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: Iftar @ Putrajaya

Went to have iftar with my brother at Putrajaya today. Since we didn't do any prior reservation, the best bet is to go to the shopping mall. And the nearest mall is Alamanda. So, around 6pm, we drove to Alamanda.

Within minutes, we reached Alamanda, however, all the restaurants and food court seats were fully booked. So we decided to do some groceries at Carrefour first and bought drinks for our iftar. Later, after Maghreb prayer, we had dinner at Johnny Steamboat. I am not a fan of the steamboat, but my brother is. This was his choice, so I just followed.

Alamanda,in my opinion, is a community mall, rather than an upclass shopping mall. I would say majority of shoppers are from Putrajaya itself and its neighbour, Cyberjaya. You can sense most of the crowds are either students or the government servants. How? hmm... hard to explain.. or is it "sterotyping" since the area is a government administrative capital?

~ MT @ Malaysia
~~ Putrajaya, Wilayah Persekutuan

~ To Travel Is to Discover Oneself ~

AE: SHJ / DXB (1)

Woke up a bit late due to late night jalan-jalan last night. The breakfast for today was Nasi Lemak cooked by Zal. It was Friday and an off-day in the Emirat3s. So, the street was not busy and we should get around fairly easy without traffic jam. Theplan was to mall-hopping among these four malls, Ibn Batutta, Emir4tes, Mercat0 and Mad3inat Jum3irah.

First, we have to face our first hurdle. How to get out from the parking space. There was a H0nda Civ1c blocked the entrance to the parking space. How inconsiderate! Zal, AP and myself have to move trash bins around just to get out of the parking space. Luckily AP rented a cute small Toy0ta Y4ris. Not really a problem when it comes to limited parking area.

The culprit! Can you see the bricks on the car?

Sh4rjah is the third city in the U-A-E that I visited. The first being Dub4i and second was Abu Dh4bi. I see similarities in both Sharj4h and Abu Dh4bi, but not Dub4i.

We set off around 11am from Sharj4h and within minutes we were at the Dub4i airport area. Our first destination was Madin4t Jumeir4h. It was not crowded and no Ar4bs at all. That was surprising. I guess Dub4i is losing its identity as an Ar4b city, which is very sad. If not because of the dessert and some arabic characters on the shops and along the road, one can mistaken this as somewhere else, not in the Middl3 E4st. I hope the government of Dub4i know their limit and try to preserve the true arabian culture and most importantly the Islamic way of life.

After snapping some photos, we drove all the way to Mercat0 .. another beautiful landmark in Dub4i. Nothing much here so we proceed to an Asian fusion restaurant for lunch. This restaurant is tucked in the residential area and not visible directly from the Jumeir4h beach road. The food that we had was not authentic as we expected. Well, its fusion anyway :-) But at least, thats the closest to home food that our host can suggest. Thank you AP.... btw, we didnt mean to leave you with the check, but we need to empty our bladder at that time.. hehehehee what a perfect timing :-p

Next destination after lunch is Ibn Batutt4 Mall. I have seen the photos of its beautiful interior, so this destination is a must. En route, stopped by Hard Rock cafe to get some souvenirs.

The mall consists of six different civilisations, supposed to be the routes taken by Ibn Batutta during his days. We started from the Chinese Court moving to India Court and continue on to Persian Court before entering Egypt Court. Next is the Tunisian Court and end at Andalusia Court. A wonderful experience and I like the Persian Court interior the most.

Next, we hopped to the Mall of the Emirates on the way back to down town Dub4i. Here, we were joined by Zal's friend who just arrived in Dub4i a couple of weeks ago. Had dinner at TGiF and proceed to Burjum4n Centre to drop Zal's friend. Hanged out at Zal's friend exclusive one bedroom suite for a while and drove back home to Sharj4h around midnight.

It was a very tiring day and Saturday will be Sharj4h day. To my host, I know you were very tired that night... can see the signs when we had dinner :-) or was it because u r mad at me? hehehehee :-p

And no Middl3 E4st Idol for the night... :-p everybody was damned tired...

===

Post script: Special for Famil...hehehhehehe

~ M T @ U A E
~~ Sharj4h

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

AE: Abu Dhabi...

I spent two days in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE. If I am not mistaken, Abu Dhabi is the biggest emirates among all the seven emirates within the UAE. Unfortunately, the airport is not as great as Dubai's airport.










Stayed at Le Meridien, room 451. A very old building. I was told the building was built around 25 years ago. The lobby has that Arabic/Middle Eastern touch and in a total contrast with the room - newly refurbished "zen" concept room! One great thing about this hotel is the Meridien Village. A very nice garden with big koi pond and fifteen restaurants (yes... fifteen restaurants!! mana ada hotel kat Malaysia with fifteen restaurants!). Ironically, I didn't try any of it - I actually ended eating Burger King and my all time favourite, KFC.. :-)

Since it was Ramadan, the shops were not opened until after iftar on Friday (Yup.. I was there on Friday and Saturday). So, Friday morning, I stayed in the hotel and in the afternoon, I took a stroll along Sheikh Hamdan street (one of the two busiest streets in the city - another one being Sheikh Zayed The Second street or Electra street).

Abu Dhabi is more structured compare to Doha. It seems that the city has been developed to follow the [shall I say] New York style - grid development. It is not as hectic as Dubai, but more chaos compare to Doha. Taxi is easy to get, unlike Doha where no guarantee for a taxi even if you have booked for one two hours earlier!

Friday, I took a taxi to Marina Mall, a huge mall at the opposite end of where I stayed. The mall is in the Breakwater area, same area where the world renowned hotel, Emirates Palace is. I went both to Marina Mall and Abu Dhabi Mall - conclusion: Dubai is better with more up to scale malls i.e., Mall of the Emirates, Ibn Battuta Mall and Burjuman Center.

Overall, the trip was just so-so. At least I got a stamp "Abu Dhabi Airport" in my passport - a proof that I have been there! I would not go there for vacation - try Dubai.

There are few photos updated in my fotopages. Take a look and please, do leave a comment. :-))
~ MT @ UAE
~~ Le Meridien, Abu Dhabi

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~