"1001 Kisah Melayu yang suka merantau . . ."

Bawa Anak Jalan

2020-01-31T11:41:00.001+03:00

This blog is no longer active.

But I do update my travel stories in bawaanakjalan.blogspot.com.

See you there.

- - - - -

Bila dah ada anak dan tak lagi merantau, saya update cerita jalan-jalan di

bawaanakjalan.blogspot.com

Jumpa di sana ye!!!

Non-Member state

2012-12-03T14:07:00.001+03:00

Hari tu diumumkan palestine sebagai non-member state utk UN... tp org-org tak paham (kat fb) tetiba cakap, Palestine dah diiktiraf sebagai satu negara... not yet!

so apa tu non-member state. So far under UN ada 2 je non-member state 1. Vatican City (or depa panggil Holy See) dan 2. Palestine. Non-member ni boleh join semua aktiviti UN dan boleh jugak mendakwa Israel through ICC (International Criminal Court) cumanya sebagai non-member state, Palestine tak blh vote. Sebelum ni PLO diiktiraf sebagai observer je kat dlm UN.

So sapa yg pernah jd non-member state then jadi member state... here is the list from Wikipedia:

State	Granted	Became full member	Time difference
Austria	1952	1955	70003000000000000003 years
Bangladesh	1973	1974	70001000000000000001 year
Democratic People's Republic of Korea	1973	1991	700118000000000000018 years
Democratic Republic of Viet Nam	1975	1976*	7000300100000000000 3 years
Federal Republic of Germany	1952	1973	700121000000000000021 years
Finland	1952	1955	70003000000000000003 years
German Democratic Republic	1972	1973	70001000000000000001 year
Italy	1952	1955	70003000000000000003 years
Japan	1952	1956	70004000000000000004 years
Kuwait	1962	1963	70001000000000000001 year
Monaco	1956	1993	700137000000000000037 years
Republic of Korea	1949	1991	700142000000000000042 years
Republic of Viet Nam	1952	1976*	7001240000000000000 — (observer for 24 years)
Spain	1955	1955	50000000000000000000 years
Switzerland	1946	2002	700156000000000000056 years
Vietnam	1976*	1977	7000300190000000000 3 years

Banyak jugak... and aku tak sangka plak switzerland baru 2002 jadi member of UN. Sblm tu dia jd apa??? hmm...

So mungkinkah palestine satu hari nanti jd member of UN??? and ada ke negara yg tak jd member of UN lagi sampai sekarang???

menurut En Wikipedia... ada lagi so called places yg masih tak diiktiraf sebagai negara... mostly sbb ada negara lain claim itu negara dia. One very close to us - Taiwan, yg diperakui oleh China sbg tanah dia.
Republic of Somaliland (independent since 1991) - claimed under Somalia
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (1992) - claimed by Azerbaijan
Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic or Transnistria (1990) - part of Moldova
Republic of Abkhazia (1999) - claimed by Georgia
Republic of Kosovo (2008) - claimed by Serbia

so ada lagi lah negara yg dah declared independent tp belum jd UN member... mainly due to ada negara yg claimed dia part of their own country and x iktiraf independency. not only the above, ada a few lagi... sila cari di wikipedia.

Last week, dgr citer ada Catalunya (currently part of Spain) pun nak declare independent out of Spain. Satu daerah di Spain sebesar 32 ribu km persegi (kecik skit dr Pahang). Kat Catalunya ni lah ada Barcelona... dan team barcelona tu... n kalau independent, probably Barcelona tak main kat Spain dah, ntah2 masuk ke liga france - sama mcm monaco. anyway, benda ni tak decide lagi... so akan ada lah non UN member state yg baru.

Demonstrasi??? pergi jalan...

2012-11-23T12:56:00.000+03:00

Kebetulan office aku ni dekat sgt dgn kedutaan US. Jadinya, bila ada isu dunia je, ramai je lah org nak demo kat depan US embassy. Selalunya demo lepas solat jumaat... korang yg berdemo ni tak keje ke?

anyway, bab isu palestin - gaza pun sibuk nak demo... dulu demo pasal video kutuk islam. Aku x de lah nak menegah berdemo... go ahead and do... tp apa matlamat korang???

for me, pasal isu palestin - gaza ni, drp korang sibuk demo dpn US embassy, apa kata korang g berdemo depan Saudi embassy or UAE embassy or even Qatar embassy... Jordan n Syria embassy pun apa salahnya... sebenarnya our big brother yg sepatutnya tolong kita... tak lah nak marah our enemy yg seterang2 nya takkan membantu dan ada polisi depa sendiri... buat penat korang je demo...

if you guys do have contact with rakan2 pendemo overseas... apa kata if ada je lagi benda berkaitan islam, g demo kat embassy negara2 islam especially negara pengerusi OIC or liga arab... then ask them to react and see whether jadi apa2... if your own big brother pun diam kematu... so apa korang nak buat... kes rohingya pun mengadu kat US... US tu ketua negara Islam yg membantu umat Islam ke???

tp org2 demo yg menentang kezaliman ni pun berpatisan... kes Syria takde plak depa nak demo depan US embassy (or mana2 embassy). Kenapa? bukan ke itu lagi ramai org mati dan dah berterusan bertahun2.... kes kemarau kat negara islam Somalia... ada korang kutip derma n direct membantu??? ke projek2 mcm ni tak glamer???

Gaza is back on the headlines...

2012-11-19T09:42:00.002+03:00

Perang kembali semula ke Gaza... aku dah jauh dr Gaza tp hati sgt sayu bila dgr berita pasal perang ni. I've written many entries pasal attack on Gaza in 2009 dulu. I've not much info pasal current attack. If you still interested nak baca my entry dulu, you can read the followings:

- apa kita boleh bantu???
- Blockade (now dah tak blockade, sbb new President kat Mesir dah buka border)
- No way for Ceasefire???
- Just protest? and that's all?
- Escape route (ni pun probably tak perlu, if Rafah border open)

Utk attack yg terbaru ni, yg dah masuk hari ke 6, masih aku tak pasti apa punca nya. I mean sapa start dulu.. but this is always a chicken and egg questions. Maybe la Israel cakap rocket hamas, tp Hamas akan claim the blockade all year round, mcm mana nak hidup. anyway, for now takde lagi ground forces masuk ke Gaza, but they are ready to do so.

For now... attacks from sky yg byk... drones dah takde selindung2 dah... always memerhatikan je penduduk Gaza... Mcm duduk dlm penjara depa ni... :-( the borders are mostly closed... Laut dah ada kapal2 tentera yg bomb sempadan... dr atas drones and jet pejuang bila2 blh serang... and what is your defence? nothing... and this attack is claimed to defend Israel??? sapa defend sapa attack ni? aku pun dah jadi confuse..

This is one of the latest report by Aljazeera... apparently, the correspondent tweeted after the report yg bombing tu happened 400meters from Aljazeera office... very close by...

For now... aku nak baca lagi kat blog-blog yg report pasal gaza yg aku jumpa dulu... tgk2 kalau depa ada update....

and one more thing... for news channel kat malaysia, tolong lah bila korang buat script news tu, jgn lah refer tentera israel tu as IDF singkatan kepada Israel Defence Force as they are not defending, but they are attacking. Cakap je Tentera XXXX Israel (you can change the XXXX to Jahanam, Celaka, etc...)

Remanded... but released...

2012-11-08T11:20:00.003+03:00

Lepas balik raya haji hari tu, jiran aku yg kena rompak seminggu sebelum aku kena rompak bg tau yg perompak tu dah kena tangkap by the guard. Dia dpt tahu dr cousin dia yg bersembang dgn jiran cousin dia who is mamat kamarul yg analysis jenayah yg selalu keluar kat tv... ha... panjang connection. I was a bit surprised la sbb polis or management office tak call. my fren bg tau, depa jumpa brg... n thats all. aku dpt info ni pun dah malam... so i've decided esok to check with the management.

So, pepagi rabu tu, keesokan harinya, aku call lah sarjan yg aku buat report. dia tak angkat. then aku call management... and depa confirm suspek dah ditangkap. katanya ada small items dah dijumpai. katanya brg perhiasan accessories macam cincin, gelang etc. and since we lost the items, aku cakap lah aku nak tgk. so management office pun suruh aku dtg at noon untuk tgk barang.

we went to the management office first sbb nak tahu cerita. according to the management, guard sorang ni yg jd spy. on 23 Oct, 3 days before raya haji. they found out salah satu rumah jiran suspek (satu floor ada 4 rumah), grill dia dah cuba dipatahkan. but nothing happened lagi. so on 25 sept (hari khamis), masa hujan lebat, guard yg hero ni rasa tak sedap hati and pergi tgk rumah jiran yg grill patah hari tu. mmg ye, berlaku kecurian sbb dia nampak tv milik rumah tu, yg owner dia br keluar dr apt nak menuju ke bangkok, ada kat luar rumah - antara pintu kayu dan grill. so, guard yg hero turun ke ground floor and call management utk periksa sama2... but in 10 minutes tindakan tu, sbb hujan management lambat sampai. bila depa g tgk rumah tu, tv tu dah takde kat tempat guard tu nampak tadi. so, they've decided to call polis. Polis dtg n claimed tangkapan tidak boleh dibuat sbb takde apa bukti, and bukan polis yg nampak kecurian. so, no tangkapan.

guard ni tak puas hati. in fact, bila mamat tu keluar dr kawasan apt dia siap periksa boot kereta nak make sure takde tv. mmg takde tv. (part ni aku tak sure chronology dia mcm mana) tp ptg or early malam tu, guard tu spy mamat tu g buang sampah. tp mmg nampak gaya sampah tu ada sesuatu tak kena. cara dia buang sungguh mencurigakan. so, guard ni pergi lah ke tong sampah and ambik sampah tu... then bila buka.. there you go, dia jumpa accessories tu... (bila kitaorg dtg cam last week on wednesday 31 Oct mmg my wife punya) setelah jumpa brg tu, guard n management called the police again, and akhirnya tangkapan dibuat berdasarkan bukti tu. (tp kitaorg tak cam barang lagi and we didn't know abt it pun, on 25th tu, kitaorg happily je balik kg for raya, even kitaorg ada nampak mcm kecoh2 gak... ada kereta polis etc. tp tak ambik pot).

so that's la the cerita... tangkapan reman berlaku on 25th, luckily sehari sblm semua org bercuti. then, on 31st br kitaorg tahu yg kitaorg patut cam barang. once we've seen the picture, kitaorg pun g la jumpa sarjan and tgk sendiri brg tu... and buat report yg itu mmg brg kitaorg. polis cakap, based on our confirmation, brg2 seperti glove n credit card rosak yg dipercayai digunakan utk buka pintu, dan keterangan guard, dia akan bawak kes ke timbalan pendakwa raya utk tpr membawak kes - samada akan dituduh or not. polis kata mamat tu blh kena tahan reman for 7 days je, kalau tak dituduh, dia akan dilepaskan.

masa jumpa polis dan guard tu... byk lah citer yg disambung2 pasal kes mencuri ni... semua jiran dia dah dia curi... ada lebih 10 rumah lain dia masuk. and mamat ni bukan nya org miskin or penyangak or penagih dadah kronik. dia hanyalah seorang software engineer... yes engineer... and the wife, yes he's married, is an account manager. and they have maid, ye... maid diperlukan utk jaga 2 org anak dia... yes, a full complete set 1 family yg mampu ada 2 kereta!!! so not so poor yg sampai kena mencuri... mental kot???

on Thursday afternoon, aku dpt sms dr sarjan...

Kertas siasatan telah dirujuk kepada Tpr, arahan nya tak cukup keterangan utk tuduh suspek. J****** akan dibebaskan pada 2/11. Harap maklum

there you go... jumaat lepas dia dah dibebaskan. we have evidence tp tak cukup kuat. kitaorg takde saksi nak buat pertuduhan. polis nak tangkap org mcm ni red handed. or kalau brg curi ada kat rumah depa... masalah nya brg curi tu mainly personal items, polis pun tak blh nak confirm whether betul ke semua benda di periksa. my wife handbag can be claimed as his wife handbag pun... so... we are living with perompak kat satu kawasan... and polis tak blh nak buat apa2... harap2 perompak tu sedar yg dia diperhatikan dan tak buat lagi... hope for the best.

We lost all the pictures, but memories remain

2012-10-19T07:16:00.001+03:00

Masa aku kat Doha ari tu, rumah jiran aku who is my ex-schoolmate kat blok sebelah blok aku kena masuk pencuri. Kesian dia, byk gak benda2 hilang. I was worried then, ye lah, wifey dok sorang kat umah. If pencuri masuk during daytime masa org takde, ok lagi... what if dia masuk masa wifey ada sorang2 kat umah...

lps tu... aku plak kena extend kat doha.. lg la kesian kat wifey...

then aku sampai m'sia ari rabu... off on that day... khamis dah start keje balik... n since kejadian kat umah kawan aku tu... aku plan hari sabtu tu nak letak alarm kat umah lah... but, we can plan je... tetiba nak jadi hal, hari jumaat masa office hour, rumah aku kena masuk pencuri... byk gak barang hilang... :-(

Depa curi benda ni...
1. Laptop lama compaq - still blh guna, tp slow, aku guna utk download movies.
2. Netbook Dell color hijau - pun dah lama, masih blh guna utk skype
3. Samsung tab 10.1 - our 1st wedding annivesary gift
4. My DSLR camera with the std lense, wide lense dgn satu lagi lense... siap curi charger skali
5. a whole drawer full of my wife's accessories - mostly plastic lah.. tp ada gak few yg valuable
6. one of my wife handbag - it was her birthday gift yg aku bg tahun lepas
7. a bag of perfume - ada 5 to be exact. masa aku balik dr doha aku beli lah perfume for myself and wifey plus 3 lagi perfume utk adik2 aku n dia... cost me QR1082 perfume tu... still all dlm box and dlm plastic qatar airport lagi...
8. ada 2 lagi handbag my wife - a big picnic bag... kitaorg rasa dia guna beg tu utk letak barang2 curian
9. 2 external harddrives... ni yg paling sedih... although mostly movie yg didownload masa kat doha, but dlm harddrives ni jugak all our holiday pictures plus wedding video.. :-( aku back up semua gambar2 kitaorg at 2 places - the old laptop and the harddrives... now both dah kena curi

yup... yg paling aku rasa ralat was the harddrives lah... tp apa nak buat, dah tak de rezeki. aku dah beli dah coupon groupon utk buat photoalbum, tp tak jugak buat... dah rugi.. now what's left, gambar abaya2 je...

then we make police report, around 10 - 11 pm mcm tu, polis dtg lah cek umah... dia kata modus operandi sama mcm umah kawan aku. try lah tgk kesan cap jari, dia kata org tu maybe pakai gloves... ada kesan cap jari lain, dia kata maybe ours... hmm... we'll see la what's gonna happen later. anyway, both of us bersyukur, we are all ok je... takde jugak fobia or etc...

then on saturday n sunday that week, sibuk lah betulkan grill n taruh kunci baru... at least now we feel safer... but thinking of pasang alarm... but contemplating kalau2 alarm tu buat bising satu apartment, especially if it alarmed by mistake. dunno lah.. should taruh or not... or should taruh cctv ke?

My own ghost...

2012-09-27T17:37:00.003+03:00

Aku skarang ada keje skit kat Doha. Balik to old office for a week. Aku dtg Doha dari hari Sabtu lepas. Took the 7 hours flight back to the dessert. Mmg sepanjang jalan rasa boring... plus kesian kat wifey yg again kena tinggal kat umah... sian dia...

arrived at midnight, and terus doozed off... and ahad dah start keje kat Doha... hari pertama agak boring lah... ooh am not actually nak cite pasal keje kat doha ni.. :-)

Being in Doha bkn bermakna aku tak buat keje kl... aku mcm kena berada in both places and wearing two heads.. kejap2 keje kl and kejap2 keje Doha... tgh2 keje... tetiba kawan kat doha bg tau aku satu citer seram...

pada pg hari isnin (masa aku kat Doha bekerja, or perhaps still tido due to time difference), receptionist office KL aku ada nampak aku kat ofis... dia selalu dtg pkl 8++ almost 9, dan aku selalu dtg lebih kurang time tu tp lewat skit dr dia. Masa dia lalu depan office aku, dia nampak 'aku' berada kat dlm office. dia siap greeted good morning and 'aku' pandang and senyum kat dia. 'I' was wearing a pink white stripes shirt. dia actually tak tahu yg aku sepatutnya kat Doha... so dia ok je lah.

Come afternoon, dia nak g lunch dgn other colleagues, dia cakap... eh ajak lah 'aku' gi lunch skali sbb kebetulan both of my dept colleague tak dtg ofis. sorang cuti, sorang kucing dia sakit. and my other colleague cakap kat dia... eh, aku mana ada kat ofis, aku kat Doha... then baru dia tahu.. n dia tak percaya.. dia kata dia nampak aku pagi tu... confirm...

dan nak jadi cite, ada office mate lain nampak aku jalan belakang dia pg tu. yes, with pink white shirt... at a different area of the office but still awal pagi... giler lah...

now, no one want to work late kat ofis... semua takut... aku citer kat wifey, dia dah pesan, if aku kena delay my trip back, make sure confirm kan kat dia the exact timing and date... and if anyone appear on different timing, dia akan halau. any surprise2 konon balik awal, is totally not allowed!!! and she said it is not funny kalau aku nak muncul awal...

hmm... can there be a ghost of myself in the office... or shall i ask for a pay rise since aku blh berada kat 2 tempat at the same time... hmmm....

Gangnam-gu

2012-09-10T14:26:00.001+03:00

Kecoh sungguh kisah style gangnam ni... tp kalau ingat2 balik, byk je catchy music dgn new style tarian naik n popular masa dulu2... kalau korang tua enough mcm aku, surely korang blh ingat lagu-lagu mcm les ketchup, mambo no 5, macarena etc...

Anyway, am not here to comment abt gangnam tu... it's just that aku nak cakap... am leaving for Korea tomorrow... for 2 days business trip... and apparently the place aku ada meeting tu, kat gangnam-gu, seoul... hehehe....

baru betul gangnam... hmm... nanti nak cari signboard tulis gangnam.. hahaha

Utusan boleh meng'fakta'kan rumours???

2012-09-05T08:55:00.003+03:00

Admittedly, aku selalu baca utusan malaysia online utk berita-berita hiburan dan menghiburkan hati dgn headlines dia... Kadang2 aku baca gak in detail berita nasional dan berita sukan. Masa kat Doha dulu, mmg saja lah buka utusan utk cari berita2 nasional yg takde kaitan dgn politik, mmg sgt kurang... so aku lebih suka baca berita nasional kat harian metro... although tabloid tp lagi best. berita sukan, aku selalu refer to goal.com utk berita bola sepak, itu pun aku baca pasal real madrid je. Lain2 berita aku tgk je apa yg ada kat espnnews or tv je. Berita hiburan, mmg aku baca utusan. tp lately dia dah tak bg baca penuh, dia suruh beli surat khabar... hehehe.. so takde lah aku update pasal hiburan. Nonetheless, aku still buka utusan utk baca headlines.

So, hari ni aku tgk lah berita sukan pasal player (cristiano ronaldo) dlm my favourite team (real madrid) yg sedang berduka cita. Read: aku cuma minat real madrid but aku tak specifically minat ronaldo ni. so aku tak kisah pun kalau dia blah for money... but the headline on utusan says this:

Ronaldo tuntut naik gaji RM123 juta

aku heran.. mcm mana plak utusan dpt berita ni... sbb dlm goal.com masih lagi tak difaktakan rumours nak naik gaji... in fact dinafikan plak... hmm...

Cristiano Ronaldo: Real Madrid sadness nothing to do with money

so... does utusan ada insider? tp dia quote dpt dr agency je.. so lets see apa AFP news cakap pasal ni...

'Sad' Ronaldo sparks speculation over Real future

how about reuters.com....

It is not about the money, says sad Ronaldo

ok.. what does Marca says plak... Marca ni main source for sports news kat spain... and byk citer pasal real madrid... in these are the reasons probably for the sad ronaldo:

He would like to be applauded more by the home fans

Ronaldo to Florentino: "I don't feel wanted"

He demands to be shielded more, to have more support... and the captaincy

He believes that he has earned a salary increase

and my previous favourite said (yg later denied by ronaldo)

Roberto Carlos: "He's unhappy because he lost out to Iniesta"

hmm... so, dr agency mana yg utusan quote sampai dia dpt figure??? or is it the latest news??? apasal yg lain tak cite lagi??? hebat betul utusan...

yes, it's just about football and crying baby ronaldo yg semua org baca... but still... aku confius mana lah utusan got their facts???

Raya and open houses...

2012-09-01T09:22:00.005+03:00

kenapa lah sibuk org nak buat open house masa raya ni.. sampai kena pergi dua tiga rumah sehari... makan banyak2... sampai tuan rumah terpaksa membazir sbb tak semua jemputan datang or org yg dpt mendapat jemputan plak mengalami masalah perut terboroi terlebih. so there you go all the diets dan penginsafan masa bulan ramadhan. hehehe.. i shall not comment further.

but luckily for us, tak banyak jemputan. with wifey yg mmg tak berapa suka g kenduri kendara ni alhamdulillah, tak perlu entertain open house sangat. so far br ada satu jemputan for this whole month syawal ni. so, sbb satu je, kitaorg kena pergi lah. :-) tp kan, mengenangkan murah rezeki org2 yg nak buat open house ni, apa kata korang spread over the rezeki tu to all other months. agak2 dah terlalu ramai org buat open house, buat je lah masa jamadil awal ke, jamadil akhir ke... or bulan muharam nanti. ha.. sure ramai org dtg. buat je sempena raya haji. or awal muharram etc... kalau ada org2 buat mcm ni... sure best, weekend2 je ada je makan free.. hehehe

for us, kitaorg tak buat open house besar-besaran. tp ada lah buat jemput org makan. but probably at the end of month kot. sbb tak cukup bajet hahaha... and rumah yg tak berkemas ni sbb kitaorg pun br je 4 bulan balik Malaysia. kat living hall pun ada kotak-kotak lagi. (giler lama nak berkemas, sampai 4 bulan... hahaha). ye lah, ingatkan dulu nak dok kejap kat umah kecik ni, pastu cari rumah yg lebih besar. tp memandangkan nak beli rumah baru makan juta2... tangguh dulu lah plan. dan tangguh itu ini... sampai dah nak raya pun tak berkemas... hehehe...

anyway, entry merapu ni tujuan nya nak mengucapkan...

Selamat Hari Raya Maaf Zahir Batin

(minta maaf especially for those yg tgk blog ni, tp tak hapdet hapdet)

It's been a while...

2012-08-30T07:32:00.001+03:00

Yup... it's been a while since the last time i blog... which was also just a few entries after a long hiatus. Have always wanted to continue blogging... tp malas lah plak... hehehe... still owe many stories with this blog...

When i started blogging, facebook didn't exist yet... so, blogging was the way to channel my story. then come facebook which at first was very interesting... status updates, upload pictures etc... until at one point in time, facebook has taken over blogging... and if i ever blog, the pictures are similar or lesser than the one on facebook. But then, after a while, when more ppl are into facebook, it gets pretty boring and you just feel that there were so many people that you don't want to know come back to your life. And as you are 'unable' not to friend a person you know, there times I felt that I have to share things with people i don't want to. Then you just felt that everyone knows about you (if you update status n upload pictures la...) and lost of privacy.

Worst still... the picture tagging application. When I turned fat and fat and fat... i hate most of my pictures, therefore i hate when people tag my pictures. and i hate to see them myself, and even more when people see myself... hehehe.. vain tak kena tempat... Luckily i do not have many friends, or i can say very minimal (less than 5%) of my friends who tag me on their selling product. Yg tu lagi lah menyibuk. When i became so fat, the fun of uploading pictures is no longer there. Plus, people mostly commented on pictures with you in the picture, not much on the scenery... and you can't really put much description on it compared to through blog...

Yeah... blogging also do not have privacy, in fact you do not know who will read your blog. But at least i can remain anonymous. Ok Ok.. it's a stupid rantings... if you don't like FB just delete your account per se... but i do not do that because FB does connect me with my friends. I do check their status updates and picture... yeah.. a bit of stalker i am... hehehe....

so from time to time, i was thinking of getting active on blogging... so... this is the new start of my new blogging... and as the first start.. this blog has to be renamed... as I'm now back in Malaysia... so no more melayu perantau per se... :-) but still loves travelling and jalan2... but a bit bajet2 lah plak...

hope to see myself with more entries... (finger cross)

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

2012-03-31T09:44:00.000+03:00

*Kalau korang tengok Entri Jameela - ni sama je dgn abaya yg Anne Hotfm promote tu. Ni lah abaya Doha, Qatar - or Ad Dawhah Abaya... we met Anne masa kat Doha. This blog entry was created before the segment kat Entri Jameela*

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.)