QA: Duststorm...

Today, bandaraya Doha dilanda ribut debu/pasir...

Sorry, gambar kurang clear...





~ MT@Qatar
~~ Ibn Mahmoud, Doha

~~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~~

QA: Ayurvedic

Hari Ahad malam aku gi jalan-jalan ke kawasan al-Sadd. Biasa le, my gym membership dah tamat so terpaksa gak jalan-jalan nak burn those calories and maintain waist.

Masa jalan-jalan kawasan belakang Toys R Us, ternampak ada satu massage center, International Massage Center. Kawasan ni penuh dengan clinics mostly specialist. This massage center is the ayurvedic massage. QAR100 per hour. Mahal sikit compare to Malaysia coz back home you can get half the price for the same duration.

Berbalik pada ayurvedic ni, aku pun ok le. Nak massage. Sebelum ni aku pernah baca dalam paper and internet pasal ayurvedic ni. So dalam hati ingat sama le i.e. baring on your back and the masseur alirkan minyak ayurvedic on your forehead. Lebih kurang macam tu lah.

Bila aku dah baring tu, aku tanya masseur tu. Macam mana massage. Dia cakap macam biasa je. Aku cuba explain pasal cara yang aku tengok kat paper and internet. Dia cakap balik benda tu tak boleh buat kat Qatar. Government tak luluskan. Frust jugak. Tak faham lak apasal tak boleh buat macam tu. Tapi since aku dah agree, tak kisah lah. Massage biasa pun ok lah. Tu satu hal.

Pah tu, dia bawak le minyak nak urut aku. Aku tanya minyak apa. Dia cakap olive oil and baby oil (yang Johnson & Jonhson tu). Terkezut aku. Ayurvedic apa ke jadah guna olive oil and baby oil. Aku tanya ayurvedic punya minyak tak de ke? Dia cakap ada, tapi ayurvedic oil ni berbau sikit. Aku cakap takkisah, aku nak jugak. Lepas dia bawa tu, memangberbau pun minyak tu. Dia letak atas stove untuk panaskan. Pahtu baru lah urut.

Bagus gak urut dia. Satu jam - 30 mins for each side (depan belakang). Lepas urut tu, jangan mandi lagi. Kena tunggu lepas 1 jam baru boleh mandi.

Bau minyak memang kuat. Baju and seluar yangaku pakai, memang kena basuh terus lepas tu. even, my bodystill smells the oil even after shower.

Overall, it was a good experience.

Balik Malaysia nanti, aku nak detox lak. Plan je lah tu, jadi ke tak, tak tau lagi. Nak buat hydro-colon therapy (betul ke term ni??)...

~MT@Qatar
~~ Ibn Mahmoud, Doha

~~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~~

QA: Naughty Bear

Dapat gambar ni dalam mailing list. Just to share with you. Are these bears trying to tell us something???? I let you to interpret it....

~MT@Qatar
~~ Ibn Mahmoud, Doha

~~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~~

QA: Budak Kaca Mata WebEx

Tadi aku beli new sunglasses. Tak silap aku, this is my third one. The first one entah ke mana letaknya. Second one, mula-mula beli tu okay je. Bila dah mula pakai, tak selesa lak. Brand Hugo Boss. So, aku bagi le kat adik aku. Buat naik motor.

The latest one, Ray Ban. Tengok gambar kat bawah. 30% discount. Tu yang aku beli tu. Sebab aku ni pakai glasses, kalau nak bergaya ngan sunglasses, kena le pakai contact lens. Jadi aku beli contact lens jugak.

Kat Doha sekarang ni, panas sangat. According to news, the summer comes early this year. Last year, tak le sepanas ni during the same period. Sekarang ni, the day time temperature isaround 40 degrees celsius. Panas sangat. Kalau keluar lunch tu, boleh terasa hangaton your skin. Humidity tak le tinggi sangat so tak de berpeluh pun.

Pada malamnya, aku buat online training – internal training for my company. Ni macam siaran langsung dari US… nasib baik dok kat Qatar… kalau Malaysia, mahu dah 2 pagi. Macam mana nak webcast training ni. 2 jam jugak le aku mengadap laptop ni.

Training ni sku sepatutnya dialing US number. Kalau kat US or Europe, ada toll-free number. Tapi dok kat Qatar ni, tak de lak. Suruh aku dial toll number. Gila ke!!! Mana mau bayar cost. Dah le Qtel ni charge mahal-mahal. Company lak tak nak bayar. Teruk kan.. So masa training tu jadi macam cerita Charlie Chaplin pulak. Ye le, tengok slides by slides, tapi tak de suara dengar.

Buat WebEx/webcast training ni bagus gak. Connect lap top and register that you are online and pergi le buat kerja lain. Pah tu, dapat credit hours. Kat company aku, aku kena kumpul 40 credit hours per calendar year. Sekarang ni, baru nak cecah 10 credit hours.

~MT@Qatar
~~ Ibn Mahmoud, Doha

~~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~~

QA: Kebesaran Allah....

Dah lama dapat ni, dalam beberapa tahun yang dulu.. anyway, nak berkongsi dengan semua (sapa yang semua tu? aku pun tak tahu... macam le ramai yang baca blog ni.. hehehe)












~MT@Qatar
~~ Ibn Mahmoud, Doha

~~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~~

QA: Berkibar Bendera Di Angkasa....

Dalam paper (Star online) hari ni, May 23, 2006 ada news pasal new FT flag... sekali pandang, macam Venezuela flag pulak..

Datuk Zulhasnan unveiling the new FT flag....









Venezuela Flag... lebih kurang je kan.. boleh jadi sister countries.. hehehe..









http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/5/24/nation/14331219&sec=nation

~MT@Qatar
~~ Dafna, Doha

~~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~~

QA: Human Mind

Aku stumble across this page tadi. Quite interesting. Aku tried two tests - fake smile vs genuine smile (didn't do very well) and the Photo Competition related to sleep loss. Not bad score for recognition (have u seen or not) - dapat 92% but for temporal (where do u see it) - dapat 68% je.

Try it out...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/

~MT@Qatar
~~ Ibn Mahmoud, Doha

~~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~~

QA: me MALU kan.....

Memalukan Malaysia saja.....

Published: Tuesday, 23 May, 2006, 09:57 AM Doha Time

Malaysian pleads guilty to credit card fraud

A Malaysian national pleaded guilty to five counts of credit card fraud at his second hearing in the criminal court yesterday. So Soon Teck, a 38-year-old cook who entered Qatar on a visit visa, admitted to possessing and using cloned credit cards, forging signatures and defrauding Atlas Jewellery of QR12,000 worth of goods. The bench, comprising Justices Salah El Sharif, Mohamed Tawarsi and Dr Usama El Shenawi, set May 29 for judgment and sentencing. Under Qatar’s new Criminal Code, formulated in 2004, So faces a maximum sentence of five years jail and/or a fine of QR10,000. “This is the first time we are trying credit card crimes, and also the first time we are trying a Malaysian national in our court,” Justice Salah said in chambers. He assured that in sentencing, the bench would take into consideration So’s guilty plea which had saved the court time and costs.

Asked about the plaster cast on his left forearm, So said he had sustained a fracture when he slipped in the bathroom in Doha’s Central Jail, where he is being held in custody together with six other Malaysians. So is part of a group of five Malaysian nationals arrested on November 19 last year after the Criminal Investigation and Evidence Department’s new Anti-Economic Crimes Department (ACD) acted on tip-offs set in motion by a local bank. The five, who were caught from two locations, had in their possession 165 forged credit cards which, they admitted, they had used to buy goods worth QR296,835 from 11 shops.

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=87972&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16

~MT@Qatar
~~ Dafna, Doha

~~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~~

QA: Budu

Aku berbangga kerana budu kegemaran aku sampai ke tahap ini....

Cayalah!!!

Budu cap ketereh diiktiraf harta intelek
TUMPAT: Budu cap ketereh yang diusahakan seorang penduduk dekat Pengkalan Kubor di sini sejak 27 tahun lalu, dipercayai menjadi budu pertama negara ini yang diiktiraf sebagai harta intelek.

Berikutan pengiktirafan Perbadanan Harta Intelek Malaysia (PHIM) terhadap budu berlabelkan gambar dua biji buah ketereh (gajus) yang diusahakan Mat Ismail Jusoh, 55, di Kampung Ketil itu, ia kini dilindungi mengikut Akta Perlabelan.

Mat Ismail berkata, beliau mendaftar budu cap ketereh yang diusahakannya sebagai harta intelek bagi mengelak produknya ditiru pihak lain yang cuba mengambil kesempatan terhadap permintaan budunya yang baik di pasaran."Berikutan pengiktirafan ini, saya boleh mempertahankan lambang buah ketereh yang digunakan sebagai label budu yang saya hasilkan selama ini dan bertindak terhadap mereka yang menirunya bagi mengelirukan pengguna."Saya kini dalam proses mengambil tindakan undang-undang terhadap sebuah syarikat pengeluar budu yang sengaja mengguna botol serta label dua biji buah ketereh milik syarikat saya pada budu mereka," katanya.

Identiti budu keluaran syarikat Mat Ismail termasuklah botol yang mempunyai logo timbul dua biji buah ketereh yang ditempah khas dari Indonesia dan Thailand.Selain itu, label kandungan budu terbabit turut menyatakan ia sebagai harta intelek. Mat Ismail berkata, secara purata, syarikatnya mengeluarkan 1,000 dozen botol budu berkapasiti 200 mililiter (ml) setiap hari yang dihantar untuk pasaran seluruh negara.Beliau berkata, pihaknya juga akan mula mengeluarkan budu dalam botol kecil berkapasiti 60ml dan dipasarkan menerusi sebuah rangkaian pasar raya terkemuka tempatan, mulai bulan depan.

Katanya, dalam usaha membantu mengembangkan industri budu tempatan, pihaknya kini menerima 18 pelajar Kolej Universiti Sains Teknologi Malaysia (Kustem) dari Kuala Terengganu untuk menjalani latihan amali di kilang budunya.

http://www.bharian.com.my/m/BHarian/Tuesday/Nasional/20060522233133/Article/

~MT@Qatar
~~ Dafna, Doha

~~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~~

QA: Doha Setengah Tahun Lalu

Gambar ni di ambil pada 5 Nov 2004, kira-kiranya 1.5 tahun dulu. Sebelah kiri sekali tu (blue glass building) is Barzan Tower. Next to it (the completed building) is where I work - Court of Cassation and Court of Appeal. There are three buildings under construction at that time - the two on the left are Al-Nasr Twin Towers and on the right is Al-Jazi Tower.

The left tower of Al-Nasr Twins caught fire once - see my fotopages. Right now, that same burnt tower is now completed and in final stage before being commissioned. The other one, still need more works. Wonder why they completed the burnt tower first...

Al-Jazi Tower is already occupied now. Heard it houses Maersk Oil and few more companies.

There is anotehr tower nearly completed as well. In the photo, you can only see the crane - the most left. The building, Commercial Bank Plaza is nearly completed as well.

Well.. that was Doha then. Just 1.5 years ago.. Wonder how the skyline will look like when all the current constructions completed..

~MT@Qatar
~~ Dafna, Doha

~To Travel Is To Discover Oneself~

QA: tak de tajuk

Hari ni, seperti biasa, kat kerja tak de benda interesting.. same lame things. Aku kekadang dah fed-up ngan budak Amerika ni. Hopefully dapat cari kerja lain.

Lunch time, makan KFC. Ntah why aku tetiba break aku punya diet. Aku sekarang kurangkan carbs and eat less fried stuff. Siap tiga ketul ayam lagi...

Dinner, my friend, BI invited me to his apartment. Bukannya jauh, same building apartment above me. His wife, MV masak lebanese style meatloaf. Apa ke nama aku lupa le. Stayabout an hour pas tu terus aku cabut. Tak sembahyang maghrib lagi masa tu. Kat sini, maghrib dalam jam 6.20 petang and isyak dalam jam 7.45 malam.

Aku rasa-rasa Qatar patut tukar masa to follow UAE. Right now, Qatar is same as Saudi Arabia, one hour behind UAE.

Hari ni jugak, aku submit leave plan aku. Nak balik Malaysia bulan enam nanti (next month). Dapat tiket MH via Dubai (QR to Dubai and continue on with MH). Tengoklah kalau diapprovekan. Nanti aku cerita pasal plan balik Malaysia ni. The main reason aku balik sebab nak renew my work permit kat Singapore tu. Yup, my company is in Singapore with HQ in the US and nowI am working in Qatar... hebat kan hehehehe..

~MT@Doha
~~Ibn Mahmoud, Qatar

~~To Travel Is To Discover Oneself~~

QA: Nombor Oh Nombor

Dalam paper hari ni (May 21)..

No ‘6666666’ on auction block Sunday, May 21, 2006-->Web posted at: 5/20/2006 4:29:48Source ::: The Peninsula
doha • Qtel will be holding an auction on Monday at the Diplomatic Club for the vanity cellphone number ‘6666666’. Tickets to participate in the auction have been priced at QR3,000 and the proceeds will be donated to the Zakat Fund. Bidding for the number will start at QR1 million and multiples of QR100,000 thereafter.

Macam-macam Q-Tel ni.. kalau ye pun, improve le service dulu, pah tu reduce le sikit call charges tu... untung berbillion-billion... tapi return to the users, habuk pun tarak...

UPDATE

DOHA • An unknown bidder yesterday paid QR10m for the Easy-To-Remember mobile phone number 6666666, at an auction held by Qatar Telecom at the Diplomatic Club yesterday.

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&month=May2006&file=Local_News2006052351121.xml

~MT@Qatar
~~ Dafna, Doha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: Kahwin Or Not Kahwin...

Persoalan pokok entry ni. Idea nak tulis ni memang dah tercetus before this. Bila terbaca article dalam Berita Harian online hari ni (May 21) pasal kahwin kat negara Arab, now best time to write it. Tambah pulak in my Yahoo!Group high school alumni (ANSERI), ada gak discussion pasal ni. Ni full article kat Berita Harian...

http://www.bharian.com.my/m/BHarian/Sunday/Rencana/20060521111358/Article/

Kalau tak nak baca article tu, key points:

• 80% hutang di UAE akibat kos perkahwinan
• Di Saudi, puluhan ribu riyal kos bukan setakat kahwin, tetapi 'hutang' yang perlu dilunaskan jika bercerai
• Di Dubai, sekali anjur majlis kahwin, it costs around 240,000 Dhs (agak2 dalam RM281,200)
• Average perceraian di Saudi adalah 33 in a day

Pada pengamatan aku, ni le masalahnya bila kerja kahwin dibuat seolah-olah nak menunjukkan kekayaan atau status sosial di mata masyarakat. Dan jugak ditambah pulak family influence bila si anak nak kahwin. Yang nak kahwin si anak, bukannya mak bapak. Tapi yang paling sibuk mak bapak lak. Mungkin jugak disebabkan number of men is more than women, so the parents have to put higher price for their daughters?

Kat Qatar ni, si perempuan kalau nak kahwin dengan yang bukan Qatari, kena buat application and receive green light dari Marriage Committee. Untuk lelaki, tak kisah. Sebab tu le kalau tengak lelaki Qatari ramai yang kahwin ngan orang luar. Lagipun, kos nak kahwin ngan orang luar tak setinggi kahwin ngan perempuan Qatari.

Masalah ngan involvement from parents clearly can be seen bila tengok keadaan sekeliling. Berapa ramai lelaki Qatari yang dah ada bini & anak cari luar? Bini jaga anak kat rumah and lakinya bersoronok ngan kawan-kawan lelaki dan perempuan di other apartment yang dibeli khas untuk tujuan tu. Buat malu je .. tambah lagi orang Islam.... hampehh....!!!

Kat Malaysia pun tak kurang hebatnya. Tengok discussion my alumni group (ANSERI), di Kuala Lumpur, number of men is 200,000 more than women. Ni men in general, kalau ditolak ngan men yang dah jadi full-time women, it is around 20K-30K. So still available around 170,000 more. Ni tak termasuk gay, bisexual and yang dok atas pagar tak tahu group mana nak masuk... alih-alih, aku rasa masih lagi cukup to 1:1.Tapi apasal tak nak kahwin ye...

(statistik untuk Malaysia di atas tu aku tak tahu le mana sourcenya.. mungkin si pengirim get it from reliable source. So aku pakai ambik je).

Apa-apa pun, sapa tak nak kahwin kan. Ada anak, keluarga... seronok kan.

Aku ni, asyik dok ngomel je... diri sendiri belumkahwin lagi.. macam mana nak kahwin, calon pun tak de.. sediyy..sediyy... (oopppsss.. advert ke ni?)

~MT@Qatar
~~ Dafna, Doha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: Al-Bab al-daurah al-mayyah Discussion wa Security

Semalam aku ke gym. Terpaksa le sebab kalau dok sini tak de exercise, nampaknya banyak duit nak kena spend beli seluar/baju baru. Asyik makan carbs je.. satu serving equivalent to portion untuk tiga orang.. mana tak membesar.. So sekarang ni aku reduce carbs and kalau ambil pun, take low carbs.

Aku join gym kat Ramada hotel, tak jauh dari apartment aku. Dah nak expiry dah membership. Masa register dulu, ambil tiga bulan je. Tu pun cost around QR1800.. mahal giler.. Cadangnya ambil tiga bulan sebab nak balik Malaysia lepas tu. Tapi, nampak gaya tak jadi macam tu lak.. Ye lah, kita boleh dream je, Allah jua yang menentukannya.

Kat gym semalam buat cardio for around 45 mins – cross training, rowing and cycling.. Cross training machine tu betul-betul berhadapan pintu tandas perempuan (I mean bukannya betul2 depan pintu, few meters away). Masa aku mula-mula sampai gym, ada Sounth Indian couple ni dok berborak depan pintu ni. Yang pompuan at one edge and yang laki the other edge. So, kalau orang nak masuk tandas tu, terpaksa lalu between dia orang ni. Aku ingat dia orang ni kejap je lah berborak. Tapi sangkaan aku meleset. Lepas cross training, aku ke rowing and cycling. Dah nak hampir sejam aku pun nak balik le.. rupa-rupanya couple ni belum habis borak lagi.. Kalau nak berborak pun, cari le tempat lain.. Tak de etiquette langsung.

Bukannya aku guna tandas tu, tapi pandai-pandai le cari tempat nak berborak. Tambahan pulak tu tandas pompuan.. Patrons from the hotel’s Italian restaurant utilize that washroom.

On the way balik dari gym, macam biasa le aku singgah kat The Center. A small (heard is the first in Qatar) shopping center with very limited number of stores. Aku, kalau singgah, ada je benda yang aku beli. Selalunya food le. Maybe lepas gym and sauna, dah jadi lumrah kita crave for food. Kalau aku beli untuk aku sendiri, aku beli jugak bread for the security guards kat apartment aku. Aku selalu je bagi makan kat dia orang ni. Cuma kena berhati-hati sebab guards dari Nepal selalunya Hindu and don’t eat beef. So, kalau terbeli roti yang ada inti beef, bagi kat Muslim guards from Eritrea atau Sri Lanka.

Dulu sebelum aku balik for my long leave, yupp.. sebulan tak de gaji.. aku bagi few pakaian aku kat guards ni… seronok dia orang. Ye lah, gaji tak seberapa sangat, kerja 12 jam sehari for 7 days a week. Aku bagi baju, seluar dan kasut.. branded jugak le.. macam Mark & Spencer. So, tahan lama le sikit. Kalau aku bagi, aku selalunya bagi kat muslim guards. Bukannya diskriminasi, tapi that’s me. Aku selalu priority for muslim – maybe dah dalam hati setiap muslim to help other muslims… (or is this discrimination??).. don’t think so…

~MT@Qatar
~~ Ibn Mahmoud, Doha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

AE: Trip to Dubai May 5

Entry ni sepatutnya dah lama buat. Tapi, masa tu,aku tak de blogspot lagi. Aku ke Dubai for a weekend - my visa run. Biasa le Qatar ni, walaupun bagi one-year visa, every three months kena keluar nak renew. Nak bagi income kat Qatar Airways... hehehehe.. enjoy...

More photos at my fotopages.

Mall of the Emirates

Dubai Airport











~MT@Qatar
~~ Ibn Mahmoud, Doha

~~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~~

QA: Membaca Menambah Pengetahuan

Tengah surf internet nak cari kerja, tetiba ada link ke news page for the Gulf region. Apa lagi, aku click je and terus mencari tajuk-tajuk sensasi. Kat Gulf, aku notice paper suka sangat lapor benda-benda ‘pelik’. Maksud aku berita-berita yang mencelikkan mata yang mengantuk atau yang menaikkan semangat ketika lesu. Hiks..

Contohnya, hari tu Gulf Times kat Doha menyiarkan berita oghe jantang Tegganu nikoh ngang pasangannya umur seabad. Dua hari lepas, kalau tak silap, letak berita pasal pasangan kat Sarawak yang baru kahwin yang mana si suami menampar si isteri dan terus keluar sebab ada SMS ‘cinta’ dari secret admirer. Kalau nak berita-berita pasal Malaysia kat Doha ni, cerita-cerita macam tu lah.

Selain dari local news, cerita paling banyak dalam paper are about the activities going on kat the small South Asia continent – India, Sri Lanka, Nepal dan kawasan-kawasan lain yang sewaktu dengannya. Mentang-mentang le editors kat paper tu asal dari kawasan tu. Banyak lak berita dia.

Dah melalut sikit nih. Balik pada website pasal Gulf news yang aku jumpa tu. Ada satu berita ni, bukannya nak komen directly pasal apa yang dilaporkan, cuma nak bagitau tentang kehidupan kat sini. Ni excerpt dari webpage tu..

(Source: gulfnews.com)
Published: 05/18/2006 12:00 AM (UAE)

US woman and two Arabs to get 40 lashes

“An American woman and two Arab youths have been sentenced to 40 lashes each for drinking alcohol, a local daily paper said here yesterday.
Blood samples of the woman and the other two Arab nationals confirmed traces of alcohol while the Qatari's test was negative. The Upper Criminal Court issued its verdict on Tuesday acquitting the Qatari and sentencing the other three to 40 lashes.
Consumption of alcohol is prohibited to Muslims under Islamic law, although Qatar allows consumption to both Qatari nationals and expatriates in five-star hotel restaurants and bars.
Local court reports show that consumption of alcohol is growing among Qatari nationals and expatriates alike.
According to an editorial from Al Sharq newspaper, an increasing number of families are facing problems due to the consumption of alcohol by husbands”.

Begitulah kira-kira beritanya. Sedihkan.. Bukan sedih pasal ken 40 lashes tu, sediahkat isteri-isteri yang mana husband mereka tu kemaruk alcohol. I have seen with my own eye Qatari nationals while wearing their traditional dress (dish-dash or toub) are enjoying beer kat restoran (selalunya hotel le). Sah-sah dah Muslim sebab yang pakai jubah putih tu hanya Qatari muslim. Kalau tak Islam, tak pakainya jubah tu.

Manusia ni, bila ada rule prevent from doing something, benda tu lah yangkita nak buat. So, bila government block the consumption to alcohol, they will use millions of ways to get it. Nasib baik tak de kilang todi haram. Kat sini, hanya residence yang ada permit je dapat beli alcohol. Yang peliknya, residence yang beragama Islam pun dapat permit. Macam mana tu? Kata tak bagi orang Islam minum arak, tapi bagi permit nak beli arak.. Constitution pun ada mention the law is based on Sharia rule.. Betul le pendapat sesetengah orang, those are just on paper.

Pelik bin ajaib betul kan?

Tujuan posting ni bukannya nak kutuk negara yang bagi aku duit ni, cuma nak bagi pandangan je berkenaan ngan tempat yang dikenali sebagai “Middle East”. Sebelum ke sini, aku terlebih dulu kerja kat Saudi Arabia. So kira tempat ni yang kedua lah aku kerja. Sebelum ke Saudi, dah memang stuck in my mind yang kat Middle East ni orang-orangnya mempraktikkan Islam sepenuhnya. Tapi bila dah duduk dua tiga bulan, lain pulak rasanya.

Oklah, aku pen off dulu for this entry. Lain kali cerita lagi…

~MT@Qatar
~~ Dafna, Doha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: Fare and Work

Another day comes to an end. Kejap je rasa masa berlalu. Esok Khamis and then weekend!

Seharian hari ni aku update flow chart yang aku buat for Cassation Court (Supreme Court for those yang tak biasa ngan term Cassation). Esok, aku plan nak buat discussion dengan my team lead berkenaan dengan the newly set up Finance Committee. Nak buat perancangan macam mana nak tackle this committee. Dengar ura-ura, the client totally ada different view on the recommendations that we made. Tengok lah macam mana nanti.

Hari ni jugak, aku check fare nak balik KL dalam bulan Jun nanti. Terkejut tengok fare QR direct flight – a whooping QR9710 return! Apa kes?????

Check MH melalui DXB, dalam QR6850 and EK (melalui DXB jugak) dalam QR5800 je. Aku suruh travel agent aku cancel EK sebab timing dia tak berapa bagus sangat. Red-eye punye flight – inbound and outbound. Malas le. Lagipun, aku rugi dalam 3 hari kalau ambil EK. Tambah pulak EK frequent flyer programme tak de affiliate with the existing programme yang aku ada. Aku maintain dua je, Star Alliance (Lufthansa Miles and More) and Enrich. Ada gak OneWorld (Asia Miles) masa naik CX ke HKG and ORD dulu, tapi malas nak maintain. Bukannya selalu guna OneWorld punya alliance. Kat Asia, OneWorld consists only CX and further down, QF. Kalau Star Allaince, ada TG and SQ. Pah tu, MH Enrich boleh guna for KLM/AF. Kira dah cover half the world le tu, walaupun tak pernah round the world lagi…

Mentang-mentang le tak banyak international airlines datang ke Doha ni, QR selamba rock je naikkan fare. Tambah pulak ramai expatriates kat sini and everyone nak lari dari kepanasan summer. Cuti sekolah lak tu. Ditambah pulak dengan kekayaan yang terlebih (bagi pandangan aku le) pak-pak Arab kat sini. Do you know that Qatar is among the highest GDP if not the top on the list? This is the country in the world where there is the largest natural gas reserve after Russia. Mana tak kaya wooiii…

Aku still tunggu travel agent check flight yang via BKK. QR ada code-share ngan TG. So, I guess should not be any problem. Aku agak tak banyak beza ngan MH hopefully. I rather tukar flight kat BKK dari DXB. Kalau tukar kat DXB, aku kena ambil half day sebab flight outbound from DXB (to Far East) is in the evening. Kalau tukar kat BKK, okay le sikit. Kerja full day sebab flight depart around 8.30 malam. Tambah-tambah lagi, sekarang ni, QR asyik delay je. Hari tu, hujung bulan April, my best friend flight to SIN with QR delay for 2 hours. Sebabnya, nak tunggu connecting passengers from other QR flights yang nak ke Far East. So, aku agak flight yangaku plan nak ambil ni, mungkin dalam jam 9 or 10 jugak le departurenya.

Hopefully esok ada update on my fare. Dalam hati sebenarnya nak balik for good dah. Tapi tu le, cari punya cari kerja, tak de rezeki lagi kat tanah air tu.

Boring lak rasa bila dah habis kerja ni. Nak surf news on internet, dah habis semua Malaysia online news aku baca. Nak surf CNN or BBC, aku kureng berkenan sikit ngan dua websites ni. Tak tahu le sebab apa.. susah nak digambarkan dengan kata-kata.. So, aku browse balik the entries yang aku dah buat. Bukannya banyak sangat macam orang lain. Aku ni budak baru belajar.

Bila aku baca balik entries yang lepas-lepas, banyak pulak ‘theme’ yang aku ngomelkan dalam setiap post. Campur aduk. Peduli apa kan. Aku punya blog. Suka hati aku le. Lagipun, meriah sikit bila macam-macam rencah. Baru le colourful.

Tadi baru lepas Level 1 Arabic. Exam dapat 98% - kira ok le tu. So, basic Arabic functionality 'kaotim'. So, my class mates and I decided to continue to Level 2 in August. Tak boleh nak start sekarang sebab yang lain nak balik bercuti.

~MT@Qatar
~~ Ibn Mahmoud, Doha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: Entertainment and Shut Down News

Tuesday May 16

Pagi-pagi dah dapat SMS dari kawan sekerja. Katanya, JS, mamat American yang selalu gi kerja ngan aku on medical leave. So terpaksa le aku cari kereta lain nak gi kerja sebab si JS ni nak guna kereta ke klinik. So, this morning, aku gi le ngan BI with his “Proud Mary”. Dalam kereta on the way to work, BI cakap wife dia nak ke HP bershopping. Nak gi lak ngan wife si JS. Apa lagi, si JS tu nak guna kereta hantar wife dia le tu. Biasa sangat si JS ni, terlalu obvious ikut si wife cakap. We all kat projek ni gelar dia “Yes Sir/Madam man”. Teruk kan.. Betapa freenye aku and colleagues kat sini. Kekadang fikir, makan gaji buta je..

Okay le… kena stop mengomel pasal kereta ngan project situation. Ngomel-ngomel pun bukan dapat selesaikan masalah. Kena cari pendekatan yang lain lak.

Pagi tadi masa breakfast kat apartment (hari ni breakfast Milo bijirin je), watched MSNBC Asia. Ada le berita ni berkenaan Creative company kat Singapore tu suing Apple on patent for the Zen (Creative product). Dia orang claim yang Apple ni “curi” design Zen and created iPod. Betul ke tak, aku tak tahu le. According to MSNBC as well, the US has granted patent owner to Creative for the Zen. Based on this le dia orang tu sue Apple. Product Creative banyak dijual kat Doha ni. Murah jugak.

Bagi aku, macam desperate measure je…. Tak tau le orang lain punya pandangan. What do u think?

The same news also mentioned that Microsoft with cooperation from few other companies unveils the music service and other entertainment plans to challenge iTunes – known as “URGE”. Kalau nak visit the website (which will be available on May 17), click on www.urge.com. URGE ni tak compatible ngan iPod, the most popular MP3 player for time being.

Bagus jugak bila dah bertambah option for consumers. Boleh le consumers utilize dia orang punye choosing power. Tapi yang lecehnya kena berhati-hati nak choose yang mana. Silap hari bulan, tak worth at all sebab tak compatible ngan other perkakasan yang sedia ada. Buat duit le orang-orang yang kerjenye mereview products, macam cnet.com tu.

Hari ni kat tempat kerja, seperti biasa je – slow and sunyi. Biasa lah kalau cuaca dah nak bertambah panas. Client pun dah start slow down and prepare for the summer vacation. Aku, macam biasa gak. Tak banyak kerja. So, workload sekarang aku buat slow-slow je lah. Kalau cepat deliver, tak de kerja lak aku nanti. Tu sedih bila people above you tak berapa pandai manage time and work.

Tetiba,just before aku shut down laptop, aku diberitahu yang client dah setup few committees to go through the recommendations made. Since aku involve in Finance related stuff, task aku next week is to guide the Finance committee on the new manual process that need to be followed after the summer vacation. This is what I call a job!

For more information on companies/items found in this entry, you can click the links..
www.apple.com
www.creative.com
www.urge.com


~MT@Qatar
~~ Ibn Mahmoud, Doha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: Teksi

Monday May 15

Entry ni sepatutnya untuk Isnin. Tapi ntah macam mana tarikh posting ni default to May 16 Tuesday. Kat setting, dah set follow GMT+3. Ada sapa-sapa yangtahu macammana nak edit date tak?

Semalam, balik kerja tumpang my colleague, BI in his Detroit steel, named “Proud Mary”. This is the second time aku balik ngan dia. Tak tahu sampai bila aku nak tumpang dia. Ni semua pasal si JM le… selfish! Sampai je apartment around jam 5.25pm, terus tukar baju and rush out to find a taxi. Taxi kat sini, bukannya susah nak dapat. Tapi dah macam nature’s law, when you need it so much, masa tu le susah nak dapat. So, aku jalan le ke Ramada Hotel, around 500 meters away from my apartment. Dalam 5 minit, alhamdulillah dapat orange & white taxi. Orange & white taxi will be phased out from Doha streets either by end of this month or June. Come July, only the new taxi managed by Mowasalat will ply the country. Yes the whole country! Anyway, bukannya besar Qatar ni...

Untuk Mowasalat taxis, they are known as Karwa (dekat2 ngan nama my friend yang kerja ngan QR tu…). Taxi dia orang either Toyota Camry, Skoda Superb and some Honda Stream. Most of the drivers are Pinoy, Indonesians, Middle Easterns and South Indians. Taxi yang lama tu, most drivers are from Afghans, Pakistanis and South Indians.

Ada terbaca dalam paper hari tu yang drivers for orange & white taxis will lose their job. Kesian jugak. Macam mana boleh jadi macam ni? Takkan government tak plan awal-awal. These drivers have been in the country for so long… Gone through all hard and sweet times witnessing Qatar developed from scratch until now. Tapi apa yang dia orang dapat? Nothing.. hilang mata pencarian!

Memang tak dinafikan yang taxi orange & white ni tak terjaga (mostly old Toyota, Nissan models and surprisingly banyak gak Proton Wira). Ada yang air-cond tak jalan, seat kotor dan banyak lagi le. Tapi at least nak “tarik balik” mata pencarian orang lain tu, pandai-pandai le. Fikir betul-betul cara yang terbaik.

Okay, kita tukar cerita lain. Dok ngomel pasal taxi ni, bukannya kita boleh buat apa-apa. Berdoa je lah supaya these “unfortunate” drivers ni akan dapat sesuatu.. insyaAllah.

Semalam gak aku punya second last Arabic class. Hari Rabu ni, ada exam. Baru habis Level 1. Hmmm… my classmates dah tanya bila nak sambung Level 2. Serba salah aku dibuatnya. My classmates are from Rusia, Indonesia and Turkey. Dia orang nak sambung dalam bulan Ogos nanti. Aku dok fikir-fikir yang aku nak balik for good. Kat Malaysia lak (kalau lah aku jadi balik for good), kat mana nak sambung ye? Lagi pun kat sini, aku boleh practise masa gi Souq or ngan kenkawang sekerja. (To those yang tak biasa, Souq tu maknanya pasar – bukannya pasar sayur ke daging ke, tapi pasar yang jual kain, peralatan rumah etc.). Souq yang aku paling suka, Souq Waqif. Souq Waqif ni dibahagikan into banyak sections – Qatar handicraft, spices, clothing, dan macam-macam lagi lah. Kalau ada masa, nanti aku upload kan gambar-gambar kat my fotopages. Dah tersebut fotopages ni, ada masa, click le ke malaytraveller.fotopages.com. Jangan lupa tinggal komen ye..

Balik dari kelas, aku jalan kaki. Dalam sejam lebih jugak le nak sampai apartment. Kalau kereta, dalam 10 minit sampai dah. Apa nak buat… dah nasib badan.. geram betul kat si JM nie.

~MT@Qatar
~~ Ibn Mahmoud, Doha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: A Jerk vs. Dignity

Hari ni, I was labelled as a 'jerk"! Yes.. I am a jerk when people take advantage on my kindness and generousity. Tension, geram, sakit hati je.. minah-minah Amerika and some Egyptians really make you mad. Alhamdulillah, I still can be patient.

Tension ni bukan apa, pasal kereta. Few of us share three cars. Sejak Sabtu pagi lagi, aku nak guna kereta. Tunggu punye tunggu, tak dapat jugak Tension le sikit. Dia orang tu bukan tak tahu lepas guna tinggal kunci kat security. Akhir tu, dapat jugak petang lepas maghrib. Baru je start kereta, datang minah Amerika ni, JM tanya aku mana nak pergi?, jam berapa balik?.. apa lagi, melenting le kejap. Yang dia dok guna kereta sejak malam sampai ke petang tu selamba je.. Sapa tak sakit hati....

^&*())@!

Sekarang, aku dah beresolusi... Aku tak akan guna kereta tu sampai aku balik Malaysia.. memang patut pun aku tak guna sebab JM ni guna kereta tu angkut seekor anjing ni gi jalan-jalan kat Corniche.. hari tu, habis aku punya baju ngan seluar penuh ngan bulu anjing.. Lupa lak aku yang JM letak anjing tu kat seat belakang... geram betul. Nak bunuh je anjing tu... Cakap-cakap pun bukan nye JM ni dengar. Komplain ngan yang lain pun, kat mulut je setuju, tapi tak de buat apa-apa gak. Nak harap aku sorang.. Nasib le aku sorang je Asian (Pinoy? Indon? Melayu?) kat sini...Sabar je le...

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Okay le... cukup le mencarut.. Hari ni lupa lak. Hari Ibu... Selamat Menyambut Hari Ibu to my dearest mum. Sempat jugak SMS my mum wishing her the very best of Mother's Day.

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Ahad malam, contact a Syrian man yang aku jumpa masa kat City Center Doha hari tu. Quite interesting the way kita terserempak. Masa tu, aku was on the walkalator (macam escalator, tapi bukan escalator tak de step macam tangga à ntah, tak ingat orang panggil apa) from first floor to the second floor. Tetiba je mamat kat depan aku tegur aku, “Are you Malaysian?” Terkezut kejap coz selama ni, mana ada orang tanya aku Malaysian atau tak. Always Pinoy or Indon. Bila ditanya, aku buat le muka pelik sikit, pah tu aku smile je. Dia pun terus cakap Bahasa Malaysia. Introduced himself as AT. Terus mintak phone number dan terus je aku bagi, tak tanya apa-apa pun. Mungkin masih terkedu ngan ability AT cakap Melayu kot… Lepas gym semalam, jumpa ngan AT. AT drove his car and we drove to City Center to pick up his family members and sent them home. Tu satu cerita le, cuma yang betul-betul aku nak cerita pasal lain. Masa tunggu si AT datang jemput aku kat Jarir Bookstore tu, aku ada le beli Time Out magazine for Doha. Kat tempat lain, this is a monthlypublication, tapi kat Qatar (since Doha ni teramat le “besar”nya), satu issue je can fit the happenings for the whole year!!! Disebabkan Q***r akan jadi tuan rumah Sukan Asia ke 15 bulan Disember nanti, boleh dikatakan separuh dari content magazine tu about the games. Ni, aku extract some content from the magazine (to those working with Time Out, mintak permission ye.. I fully quote the reference clearly.. )

Excerpt from Time Out Doha Guide 2006 pg. 18

“Salif Saaeed Shaheen won a steeplechase gold for Q***r at the 2003 World Championships, although a couple of weeks prior to the games he was known as Stephen Cherno of Kenya. Q***r paid him a sizeable sum to change his name and nationality. Who says you can’t buy success?”

Rasanya macam tak adil je kan. Seolah-olah “memperdagangkan” kebolehan seseorang. Bagi aku, kalau nak success, train those youngsters from the beginning and develop them step by step. Personally, this is a bit dirty way to get recognition. But then, when there is money, there is always a way – be it dirty or clean.. and sometimes, it doesn’t matter! Wonder whether Salif Saaeed Shaheen@ Stephen Cherno convert also??

Another part (same page)..

“Does Q***r have any other ‘paid for’ success stories? Not of that like, but Diego Maradona and Pele were lured to Doha to mark the official opening of A***e in November 2005. It was the first time the pair have been together outside of South America. $500,000 each did the trick”.

More of this…

“Q***r did buy the best Bulgarian weightlifters prior to the Sydney Olympics, but despite being shoe-ins for gold medals they went back to their adopted homeland empty handed”.

Am speechless….

Well.. whatever the case maybe, let wish the 15th. Asian Games WILL be held in the Middle East.. (apa cerita lak ni.. hmmmmm…) those here should understand it.. rumours..rumours… never fail to amaze human!

~M T @ Q4t4r
~~Dafna, Doha

~To Travel Is To Discover Oneself~