Left my office around 4.30pm on Thursday to pick Zal at his apartment. Packed a bit more and drove to KM's place nearby the airport to park the car. His apartment is just across the street from the airport. Reached airport around 5.35pm and check-in was a breeze. The airport was not crowded at this point of time since majority of flights at D O H happens late night and early morning.
Immigration was smooth although the officer took a bit of time to "check" me out compare to Zals. Maybe due to me having a business visa while Zals has a resident permit. At D O H, you will go through two security checks, one before check in (just after you enter the terminal - typical for most airports in the Middl3 E4st) and another one after the immigration (just before entering the departure lounge). At this second security check, there are three security access points with x-ray machines, but only two were operational. One was for the airport staff (crew included) and another for passengers. The queue for the passsengers' was quite long and the one for the staff was empty - unfortunately, I am living in this part of the world, so the security ppl never bother to think and came out with the idea to use the empty staff lane for the passengers. What a waste of resources!
Am not going to be racism here, but there are "certain people" from "this certain area" have no respect to others or law. If there is a queue, why can't they just join the queue at the end???? I was queuing for the security check and suddenly out of nowhere, one person came and stood next to me and gave me his "please let me in" smile. Blo0dy hell.... I told him to join the queue at the back and showed him how long the queue was. He simply ignored it and started putting his luggage on the converyor belt!
Gila punye k3l!ng!
The departure lounge for today's flight was at Gate 2. Most of the passengers were from S0uth As1an, probably connecting at S H J to go back to their homeland with the same airline. It's cheaper compare to their homeland airlines, I guess.
G9 (AirArabi4 I-A-T-A code) is the first low cost carrier in the Middl3 E4st. Although they are in the same class with our very own AK, I would rather flying G9 metal for medium or long haul. The seat pitch is generous, I think is abt 34" and the reclining is better than the other airlines. Mabe to accommodate the bigsize Ar4bs.. hahahhahaa...oopppssss.... :-) The flight was manned by two cockpit crew and four cabin crew, led by Flight Steward Bashir.
Today's flight was full and and the cabin service started with a small cup fo water for all passengers. Something that was not offer for free on A K. Other stuff are as per A K. You need to pay for the food and drinks.
The flight time was 46 minutes and today's metal was A6-ABC, an Airbvs 320 leased from I-L-F-C by G9 in October 2004. So, roughly this bird is 2 years old. This was my first flight with G9 and definitely I would consider flying with them again (although I have some reservation with the ground staff of the Sharj4h Internati0nal Airp0rt).
Touched down at S H J on time and proceed to the immigration. The arrival area is under construction and the immigration is a bit weird. It was on the side of the building rather than designed as a "toll-booth" concept like other airports. You barely can see any queues and to go out to the baggage claim area, you have to go through one small lane manned by two officers (who are busy talking to each other and choosing who they prefer to pass through first....)
Our friend, AP only arrived abt 40 minutes after we came out of the arrival hall. We proceed to downtown for dinner at Karachi Darbar restaurant, which according to SA the best briyani in town :-) betul ke? We had chicken briyani, mutton briyani and another chicken dish. Washed down with supposed to be mango lassi - but I doubt it since there was no mango taste at all.
Dropped AP's friend at her place and went to AP's apartment to freshen up. The apartment is across the beautiful S H J corniche. It was a duplex and very spacious for one or two persons. We took a stroll along the Corniche to the Qanat Al-Qasbah. There, stands one of the gigantic ferris wheels in the world. If I am not mistaken, the famous one is "London Eye", then we have Malaysia with "Eye on Malaysia", this one in S H J is known as "Eye of Emirates" and I guess there is another one in Japan. It was midnight already and there were not many people around except some teenagers chatting / dancing / drinking (err... non-alcoholic drinks). There was this one teenager tried to scare us with his pet snake. Yes... it was a snake.. and I hate snake... I cannot even look at the picture of snakes, let alone the real one!
It was a tiring night - I went straight to sleep while the other two practising for the next Middl3 E4st Idol... hahahhahahahahahaa..... :-p
~~ Sharj4h
~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~
