JUST ANOTHER TEACHER

WELCOME TO CAPITOL RESIDENCE, DUBAI

2012-02-13T07:17:00.000-08:00

I was expecting a much simpler hotel room for our two-day stay in Dubai but everything was arranged beforehand by Mr. Razib. It was a hotel apartment and I guessed it was alright to pamper myself once in a while.

the main hall

the bedroom

the kitchen - mainly for boiling water and heating food

dining area

the bathroom

breakfast the next morning

This is the view from the rooftop. Can you spot THE building from afar?

There was a small swimming pool on the rooftop but it was not impressive.

The hotel was located quite near to the old town where we can find the spice and silk souk within walking distance. There were supermarkets and restaurants nearby and was also near to one of the metro train stations. I hope there are other budget hotels around if I am to go back to Dubai in the future :)

ENJOYING THE SCENIC VILLAGGIO SHOPPING MALL

2012-02-12T07:39:00.001-08:00

I finally understood why Mr. Razib had taken all the trouble to have a brief stop at a shopping mall named Villaggio even though we had very limited time to spend and a plane to catch. It was one of the most beautiful shopping malls I had ever been to.

I had no time to visit the shops in the mall but once I stepped foot inside, I was suddenly transformed into another world. It was like buildings inside another big building. "Villaggio" is actually an Italian word which means "village" and the beautiful interior architecture and design had successfully created a feel of walking in a small and peaceful village with blue sky on top.

There was even a channel inside the mall with a gondola, operated by a gondolier, and you could experience Venice if you were willing to pay. I guess this would be an excellent place to escape the intense heat for the Qatari once in a while.

the ambassador for Carrefour in the making

It was a quick tour but I was happy enough to see such a breathtaking scenery in a mall. And that concluded my two-day trip to beautiful Doha and Qatar.

Starting tomorrow, the entries will be on the next destination: Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). I wonder whether you are getting excited or am I boring you already?

CHESS COMPETITION FOR SCHOOL LEVEL 2012

2012-02-12T04:34:00.000-08:00

The chess competition for the school level was held today. If compared to previous years' participation, there were not as many players as it used to be. One of the reasons was there were many other activities going on in school, even on Sunday, which might attract the students' attention more. Hopefully, we would be able to recruit more new chess players for the school.

CONGRATULATIONS to Miss Quek Miow Leng and the committee members of the Chess Club for successfully organizing the annual event.

VIDEO: MY CLOSEST ENCOUNTER WITH A TIGER, AT DOHA ZOO

2012-02-11T09:42:00.000-08:00

This was the nearest distance I had ever experienced while observing (and recording) a tiger in a zoo.

Doha Zoo, Qatar.

MOVIE REVIEW - "MAN ON A LEDGE"

2012-02-10T16:03:00.000-08:00

I decided to watch this movie after reading the short synopsis and the brief trailer on the Net. This was not a blockbuster film so publicity was not done widely. Surprisingly, the movie was REAL good, something that would come out from John Grisham's novel.

A cop was framed for stealing a HUGE diamond. He planned his escape with the help of his brother, his brother's girlfriend and also his own father. In order to prove that he was innocent, he had to steal the diamond which was earlier said to be stolen, cut into pieces and sold by him. And in their modus operandi, he had to shift away the whole city's attention by standing on the ledge and pretending to commit suicide by jumping off the building.

The movie was really thrilling yet entertaining. There was no dull moment from the start right until the end. At least, it was not done with too many CGI effects. Unfortunately, it did not get very good reviews from what I have read on a few websites. It is still a movie worth watching.

POSING WITH ANIMALS AT DOHA ZOO

2012-02-09T06:28:00.000-08:00

One of the must visit places when you go on a holiday is the zoo. You get to know the country from the one specific animal that can only be found there.

Introducing the oryx - the one animal that is associated with the State of Qatar (I think). Read more about this animal HERE.

The white tiger looked exhausted but we could watch it from a close proximity.

According to my friend, Mr. Razib, we were lucky because we managed to see many animals that day. When he and his family members were here, when the weather was much hotter, the situation was different. Most probably the animals love the cool air outside much more so they were taking the chance to roam around.

really healthy zebras

This was the closest distance I had ever experienced getting near a tiger. Pray god the fence would remain strong. The tiger was roaring non-stop, perhaps it was hungry which was not so good news.

birds of a feather flock together

We were there quite late, at almost 5:00 p.m. and with a plane to catch in less than 2 hours., we could not spend too much time at the zoo even though I would just love to do that. If I am not a teacher, I am quite sure I will be taking veterinary science or zoology. I should start surfing the Web now for the next zoo to visit.

"Someone told me it's all happening at the zoo."
~ Paul Simon ~

GUESS THE PRICE OF THE CARPET

2012-02-08T07:56:00.000-08:00

There was something that caught our attention - a carpet exhibition on the ground floor of Doha City Center. We were lost in the world of fine and luxurious Persian carpets for less than 30 minutes (but the salesperson was a Filipino man).

The carpet merchant of Doha in action

And now, can you guess the price of this carpet?
It is just a small carpet, you know.

[Taking the Qatari Rial as equivalent to almost RM1.00]
You can find the answer as you scroll down the page

And here is the answer:

Feeling like fainting already?

When I get filthy rich one day (as if), I am going back to Doha and buy all those nice carpets from there.

CITY CENTER - A MODERN SHOPPING MALL

2012-02-07T07:14:00.000-08:00

We went just to have a look at one of Doha's latest modern shopping complexes - with no intention of shopping at all.

There was an ice-skating rink located on the ground floor. Cool!

The view of the surrounding buildings outside the mall

This could be the new town area, will tall buildings everywhere.

NEXT POSTING: What did I find most interesting in the mall?

THE BEAUTIFUL CORNICHE OF DOHA - PART TWO

2012-02-06T04:42:00.000-08:00

This was another spot along the Corniche which was very picturesque and the skyscrapers were more evident from this angle. There were two motivational words: "REALIZE" and "THINK", and another Arabic word which I am yet to ask my school "ustaz/ustazah" for its meaning.

People simply came here to enjoy the breathtaking view as well as to pose in front of these words. I think this is something that we should have in our country - it is something simple but significant in its own way.

my friend, Mr. Razib, the host cum the tourist guide

with Fakaruddin, the taxi driver from Kerala

oh please stop monkeying around!

and we found one more word separated from the three earlier a distance away

[please ignore the other model on the letter "C" who tried to compete,
just focus on the letter "i" ]

I am picturing myself sitting one of the benches after retirement, reading and looking at the sea faraway. To be frank, I don't mind doing that. I miss Doha already.

MOVIE REVIEW - "JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND"

2012-02-05T20:54:00.000-08:00

Long time no movie :) At one time, there are too many movies being screened at the same time and at another time, there is none. I had watched the trailer of this one before so at least I knew it would be something worth watching.

Adapted from a novel of the same title by Jules Verne, the same author who wrote "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" and "Around the World in 80 Days", it was a son-stepfather adventure through the mysterious island somewhere in the Pacific. Other than cute creatures and horrible monsters - you would be brought into a colourful and too-good-to-be true island where there were ashes of gold that came from the volcano came flying down from the sky. The movie was a cross between "Jurassic Park", "Indiana Jones" and "Avatar".

Nevertheless, the whole film was really entertaining, and it should fall under the genre of comedy for the whole family. The main actor, The Rock, did a good job and the moral of the story, if you have the muscle, it doesn't mean that you don't have the funny bones. What I don't understand is that the film is not suitable for children under 13 years old. And they rated "Ombak Rindu" as [U] which was suitable for anybody any age. *sigh*

A LONG WEEKEND AND A SHORT OUTING

2012-02-05T08:26:00.000-08:00

It was a long weekend with two public holidays falling back to back which in the end we had four days of not having to go to work or school. A short outing was planned as the four of them: Suhaizie, Aminuddin, Zahari and Hamzah, were quite free today.

We did not look like we were there to shop

First we went to the much talked about tourist spot of the state - Johor Premium Outlet {JPO) situated in Kulaijaya. It was my first time as well as the other three, but Hamzah had been here before. As expected, there were many people around but there were still many parking spaces available for visitors. This place was really HOT but only to those who love shopping and spending money on branded items.

With nothing to buy, we then headed to Pelangi Leisure Mall, for a night at the movie.

Group 1: Grey

Group 2: Journey 2

However, we had to divide ourselves into two groups as some people had watched "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island" before and these people settled for "Grey". Lucky enough, the show times for the two movies were almost the same which had posed no problem of waiting for the group which had finished the show first.

To wrap up the outing, we had dinner at the usual meet up restaurant near my house and by almost 11:00 p.m. we were on our way home already. Thanks guys for the fun time. After this there will be less people in the outing group as Hamzah is flying back to Christchurch in a fortnight so maybe we have to wait for the end of the year for this kind of thing to happen again.

QATAR ISLAMIC CULTURAL CENTRE

2012-02-04T05:57:00.000-08:00

So we had to settle for FANAR of the Qatar Islamic Cultural Centre and luckily there was an small scale exhibition held in the building.

this one copied from the Net because it was impossible to get a full view of this building

the elaborate information on the walls

some of the exhibits

beautiful khat (Islamic calligraphy) on display

On the first floor, there was a mosque which made our visit easier. There should be no worries of finding a place to pray in this country.

Al-Qur'an in different languages

the view from inside the building

the replica of the spiral minaret

I was glad that we had spent some time here in one of the significant landmarks of Doha. Click HERE if you want to find out more about FANAR.

CRUISING THE ROADS OF DOHA

2012-02-03T10:07:00.000-08:00

seen and recorded from a taxi

late evening

afternoon

THE BEAUTIFUL CORNICHE OF DOHA - PART ONE

2012-02-03T08:37:00.000-08:00

The earlier plan was to visit the Museum of Islamic Art, the while building that was on the background. Unfortunately the premise was closed on that day so we just stopped at a spot nearby. This was one end of a stretch of a curved land overlooking a beautiful turquoise ocean with boats floating on it, and a blue sky and glittering skyscrapers in the horizon.

a new book cover - "The Pearl" by John Steinbeck :)
"The pearl is evil, Kino" suddenly I remembered a line from the novel.

the spiral minaret was another landmark of Doha

The sun was shining brightly but the blowing wind was in fact very cold. So I was actually put in two extreme situations and you could see that expression clearly on my face.

Wish I could just stay and observe the scenery longer but there were other places to visit - and another spot of the Corniche as well.

DINING OUT - QATARI STYLE

2012-02-02T09:16:00.000-08:00

Mr. Razib wanted to let me get authentic Arab food so we settled for Al Bandar Restaurant which was situated at Souk Waqif. There were many choices of where we could be seated. At first we wanted to try the roof top but then it was too cold so we just sat on the second floor where it was much warmer. The food served, all of which I could not remember the names, came in a big portion. We even packed two pieces of uneaten bread for our breakfast the next morning.

You can always get this kind of food in Malaysia as there are many Arab restaurants operating nowadays. However, getting the chance to eat real Arab food in Souk Waqif was priceless.

(WINDOW) SHOPPING AT SOUK WAQIF IN DOHA

2012-02-01T08:11:00.000-08:00

This is definitely a must visit for tourists in Doha. Souk Waqif was like a big market that sold everything under the sun, Qatari style. The place looked old and original, as distinct from the usual shopping malls. Other than shops that operated until late at night, there were also restaurants serving food of different continents and we even found a Malaysian restaurant there. (Malaysia Boleh!)

outside a pet shop, selling mostly different types of birds

and now you can see Arab women outside the pet shop

One good thing about Souq Waqif was that you could still do business transaction with local and real Arab people, which was different from Dubai. You had to be there, not only to see but also to experience the sweet smell that lingered in the air as you walked around the area. It could be the aroma of spices, shisha or that kind of aromatic wood like cinnamon that people burned either in the shops, or even outside.

no Malaysian food, please

According to Mr. Razib, the shops open only at 4:00 p.m. daily. We were there at about 8:00 p.m. We thought we were late but to our surprise, the crowd started to grow as it drew nearer to midnight.

Here would be the best place to buy souvenirs but I did not buy any (except some fridge magnets for my colleagues) as I had doubt the items were locally produced. And I had seen similar products in the duty free shop in Dubai Airport when I was there waiting for my connecting flight to Doha at lower prices. The bargaining skills would still come in handy here.

Perhaps if we had more time, we could explore more. But we were there for dinner, we were quite exhausted by that time and had to go back home to Al Khor which was an hour's drive away. The visit was a short but one it was a memorable experience shopping and dining in Qatar.

A SHORT STOP AT THE STATE MOSQUE OF QATAR

2012-01-31T08:55:00.000-08:00

love at first sight - upon arrival

I was lucky enough that we managed to stop at this majestic building to perform the Maghrib and Isya' prayers. According to my friend, Mr. Razib, he had been here a few times but the mosque was not opened.

ablution room

the main hall

According to THIS SITE, the State Mosque of Qatar is now known as Sheikh Muhammad Ibn Abdul Wahab Mosque and was only officially opened about one month ago.

beautiful chandeliers everywhere

It was already dark so we had no time to explore the surrounding area. However, from my limited observation of the mosque, everything was spectacular. I just loved the many chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, not only in the main praying hall but also in the foyer of the mosque, that lit up and gave a life to the whole building.

view of Doha city when the sky was not that dark yet, from the mosque

... and now the sky had darkened

And I simply love these two pictures captured by my compact camera :)

WALKING ALONG KATARA BEACH IN DOHA

2012-01-30T06:56:00.001-08:00

This should be one of the tourist attractions in Doha but definitely not in this kind of temperature though - a bit cold to hang around the beach. That should be a good sign for people running away from their busy lifestyle. We were there at about 4:00 p.m. and dusk was already approaching. Remember in winter, daylight is shorter than night. However, the scene was absolutely beautiful and I would not mind sitting there looking at the sea for hours (if the weather is good, that is).

The do's and dont's - mostly dont's. Good news, there will be SPOT THE ERROR section for you, taken from this sign board later.

The whole place looked quite new to me. Nevertheless, the scene would definitely be merrier in summer, no doubt. I will come back to Doha during another season next time then.

A FISHING VILLAGE IN AL KHOR

2012-01-29T02:51:00.000-08:00

This was the fishing village near Al Khor. It did not look like a village though. Al Khor is known to be one of the places well-known for its fishing activities (according to my reading from the Net). The people working there, like the fishermen and the fishmongers sounded and looked Indians to me so I guess the Arabs are now only the top management people. There were no locals that could be seen nearby.

These things are called "gir gur", or is it "gur gir" - I am not sure of it anymore. They work as fish traps once submerged in the sea, I guess that is how the things work by their physical feature,

There is also a fish market which supplies fresh catch from the sea. Other than fish, I could see crabs and big-sized prawns on sale that day.

A resting place with the palms of date tress put as the roofs could be very economical. I have never thought that it could be reused in that kind of manner. If only the same method could be done here in our country, then we will be able to save a lot.

A COMPANY HOUSE FOR AN ENGINEER WORKING WITH A QATARI OIL COMPANY

2012-01-28T05:35:00.000-08:00

Other than featuring the places I managed to visit, my blog is also some sort of one of those decor magazines that has pictures of beautiful houses people have. So let's look how is it like to live a life in a squarish but luxurious house (according to my standard) in Al Khor, Qatar.

the neighbourhood

the front view
[picture published the 2nd time :)]

the main hall

the dining area

the kitchen

entrance

the master bedroom

two rooms converted into a study and a praying room
(there are four rooms altogether and a separated room for the maid at the back outside the house)

two of the four bathrooms are equipped with bathtubs and the laundry room

view from the rooftop

With this kind of accommodation provided, I do not mind moving to Qatar. The question is: will the company employ any English teacher? I have to start writing my resume now.

By the way, if you are wondering where Al Khor is located in Qatar, here is the map for you to refer:

HOME SWEET HOME - AFTER 4 DAYS IN DOHA AND DUBAI

2012-01-27T11:39:00.000-08:00

4:00 a.m. [Dubai time] - Leaving Dubai from Dubai Airport, slept on the plane most of the time.
3:00 p.m. [Malaysian time] - arriving in KLIA.
7:00 p.m. - Bus leaving TBS, slept again throughout the journey
11:30 p.m. - Safely arrived home.

3:45 a.m. - Now cannot sleep *help*

After being away in countries of different time zones, by now, my biological clock is in confusion. I have two days to rest and be ready to get back to work. Hopefully by Sunday I will be rejuvenated and will be able to get back to the real life. And I will try my very best to write and post pictures of the travel in the blog, for those who might be interested - real soon.

"No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow"
~ Lim Yutang ~

BLOGGING FROM DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

2012-01-25T12:37:00.000-08:00

Burj Al Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, in the background

I am already in Dubai, continuing the so-called Middle East expedition although it was just a very short trip. Nevertheless, so far, I have seen quite a lot and hopefully will be able to share my experience with you very soon. See you later, alligator!

BLOGGING FROM DOHA, QATAR

2012-01-23T22:40:00.000-08:00

"The travelling bug has hit you again," wrote my friend, Christina Chan, in her comment on my FB wall. Yes, I am already here in Doha, Qatar, for a very short trip in conjunction with the Chinese New Year break. Thanks abound to my ex-schoolmate, Mr. Mohd. Razib Nordin, for inviting me to come over and play host for four days.

in front of the house of a Qatari oil and gas company employer

He is staying in Al Khor, an hour drive away from the city centre. I am lucky in a way as the weather is now cold, at times the temperature is below 10 degrees Celcius so I do not have to experience the extreme heat of the desert.

the host coming home from the night shift work

Doha at night
[viewed from the mosque I did not know the name]

I have a few more hours to explore Doha before heading to Dubai. Be ready to read more of my middle east trip soon. Happy holidays everybody.

SPOT THE ERROR 19

2012-01-21T06:18:00.000-08:00

You must try the food of new different TAST. You should try the MASROOM chicken rice. And do not forget the DRUMSTICK CHICKEN.

SPOTTED AT THE FOOD COURT AT TBS, BANDAR TASIK SELATAN

WELCOMING THE YEAR OF THE (WATER) DRAGON

2012-01-20T10:41:00.000-08:00

After 13 days of schooling days, another school break suddenly is here again. It is the Chinese New Year and only this time people have become more specific - it is the year of the water dragon. All this while it has been only dragon, in general. Maybe there are sky dragon and land dragon too.

With 10 days of school holidays, I guess everyone will be having a good time or at least enough time to rest. To all my friends, colleagues, students and ex-students, "gong xi fa cai" and may Uncle Dragon bring prosperity to all of us. And thanks a lot to all the kind people who have been showering me with oranges and many other CNY goodies. I sure smell of oranges these few days.