. similar mcm msia, touch n go laju je... byr cash panjang gile. dah lah tu, each tol berbagai harga so kena tanya berapa n kalau tak cukup duit susah. but it really save our time. they also asked abt insurance, aku tak ingat aku ambik extra ke tak.

driving to NY from DC was pleasant. ikut highway je and mengambil masa lebih kurang 4-5 jam kalau direct... kitaorg tak masuk bandar cuma sekali je aku masuk pekan kecik sbb nak beli ubat for wife. we passed junction g baltimore and few other cities. hoping jugak ada kena masuk bandar so we could say we've been there. tp mostly we went around the city je... tp ada gak nampak city from far. and mostly kiri kanan pokok2 je... it was pleasant experience lah... we really enjoyed the outskirt scene. but wifey penat melawan mengantuk sbb painkiller tu kuat giler utk dia. oh... exactly lepas keluar DC nampak gak motel2 murah n kitaorg terfikir, next time kalau ada rezeki buat roadtrip boleh je dok kat motel2 ni... mmg mcm dlm movie.

we stop few a couple of times utk beli lunch and toilet break. traffic was really good and the takde sesat. another reason we opt for the car instead taking public transport sbb kitaorg nak kejar jugak plan asal nak g ke woodbury premium outlet. yg katanya outlet terbesar kat US and the best in NY. jarak dia jauh gak dr NY lebih kurang sejam perjalanan. mmg plan asal nak ke outlet ni, n ikut internet bas tiket $42 sorang so total $84 utk 2 org. so kiranya kitaorg save from paying that lah since dah ada kereta n beli pun blh byk sbb senang bawak. so this made our rental cost tu terasa berbaloi. tp setelah driving 4 jam dr DC and lagi 4-5km nak sampai outlet tu, tetiba traffic jam teruk... mmg kereta beratur for dunno what reason. kitaorg patut sampai outlet pkl 3++ end up for jarak 1km we spend dekat 40 minit. masa tu mmg jadi tak sabar dah lah highway mcm PLUS kat msia tu takde jalan potong. tp ntah mcm mana ada simpang ke kanan ikut jalan x berturap yg ada few people divert, tak byk kereta pusing situ, tp dr GPS aku ada nampak possibility utk sampai ke outlet mall kalau aku turun jalan tu (yg tak berturap tu part keluar dr highway ke jalan kampung je)... belasah je... yup, from there 10 minit je lalu jalan kecik mcm jalan kampung we reached the mall dah dkt pkl 5.sbb dah lewat and plan nak return kereta mlm tu jugak we gave ourselves 2 jam je kat outlet mall in fact the mall pun mmg tutup pkl 7. luckily depa ada sedia wheelchair for rent (mmg dah cek sblm dtg) and masih ada available. tp sbb office wheelchair tutup 30 minit awal dr kedai, mmg kitaorg punya masa terhad je kat situ. It was a good place to shop especially brand coach lah... n tempat tu mmg handicapped friendly and having the wheelchair jadi senang jugak bwk barang sbb mcm trolley jadinya... hehehe... it was enjoyable sbb ada brg2 situ yg mmg worth buying tp since the handicapped issue, agak terhad lah perjalanan.

we left the outlet mall around 7.30pm and dah gelap dah masa tu and it took us about an hour utk sampai ke tunnel utk ke manhattan island. ingatkan dpt pakai brooklyn bridge utk ke Manhattan tp rupanya pakai tunnel je... but anyway, aku ikut je GPS tu, tak berani nak venture out. lagipun nak kejar time nak pulangkan kereta. the view was fascinating... bila drive tu mmg gile excited nak masuk NY. hehehe... tp yg jadi kacau nya... GPS jadi kelam kabut bila keluar dr tunnel tu. panjang gak tunnel tu. keluar je, GPS tak leh locate kereta kat mana n tak blh bg direction... serious shit... aku tak tahu nak belok kanan or kiri cumanya dia ada tunjuk kena ambik route color purple yg dia tanda but at that point of time aku tak sure am heading north or south. tp aku tau skit2 orientation bandar so kena tgk no jalan lah.. n aku tgk2 mana direction ke empire state building. mmg agak panik. dah lah jalan semua sesak and byk giler kereta. like ko takde masa sgt nak tgk kiri kanan... n kereta sgt rapat. tp luckily jugak NY ni blok blok and mostly one way, if you were supposed to turn to right tp tak sempat tunggu lagi 2 block boleh pusing semula.... and ntah mcm mana, bila aku berjaya bawak kereta sampai ke purple route yg GPS tunjuk, barulah dia bersuara suruh turn kanan kiri.. but by then dah dekat dah ngan hotel.

managed to reached hotel tp tak jumpa plak parking tepi jalan. ada satu slot tak leh parking nearby aku letak kereta while wife tinggal kat dlm. i tried doing the check in, it went smoothly. and masa aku ambik kereta wifey cakap ada polis dtg suruh ubah kereta nasib baik tak kena saman sbb dia bg 10 minit n polis tu kata kalau dia pusing balik n ada kereta tu lagi, dia saman. sampai kat hotel aku letak je tepi jalan sementara angkat brg ke atas and wife kena melompat2 (pakai crutches) utk ke lift. luckily we have requested for handicapped room and it was available. handicapped room ada toilet yg besar n senang bawak wheelchair masuk. tp wheelchair yg kitaorg pre-order tak dihantar, sbb katanya credit card buat hal... and bila aku no credit card br, dia promise hantar esok.after wife settled and brg semua dah angkat (termasuk yg beli kat outlet)... aku hantar kereta sendiri. dlm GPS mmg dekat and balik tu aku takde map, n hafal2 simpang mana nak pusing. patut 2 block je dr hotel. tp masa driving tu since all one way sana sini, kena jalan pusing2 sebelum sampai return point. masa aku jalan kaki balik, aku dah confuse sesat. (as map above point A was our hotel, point B was the return point). dah lah aku tak ingat betul2 nombor jalan hotel... alamak... tp jalan jugak lah based on my intuation, nak tanya org takde plak sbb masa tu dah 11pm. jalan punya jalan sampai aku jumpa satu restaurant yg aku pernah makan dulu (masa first time kat NY in 2008), kedai makanan islam yg aku blh beli dinner (mmg lapar pun) n aku tanya direction. rupanya aku dah 2 block lepas hotel aku n aku berjalan tu divert skit... but it was not that difficult afterwards utk sampai hotel.

sampai hotel dah dekat midnight. wifey dah risay gile sbb sejam dah keluar but was happy and we had very good food for dinner... very tiring day. full of adventure and experience. and paling best bila aku tolak wife on wheelchair sambil berlari masa kat outlet mall sbb nak kejar time utk pulang kan wheel chair (dia suruh aku pusing jalan jauh, dah suruh tgk map, tp salah bg direction, berlari aku kejar time hehehe... *pastu kena marah skit hahaha).

DC : a week there...

2012-01-23T14:42:00.005+03:00

ni cite lama ni... cite dah dekat nak setahun. lepas balik dr Delhi tahun lepas (mid May) kitaorg balik ke M'sia kejap... lepas settle balik Msia tu tetiba kena plak g DC, i.e. dlm bln 6. Alhamdulillah, berpeluang bawak wife g sana sekali lah... kena keje seminggu kat sana, fly ke sana during the weekends, so sempat jalan2 skit sebelum keje. tp on weekends kitaorg byk concentrate g mall yg jauh2 je... yg aku pernah g dulu n yg aku blm pergi. tp tak g ke Outlet Mall, sbb plan nak ke sana masa g NY. and aku ada lah tunjuk mana tempat aku jatuh masa nak beli hantaran kawin dulu sampai masuk hospital. kiranya mengenang kisah lama lah... hehehe

*tips: if you come to DC and nak g malls yg besar i.e. yg jauh - potomac mills or even outlet mall, g sewa kereta n drive sendiri for the weekend, sbb tempat2 tu jauh dr town n public transport, naik bas pun kena tukar byk kali. n beli brg lagi. so korang akan kena ambik teksi which will cost you sama or kalau mahal pun, mahal skit je dr teksi. driving kat out of DC mudah, traffic senang je. we took the taxi, mcm rugi, dah lah tak leh beli brg byk sbb lps tu nak naik bas etc pastu tak leh balik lewat sbb tempat2 tu takde byk teksi dtg.

tp nak jadi citer, trip ke DC ni berlaku setelah my wife br je sembuh sakit lutut sbb jatuh kat umah which lutut yg mmg tak fully recover dr jatuh masa main netball bulan 2 tahun lepas... so mmg lutut tu kurang stabil lah. so, during the weekdays kat DC tu takde lah jalan mana2 sangat except for the period lepas office hour. Compared to Delhi, wifey pun jarang keluar sendiri2 sbb nak jaga lutut. and plus, we put a plan nak g NY lepas keje siap. so nak jaga kaki for NY!!! (I took 3 days off (tak blh panjang) utk ke NY. If only lah blh cuti panjang, surely aku dok seminggu sana.) - we found this guy berkempen kat dpn white house.

Since, aku dah 3 kali dtg ke DC ni, most of the places yg patut pergi i.e. the good museums and stuff aku dah pergi. anyway, kat DC ni, mmg center of museums, mmg banyak museums yg best2 and besar2... but wifey tak lah excited sgt nak g masuk museum so dia g lah mana yg dia interested. Cumanya ada satu museum yg aku tak pernah g before so we went there, it's Newseum. museum yg citer pasal recent news - tp mostly american oriented news lah. big section on 9/11 dan Katrina. we went to the museum on the last day of our days kat DC. and supposedly mlm tu ambik bas ke NY. so mmg keje dah siap, beg dah siap, kitaorg pun g museum ni. pergi lepas keje, sempat lah g 2 jam. interesting for those minat journalistic issue, tp agak kureng sbb scope cover US je. and Newseum ni ada balcony yg blh nampak Capitol, so its good for taking pictures gak (see pic above yg atas skali tu). and bawah ni gambar antena of the WTC yg kena langgar tu. one of the exhibit kat Newseum.

but tragedy happened, sbb kan kitaorg dah lewat, we decided to skip few levels and took the lift utk ke ground floor sbb nak tgk photos of pullitzer prize winner - kiranya gambar2 terbaik 2010 lah and aku rasa that exhibit lagi best. while we were browsing through the pictures tetiba erk! kaki my wife twisted and cannot turn and she almost terjatuh, nasib baik aku terdengar dia beraduh n sempat catched her sebelum jatuh. and we stood for a while kat tepi and ada lah satu couple ni tolong carikan wheel chair. we stayed there for few minutes tried to plan what to do and assessed whether larat ke tak jalan lagi ni. so we straight ke George Washington Hospital, instead of call for ambulance which will cost us a bomb, we took a taxi.

sesampai je kat Emergency ward, kaki tu diperiksa n tgk if needed xray ke tak. tp takde cucuk painkiller pun, sbb aku tak nak jadi mcm kes aku dulu lah pasal aku kena doped dulu (u can read here) so berjaga2 lah... kesian wifey, dpt pill painkiller n ready to go. kena lah dia pakai crutches and doctor suspect cuma twisted and perlu rest. and terpaksalah kitaorg assessed balik samada nak teruskan g NY ke tak. and for sure takkan mampu nak naik bas tgh malam. sbb tak mampu nak jaga wife, tgk beg lagi, n nak kena naik public transport etc... and due to that the adventure begins... :-) roadtrip to NY!!!

Freezing doha...

2012-01-22T15:20:00.002+03:00

2 minggu sudah kitaorg ingat doha dah nak masuk summer dah, sbb kat umah dah mula on aircond. tp mula hari khamis n jumaat minggu lepas, doha tetiba makin sejuk... katanya ada angin siberia sejuk yg bertiup sampai ke doha... tp kata pak arab kawan aku, nama season ni old lady weather, sebab cuaca sejuk senang dpt penyakit. tp aku tak tahu kaitan cuaca sejuk n org perempuan tua ni.

memang sejuk melampau... malam2 blh cecah bawah 10, kata wife, dia tgk dlm internet, ada harapan cecah 4degree... tu beku tu... anyway, from the news paper said:
DOHA: Qatar experienced the lowest temperature of the season yesterday, as a cold wave from Siberia that hit the country over the week end has left the whole country shivering.
People pulled out their woollens and took shelter indoors to protect themselves from the frosty winds that caused a sharp dip in mercury last evening.
The temperature was expected to dip below nine degrees Celsius inside the city and as low as five degrees in the open areas outside in the wee hours.
“I have been in Qatar for many years and for the first time I am experiencing such a low temperature. We went out in the evening and could not stay even for 15 minutes. It was so cold and windy,” was how an Indian professional, Mohammed Naushad explained the rare experience.
Another Doha resident, S Ataullah who chose to go for a picnic to the Al Khor beach with his family yesterday morning had a real tough time.
“It was a planned trip and there were three families in the group including six children. I advised others to cancel the trip due to the bad weather but they thought it would be fine since it was a sunny day. We spent about three hours in the beach and all the time we were struggling to protect ourselves from the cold, dusty winds,” said Ataullah.
He said one of the children in the group had breathing difficulties during the trip.
“He was an asthma patient. Luckily we had kept an inhaler with us,” said Ataullah.
Thanuja Jansz, a Sri Lankan insurance executive and a mom of a kid said: “I have even fallen sick because of this cold weather. So we decided to stay indoors otherwise the children too might fall sick and miss school.”
Shops reported brisk sales for blankets and sweaters yesterday, with reports about the cold spell spread by word of mouth. Rumours were also circulating about the temperature dipping to zero degrees due to some unknown phenomenon in Iraq or Iran.
The Meteorology Department has attributed the sharp fall in temperature to a cold wave coming all the way from Siberia. The cold spell is expected to prevail over the country until the end of this week but the strong northwesterly winds could subside by Tuesday, say weathermen.
The minimum temperature expected today is eight degrees while the maximum temperature could settle at 17 degrees, according to a forecast issued by the department last evening.

korang jgn terkejut, bila interview newspaper ni semua nya org south asia je... mmg gitu lah. besar lagi news cover region south asia dr qatar sendiri :-)

Keje kosong

2012-01-10T09:38:00.000+03:00

Colleague aku cari extra staff. Very limited information aku blh bagi kat sini. So sesapa nak try keje kat sini and ada pengalaman dlm finance and especially budgetting, please send your resume to zals.blogspot@gmail.com. Jobscope - aku pun tak sure tp relating to budgetting (keje kat budget department). Gaji - hmm... ok lah kot, aku pun tak tanya. Experience - 7-8 years should be ok. Qualification - Certified would be better and kalau ada media industry lagi baik. Language - know arabic an added advantage, mmg serious, kalau tau arabic mmg blh pergi jauh.

Bina Badan

2012-01-09T12:02:00.001+03:00

Nope... am not going to venture to Bina Badan, although aku mmg membina badan dgn lemak2... hehehe... but last weekend sempat aku menyaksikan pertandingan bina badan. Malaysia diwakili oleh 2 peserta, sazali samad n sapa ntah (gambar bawah). it was my first time tgk pertandingan bina badan ni. aku dtg lambat, so pertandingan dah start n tak sempat aku nak tahu negara2 yg masuk. tp aku dpt rasa mostly dr middle east sbb ni anjuran Qatar je bukan world level or mr universe.aku sempat tgk sazali samad beraksi sbb dia terpilih utk masuk pusingan kedua i.e. 15 peserta terbaik dr 30 peserta. agak kurang skit aku tgk sazali samad sbb badan dia kecik. probably sebelum2 ni dia menang dgn kategori ikut size or berat badan kot, sbb mostly dia ni tinggi bahu peserta lain je. so tak nampak menonjol lah. n dia nampak nya sgt baik, i.e. org lain bila kena suruh turun pentas, still gak beraksi skit2... dia ni, bila dah abis, terus turun. sgt polite hehehe...

setelah 15 org ni beraksi dipentas. pengacara, yg agak kelakar mengacarakan event ni, i.e. mcm pertandingan pakaian beragam sekolah rendah je cara dia conduct, akan panggil 5 peserta based on favourite each juri. apparently masa ni aku dah rasa sazali samad tak menang, sbb dr 9 (kot) juri, hanya sorang je yg panggil dia beraksi semula (flexed their muscle depan2 juri). mind you, whole event conducted in arabic, cuma skit2 english. ada lah peserta tak paham arab ni yg terpinga2 n tak ke depan bila dipanggil, mana lah depa nak paham.masa upacara pemberian hadiah lagi kelakar. mula2 depa bg kat juri... pastu bg kat penganjur... sgt tak formal n macam panggil2 tu pun tak prepare... dia siap suruh2 org naik pentas n org tu mcm segan2... ingat ni acara family day ke apa? then... siap panggil penyokong (ramai penyokong tunisia kat situ) hantar wakil ambik hadiah. n sorang tu bawak budak 1-2 tahun comel, so dia pun dpt hadiah... confuse... and then dia panggil 10 peserta hadiah saguhati... in arabic dia panggil n aku dpt detect dia panggil ikut turutan kedudukan...mcm kelakar... so tak surprise lah kan. hmm... and sazali was ranked 15/15... dpt hadiah saguhati.... QR5000. cukup lah tambang balik. anyway, it was my first experience tgk pertandingan ni. perhaps, mmg gitu cara nya. hmmm... aku dtg lambat, tak sempat ambik gambar ngan sazali mcm kawan2 aku ni.

all pictures taken without permission dr asings ombakpictures.. sorry!!! (kalau bro tak bg, tinggal comment, nanti saya remove pictures).

HIQ : Qatar Open 2012

2012-01-05T16:33:00.003+03:00

minggu ni ada qatar open. ada nadal, federer etc etc turun main tennis. sapa rajin g, boleh tgk kat khalifa stadium. but kalau br plan nak beli tiket, rasanya tinggal vip seats or cheapest seats... kena plan awal2 kalau nak g tgk. aku tahun ni, malas plak nak g... plus ada member aku g tp tak ajak aku pun.. sob sob sob... :-p but aku heran, kenapa novak djokovic tak pernah dtg doha, dr dulu pun nadal n federer je wajib. kalau dulu, probably maybe sbb djokovic tu ranking jauh blakang depa dua org ni, but now, since djokovic no 1 dunia, apasal tak dijemput. or is it sbb dia serbian? hmmm.. ntah lah.

but as the weather is currently extremely good... 14 degree - 20 degree. sejuk with sunny sky. mmg best buat picnic... jalan2... lepak2 outdoor... mmg best. 2 minggu sudah aku dah g fuwairit mandi laut... minggu ni nak g mana ye??? let's see... enjoy your weekend!!!

Semangat...

2012-01-02T16:06:00.004+03:00

Atas semangat tahun baru, kononnya nak start membaca... so first aim adalah nak tukar gambar kulit buku yg appear kat blog ni - The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East. mlm tadi aku buka lah buku tu, beli tahun 2008 or awal 2009 rasanya. tp since then ada lah baca 46 pages!!! hahaha... 46 muka surat je... and buku tu plak ada 1100 muka surat... after 2 years aku cuma baca tak sampai 4%... mcm mana nak abis baca ni.... buku tu agak berat skit lah - ketebalan and topik dia. mlm td sambung baca, larat la baca 3 pages, pastu dah mula gatal tgn tgk internet... mlm ni nak continue or nak cari buku lain plak lah.. :-)

New Year 2012...

2011-12-31T19:46:00.004+03:00

esok tahun baru... as usual, aku suka buat resolution.... or in other words... angan2... and as usual my resolution nya satu dua... yg lebih, berangan nak berjalan. tp since balik istanbul, aku rasa burnt out skit pasal jalan ni. so my jalan2 berangan ni kalau buat pun later later... not in first quarter 2012... later during the year.

first, lets recap angan2 2011 here... and see the achievement and should aku continue berangan the same.
1. belajar arabic - haram tak improve - so 2012 continue berangan belajar arab.
2. less facebooking more reading - yup achieved. aku rasa lah, aku dah tak berfb sgt but still reading tak kemaner... wait, ye ke tak ber fb. maybe tak de lah asyik mengadap fb, tp rasanya fb kat tgn dah sekarang. mana2 g kalau bosan tgk fb. but ok lah, tak le mengadap fb until tak buat keje lain.
3. jalan2 - sgt byk (Bahrain - Umrah - Delhi - DC & NY (x tulis lg kat blog) - Vietnam (x tulis lagi) - Singapore (less than 24 hours - x tulis lagi) - Eastern Europe - Istanbul... byk gak tu, 8 places in 12 months, byk tu... plus ada 2 kali balik malaysia... almost jalan every month. but none of places yg aku angan2 kat entry tu aku pergi... hehehe...

so... apa for 2012???
1. continue - plan utk ambik arabic courses.
2. more reading and increase in knowledge
3. jalan2 (the best part and as usual the more thinking will be done and ni je angan2 yg selalu buat pun hehehe...)

angan2 1 - aku mmg dah due nak kena g SPAIN. tp kalau g spain ni sbb nak tgk bola kat bernabeu, so kena lah tgk timing. as aku mmg takde bajet nak g ke spain within the next 3 months and no way aku g spain dr may - aug sbb tak de game bola. so the most likely period nak g spain is during hari raya haji tahun depan... (my fav player... marcelo!!!)

angan2 2 - abg aku skarang kena keje kat JEPUN. since dia kat sana ada elok nya aku g sana. tp it would be better if pergi dr m'sia. murah skit naik air asia. so for sure not within the first 3 months (nak kumpul duit). ada possibility during summer. or worst lepas raya puasa.

angan2 3 - wifey berhajat nak g exotic place like somewhere in AFRICA or even MOSCOW... let's think about that... likelihood, better masa summer holiday. i know africa tu besar, which country??? dlm kepala yg senang kenya sbb aku dah g. tp kalau best nak g tanzania la plak.

angan2 4 - aku still berharap dpt driving ke SYRIA & JORDAN. or at least dpt g ke EGYPT. utk settle kan aku punya mid east travelling ni. oooh IRAN... dah 3 kali plan nak g.

tapikan from the above ni... aku rasa maybe spain tu tinggal angan2... mcm kena drop je, tp since plan dia lambat lagi... we'll see...

4. tapi kan... berangan no 4 ni jugak penentu terbesar utk no 3... teringin plak nak dapat baby... tolong doakan ye... kalau dpt baby insyaAllah i'll do more no 2 & 1 and less no 3... :-) insya Allah...

5. lastly... please aku nak kuruskan skit badan.. turun 10kg pun ok dah.. confuse aku kenapa ada konsep bila kawin je jadi gemuk, perut jadi boroi... tp kalau my wife suka gitu, apa nak buat kan... and dia plak masak sedap2... hehehe... so since tak leh tolak makan, kena exercise lebih

(all pictures taken from internet)

Last holiday in 2011

2011-12-20T14:29:00.001+03:00

hehehe... aku dpt tau boss aku cuti whole week next week. dia mula2 tak bg aku habiskan cuti aku yg berbalance 6 hari... mcm burn je cuti. tp alih2 secretary dia bg tau aku dia cuti next week. so aku pun cepat2 hantar form minta cuti gak next week + khamis ni... so kiranya esok (rabu) would be my last day working for 2011... hehehe... *and cuti aku approved :-)

so, bila balik umah, discuss2 ngan wife.. rasanya nak dok doha je lah... byk benda blh buat... n nak rehat2... br je jalan... bajet pun takde... tp fikir2 bosan gak dok doha ni... and aku ada 3000 to spare hehehe... so bg tau wife, if we can get anywhere with 3k we go... and maximum flying - 4 hours and spend for only 3-4 days max, sbb still nak rehat je. and kalau blh aku nak rehat2 je, malas nak berjalan while vacationing. an ideal place (dlm fikiran aku), kalau ada member kat pendalaman UK or kat France - kampung yg takde tempat shopping better. gi sana, dok umah, rehat2, g pasar, enjoy the weather, enjoy the scenary or people. in short, g jalan tapi tak buat apa2, blh bgn lewat.

so we buat shortlist, based on the map of mid east above tp disebabkan huru hara kat cairo, syria & yemen and of course iraq - they are out of the list:

1. Shiraz - Esfahan, Iran - dah lama plan, nak g skiing etc. tp ada 2 flight a week meaning we have to spend friday to friday. or mon - fri. tp kalau 4 - 5 hari tak sempat kalau nak g ski and g esfahan n nak transfer in between. ooh, aku ada full itinerary utk ke trip ni dah siap dr dulu. mmg kena 7 hari. so Iran out.

2. Dubai (again???) - roadtrip ke dubai, and kalau sempat g muscat etc... tp kos kat dubai can be expensive. although tak fly, hotel surely kena 300 at least. dok 4 hari dah 1200. then kena drive, bayar visa je dah 350 per person. n plus, dubai lagi??? mcm baru je balik dubai awal bulan bwk parents in law.

3. Kuwait - aku tak pernah g kuwait, that's the only gcc country aku tak g. tp org kata weekend cukup lah kat sana. my wife tak nak g. sbb boring. takkan lah nak g for HRC then balik. waste of time. baik dok doha.

4. Jordan - mmg aku nak ke sini. tp with 3k budget. mcm tak leh nak pi mana. plus, tempat2 nak visit mcm keseluruhan negara. so it may cost more than 3k for 2 pax. plus, aku masih berharap blh drive ke sana... so out jordan.

5. Luxor, Egypt - seems doable. byk benda blh visit. the valley, karnak temple etc. tp again, aku rasa tempat ni pricey kot. plus aku akan end up penat, takde rehat. so out.

6. Istanbul, Turkey - aku dah g. wife dgr tempat ni cantik. we checked the ticket only QR800 per pax plus qmiles. hotel 3 malam QR700... so within budget - QR2300. then aku dah g, so aku tak lah nak bekejar nak tgk semua. weather cantik. view cantik. within budget... and off we go... hehehe...

yup, we are going to istanbul for 4 days 3 nights. nak abis kan cuti. dr Isnin - Khamis. and we have jumaat n sabtu berehat di doha. no plan sgt... and since the hotel kat sultanahmet, kalau jalan2 pun semua walking distance, tak perlu tukar2 train or naik bas jauh2... i like, wifey happy... so thats the end of our 2011...

Al Youm Watani..

2011-12-18T09:47:00.004+03:00

Tahniah Qatar sempena Hari Kebangsaan...

kalau rajin aku akan go around ambik gambar bandar sempena hari kebangsaan ni.. but for record, dah 5 tahun aku kat sini, masih lagi aku tak g perbarisan pepagi tu. tak pernah turun, tgk tv je. be fair la kot, 20++ tahun kat malaysia pun aku tak pernah pergi tgk perbarisan. dah la malaysia mcm lebih meriah...

anyway, tahniah!!!

DEL : The food... Mughlai...

2011-12-16T09:44:00.002+03:00

ramai org kata kalau gi india kena jaga bab makan sbb senang sakit perut. and keadaan tempat makan kat sini especially the street food mmg kurang bersih, and sbb kan aku dtg nak keje, malas aku nak try. dah lah tak bersih, kita plak tak tahu halal haram makanan tu. so end up kitaorg makan kat kedai yg nampak sgt for tourist or standard mahal or terus je makan kat hotel (hehehe... aku dtg dpt company allowance, blh la belasah). so aku rasa aku spend on food, mcm lagi mahal dr doha.

when i said tak bersih, imagine lah, korang masuk kfc, tp bau mcm masuk tandas. sbb tandas dia busuk, pintu tak tutup. tak menyelerakan. ooh, talking about kfc - fast food. kfc sini halal. tapi mcdonalds kat delhi tak halal. tp sgt unik. they do not serve beef. cuma ada veggie and chicken. dan serving depa mmg membahagikan veggie and chicken - very strict. pekerja yg deals dgn veggie hanya deals dgn preparation veggie, pakai apron hijau. while the other pakai apron merah. menu dia pun tak banyak. ada few veggies and sgt limited chicken. we've tried the veggie - tak sedap, hehehe... about halal ke tak food kat restaurant. aku tanya colleague aku, kalau makan, tanya dulu. if halal depa akan kata halal, otherwise depa kata tak. oooh kat mcdonalds tu, aku tanya halal ke tak, org tu kata tak. mmg ayam dia tak halal. tp kat hotel2 depa kata halal. menurut kata colleague aku, isu halal haram sgt sensitive kat sana i.e. hindu muslim issue. kalau ada org yg kata halal for items yg tak halal, n kalau dpt tahu by muslims, mmg boleh jadi riot and chaos. so depa ni agak bertanggungjawab, and we believed that. anyway, most hotel and restaurant establishment mmg ada muslim jugak keje, so agak kurang was was.
anyway, one restaurant yg aku specifically recommend is Karim at Jama Masjid. Real Mughlai food. aku g makan sini 2 kali. sekali masa malam. ingatkan tempat ni agak teratur, tp masa kitaorg dtg malam, disebabkan lokasi restaurant ni kat jama' masjid yg hectic and restaurant plak sesak n takut nak balik kalau dah lewat. we decided to ask our tuk tuk to wait and kitaorg tapau je makanan bawak balik umah. seingat aku, the butter chicken was one of the most expensive food (tp comparably sgt murah drpd hotel food lah). so kitaorg ambik the butter chicken. the taste was superb!!!the weekend, kitaorg dtg lagi... n kali ni makan kat restaurant. although nampak mcm not well ventilated plus the susunan meja yg kurang teratur and sempit. kitaorg blh makan dgn selesa. mmg famous kedai ni, aku rasa ramai giler org putih dtg sini, depa jalan kaki or ada tourist guide dtg sama. ada satu food tu, yg kena tunggu dkt 30 minit utk siap... apa ntah grill food tu. i dont remember we had that ke tak. but we had one grilled chicken yg sedap. masakan simple tp full of spices.if you want to go to karim's. tanya je tuk tuk, surely depa tau. if depa tak tau. ask the tuk tuk to go to jama' masjid gate no 1. then ada junction kat depan jama' masjid tu, masuk that junction. karim's is 4-5 kedai on your left. dia tak de signboard besar kat luar, but a small alley masuk ke dalam. kat situ ada karim hotel jugak (masuk je alley tu korang nampak gambar first bawah ni). once korang masuk that small alley, korang akan nampak asap2 dah... n nampak signboard karim's. mmg agak tersorok, but mmg food sedap. (kalau dlm gambar 2nd bawah ni, dia kat bawah canopy color merah tu.)

DEL : Markets... Shopping

2011-12-14T09:41:00.003+03:00

ramai yg plan nak dtg india ni utk shopping. yes it is true ada byk brg kat sini utk shop. if u know the quality esp. cloth material. n kena pandai bargain, sbb definitely depa letak harga mahal for tourist. so where to find the shopping places. ni tempat2 yg aku pergi, n am no expert bab shopping ni, sbb dah kawin le tetiba aku g tempat2 ni.

the famous one, i.e.yg aku tau even sebelum ke sana was Chadni Chowk. but bila aku g sana, takde la bagus mana. in fact tak boleh beli pun. aku rasa ini mungkin utk traders beli in bulk. so not for me. location dia ni, as said in previous entry, senang nak sampai. org kata kalau nak shop kat sini kena g the back street, or area masjid or area yg aku naik beca tu... tp cukup lah aku g main street, tak sanggup...
sbb kitaorg dok kat area connaught place, mula2 tu my wife g ke market dekat dlm connaught place - Palika Bazaar. dgn berani nya g sendiri n follow touts, dah lah masa aku keje. nasib baik tak jadi apa2... tp dia kata tempat tu biasa2 je, tp takde lah selesa sgt sbb agak suram. lokasi dia kat bawah connaught place. byk baju2 je kat sini. shawl, pashmina, sari you name it.

then, kitaorg ada gi ke Sarojini Nagar yg buka mlm. yg ni mmg advisable. ada gaya mcm pasar mlm lah jugak. tp byk kedai and brgan ada byk yg dah fixed price. so senang tak payah nak bargain. tp nak ke sini, try dtg naik tuk tuk sbb teksi suka tipu n bawak pusing2 g ke kedai yg dia dpt allowance. tp yg tak best nya, balik agak susah sbb kena naik tuk tuk jugak, n tak byk. plus since tempat ni local pun dtg, so kena rebut2 ngan local lah. tp sbb ada byk local, harga sgt reasonable n murah. choice pun byk. mainly kat sini byk jual kain, baju2, material buat baju. handicraft sgt kurang.

Lepas kitaorg pindah ke hotel imperial, kat depan imperial tu ada jugak bazaar - Janpath Bazaar. disebabkan location Janpath ni agak strategik, dekat dgn hotel-hotel besar. aku rasa ada brg yg harga mahal or at least dia start quote harga mahal. tp kalau dah experience kat bazaar lain, kita blh je minta discount. tp quality barang, agak elok jugak yg kat sini. my wife happy gile bila dah pindah hotel, dia keluar je hotel terus sampai janpath ni. tak payah nak layan touts. kat sini byk handicrafts and decorative pieces utk buat souvenir.

on weekends, ada satu lagi bazaar, Lajpat Nagar. yg ni buka hari ahad je rasanya. mcm sarojini nagar punya style, cuma nya buka siang. byk jugak kedai handicraft selain baju2. nak ke sini kena naik metro pastu kena naik tuk tuk. so susah jugak lah nak sampai. n sbb dia buka only one day a week, agak bz dgn locals. tp good stuff jugak lah.
but if you have very limited time utk shopping and your aim is decorative pieces, handicrafts and souvenir. and malas nak kena kacau ngan touts and malas nak kecoh2 bargain2... go to Dilli Haat. ni aku tak g, my wife g sorang2. mmg kat sini dia buat mcm center tempat org jual handicraft. nak masuk kena bayar, berapa ntah rm2 kot. n sini shopping selesa. wife aku g naik tuk tuk, so aku tak sure mcm mana nak gi sini. rasanya depa ada jugak jual handicrafts yg bawak dr luar area delhi. so u can get almost semua benda dr india kat sini. gambar2 bawah ni, semua gambar masa kat dilli haat. kat pasar2 lain, tak bawak kamera pun. aku rasa dilli haat is a good place to visit. semua dpt hati tenang.
tapi ni semua based on tempat yg aku tau. rasanya kalau dtg mmg nak buat bisnes beli kain, korang mesti tau better.

DEL : Weekend in Delhi

2011-12-12T09:31:00.000+03:00

2nd weekend aku kat Delhi ni aku travel dlm delhi je... ada few places yg interesting g tengok especially those UNESCO sites (aku tetiba tahu plak UNESCO sites ni sbb ada member sorang ni hantu UNESCO) and those famous touristic or religion based places... tp among all of these places aku pergi satu dua je, sbb kepanasan cuaca n ketidaklaratan nak berjalan setelah dok 2 minggu kat Delhi ni. kalau dtg utk keje, weekend tu rasa mcm nak berehat je.
aku set saturday for visiting places, while sunday nak g market n shopping mall. tp after breakfast and yoga on saturday kitaorg jalan2 dulu kat shopping area dekat hotel sbb kan susah nak solat bila berjalan, kitaorg plan solat dulu kat hotel br shoot berjalan. since zohor pun 11+ so senang lah. lepas solat, str8 ke Red Fort which located very near to Chadni Chowk. Naik 'metro' ke Chadni Chowk station then walk to the Red Fort which is located at the end of the road. about 10-15 mins walking kat Chadni Chowk.Chadni Chowk ni katanya famous for shopping. tp bila kitaorg lalu, nasib baik lah location dia kebetulan dekat ngan red fort, otherwise mmg tak perlu dtg. takde nya best shopping kat sini. tempat ni mcm bgnn2 lama yg jual brg2 secara pukal/bulk. kalau agak2 nak trade brg2 india mungkin lah dtg sini. tp kalau sekadar nak beli fridge magnet, tak de kat sini. hehehe...at the end of the road, jumpa lah red fort.
nak masuk red fort rasanya 250Rp. it's a huge complex, ada beberapa compound n bangunan kat dlm tu. takde audio guide and takde sapa2 nak volunteer jadi tourist guide. so kitaorg masuk n tgk2 je lah apa ada... apart from the map above and ada few signage, takde information lain pasal red fort. jadi, org yg mcm aku ni malas membaca sebelum travel, mmg tak tahu apa sgt lah..
mula2 ada satu strecth of kedai2 jual souvenir. we bought a few here. quite good n murah... then ada park yg ramai org2 ni melepak. kitaorg pun dok jugak berehat kat situ. panas betul cuaca tghhari tu. dlm tu ada 2 small museums. ada satu tu agak interesting. and kat situ lah aku jumpa salasilah keluarga mughal ni... which i think quite beneficial for everyone to understand the history of the country. we spent a good 2-3 hours jugak kat fort ni (including time berjalan kat Chadni Chowk). so by then dah tgh hari time for food...
We went to the famous Karim Restaurant near Jama' Masjid. I'll talk about Karim in a later entry. hari tu kitaorg tak larat dah nak masuk ke jama' masjid ni. sbb karim ni dekat dgn gate no 1 jama' masjid ni, i.e. dah dekat sgt nak masuk ke masjid. tp sebab weather dan sgt ramai org kat area tu... rasa sgt stuffy, sesak, panas n seumpamanya. so we skipped the masjid but terus ke karim.
after lunch, we planned to go to another historic site - qutub minar - yg terletak agak jauh to the southern part of the city. from Karim kitaorg naik beca ke the nearest 'metro'. about 15 minutes jugak lah mamat beca ni kayuh basikal dia. cekeding je org nya, kitaorg plak besar2... n baru lepas melantak. the journey on the beca was quite fun. thought bila naik beca, agak slow n bersopan... no way, he rode like selaju tuk tuk. and luckily kitaorg naik beca, sbb there's no way (i mean logiknya lah) for us to jalan kaki. jalan sesak n bersimpang2... and terlampau ramai org n kenderaan... tp kesian betul aku tgk org bawak beca ni, aku bg tips yg agak byk jugak lah on top of the fee yg murah tu. happy giler member.
from there we took the metro straight to the south, kena tukar satu station rasanya. ke qutb minar. took a good 20-30 minutes rasanya. taking the metro kadang2 agak hustle jugak lah. setiap kali naik metro semua barang kita bawak kena scan n akan ada body search. so even kitaorg naik metro ni yg dr station yg dekat pasar still kena taruh brg utk xray scan. imagine taruh beg (back pack or hand bag tu) skali dgn org yg beli ayam ikan kat atas same conveyer belt. and for perempuan plak, dah lah kena letak brg kat conveyer belt, dia punya body search jauh tempat lain. in terms of safety blh je sesapa g tarik handbag tu n bawak lari. tp tak de lah terjadi or nampak benda ni terjadi.
we reached qutb minar ni dlm 5pm... dah ujung2 petang sbb by 6+ dah gelap dah. my wife wasn't keen nak g naik tuk tuk sekadar tgk minaret. plus, bila membayangkan possibility of no information at the site seperti red fort yg lebih gah tu. aku pun not really keen nak naik tuk tuk sekadar nak tgk sebatang tiang. bila sampai kat metro station tu, kitaorg blh je nampak qutb minar tu from far... after a few minutes of thinking and few photos taken, kitaorg decided utk tak payah keluar station but ambik je next train back to town and our target was to go to Saket Mall, a mall yg ada HRC. it was 3 or 4 station away with the same line... and there was the place we ended the day... :-)
however, if you plan for another good place to visit at night. you can shoot to India gate. siang pun blh visit. ni pic india gate yg mcm arch de trom (sp?) kat paris tu. kitaorg ada g tempat ni during weekdays. i have skipped many places during my trip ni. ada byk lagi tempat cantik2 kat delhi ni. but we kind of have enough of india masa tu... tak larat :-) you can find on the internet, yg aku tahu blh g humayun tomb, the lotus temple, few other temple and more temple... :-)

DEL : Fatehpur Sikri

2011-12-11T09:18:00.000+03:00

Fatehpur sikri ni another Unesco site di Agra. Terletak lebih kurang 40km dr taj mahal, dlm sejam perjalanan. kitaorg sampai tempat ni dah tghari.
lebih kurang mcm taj mahal, kena park kereta jauh dr site. and our driver dah tolong carikkan tuk tuk utk ke masjid fatehpur tu. masa kitaorg turun tu, dah berkerumun tourist guide local ni nak bawak kitaorg and as agreed with the driver, kitaorg tak ambik tour guide pun. sampai lah ada sorang mamat ni merayu dan aku mcm termakan pujukan dia. siap dia kata dia ni muslim, takkan menipu kot... so akhirnya kitaorg ambik lah tour guide tu, dia agree for 100 ke 200 rupee ke for all 3 of us. tak ingat.
masa dia explain tu lah br kitaorg tau yg fatehpur sikri ni terbahagi dua, i.e. fatehpur the masjid jame and sikri the palace. katanya masjid or fatehpur tu dibina sebab sorang mughal king ni, sapa nama ntah, tak dpt2 anak. so bila jumpa salim (sorang sufi ni) dia dpt anak. and demi menghormati sufi ni dia bina lah masjid ni. and sampai sekarang the family of the sufi still stay sini. ada sekolah agama kat sini dan masjid ni masih digunakan -katanya kedua terbesar di India. bg anak dan keluarga salim ni, kalau meninggal dikuburkan di sini, yg lelaki di luar makam, yg perempuan dibahagian dlm bangunan. (gambar bawah - the arts on the pillar, kubur di luar makam, mimbar / ruang hadapan masjid)
tp yg kelakar nya, i.e. ada lah khurafat skit di sini. dipercayai bg sapa tak dpt anak n nak dptkan berkat kena lah beli kain utk diletakkan kat makam. plus kena ikat skit benang kat celah2 dinding makam tu... huh... bengong. dlm makam tu, ada jugak lah org menangis2 n mcm bacaan quran plak bunyi nya. (dekat ruang mcm ni lah tempat ikat benang tu, tp at the other side of makam, bukan kat sini...)
memang besar pintu masuk ke masjid ni. aku rasa dikira besar sebab even kat depan ni pun boleh solat kot. aku rasa tour guide tu kata entrance ni antara terbesar kat india. mmg byk monumen lama lain ada entrance2 besar mcm ni. sekejap je kitaorg kat sini sbb nak g tgk ke sikri yg lagi byk monument lama. and the guide pun bawak lah kitaorg ke sikri tu. tp nak jadi cerita, sampai je kat pintu masuk dia kata dia tak leh masuk sbb utk sikri kena pakai guide lain. alamak, kena tipu plak. dia kata utk area tu kena ada guide bertauliah yg mmg ramai ada kat dlm setelah kita bayar tiket masuk. hmm... sakit hati betul... kena tipu kat situ... anyway, sbb dah janji aku bayar lah. yg malunya, aku pilih dia sbb muslim, alih2 kena tipu. malu aku kat kawan aku. so kalau korang dtg sini, jgn ambik guide kat tempat parking especially mamat kat pic atas tu!
bila masuk area ni, ada lagi mamat tourist guide nak offer. and katanya sini ada berpuluh2 monument (as per map above). kitaorg plak dah malas nak pakai guide. tp mmg aku ingat aku ada baca, mmg kena ada guide g tgk fatehpur sikri otherwise kita nampak bangunan and batu merah je. and since ada sorang guide ni ikut kitaorg and persistent bg explanation, kitaorg pun ambik dia. and dia pun agree at very low rate, lagi rendah dr yg first tu. so ok lah... not that kitaorg berkira, tp sakit hati kalau kena tipu.
memang ye pun, nasib baik ada guide, macam2 citer pasal bangunan2 ni and totally no information pasal nama bangunan/bilik/binaan or kegunaannya kat dlm tu. kat situ ada jugak lah kitaorg tahu pasal aktiviti depa, bini2 dia, memerintah berapa lama, menteri2, favourite pastime... nak tahu lagi lanjut... baca wikipedia ye.. :-)
satu yg interesting, as aku cakap kat entry taj mahal, ada sorang pemerintah, aurengzab yg islamic. nampak satu kesan i.e. kepala2 ukiran ni dipotong masa pemerintahan beliau... sbb islam tak boleh letak gambar haiwan.
frankly aku lagi suka melawat fatehpur sikri berbanding taj mahal. sbb ketenangan kawasan dia. and probably the tour guide yg baik, kitaorg byr dia extra, lebih dr yg first guide. so for those yg nak ke india, if you do daytrip ke agra dr delhi maybe tak sempat ke fatehpur sikri. kalau tido kat agra br sempat. it's worth a visit. and lepas fatehpur sikri, kalau ada time, better straight gi jaipur instead balik ke delhi. lagi dekat. but seriously worth going ke sini.

DEL : the hotel

2011-12-09T09:25:00.000+03:00

As we were in Agra nak mengimbas kembali kisah cinta dan romantik Shah Jehan dgn Mumtaz Mahal... aku pun book hotel yg paling dekat dgn taj mahal... as we have very limited time to enjoy the view of the monument, so kitaorg wanted to have the best view during day and night of the place. and only one hotel je yg ada balcony facing the monument... and one and only hotel yg terletak dlm area taj mahal ni...
so we've stayed in Oberoi Amarvilas, Agra - you can check review kat tripadvisor here... mmg mahal hotel ni, hasil dr extra allowance keje kat Delhi ni, tu sbb mampu bayar... but it was really worth every penny you spent... and sbb kan hotel ni dah mahal, we decided not to go out ke mana2 pun mlm tu... and decided not to go out very early the day after... saja je bg relax2 n enjoy the hotel to max.
aku jarang buat review hotel, tp since hotel ni antara paling mahal aku pernah stay (apart from the one kat maldives) and sbb dia cantik, so it deserved a review... a good review indeed...
and this is the view that we were talking about... watching the sunset fall behind the taj mahal sambil tgk some performance kat platform near that swimming pool... actually taj mahal tu agak besar jugak from here... not that small seperti dlm gambar ni...mlm tu kitaorg try the indian restaurant, the food was good. the ambience was excellent. the price, agak mahal, but masa kat delhi ni we've paid quite a lot for the food sbb tak nak makan kat kedai tepi jalan, takut sakit perut. but mahal pun, lebih kurang standard doha je... but mahal compared to food kat malaysia lah.and malam tu kitaorg walk around je kat compound hotel... dia punya pool area dia mmg cantik. tak ramai pun org kat sini, perhaps due to the season kot. so mmg tenang jalan2... konon2 honeymoon (utk kali ke berapa... ntah)... thought of nak tgk taj mahal waktu malam. sadly, taj mahal is not lit at night, mmg tak nampak apa... total darkness. katanya kadang2 je ada lampu depa pasang menghala ke taj mahal. katanya, nak menjaga the beauty of the white marbles, tak blh disuluh2 lampu dr luar. only masa full moon tu je dia pasang lampu. so masa kitaorg kat sana mmg tak nampak apa2...in the morning, although kitaorg tak minta breakfast, depa bg breakfast for free... ntah kenapa ntah... probably sbb depa terlupa minta our signature masa breakfast. so bila nak check out, aku tanya breakfast bill, depa kata takpe lah, consider done... kat sekitar hotel pun ada some small souvenir shops, a bit pricey tp bila banding kualiti kat luar, ada elok nya jugak. and ada rasanya worth to buy. and we walk around at the garden. had some drinks kat lobby setelah berpanas kat garden. n spend the morning tgk taj mahal.
that's me with taj mahal as background... :-) we checked out at 12pm... and straight to Fatehpur Sikri before balik ke delhi.

DEL : Agra - the fort and the tomb

2011-12-08T09:08:00.002+03:00

Taj Mahal... mana lagi nak pergi kan kalau dah g india... rugi kalau tak singgah kat taj mahal ni... it was majestic from far... (ni gambar from our hotel room... next entry aku cite pasal hotel plak).nak ke taj mahal ni, kereta dah tak boleh masuk abt 500 meters from the entrance, katanya nak elakkan keadaan berdebu and nak make sure climate yg elok sekitar taj mahal. from the ticket booth, kena lah jalan kaki or ambik electric car atau naik kuda kalau tak silap. we decided to take a walk. sebelum sampai tu, biasa lah tempat tourist, penuh dgn org2 jual souvenir merayu2 beli barang... kat sini you can find items like tshirt dr 1 for 10usd yg kalau kita ignore and tak layan yg dia bg discount sampailah tetiba blh jadi 10 for 10 usd for the same item. kitaorg tak beli apa2 pun... sbb mmg hajat nak tgk taj mahal dulu. ticket nak masuk taj mahal ni ada 2 tier, satu for tourist mcm kita ni (Rs 250 + Rs500 (tourism levy), satu for local (Rs 20 je)... jauh beza rate dia. colleague aku tu dulu belajar kat india, dia mmg ada permit kat india. so dia byr murah. then kitaorg ambik audio guide for INR100 rasanya. tp masa kitaorg otw ke Agra, the driver tak pasal2 ambik sorang tour guide ni yg kitaorg tak nak pun. and sebab kitaorg insist (aku lah sebenarnya insist) tak nak guide, so guide tu diignore sepanjang kitaorg kat situ. tp mmg kat situ ramai guide yg offer diri sama mcm citer slumdog millionaire heheh

ni entrance ke taj mahal... south or western or eastern aku pun tak ingat. but u have to pass this red gate first, and belakang tu br taj mahal. taj mahal ni dlm compound gated area. then lepas gate ni br lah nampak the taj mahal... lovely... dr jauh nampak kecik... makin lama kita menapak ke situ makin besar... mmg lawa from far... n masa ni rasanya berpuluh2 kali aku ambik gambar... dr setiap sudut hehehe...mmg lawa dr jauh. and masa kitaorg sampai ni, waktu tghhari... and hujung spring nak masuk summer... terik jugak lah... the audio guide akan terangkan about the garden before we reached the taj mahal. masa kitaorg sampai tu, kiranya tak ramai org sbb blm cuti sekolah. i can say, largely org yg datang adalah local tourist, foreigners sgt kurang... like 10% - 20% je... or maybe less... sgt tak ramai... oh aku buat estimate ni based on warna kulit n paras rupa. so those dr pakistan and bangladesh or srilanka n even some malaysian pun aku assume local tourist lah... ooops.... kitaorg jalan sampai ke pintu masuk tomb ni... ooh for those yg nak tahu sejarah taj mahal, sila buka wikipedia hehehe... although gambar taj mahal ni agak typical and mmg gitu lah gahnya taj mahal ni. but being there, korang akan rasa lain gah nya, mmg huge... plus the garden, the pool... semua buat benda ni mcm giler cantik. see picture above, betapa kecik nya org berbanding pintu masuk ke tomb.... so....what is it inside??? (sapa2 yg nak g taj mahal ni, tak perlu baca... nanti spoil the mood plak... hehehe... nak masuk ke dalam, kena wrap kasut (wrapper disediakan) or tak pakai kasut terus. tp sbb lantai sgt panas ari tu, aku wrap je kasut.

ok, as u know, taj mahal ni tomb or makam isteri shah jehan i.e. mumtaz mahal. so kat dlm ni ada lah makam dia. ruang kat dlm taj mahal ni di bina dlm bentuk octagon, ada makam tu kat tgh n depa jugak selitkan makam shah jehan sblh makam mumtaz mahal. makam shah jehan di masukkan later so jadinya tak semetri skit lah. taj mahal ni patutnya dibuat semetri. kat dlm tu ada lah dinding2 marmar macam kat luar. supposed ada tiles bunga2 and setiap bunga tu ada stones dr kelopaknya, daunnya etc. aku tak ambik gambar sbb gelap kat dlm tu. and bawak small torchlight is advisable, or else, kalau pakai local guide, depa ada torchlight utk suluh all the batu2 tu.

ok... spoiler... as said, mmg ramai dlm tu bawak torchlight, so memasing pun suluh lah marmar tu, batu tu... n semua org pegang2 marmar tu... end up dinding marmar tu jd kusam, mcm kotor. n berpeluh2... the ventilation dlm tu was very bad... and aku dtg tu dah musim panas, bayangkan korang dok dlm tempat yg ramai org2 berpeluh. mmg tengik bau memasing. pastu plak, mmg bila masuk kena pusing tomb tu and takde control crowd... bersesak2 dgn bau2an.. mmg pening and my wife mcm nak pitam bila kat situ. tak kira lagi budak2 yg suka menjerit2 sbb dlm tu bergema... not really a good place. aku maybe over expect yg kat dlm tu lagi cantik... all white marble and sejuk n tenang... nope!!! totally not.. tu sebab aku kata cantik diluar dan dr jauh je taj mahal ni... ignore the model yg dah pening terduduk luar tomb... tp kat gambar bawah ni u can see the marble yg mcm dah berdaki... :-) after the tomb kita kena keluar to the other side of taj mahal which is the north or yg face yamuna river. menurut sejarahnya, kat seberang sana yamuna river ni, shah jehan nak bina satu lagi taj mahal with black marble instead of white, tp telah diberhentikan kerja2 nya oleh anak dia yg mengambil alih kuasa. aku rasa aurangzeb yg stop, tak ingat plak sapa... oh kalau korang dpt master who is who dlm empayar mughal ni, better... mmg agak confuse who comes after who and sapa bina apa.... but yg aku tahu aurangzeb ni lebih islamic among all... so probably dia yg stop. kat sebelah taj mahal ada satu masjid n satu lagi bangunan (ntah apa ntah) and rasanya dulu ada jugak dikatakan, sebenarnya entrance taj mahal ni sepatutnya dr Yamuna river then terus ke garden kat belakang (above adalah pintu facing yamuna river)... not the entrance yg berbatu merah aku tunjuk earlier dlm entry ni. aku tak larat dah nak tgk masjid tu and after ambik gambar kat the other side of taj mahal, kitaorg terus keluar... nak ke agra fort plak.

agra fort ni dibina masa depa bina taj mahal jugak. jarak dia lebih kurang 2-3km je dr Taj mahal. Again, aku malas nak cite pasal sejarah antara agra fort and taj mahal n sebenarnya aku pun tak sure... hehehe... mana bina dulu and bina utk apa... hehehe... so silakan me wikipedia here...

although kitaorg dah lunch dulu sebelum ke agra fort, tp kitaorg dah agak penat jugak lah... masa kat agra fort, kitaorg tak ambik phone guide, and since mamat yg so called guide kitaorg masih ikut, kitaorg bg peluang la kat dia bercerita. mmg ada lah jugak dia citer pasal taj mahal masa tu, nak menunjukkan yg dia tahu cite taj mahal, and dia kaitkan dgn agra fort. too much of mughals and emperors... aku tak dpt nak susun keje2 depa n turutan depa ni...

dlm agra fort ni banyak sections and setiap sections and binaan ada sejarah sendiri.. kenapa color putih... kenapa kat situ... kenapa yg ni besar dr yg tu.. kenapa bina kat depan or belakang.. kenapa byk yg berukir ada yg tak... etc etc.... anyway, enjoy some of my pics taken masa kat dlm tu...(byk gambar kat fb :-) )

and dr agra fort ni blh nampak taj mahal yg face yamuna river... kalau black taj mahal tu wujud, it would be on the left side of the river...

by then it's already around 5.... it's time for us to check in then relax kat hotel... penat travel sepanjang hari.. btw, taj mahal pun blh dilihat waktu malam, bila full moon especially. tp tak leh masuk cuma dok kat tepi bukit kat south entrance. aku tak g pun, sbb agak penat dah by then... and kitaorg nak enjoy our hotel :-) and for kenangan here is our picture bersama taj mahal :-)

DEL : Agra - the journey

2011-12-07T09:15:00.004+03:00

Kitaorg ada 2 kali weekend kat India ni. as aku risau keje akan lagi busy pada the second week, aku decided dgn office mate aku utk g ke taj mahal/agra on the first weekend. Yup, aku g keje ni ngan sorang lagi colleague.
Agra ni tak lah jauh mana dr Delhi. rasanya dlm 240km lebih kurang. so logically kalau naik kereta dlm 2 jam setengah sampai lah... but kata org, sbbkan akan masuk town maybe 3 - 4 jam br sampai. ooh, kitaorg decided utk naik kereta sewa+pemandu utk ke agra. kwn aku yg berkira2, katanya kalau naik train (which was my original plan) kena byr utk 3 org, kos dia lebih kurang sama dgn naik train. plus, dia kata dia nak dok tidor kat satu temple about 50km out of agra, so aku rasa good for him lah kalau ambik teksi. aku honestly tak kisah, sbb aku nak ke agra je, naik apa pun aku tak kisah. and naik kereta mungkin blh nampak the kampung2.
but it was not a very good idea sebenarnya. aku baca kalau naik train, bertolak dr delhi dlm pkl 6.30am by pkl 9am dah sampai n breakfast included. kitaorg ni naik kereta, yg saiz besar kete kancil tu, took around 6 hours!!! to get to Agra... rasanya kitaorg bertolak around 7am sampai taj mahal pkl 1pm rasanya. pergh.. mmg mencabar betul perjalanan... traffic was very very bad bila masuk bandar. depa ni mana lah nak ikut traffic light. bila ada je intersection pekan2 kecik, mesti jalan yg asalnya utk 3 lane jadi dekat 6-8 lanes... semua bertumpu utk lepaskan diri dr intersection. kanan ke kiri ke depan semua masuk serentak... so kena lah mengesot skit2.. mencilok utk dpt ruang... sgt tak bertimbang rasa. pas tu plak, bab memotong sebelah kiri, mencilok pastu hon, memang biasa. pastu byk kereta slow bwk gandum. kenkadang ditarik kerbau n ada masa gandum (mcm gambar bawah ni) ditarik unta. seriously it was an experience yg aku rasa tak perlu hehehe... and aku rasa, too fast too furious patut buat kat india ni... mmg horrible lah cara depa drive (patut lah kat doha ni depa bwk kereta mcm bengong!!!)
and kitaorg terpaksa melalui jalan n experience yg sama utk balik semula ke delhi. tp masa balik tu malam and weekend. jalan tak sebusy masa masuk pekan, tp as dangerous n reckless as masa dtg. and bila malam, byk plak dhabar (aku rasa tu lah namanya)... kalau kat msia mcm kedai tomyam tepi jalan. mmg drivers stop kat sini nak pekena teh or kopi. kitaorg ada berhenti kat restaurant sblm bertolak dr agra, so masa singgah ni, aku tak berani makan minum. takut. kawan aku (india tu) suggest aku tak try pun.
and masa hari kitaorg balik tu, mmg auspicious day utk kawin. byk jugak aku nampak org berarak2 utk g kawin... dr kampung2... sampai lah ke hotel2/estates bila dah dekat dgn delhi. ada majlis keraian perkahwinan. meriah dgn lampu2.
masa on the way back dr agra tu since ada masuk kampung2, kitaorg ada nampak benda2 bulat mcm piring berketul2 disusun bertingkat mcm piramid. mmg banyak benda ni... n rupanya ni adalah tahi lembu yg dah dikeringkan n digunakan utk dijadikan bahan bakar. korang blh baca lanjut kat wikipedia and cari gambar kat internet. itu ok lagi lah.. mmg well known. colleague aku yg join trip ni mmg seorg penganut hindu yg tegar, tu lah sanggup tido kat kuil tu. so dia bercerita lah yg rumah2 kat kg sepanjang perjalanan tu adalah rumah2 yg hebat, sbb depa blh sapu taik2 lembu yg fresh kat lantai n dinding utk mendapat berkat (yucks). and ada umah yg dia tunjuk yg sbbkan dah bertahun2 dia sapu taik lembu tu, terus lantai tu mcm bersimen, tp dr taik lembu kering. dia ni punya lah taat, sampai dia kata, one day if dia jumpa lembu yg blh diminum air kencing nya (lembu tu kena lah jaga pemakanannya jugak) dia akan try... walla wei... aku yg dengar pasal lantai n dinding sapu taik lembu tu teru buat tekak aku kembang... td br je singgah kedai tepi jalan yg tak semenggah masa keluar dr agra tu, adakah dia guna benda tu utk lantai dan dinding n kat tempat masak utk dpt berkat.... alhamdulillah, masa kat sana tak pernah sakit perut, harap2 semua bersih.

DEL : Hotel & Transport

2011-12-06T09:02:00.001+03:00

Ni cerita lama... Last April, aku kena g keje kat Delhi ofis utk 2 minggu... tp sbbkan keje nya byk aku tak sempat ke mana sgt masa hari2 keje... tp weekend dpt gak lah berjalan skit2. yg bestnya, masa apply visa, office tolong applykan for my wife, rezeki dia lah dpt g delhi sama2... :-)
delhi ni besar ya amat. and sbb aku dtg for work, aku dok kat hotel dkt dgn office, i.e. around connaught place. so tak lah dekat dgn all the tourist spots. transportation kat delhi quite impressive, it's a blend between old/traditional and new... and ada kenderaan2 nya mmg mcm citer tamil/bollywood... mmg serious... imagine teksi bawah ni yg kitaorg dpt keluar2 je dr airport. mmg terkejut jugak lah... n comel giler teksi ni...
for those yg nak dtg ke delhi ni, once korang kat airport blh je ambik teksi through teksi counter govern by the police ke government ke, kat situ dah bayar siap2 for service. so korang tak payah risau la kalau kena tipu. tp make sure sediakan duit kecik, sbb org yg tolong angkat beg, even kita tak suruh pun surely akan mintak tips and driver teksi tu pun mengharap tips.kitaorg sampai kat delhi ni pkl 4am. takde byk kereta, traffic masih clear. jalan menuju ke city center ok, tp jarak nya jauh jugak lebih setengah jam seingat aku. kitaorg asalnya duduk kat Hans Hotel, lebih kurang 200 meter dr ofis aku. dekat je. so aku jalan kaki ke office. since kitaorg sampai awal pagi, sempat lah aku berehat sebelum masuk ofis. tp rehat tu kejap je, by pkl 7 - 8 am kitaorg dah terasa bingit dah. sbbnya, org2 kat delhi ni asyik lah nak tekan hon kereta. mmg masa tu aku rasa takde satu saat pun yg tak dgr bunyi hon. bunyi mcm bz giler bandar, but bila jengok ke bawah, tak lah bz mana. tp sbb masing2 tekan hon, mmg bising n bingit. later bila aku dah jalan2, br aku perasan, depa ni masuk simpang bunyi hon, masuk roundabout tekan hon, nampak org tepi jalan tekan hon... apa saja benda depa buat hon dulu. kalau kat traffic light tu wajib lah... hijau je, hon tekan dulu...
selain teksi airport yg kecik kat atas tu, kat tempat2 lain selalunya depa ada teksi kereta sedan yg biasa lah. tp yg tak best nya, teksi2 ni suka menipu... kitaorg kena 'kencing' 2 kali and both instances masa malam. sbb kan aku cuma sempat nak teman wife aku shopping malam je, kitaorg 2 kali lah plan nak g ke sarojini nagar (will talk about market/shop later). tempat ni mcm best kata org. tp 2 kali aku tahan teksi tepi jalan and depan hotel, 2 kali lah teksi2 ni bawak ke kedai cenderamata/gift/kain yg lain n bukan sarojini nagar. satu teksi ni kata ooh... sarojini ni jauh, better g tempat ni sbb ni sama je... satu lagi plak kata, sarojini dah tutup walhal br je pkl 7pm. and both instances mmg depa pakai meter, tp meter tu either pusing laju or depa pusing2 bandar n still kena bayar mahal. for first case, aku suruh je teksi tu berhenti tepi jalan after he refused to send us to the market, tp since yg ni aku dah janji dia pakai meter, aku bayar ikut meter. yg kes satu lagi, dia kata market tu dekat je, dia offer hantar dgn harga murah gila. tp sbb dia hantar ke kedai yg aku tak nak gi, aku keluar je dr teksi bila dah sampai kedai yg dia bawak, n bayar teksi tu. and terus ambik tuk tuk. aku rasa depa ni dpt commission bila hantar tourist2 mcm kitaorg ni. tp mmg tak leh harap. anyway, teksi depa ada yg well decorated, yg bawah ni deco teksi yg tipu kitaorg - first case kena tipu.
but tuk tuk kind of reliable and honest jugak lah. tp susah nya mostly susah berbahasa and sbb kan tuk tuk ni mcm kecik and fragile, nasib lah korang bila dalam tu. mmg agak thrill... depa ni dah lah selalunya x berhenti masuk roundabout n mencilok je sana sini. mmg ada keadaan yg mengerikan jugak lah... tp semua nya selamat lah. n depa ni mmg akan quote price kat kitaorg berbanding local, tp logik lah, tourist mmg kena tipu... and bila convert pun, tak lah rugi mana. janji kitaorg sampai, dr pusing2 tp tak sampai. ooh back to taxi driver, mostly byk yg sgt friendly masa dlm kereta tanya itu ini... n kalau lagi friendly org tu, aku rasa lagi confirm korang kena tipu - ni based on experience aku lah, if you got lucky, ok lah...
another mode of transportation ialah metro. kalau siang2 mmg aku naik metro je, sbb dr hotel ke metro ni tak lah dekat sgt, tp blh lah jalan. tp metro can bring you to most of the tourist spot and big malls. if tak sampai mall pun, banyak je tuk tuk kat depan metro which can bring you to the mall. sbb aku dok agak lama kat sini, and cuaca pun panas, byk kali jugak kitaorg spend time kat mall je. the one yg kitaorg suka pergi was the saket mall sbb kat situ ada HRC hehehe...
hotel Hans yg first aku duduk tu ok lah in terms of location dia. tp kan, service dr bangsa2 ni mmg agak teruk lah... n suka cakap pusing2... tp yg best nya since dok lama, depa bg kitaorg upgrade to a better room - suite lagi with very minimal extra fee. since wifey dok hotel most of the time, kesian dia kalau condition bilik tak best. tp, even dok suite pun, tak lah service jadi better. but the breakfast was quite ok lah.
setelah seminggu dok kat Hans, kitaorg pindah hotel, to a better one but still within our budgetlah. it was way much better than Hans. It's Imperial hotel... memang best. it's in a mansion yg previously digunakan utk taruh embassies. bangunan lama.. mmg sangat colonial feel. mmg best. service best. staff very friendly. breakfast best. ada free yoga classes (wife giler happy for the class). good food. ada boutique kat dlm hotel. everything was so perfect. aku rasa ni among the best hotel kat delhi ni. tp aku dpt special rate yg budak ofis uruskan, tu sbb dok sini, kalau tak, tak sure mampu ke tak. mmg experience kat sini sgt best!!!
tapi for you guys yg travel utk jalan2... cari hotel yg dekat dgn tempat tourist and metro. that's even better... tp imperial tu ok jugak lah, sblh hotel ada few blocks of handicraft shop, tp agak pricey gak lah.

Roadtrip : Doha - Mekah - Madinah (Mac 2011)

2011-12-05T23:24:00.000+03:00

Ni adalah citer lama... road trip umrah dgn kawan2 kat doha ni. disebabkan ni cite lama, so cite pasal trip ni disertakan dgn gambar. aku sudah lupa2 jugak cerita nya, so cerita bergambar lagi mudah... let's start with the plan...
trip ni plannya agak last minute and agak impromptu. although mmg semua yg pergi ada hajat utk mengerjakan haji. tp the set timing tu tak tetap. tambahan plak pihak saudi lambat skit nak buka border utk umrah. selalunya bln dua, tp thn 2011 ni bulan 3 br start blh buat umrah. oleh sbb kurang preparation, especially ada constraint dgn timing/cuti. trip ni cuma 5 hari saja. sgt ringkas dan pantas.
aku tak plan sgt nak cite pasal ibadat umrah dlm blog ni. aku cuma nak cite pasal perjalanan dan pengalaman roadtrip dan travel with my close friends. kami pergi ber 9 dgn satu baby. asalnya pergi 3 kereta, tp tukar plan last minute, kena pergi 2 kereta je. so nasib baik kereta aku blh muat 6 org. berjasa jugak lah. mmg niat aku beli kereta ari tu nak g roadtrip. dpt plak rezeki bawak org g umrah ni. among 9 of us - 3 org dah g haji, 3 org dah pernah g umrah dan 3 org first timer, including my wife. Alhamdulillah. terkabul doa aku bwk wife ke sana.
perjalanan dr doha ke mekah dlm 1600-1700 km!!! so, kami mengambil masa hampir 20 jam utk sampai ke mekah. bwk kereta dlm range 140km-160km/hr. sbbkan ramai lelaki, kami gilir2 lah memandu. so tak penat sangat. perempuan tak blh langsung drive disaudi ni. dan sepanjang perjalanan, bandar besar yg kami tempuh - riyadh... selain tu pekan2 kecil. ada satu part tu, yg kawan2 aku cakap mcm grand canyon plus wadi. aku tak dpt tgk part ni, aku tgh tidor sbb kitaorg lalu kat situ dlm pkl 8-9am. aku dah drive mlm tu... pg tu tak sedar langsung.
sepanjang perjalanan ada lah restaurant2 kecik dan stesen2 minyak tempat berhenti. but sadly to say, most of the toilet yg ada masa kitaorg buat toilet break tu, either dirty or too dirty sampai totally kena skip... bukan nak kata kotor sbb busuk, najis pun ada merata2... sungguh tak melambangkan islam... tp kalau berhenti for makan. toilet kat restaurant agak reasonable. toilet masjid yg selalunya kotor... tak paham aku. btw, although it's 1700km pun, cost minyak tak mahal mana, its 60sen (RM0.50) rasanya, per litre... :-)
tp food sepanjang perjalanan was marvelous. although tak byk pilihan i.e. restoran akan tanya nasi dgn daging atau nasi dgn ayam. nasi dia sedap, lauk pun sedap. n among all, ada satu restoran ni mmg the best (pic below). nasi mandy ayam... kitaorg pun mmg penat and lapar kot... but seriou sly kedai simple harga murah makanan sedap... perfect.
apart from that... mmg padang pasir sahaja... sampai la kami ke tempat miqat di Taif. Taif ni tempat miqat bg org2 yg melalui jalan ni ke mekah. lokasi nya dlm 90km dr mekah. dah dekat sgt. for yg kurang tahu, tempat miqat ni lah tempat memakai ihram dan berniat utk umrah.
di tempat miqat ni disediakan kemudahan utk mandi sunat. toilet+bilik mandi superbly clean. tp aku ingat masa aku g haji dulu lagi lah bersih tempat ni. mmg mudah... satu toilet besar, byk tempat sangkut baju. and toilet cangkung yg bersih. air banyak... what else do u need kan... cumanya bawak lah tuala sendiri. anyway, kain ihram tu pun tebal, boleh jd tuala.
dah siap... kami pun ready to go for umrah... labaikallahhuma labaik.... perjalanan ke mekah agak sukar jugak. sbb hujan agak lebat masa tu. and kereta2 tak biasa bwk dlm hujan, byk pakai hazard lights. and aku plak mmg tak berapa nampak, tp mmg dr malaysia, bila hujan aku suka nak cepat, sbb nak settle cepat n tak suka slow2 dok belakang lori, sbb lagi tak nampak. kesian plak kat kawan kereta belakang yg rasanya tak biasa. sorry geng... anyway, aku tunggu jugak kena sound, suruh slow, sbb kami communicate pakai walkie talkie, tak pulak suruh slow... so kira ok lah :-)
ooh masa sampai mekah, dlm bandar ada sesat2... dlm nak sampai ke hotel tu, tetiba aku termuncul dkt benar dgn masjidil haram. mmg tak sangka dpt drive sampai situ... kami tiba dekat sgt nak masuk waktu asar... n by the time dah dekat dgn hotel, mmg dah azan pun, n jalan ke hotel pun dah tutup sementara. tp sekejap je. kami tiba rasanya khamis mlm jumaat, so agak ramai lah org2 local berdekatan dtg mekah jugak.
hotel kami tak jauh sgt dgn masjidil haram. a simple hotel. own by malaysian rasanya. cukup lah serba serbi utk bermalam 2 mlm. rasanya satu malam SR200 ke, 250, tak ingat. bilik utk 2 org. setelah refresh... kami pun turun utk mengerjakan ibadah umrah.. hujan pun dah berhenti sejak kami tiba di mekah tadi.
kami set utk start umrah lepas solat isya. tp by the time sampai masjid, hujan berderu2 turun... lepas solat kami berkumpul sekejap, ingat nak tunggu lepas hujan berhenti br nak buat tawaf, ye lah, masa tu lantai basah n hujan renyai2. tp memandangkan tak ramai org tawaf, baik turun waktu tu jugak. yup we got lucky, tak ramai org... tawaf sungguh selesa.
lepas selesai mengerjakan umrah, upacara tahalul... yg lelaki semuanya potong nipis, tp tak botak. some of us mmg tak pernah potong senipis ni before.... alhamdulillah selesai umrah. it was a small achievement for me. tak sangka betul finally dpt kerjakan umrah. u know, within 24 hours dtg dr doha, terus sampai mekah n settle umrah. alhamdulillah dipermudahkan perjalanan dan ibadat kami. we were too tired by then.. straight away balik and berehat. we have jumaat esoknya di mekah.
Actually, masa kami g umrah tu mmg ramai org dtg berumrah. as aku cakap sebelum ni, visa utk umrah keluar lambat. ramai jugak jemaah dr malaysia, sbb katanya pakej mmg dah plan dr januari tp march br dpt pergi.. mmg sgt ramai... lepas solat jumaat tu jalan penuh sesak.
we had the full hari jumaat di mekah sebelum the next day ke madinah. although aku benci bgnn ni, tp kat situ lah tempat melepak pun. abraj al bait. dlm tu byk kedai2 utk shopping including starbucks yg sah2 yahudi. kitaorg g jugak lah... hehehe... but, sapa yg pernah pergi sini. perasan tak starbuck mekah ni bersopan skit or diubah logo dia. see the pic below...
apart from that pusing2 kedai... n jalan2 around hotel... ramai sungguh manusia. kami pun shopping gak sikit2. beli souvenirs and jubah. jubah lelaki kat mekah ni lg byk choice dr kat doha. ada byk color n different designs. harga pun murah.
the next day, lepas subuh dan breakfast kami meninggalkan mekah menuju ke madinah... as usual, tawaf wida adalah sessi yg paling sedih bila mengerjakan haji or umrah or meninggalkan mekah... sbb selalunya masa ni lah kita akan terfikir betapa best nya berada di mekah, dekat sgt dgn Allah, kecil sungguh diri ini, banyak sgt dosa belum terampun, byk sangat hajat belum diminta and tak tahu bila lagi nak dtg ke sini. mmg aku sangat sayu bila mana terpaksa membuat tawaf wida'. plus for this trip, rasa mcm tak sempat buat apa2 dah nak balik dah. mmg sungguh introduction on umrah to wifey. tp alhamdulillah, sempat jugak lah.
perjalanan ke madinah mengambil masa lebih kurang 4 jam, sepatutnya lah... tp ntah mcm mana kami ambik masa lebih dr tu. kitaorg keluar dr mekah dlm 10.30am (tu pun masih tak puas hati antaranya sbb tak jumpa restoran al baik, fast food ayam goreng restoran said to be way much better than kfc :-)).
sepanjang perjalanan byk nampak bukit2 kecil batu batu. ada unta. and as usual, bila jauh berjalan nak jugak berhenti for toilet break. again sepertimana yg berlaku dr Doha ke Mekah, kat sini pun facilities kurang. ada nampak macam proper rnr and station minyak, tp establishment yg elok ni mcm tutup atau mcm baru yg belum dibuka. aku suspect, tempat2 ni dibuka bila musim haji kot. bila masa umrah ni, traffic tak byk, depa tak buka. tp entah lah... susah nak paham. benda ni bukan nya utk org g umrah or haji je. rasanya byk je org lain lalu kat sini n local pun. kenapa tak well maintained.
ada sekali tu, kami terpaksa buat 3 stop berturut, i.e. first stop... toilet tak leh guna - tutup. then next stop berhenti lagi - toilet sgt kotor. then 3rd stop - lebih kurang kotor, tp manageable... balun... sbb kenkadang tu, tak leh nak tunggu lagi... kalau tunggu next stop sama je. make sure air ada... settle (below pic one of the stops). kami pun tak de lah nak jadi org yg menambahkan lagi kotoron. tp ironi nya, selalu nya lepas settle, the next stop (the one after - or the 4th) cantik lah plak. proper lagi... in our case, tetiba siap ada masjid and ada restoran at tazzaj. mcm sesuai plak berhenti for lunch n solat zohor. so berhenti lagi... sebabkan ni lah... kitaorg ambik masa 6 jam dr mekah ke madinah. anyway, nothing to rush pun. plan nya mmg janji sampai di madinah before maghrib.
kami tak buat persiapan awal kat madinah. hotel pun tak book. thought that we could find rooms easily. ye lah, bg yg pernah dtg, we could remember hotel madinah tak mahal. and banyak giler sekitar2 masjid. kami pun nak tido for 1 night je, takkan lah takde bilik kan... so gamble je. lepas je lunch, aku suruh member aku drive and aku start buat phone call utk book hotel n tanya price. garmin tu ada gak taruh no tel hotel, from there je kami cari mana hotel nak book. satu2 aku call... dr yg mahal 5 star ke murah 3star... alamak... mostly hotel penuh lah plak.
sbb kan kitaorg pun dah set in mind, mana area hotel nak cari. sampai je kat madinah, park kereta ke tepi, aku pun g jalan dr satu hotel to another and tanya bilik. dekat lebih 10 hotel gak lah aku ketuk, alhamdulillah, we got one good and cheap (atas tu). quite near to masjid. sbb satu malam je, kitaorg dpt dok situ. and kena check out awal sbb ada org lain dah book for the next day. Alhamdulillah... and we still got plenty of time to get ready for Maghrib.
aku mmg suka madinah sbb ketenangannya. and bandar dia best utk jalan2... org2 agak tenang n xde nak rush2... kedai pun banyak... hahaha... apa lah aku ni, dtg umrah nak beribadat, ni sibuk nak citer shopping... pagi esok nya pun kitaorg sempat jalan2 sekitar masjid. dlm masjid... sambil sembang2 dgn wifey about future... hehehe... and by noon tu mmg nak gerak balik semula ke doha. berat hati sungguh. penat pun tak hilang... rasa mcm nak je stay another night. tp sbb dah committed dgn member2 insyaAllah next time sempat lagi ke sini.
perjalanan dr Madinah - Riyadh - Doha lebih elok dr Doha - Riyadh - Mekah ari tu. ikut kan jarak dia lagi dekat. tp yg lagi best nya highway dia ada proper toilet n rnr. siap ada coffee juncture and located just nice within the other. tp make sure korang isi minyak masa ada kat madinah lagi. jgn tunggu masuk highway. sbb the last petrol pump dkt highway tu mcm agak susah nak g, so aku skip, ingat kan lepas tu ada petrol pump... hahaha... tak sempat sampai, minyak kitaorg dah dkt nak abis. if u miss the rnr, mcm kat malaysia, kena lah masuk pekan or kampung kecik dekat2 highway tu. in our case it was about 7 km out of the main highway masuk kg. tp ok lah... ada experience isi minyak tgh2 padang pasir... n sempat gak rehat2. masa kitaorg g ni, cuaca agak dingin. walaupun panas tp relax. anyway, tak bekejar apa pun. janji sempat sampai doha the next day. ni lah kenderaan kami...
again, tepi2 jalan takde apa sgt... desert desert desert... cumanya ada lah bukit ni mcm table top mountain kat cape town, tp versi kecik. tu je rasanya yg ada tepi jalan tu. bila masa siang, seronok drive ni especially bila semua berjaga... borak2 sambil share balik citer buat umrah ari tu... n share all the foods dlm kereta. and bila penat kami berhenti kat rnr. ada byk good coffee shop kat sana... mostly drive through.
if you drive to mekah or balik dr madinah ni, mengikut kata org, kalau plate nya bukan local saudi mesti akan ada org dtg nak pow duit or so... ni terjadi kat kami. masa sekali berhenti tu, aku tgh isi minyak ngan member while ada few tgh kat dlm kedai convenient store beli2 jajan. tetiba ada satu kereta tahan aku, merayu minta sedekah. katanya dia dtg dr jauh. tetiba hilang duit kena curi. pastu bini plak sakit ke anak sakit, aku tak ingat... mmg cite sedih lah. n mmg wajar la bagi sedekah. tp bila teringat cite kawan, n ada gak mcm ketidak logikan nya and amount yg minta pun sampai 500!! aku tak jadi bagi... hmm... bersalah ke aku? anyway, when we discuss balik dlm kereta. rasa nya ok je ko...
we decided utk berhenti kat riyadh for dinner. sbb masa dtg ari tu tak sempat pun singgah riyadh. and timing mcm elok je... kami sampai, although agak lewat around 8-9pm tp kedai masih buka. btw, jalan nak dekat2 masuk riyadh agak busy and ada byk spot speed trap. so jaga2 ye. kitaorg chose one mall then terus ke situ. and dah jalan2 kitaorg decided utk makan kat tony romas. berbanding doha, kat saudi ni, even non-muslim pun kena pakai abaya. plus utk makan, kalau ada perempuan wajib dok kat family section. agak strict rule tu kat sini. kami yg ramai ni susah gak nak diaccomodate, sbb family section mostly utk 4 org n bertutup. nak makan tpt open, takut mutawwa (org agama) marah. so ikut je lah. and since one of us birthday dia ari tu, we bought a simple cake n celebrate... saja je buat happy2 skit... tak abis pun kek tu, bg je kat pekerja tony romas.
after riyadh, ada 5 jam perjalanan sebelum ke doha/border doha. we left riyadh around 1am. lepas je isi minyak. kitaorg shoot terus ke doha. i was driving alone masa tu. semua org kepenatan. berwalkie talkie sembang dgn kereta satu lagi. was thrill n kagum dgn capability aku utk drive 5 jam straight. kitaorg singgah sekejap kat satu tempat for solat subuh n arrived at the border around 6-7am. the clearance was smooth.. by 8am dah sampai doha. alhamdulillah.

bila aku tulis entry ni, terasa rindu sangat nak kembali ke sana. bila lah ada rezeki lagi. tq to friends yg ikut journey ni. it was pleasant, dipermudahkan. insyaAllah ada keberkatan kita pergi hari tu. yup, bila lah aku nak gi sana lagi. terasa sgt rindu...

Police Report (3)

2011-12-03T11:51:00.000+03:00

aku dpt call dr polis ari tu, awal pagi jam 6.30am... dia kata "datang balai polis hari ni ok! kena dtg!!!" so lepas siap2 nak g keje... aku trus ke balai polis dulu sblm masuk ofis. hantar sms kat office mate kata lambat masuk ofis ari ni sbb nak g balai polis.

sesampai je kat balai polis, aku muncul je kat depan pak polisi yg deal kes aku ni terus dia angkat tangan mcm marah. masa tu dia tgh on the phone, so dia tak lah marah aku. letak je telefon... dia cakap

"hey rizal, kenapa lah ko tak bg lagi id kawan ko tu? aku dah bg tau kan no telepon aku? kenapa ko tak sms? kenapa tak call? nape tak dtg n bagi no id tu. tu je aku nak!!! sekarang kes ni dah nak masuk kes besar. dah nak kena tahan kereta ko tu! apasal ko tak bagi???" (semua in arabic campur2 english lah... ni aku translate based dgn apa aku paham lah...)

aku jawab.." er er... sorry"

dia cakap... dah... g bagi kat org sana... pastu dia jerit kat assistant dia, suruh isi report kes and ambik id nombor kawan aku tu. semua computerised. and sesudah je dia isi report tu. aku dpt sms "your car is no longer needed by the police"... pergh... tu je ke...

settled... dia cuma nak id kawan aku tu sbb dia nak isi form sapa pemandu kereta. tu je. n aku nampak dia tulis kat report bertulis, takde kes. so kes ditutup. alhamdulillah...

pengajaran... kalau ada calar2 bekas2 langgar dinding sbb parking or langgar tong sampah ke, baik lah repair cepat2. so aku pun buat lah report/minta kebenaran utk buat general repair kat semua calar2 satu kereta. dah dpt pun. n aku kena lah repair within 1 month. after that, tiida would be beautiful, mcm br beli...

Babi di Doha...

2011-12-01T10:08:00.005+03:00

Bulan sudah... (i mean around 22 Nov), agency yg membekalkan liquor utk public kat doha ni (QDC) mula menjual babi kepada semua rakyat jelata di doha... berbondong2 lah org2 nak makan babi ni gembira sbb dpt menikmati babi kegemaran masing2 termasuk lah sorang kawan ofis aku ni yg terlampau gembira sampai buat satu fb album merekodkan kejayaan membeli babi... (gambar2 kat entry ni diambil dr album dia, menyaksikan kegembiraan org2 ni menyerbu membeli babi... enjoy korang ye)

tak sangka plak aku makan babi tu adalah suatu perkara yg sememangnya di nanti-nantikan oleh depa semua ni. mula2 gambar2 tu aku rasa lawak... tp lama2 kegembiraan dia tu aku rasa mcm melampau, agak insensitive, tp takpe lah... kalau kerajaan dah bagi, apa aku kisah. lagipun mungkin human rights lah kot, bg peluang depa makan babi... hahaha... (bila lah ada jualan daun kesum n bunga kantan besar2an.... or at least fish ball n fish cake dr malaysia... tu human rights gak tu, menikmati laksa n fishball mee/kuetiow yg sedap)
tp yg menjadi kerisauan aku plak... adakah berpotensi babi2 ni digunakan utk restaurant2 kat doha ni. mungkin tak satu hari nanti babi ni akan terjual kat restauran2... so jadi mcm malaysia lah plak, nak kena be careful n tak leh je gi sewenang2 nya... especially pinoy restaurant, not that aku g pun kedai pinoy ni skarang, tp kena extra careful. kenkadang restaurant nama italian tp org keje nya pinoy... hmm... harap2 tak lah...

ada org kata jugak ni lah durjana nak dptkan wc 2022... makin byk negara ni kena open up utk jd lebih liberal. depa kata one day, liquor mesti blh dijual merata2... consumption of liquor blh kat public. hotel menu include babi. and ada restaurant yg tak halal. sama macam kat dubai, hotel2 depa, buffet spread semua ada babi... camne nak makan dah lepas ni... :-(
lepas abis kawan aku tunjuk gambar2 babi ni... dia naik plak status fb:
1) Access to QDC is still restricted to liquor permit holders
2) We need the liquor permit to create an invoice
3) No other permit is necessary
4) The value of babi purchases is NOT deducted from your permit value
5) There is no limit on how much you can purchas
6) The current range is restricted to frozen smoked & unsmoked back & streaky bacon and 3 types of sausage (plain, Lincolnshire & Cumberland)
7) All packs (400gms for babibacon & 454gms for babisausages) are QR28 per pack
8) Frozen items like chops, joints and belly babi will be here in about 1 month
9) A chilled Italian range of Salami, Parma Ham etc is coming by air freight and should be here within 7-10 days
10) We hope to get some chilled ham & gammon joints by air in time for Christmas, but we are still negotiating prices on this.

Please note that we sold 10% of the first container in 4 hours yesterday, but don’t worry the 2nd container is arriving in the port today. We will be selling freezer bags from today, but I recommend you bring a cold box with you when shopping for babi.As you will discover we do not really have space for this new venture, so please bear with us if the crowd in the cold room is too much and the queues too long. I recommend you avoid Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays if you want to avoid the queues. Please note we will be building an extension to house this new product range, but this will take at least 6-8 months to complete. We are also planning a separate shop on The Pearl (next to the new liquor shop) but again this is at least 8 months away. The new liquor shop on The Pearl should open by end of January 2012.

for all you need or need not to know, kat doha ni kalau nak beli liquor for consumption kat umah or umah kawan, kena ada lesen nak beli. otherwise kena beli kat hotel yg harga nya 2x - 4x ganda dr beli kat qdc ni. lesen ni employer blh bg.

eh... tetiba aku rasa mcm blog aku ni jadi post mengiklan penjualan babi plak... hahaha... (harap2 search engine tak lah direct org ke blog aku utk cari babi kat doha ni)

Eastern Europe: What we have missed...

2011-11-30T11:17:00.000+03:00

when we agreed to go for the trip, i've decided not to read much malas nak plan beriye 1 - because i have a friend who will do the planning. 2 - i just wanna go with the flow without byk sgt thinking and tick list. nak relax2 je and enjoy the time with wife and friends. amazingly, i really loved it. seronok bila aku tak payah nak think aheads of time and do the itinerary. aku seronok n nak buat lagi mcm ni. but still there are things that we have missed, more or less not because of poor planning cumanya mcm mana nak buat semua if we only gave 2 days in each cities. we need more time to explore more. so the below regrets are mostly, if only we have more time...

1. Budapest - there were plenty of museums in the city especially on top of the buda hill. Ada hospital museum etc. but one that i remember and probably quite good was the terror museum. This museum is dedicated to Nazi & Russia rasanya. Terror Haza. Aku takde lah baca review yg museum ni best, tp aku rasa if i got more time, i'll go.

2. Budapest - Szechenyi Bath and Spa Budapest ni sebenarnya very famous. it's a place for thermal bath. dok mandi ramai2... even masa sejuk pun, it is said that the bath is good. tp aku ni tak lah adventurer sgt nak pakai swimming trunk mandi beramai2... tambah plak mcm mana wife aku nak join. but perhaps, this is one activity kalau korang g sana blh pergi.

3. Budapest - where ever kitaorg g tgk menu restaurant mesti ada goulash soup as the starter. aku ada check dkt kedai turkish if they know any halal goulash soup around, tp depa kata tu makanan local yg takde turkish or halal restaurant. kitaorg ada skali nak masuk kedai kosher utk try, tp kedai tu tutup plak for sabbath day. but the experience was very eerie masa masuk kedai tu, my wife bertudung rasa intimidated. so we decided not to go even when the kedai is open. we got the recipe, so we might try to cook ourselves. anyway, from the recipe mcm masak kuah dalca without santan and dalca je.

4. Prague - I missed to see this:

Prague - kitaorg g kejap sangat. it is a small romantic old town. we tak discover pun the new town. certainly the city deserved a day if not two more days. period.

Vienna - i should have bought the opera ticket, i.e. the cheap tickets. although there's no seat. although u wont understand. although you have to stand for an hour. although u have to dress a bit. it's the experience. and the view and perhaps to see the real thing. the concerto we went, can be missed. don't go.

Vienna - we should hang out more minum2 coffee... (not only in vienna though, in other places as well). but luckily we had coffee at sacher cafe which was good.

Vienna - Bratislava - we wanted to take the danube river boat ride to travel between the two. tp sbb weather and season, the boat ride takde.

Vienna - The Scrobrunn Palace garden yg tutup from November onwards.

All in all - we've been using train to travel between the cities. it was 4 of us, we should have thought of travelling by a car. rent a car can get us to many other side places. tp kalau banyak sidetrack pun tak bagus jugak. so, because of timing kitaorg ambik train. tp kalau ambik kereta, maybe we could explore more on the country side. but sleeping in the sleeper train was certainly an experience which i didn't regret at all.

as i said, ni jalan2 suka2 without any comitment utk cover semua benda. punya relax sampai kenkadang aku rasa mcm aku tak berada kat negara org pun. mcm tempat2 ni aku akan senang2 je pergi lain kali. walhal, this might be the first and the last utk aku pergi i.e. next time baik aku gi tempat2 lain. tp... sebenarnya i've been to vienna before - year 2004 tp for 24 hours je and i think i wanna go to prague again :-)