MY: A Friend From Far Away

Received a call from my ex-colleague in BearingPoint Doha. He is now in Kuala Lumpur with his wife. I took this opportunity to meet him at The Curve. Had a light lunch at Marche.












Nazar left BearingPoint few months earlier than me and went back to Chicago for a year. He later get married to soon-to-be-dentist, Sarah. Right now, they settle down in Abu Dhabi - another favourite city of mine.

Thanks Nazar for the gift!

~ MT @ Malaysia
~~ Mutiara Damansara, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Another One..

H a P p Y b I r T H d A y I Z A M....

May you have prosperous year ahead....

~ MT @ Malaysia
~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: House Warming

My friend, SY invited me to his house warming party this afternoon. Since BH went back to Perak for his cousin wedding, I went to SY condominium with Famil. This was the second time I went to SY's place. 

I found out later that he only invited those people that know he moved to a new place. He planned for around 25 people and ordered the food to cater triple of it. That's SY.... :-)

As a result, lots of left over. I hope he didn't throw the food away without attempting to give them to others. Famil and myself didn't take any since we were going somewhere else after that. 

Thanks SY for inviting. It was a pleasure to see you again.... You look slim a bit although I expect slimmer (ye lah kan... dah jadi unofficial ambassador for one of fitness centers kat KL ni...)

~ MT @ Malaysia

~~ Wangsa Maju, Kuala Lumpur

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Get Well Soon!

Zal was admitted to Selayang Hospital two days ago for Retinal Detachment. The operation procedure took around an hour yesterday afternoon.

Get well soon Zal... people in Doha are missing you.

I went to visit him with NN and later, Rafi and Boboi joined us. While waiting for Rafi and Boboi to arrive, I had a "rojak" at the public cafeteria. This area really attracts me.. do we really need this?


Later that night, without Zal, all of us have some coffee at Starbucks The Curve.

~ MT @ Malaysia
~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Puncak Serambi

Last night, I went for dinner with BH at one of the restaurants located along Ampang-Ulu Langat bypass. M-P-A-J has a tourist spot called Puncak Serambi with few restaurants. The area provides a bird's eye view of the city. It is beautiful. No need to go Genting to experience the view KL.



The food was just so-so. Not that great and not bad too... Recommend to go there to enjoy the view.











p/s: Apologize for the blurry photos... :-)

~ MT @ Malaysia
~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Open House Abe Zu

Just got back from Abe Zu's open house. Met Zal/Razi and Nizam/Sha over there. I was late since BH was invited as well and he was working.

The food - mee goreng was good.. hot from Abe Zu's kitchen.... There were also satay, bubur kacang hijau, kuih koci, pasta, bihun goreng, and tomyam.

~ MT @ Malaysia
~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Birthday Karaoke

Zal organised a karaoke session at Redbox Ria Sogo to celebrate Sha and Abe Zu birthdays.

~ MT @ Malaysia

~~ Ampang, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Birthday Wishes

Happy Birthday to Abe Zu (16-Oct) & Sha (18-Oct)!!!















~ MT @ Malaysia
~~ Kota Bharu, Kelantan

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: Iftar @ Pavilion

Had iftar with RES and Aidid at Madam Kwan's Pavilion, KL. Zal was there as well. Supposedly, another ex-MIME, Rafi to join us, but decided not to. This is my first time meeting Aidid. All these while I get to know him via his blog and my friends in the U A E.

Surprisingly, Madan Kwan's at Pavilion was not full house. When I walked in around 6:55pm, less than 10 minutes before iftar time, there were still seats available. Probably Pavilion is still new and not fully operational.

I had char kuey teow, Zal indulged in Nasi Ayam, RES enjoyed Nasi Bojari while Aidid looked satisfied with Nasi Lemak.

After iftar, we walked around the mall. Nothing great, and in my opinion, Pavilion is not really "posh" as what I expect it to be. Went into AIX (yes, I found the shirt that Kak Diva/Abe Zu & Sha/Nije bought for me and now I KNOW how much it cost... thank you sooo much :-)), then Thomas Pink (I like the shirts collection there but just too expensive... anybody in London can buy this for me? :-)), Aldo (apparently I found few Aldo outlets when visiting few malls for the last few days), Tiffany & Co. (want to know what I bought here, see the next entry) and lastly Parkson.

Zal and myself left for KLCC to meet another friend, and later on to Kota Damansara Uptown (actually I don't know there is another Uptown after the one I know in Damansara) to meet Nije & Sha...

It was a very tiring day rushing from one place to another with bad traffic - but it was fun!

~ MT @ Malaysia

~~ Sunway Damansara, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

MY: More Presents

Thank you very much to Ruby & Family as well as Titien & Family. Zal brought back their tokens of appreciation for me with him yesterday...



thanks a lot...

~ MT @ Malaysia
~~ Kota Damansara, Selangor

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: The Farewell Dinner

Friday night, my friends in Doha threw a farewell party for me. It is so nice of them. Zal organised all these and Ritz Carlton Ramadhan Tent is the choice. I have told Zal I wanted to go there before I left, so he organized for a farewell dinner there.

Actually, I felt guilty about it since it is among the most expensive Ramadhan Tent in Doha.. QR185 ++ per pax. And 15 of my friends agreed to come and willing to pay that much.. I am touched! So, I secretly made a deal with the waiter to ensure I get the bill first before others. The waiter understood it and I paid half of the bill. Even more, the next day (Saturday) was a working day for some of us. And those people willing to stay back until 3am... what a sacrifice...

Another surprised I received that night were presents from some of them. Apparently when Diva and Sha flew to IAD (both of them just landed at 7pm), the team (my other friends) has already planned for them to buy present for me. They decided to buy shirts and thats explained why during the packing I realised my Hard Rock Bahrain polo was missing. Zal secretly took it from my wardrobe and gave them to Diva as a sample for size.

To Diva and Sha, I know your one day lay-over at IAD was spent to just look for the shirts. Well, there will be another IAD in your roster in months to come.. I really appreciate it.. thanks a million...

Some photos during the dinner..

To all my friends in Doha, thank you soooo much for the memorable night! And thank you very much for the presents.. :-)

~ MT @ Qatar
~~ Ritz Carlton, D0ha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: A Gift from a Colleague

Had iftar with Bahgat, his wife Mervat and our colleague, Ahmed at Al-Bandar Restaurant. Al-Bandar Restaurant used to be by the gulf along the Corniche. However it was demolished as part of Doha beautification project. Now, it has reopened at Souq Waqif along side other restaurants. I heard that the one and only Malaysian restaurant, "Seri Kebaya" to open there as well. "Seri Kebaya" is part of the Malaysian Kitchen programme franchise and plan to open on after Eid.

Thank you Bahgat, Mervat and Ahmed for the iftar and the gift. It is beautiful... something to remind me about Qatar :-))











~ MT @ Qatar
~~ Souq Waqif, D0ha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: Final Weekend

Weekend in Qatar starts on Thursday night.. and the best way to start your weekend is to have a good iftar at Shahrin's place. His wife, Nadia cooked sup tulang, daging bakar and ayam bakar. It was really really good.










Later into the night, what else... shopping... bought a pair of Hugo Boss shoes and a same brand belt for BH.

Then, hang out at usual place, Coffee Beanery which was packed like a can of sardine. Later, we moved to Taly near the airport for sahoor...

Friday- packing time! And I think Saturday would be the same too :-))

Boxes are ready to be packed for air shipment and luggage for checked-in... I requested for additional luggage allowance from Qatar Airways and being Qatar Airways, you never ever put high expectation.. so, I have to squeeze everything for 30kg allowance only.. hopefully I can put as much as my stuff for the air shipment.

~ MT @ Qatar
~~ Bin Mahmoud, D0ha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: A Gift from the Team

My project team kept on pushing me to allow them to do a farewell dinner for me. Until they consulted the Project Manager and she issued an order to organize a dinner. I have no choice and to agree with it.

Ray booked a table at Sheraton Ramadan Tent for about 15 people - which represent three-quarter of my project team size.

The Ramadan Tent was only a quarter full, maybe due to week nights. Three years in Qatar, I have attended three Ramadan Tent and the best is The Ritz Carlton Ramadan Tent. And I am going there again on Friday night for sahoor.

To all my office/team mates, Tauseef, Samir,Hussain, Shahira, Ahmed, Aziz, Ray, Richard, Katrin, Heba, Stephanie, Mahdi, Bill, Barbara, David, GraceAnn, Bahgat (hmm...do I miss anyone?) :-)

- Thank you very much for the wonderful three years in Doha! -

~ MT @ Qatar

~~ Sheraton, Doha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: A Gift from a Friend

Received a gift from a friend...

~ MT @ Qatar

~~ Bin Mahmoud, Sadd

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: A Week Into Ramadan

Alhamdulillah, just like the last two years, the Ramadan here, so far went smoothly for me. The weather, yes, it is hot, but you stay in door and only go out when needed only. Moreover, the working hours are shorten - not my company though. I still have to clock 8 hours a day but it is up to me to decide the time. This is something I like about working with people who understand to balance between work, personal and I would say, religion.

When I was working back in Malaysia, Ramadan is just another month. Some people I used to worked with ignoring the beauty of Ramadan. If you are non-Muslim I may be tolerate a bit, but being Muslim themselves, I feel it ia bit too much. What's wrong of giving your Muslim staff to go back earlier if they don't take their lunch hour? I am more into work philosophy of if you can deliver the work/task assigned to you in a good quality and within the time frame, I have no issue if you have to leave office early. Discuss with the immediate superior and if your superior is a "human being", I think he/she will understand. If not... errr..it is time to leave the project or company... :-)

That brings me to my plan of going back to Malaysia, or rather Singapore at this point of time. Having worked with people around the world, my inner voice keeps on saying avoid workign with "this kind" of people. But then, it is difficult not to work with "this kind" of people if you are back in Malaysia or Singapore... hmm... well.. that is a different story..

Anyway, for the last one week, I have chances to break my fast with few friends.

Iftaar at Diba the Diva










Iftaar at Aizal/Yeen










Iftaar at Al-Hamra with TAA











Iftaar at Layali with a group of Muslims expat












~ MT @ Qatar
~~ Bin Mahmoud, D0ha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: Sahur and Kuih Raya

During the bowling session last Tuesday, the ladies have planned to bake kuih raya and group sahur on Thursday. Thursday is the only choice since Friday is an off day. Some of us work on Saturday, so Friday night is out too. The plan has been set and today is the day.

NN came to iftaar with me at my place and then, together with Zal, we went for a tarawih prayer at the usual mosque. The tarawih here, depending on the mosque finishes at 8:15pm.

At 9:30pm, we reached AI's mansion. AAH and his family were already there. AAH wife brought the Nasi Lemak that I have asked.. thank you.. thank you...

While the ladies preparing the stuff for the cookies, the guys were busy eating.. late supper :-) There were Nasi Lemak, Baked Macaroni, Chicken Curry and Bihun Sup.

Then, the ladies started mixing, pounding, heat the oven etc.. the guys were busy baby sitting and for me, dozed off into wonderland.. :-)) so guys,I was so tired.

At

3:30am, we had our sahur - feel like a very big happy family....

Everybody said goodbye after fajr prayer at the nearby surau....

Thank you all... I will treasure this moment forever....

~ MT @ Qatar

~~ Al-Gharaffa, Doha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~