Mr Crabby November 29, 2008

 

 

Crabbing or pi tangkap ketam kat laut, is a popular activity among Malaysians come winter. Being first timers in this new activity, a whole lot of theories were debated prior to this outing. Do we have to wait for full moon? What time should we start? How deep into the water should we go? Do we just poke the crab with a spear or use a glove? What to do if the crab ’sepit’ you with its claws? What to bring? What to wear? ……

After missing several invites to go crabbing with our friends in the last few weeks, finally, last nite, we joined the RG clan in our first crabbing experience. We left Doha rather early since night time begins at 4.45pm these days. The location was somewhere between Simaisma and Al Khor. The exact name of the beach, I have no idea. We arrived at the camp spot minutes before sunset, giving us just enough time to set up the canvas top – not that we needed it since there was no sunshine but what the heck, it did enhance the camping ambience. Each family also brought a small tent which was mainly for the kids to lepak in. An Indonesian RG friend of the guys - an expert no doubt regular camper – brought a generator set, which generously lit the whole camp area. Ah, the joy of having such facility! 

Armed with newly purchased spears (thanks to Ifwan), buckets tied around their waist and torch lights, off went the guys to the sea. It was pitch dark and I can just imagine how cold the water was. Even we ladies who were waiting at the camp site were shivering in our sweaters and socks. Temperature must have been around 15C that nite as it has been drizzling earlier that morning. While waiting for the amateur nelayans to come back with the hasil tangkapan laut, the ladies devoured the food and bbq-ed the other stuff like chicken wings, sausages and satay.

After what seemed like hours – it did got me worried looking at the dot of light fading away some kilometers away in the sea – the men came back with the much awaited crabs! And a couple of huge sotongs too! I have to admit that I wasn’t so optimistic about them getting any since there was absolutely no moon that night. After a quick cleaning and rinsing of the crabs, they immediately landed on the bbq pit. Fresh and juicy. Nampak macam sikit, tapi tak habis makan la jugak. The highlight of the night must have been our Indonesian friend strumminng his keyboard, powered by his generator. Yeap, macam kat coffee house la pulak. Hubby as usual, became the self appointed lead singer and later joined by the others, kalah boy band! All that’s missing was the shisha!   

We made our move late into the night and reached home at midnight. Next time we plan to sleep over, baru real sikit..

Dhow Cruisin’ November 23, 2008

 

As a Business Unit that tries hard to be attentive to its staff needs and in the hope of scoring a higher employee engagement index, our Business Unit organized yet another outing yesterday, the second one for the year. About 50 families joined the short dhow cruise to Al-Saflia Island. This island is really tiny – less than 1 square km. We sailed on the traditional looking dhow from Al-Bandar Corniche, a short 20 minutes’ ride. Breakfast was served on board, though we had already gone for parata & puri in Al Sadd earlier that morning. As the waters surrounding the island was shallow, we had to transfer into a speedboat to reach there.

The weather was surprisingly hot with the sun blazing, but the sea water was cold. Zalman & Syam, my two Malaysian colleagues also joined the trip, so in the end we stuck to the same old gang. Not much socializing there. Thank God Zalman brought a small tent, so we camped ourselves some distance from the chaotic crowd near a shady hut. The kids as usual were occupied with sand castling and collecting seashells. With fishing rods in hand, the guys attempted to fish on the opposite side of the island. Hubby brought small shrimps as bait (20 riyal sekilo tuh..) but unfortunately, Zalman was the only one who managed to catch one miserably tiny fish. But kudos for the effort!

Other activities included banana boat, donut boat, jet ski, henna painting and games. Hubby and I went on the jet ski but it was such a short 5 minutes ride. Myisha and I wanted to go for henna pinting but the henna lady kept disappearing from her seat due to multi tasking by the event organizer. So today, I have no choice but to henna paint Myisha’s hand with my own crafting. The games were dominated my the arab kids, so no chance for my kids to participate. And oh, did I mention the irritating broken arabic-english of the games coordinator?

Everyone was so exhausted and hit the bed early, especially the mummy! Age must be catching up with me..

Winter’s Here! November 19, 2008

Yahoo! Winter’s officially in Doha! At last, gone are the days of sweaty armpits and shiny faces. It is not yet the peak, but at least it’s cool and nice. My favourite stores in the malls have long started carrying their winter line of clothings. Oh so cool looking are the clothes that I am so tempted to ’borong’ them. The mannequins on displays are winter dressed from top to toe - chic barrets, soft checkered muflers, wide collared belted jackets, and of course the must-have boots. Dressing mengalahkan winter kat Switzerland! Padahal, weather baru macam kat Genting Highlands. Kalau my Nordic colleague, weather camni is summer to him. 

I can’t wait for my flowers in the garden to bloom – though my pandan and serai have gone dry and wrinkly and can no longer be rescued. Soon, no more beach and pool time for the kids as we move towards more wintery activities. We have yet to try our hands on crabbing, we just missed the crabbing trip our friends made last weekend as I was still travelling.    

Two more weeks school term will be over. But time out for play is too short these days. The sun sets before 5pm, giving the kids little time for bikes and rollerblades. The hours after school is cramped with lunch, a little bit of rest and then mengaji, as pak ustaz who is the muazzin at the mosque next door has to rush back before maghrib.

I am already looking forward to the super long Eid holidays coming soon – 10 whole days! After that, I will be back in the office for 2 days (cukup syarat) and off to another 10-day holiday with my family. I so deserve this long break – work hard, play hard!

Hola Barcelona November 15, 2008

Hola my dear friends! I’m blogging this entry from Avenida Palace Hotel, right smack in Plaza Catalunya, Barcelona. This is my fourth nite here and I’ll be heading back to Doha tomorrow evening. This city is exactly as I remember it from my first trip here back in 2007. As I had already done all my sightseeing with my good friend Halijah back then, this time the focus is on the conference shopping!

For three consecutive nights, I walked back and forth La Ramblas in the chilly weather. 15C and I’m already freezing. The street is lively every single night - street jugglers trying to earn some euros, florists selling colourful flowers that I so wish I can grow in Doha, souvenir stores that try to rip you off, artists doing caricatures and scenic paintings, authentic little theatres, and rows and rows of cobbled alleys in between - this place is simply happening! And the food – I love the tapas and the somewhat salty paella – though I have to dine alone. I walked until my feet were killing me and I couldn’t help but envy the stylo mylo Spanish chicks in their high heeled boots. I guess they must have been born in those boots!

‘Bicing’ is a common sight in Barcelona – red & white bicycles used by the locals to get from one place to another. At the conveniently located stations, one can collect or drop the bikes using a subcribed membership card. Cool ain’t it?

It is weird how Spanish is spoken by default to greet people in restaurants and stores when making purchases though the customers are obviously not Spanish speaking. Not as bad as French though. I couldn’t recall any Spanish phrases which I learned from my Spanish telenovela days apart from ‘hola’ and ‘gracias’. At least my kids taught me how to count in Spanish, courtesy of Dora the Explorer! Even the TV has hardly any English channels. Most shows use Spanish voice overs including MTV. But, more surpises on what’s shown on TV when midnights comes!

On the last day in the city of flamenco, I decided to visit the places I didn´t have the opportunity to go to last time – Arc de Triomph – not unlike the one in Paris and Marble Arch in London. Hopping on and off the metro subway, I also took another look at Sagrada Familia the famous cathedral with ancient carvings, which unfortunately, was still clad in scaffolding, just as it was when I saw it 2 years ago. I also went up some 600m up to the viewpoint of Mirador de Colon – an iron tower commemorating Christopher Columbus. Nasib baik naik lift, but gayat jugak as the floor was uneven and muat2 sorang lalu je.

I shall miss my dine alone tapas moments and daily trips to Zara. It is cheaper than Doha ok, so well justified! Nasib baik that street hardly has any designer stores of my liking, or else more holes would have been burned in this lil pocket of mine..

Adios people!

Lunch Do November 8, 2008

For two consecutive weekends, lunch outing has been on the agenda. Last week, we all went to check out a local restaurant that serves local dishes on the extra large platter ala ‘nasi dulang’. This kind of traditional set-up is aplenty in Muscat which we used to frequent with our friends. When we moved to Doha, we were rather suprised that none of them had been to such a place. And so our hunt for the nasi dulang begins..

Finally, last weekend, we made a visit to Al-Behleez, a restaurant which has the traditional sit-down family area. Due to the number of people in our group, we split into three areas – men, women and kids. It was a bit cramped, but the more the merrier! The food was brilliant - yummy briyani topped with grilled chicken and tender lamb. We didn’t bother with the plates and were more than happy to dip our hands into the tray of rice.

After we finished eating, Fasha surprised everyone with a birthday cake – a celebration of the September, October & November babies in our group including me, Hubby, Noreen, Nani, Own, Haziran & Khai. Great fun indeed!   

As the weather in Doha gets cooler, the Corniche becomes a popular spot for picnics. So yesterday, we decided to all go for a lunch picnic. The menu was nasi campur, with each family bringing one dish, as agreed in our trails of messages brought possible through FB. As if we don’t meet every weekend these days, FB seems to be the defacto mode of comunication. Kari udang from me, daging masak hitam by Fasha, ikan tiga rasa by Norma, ayam masak cili kering by Nani, sup sayur by Noreen, sup tulang Singapore by Ima and sambal petai sotong by Siti. Not forgetting the most important nasi putih from Ika and drinks from the bachelors’ club. Also desserts including puding jagung (who else but me), puding caramel, jelly, cake & banana. It was really quite a feast we had there!

My friends and family back home can never understand I guess, the frequency of my little picnics by the beach or park, as this is something I never ever do in Malaysia. But hey, this is life in Doha! Kalau tak sekarang, bila lagi?

Nostalgia November 5, 2008

It was a short business trip jam packed with programs. Nevertheless, treading the clean streets of Muscat, with breathtaking views of the mountains, still managed to bring back the memories. I was there for only two whole days. The days were filled with stimulating discussions as the QI global fraternity put our heads together to synergize and strategize. The venue was Crowne Plaza, Muscat. A hotel by the beach. The exact same beach we so often took the kids to, in the sunny Friday afternoons not so long ago.  

I arrived Muscat at midnite, giving no time to meet any of my old friends. The next day, after the conference was over, the organizer surprised us with a treat – a mini city tour followed by dinner. Although I knew this city well, I decided to join the enthusiastic crowd for the tour. We were taken to the Al-Alam Palace at the old town of Muscat, then to Bait Al Zubair museum. Believe it or not, I had not been to any museums while I was living there! The weather was lovely, and since it was just before sunset, I had the time of my life snapping away on my D60. The bus then dropped us to the famous Mutrah Souq, where souvenir-shopping was the agenda. I proudly showed my newly met Indonesian colleague around the Souq, remembering the shops I used to stop for pashminas and other local trinkets. Last but not least, we were taken for dinner at Kargeen. Another rush of nostalgia hit me as this cool restaurant had witnessed my farewell party almost a year ago.. My colleagues from Indonesia, Kuwait, Algeria, Palestine & Maldives totally loved the ambience there. Instead of the 1 hour originally planned, we ended up chilling out there for hours, laughing over the apple vapour from the shisha.

The second day, our conference continued and ended at 4pm. With an 8pm flight to catch, this gave me hardly any quality time to go meet my old friends. Fortunately, K.Rohaya & Haji managed to spare some time to pick me at the hotel. A trip to Muscat wouldn’t have been complete without the mouth watering shawarma from Yahya’s, so terpaksa la ‘parcel’ untuk Hubby who’s waiting in Doha.

To Oja & K.Lynn – sori tak sempat jumpa. I understand that you all pun busy jugak and my tight schedule was not much help either. I am sure there will be a next time..

 

(Another) Trip to Inland Sea November 1, 2008

Yup, another trip to Khor Al Udaid. And nope, so far, we still haven’t got bored of it and in fact still looked forward to it as if it was our first time. This time around, 12 cars all together. Apart from 2-3 ’seasoned’ dune drivers, the rest were first-timers. Weather was more pleasant at this time of the year, as summer is about to end. The meeting point as usual, was Sealine beach at 7am. Those from city section were to meet at 6.15am at Hyatt Plaza. Why was I not surpised that we were the first to arrive? As expected, the first hour was spent deflating the tyres, drivers’ briefing and so forth. We finally made our move slightly after 8am.

Somehow, this particular group I felt, was less ‘disciplined’, hence a lot of Patrol-to-the rescue moments. Me, being in the Patrol myself, letih jugak la walaupun tak lift a single finger in the rescuing. Ye lah, kan dah up and about since 4.30am. We finally reached our camp base by the beach at almost noon. Kids hit the water while the adults hit the food. The sun was blazing, but the sea breeze could put one to sleep. Unlike the last trip in which we only had an hour to spend, this time we spent a couple of hours lazing around.

At about 3pm, we received news that it was raining at Sealine and the dark clouds were coming. Rain in Doha? A suprise, indeed. We started packing and made our way back. Initially, we couldn’t find a suitable way out as we had to ensure all the cars could get through. After getting tips from a passer-by, we turned back and it was a smooth ride from that point on. The rain hit hard for a while, we were just all so excited macam tak pernah tengok hujan. As the sun began to set, the combination of dunes, sunset and rain made really nice views. We bumped into a group of locals having fun showing of their skills doing stunts and had a good time watching them. As we reached Sealine, the beach was jam packed with quad bikers, macam ada pesta. The after-rain weather gave a cooling effect as our group started to fill up our tyres before hitting the highway home.

As we reached Doha, we stopped over for a dinner of tomyam, steamed fish and kerabu mangga. Hmmm, best! Thank god my tummy tak meragam throughout the journey as it had been acting during the last few days.. Here’s some pics from the trip, enjoy!