Antara Doha dan Jakarta March 21, 2009

Jakarta is just as ‘macet’ as I remember it and the two-day forum was as packed as I had expected it to be. But having the forum in Jakarta was a nice change of environment. Me and my colleagues from the MENA countries were treated with 1st class treatment by our host in typical Asian style hospitality. We were chauffeur driven from day to night, served with authentic Indonesian cuisines and believe it or not, followed around by our ’in-house papparazi’ everywhere we went.       

The forum was initially planned in Bali but had to be changed to our host’s office in Jakarta due to Bali having a ‘vacation flavour’. The last thing we want is to be accused of having a blast in a resort while we actually work our ass off. Anyways, it didn’t really matter much to me, in fact I actually prefer Jakarta to Bali, at least I get to see my nieces and nephew that I missed so very dearly. It was a rather brief ‘hi & bye’ as they left for school while I left for work early in the morning and they were asleep by the time I got home. I also managed to catch up with an old colleague / friend that I have been keeping in touch with, even after I left my old company. I absolutely loved the food in Indonesia and savoured every drop from mouth watering kuih-muih to delicious dishes and did I mention hard-to-resist durian? Fuhh, best giler! I also brought back to Doha 2 boxes of kek lapis and 2 boxes of bika ambon. I didn’t realize how heavy the cakes were but definitely well worth carrying along what with the stopover in Singapore with the 4 boxes in tow…

Coffee or Tea? March 12, 2009

Fenomena ‘tea lady’ is non existent in Qatar. Over here, pembikin2 teh atau kopi are men. Typically, these ‘tea boys’ are smartly dressed in white shirts, vest and a bow tie. Ala2 waiter kat hotel 5-star gitu. In our office, each floor has its own dedicated tea boys. The one that is assigned to my unit is a very efficient young man from India. He is the one that prepares and serves me coffee every morning without fail. Over the months, he has perfected the coffee to my liking. So you see, it’s not just bancuh-ing the drinks, he can actually customize it to each person’s preference. Nak lebih gula ke, nak lebih kopi ke, nak lebih creamer ke, you name it. I am not a real hard core coffee drinker. Though I love the smell of those gourmet coffee served in sidewalk cafes and chic cafes, my eyes would be wide open all night long if I even take a few sips. Paling kuat, I would go for the caramel ones, huh, even latte tastes bitter to my tounge! Talk about trying to look cool hanging out at cafes. Vanilla or hazelnut flavored drinks would do for me.

Anyway, nak jadi cerita, the reliable teaboy recently had a family emergency back in his home country. So off he went for a 3-month leave. At first I thought he’d be gone for a couple of days. So I made my own coffee in the mornings as the temporary replacement didn’t make good ones. Now that I know he’ll be gone quite a while, looks like I have to give instructions to the new guy on how I like my coffee done or I’ll be deprived of my morning dose. I hope I won’t have to switch to 3-in-1 Nescafe sachets soon.

Talking about my coffee experience brings back memories of my first taste of espresso back in the U.S. way before the birth of Starbucks and the likes of it. My friends and I had gone to a Paula Abdul concert (biar betul…?!) and decided to go for coffee and desserts after that. This place by the Santa Monica beach was quite popular at that time, I’ve no idea whether it still exists. I still remember the name – Cheesecake Factory. As the name suggests, it served a variety of mouth watering cakes. Ahh, again this was way before Secret Recipe was born so macam jakun la at that time. The espresso I had that nite lasted me the whole night, and probably the night after too! Ahaks!

Mum & Dad’s Coming March 7, 2009

After almost a year of pujuk rayu to my parents, the dates of their visit to Qatar is finally confirmed. We were targeting last December holidays, but December is a busy month for my dad with so many istana functions falling on that month as it co-incides with the ruler’s birthday. Then there’s of course the typical orang tua2 reasons for not being able to travel – fear of living their house. Not that we have ayam itik to feed at the house, or David Copperfield will drop by and make the house disappear. But actually, this fear is made worst by a bad experience we had back in 2002 when the whole family travelled to Europe to visit my brother. At that time, drug addicts were aplenty in that neighbourhod, so anything left unguard is subject to burglary. We were the unfortunate victims and so the fear continues..

March and April will go by in a jiffy. Last week, I spent 3 out of 5 days attending training. This coming week I suspect I will be clearing up last week’s backlog. Then the following week I will be off to Jakarta for a meeting. I will arrive back to Doha on the same day my parents are scheduled to arrive. 10 minutes before my flight arrives, if I may add. They will insyaAllah spend 2 weeks here in Doha. Kids are in school so the only time to jalan2 will be after work. My mum has hinted on making a trip to Dubai as she has never been there. So if this is to happen, we need to fly there on one of the two weekends that they’re here. And lastly, one day after they leave back to KL, I will insyaAllah be making the divine journey to Mekah for Umrah by road.

Oh, these coming weeks will be filled with such exciting things! I am now busy making the list of food supply to be topped up from Malaysia, looking forward to eating my mum’s cooking, shopping for the necessities for the Umrah trip, and all these of course while trying hard to focus on work!

Rombongan Cik Kiah ke Padang Pasir March 2, 2009

After much deliberation – to join or not to join – we ended up joining the sand dune trip organized by the defacto official community association. Though we are (paid) members of the association, we haven’t been joining their activities all that much, apart from the couple of makan2 functions at embassy. Initially we were very the berkobar to join in order to make new friends, but after a while we noticed the same old faces and sad to say, the same old cliques. Nevertheless, we do join once in a while for the sake of socializing and networking. And in this particular event, we thought it’s good to show our moral support and lend a hand to those in need of our help since we are the self-acclaimed regulars in the duning arena. 

Hubby and gang were at the last moment asked to become ‘marshalls’ for the trip. This simply meant leading the way for the troop of 35 4WD. Though the other marshalls decided not to bring their families along, we decided to proceed with the kids as they loved the ride anyway. After getting everyone together at Sealine beach, the rombongan was divided into three groups. Hubby was in charged of Group A in which the ambassador and so-called VIPs were a part of. The overall journey was not too bad, but of course, kereta sangkut were absolutely unavoidable in a group as large as this, with half of them being duning virgins. Needless to say, this is part and parcel of sand duning which adds the salt and pepper to an otherwise boring trip.

Solat Jumaat was held at Inland sea itself. My intention to search for kupang was however destroyed as it was such a brief stop as we had to turn back towards the campsite to catch for the remaining hours. The campsite as it turned out, was not so easily accessible with soft sand and steep slopes surrounding it. The BBQ dinner was not quite ready yet but the making of bubur asyura kelate version was definitely interesting. A super large ‘kawah’ like those used for making ‘dodol’ in the kampungs was perched on top a customized ‘tungku’ where Chef Aini began throwing the ingredients. I have never tasted this bubur before and managed to only catch the smell as it took 4-8 hours to thoroughly cook it and by that time we had already left.. These are some of the things I would never experience even in our own home country!

Well, bubur or no bubur, I still enjoyed the trip very much. And since the sun was blazing hot this weekend (is winter over? uwaaaahhh!) the next day was spent soaking ourselves in the swimming pool while Hubby believe it or not, still managed to participate in a golf tournament as early as 6am the next day.