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 ~

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: Next Weekend Plan

Next weekend, am going for a trip to Bahrain. This is part of teh visa run series that I have todo. Last time, when I was on business visa, I have to do this every three months, now since I am on tourist visa, I am doing it bi-monthly.

At first my plan to stay 2 nights in Bahrain. However, since BH could not come, I decided to spend only one night, leaving DOH on Friday morning and returning Saturday evening. I invited Zal to join me.

Plan to stay at cheap hotel within walking distance to area of interest (read: souq, malls) but the regional/local hotels are pretty expensive. Might as well stay at inernational brand hotels. Right now, still contemplating whether to rent a car or not since I was told it is hard to hail a cab in Bahrain.

Anybody in Bahrain? :-)

~ MT @ Qatar
~~ Sadd, D0ha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: A Stop Over by Italians

This morning,I received two guests, Alessio and Marco from Italy. They are on the way back from their two-weeks vacation in Malaysia and having a 6 hour stop-over in Doha. I volunteered to drive them around in Doha since Friday is an off day for me.

Alessio contacted me through hospitalityclub.org, a forum for citizens of the world who love to travel and fond of understanding local culture. The forum is managed by volunteers and it is a good way to connect with each other who share the same thing. Do visit the website and register yourself.

I picked them from the airport at 7am and drove around Doha and had a breakfast at PAUL at Villagio. We covered most of places in Doha within 3 hours only. See how small Doha is. So, for those people out there, who are planning to transit in Doha, do contact me if you need a stopover package :-)) - just make sure it is on Friday or Saturday :-)

To Alessio and Marco, hope you had a good flight back to Rome and thank you very much for the gift...




~ MT @ Qatar
~~ Bin Mahmoud, D0ha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: Makan-Makan

On Friday afternoon, I organized a house warming party for AAH, a new family who moved to Qatar more than a month ago. A week before, he found a new apartment at Muntazah, not far from where I stay.

AAH was my senior at college in northern state of Malaysia. He was the pioneer batch while I was the fifth batch. In fact, we never met until he arrived here in Doha.

About 20 people turned up for the gathering. I called it "Tea Time" so the the guests know they wont get any heavy food there. The usual crownd and AAH only invited three of his friends. One form his company and the other two from a telco company.

Zal showcased his cup-cakes (this guy is crazy about cup-cakes) and jelly. I made tuna sandwiches and fried frozen chicken curry-puff.

Next week, there will be another gathering, hope to be a big one...

Thanks to Zal for teh photos. I brought my camera but the battery was out...

Some of the guests at the beginning

Cerita CINTA in Doha :-))

~ MT @ Qatar
~~ Bin Mahmoud, Doha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: Friday Movers...

Yesterday, together with couple of other friends, we set up a temporary mover company.. illegally :-))

Morning shift
We helped AI and his wife MR moving from their current villa to a mansion. Yupp.. a huge mansion.. just for two of them plus a baby in two months time. What a lucky couple... as AI always say, "Rezeki baby.." He may be right...

Here are some photos of the new mansion. We will be having a mansion warming gathering cum AI's birthday celebration cum baby shower in couple of weeks.

Some photos of their new mansion.

Afternoon shift
In the afternoon, we were booked for 2:30pm to assit AAH and his family moving to their new luxury apartment - however, we decided to postpone it to after 4pm to avoid scorching sun. While waiting, after having light lunch (Maggi Curry noodles) cooked by ZI, we went to Villagio Mall - shooopppppiiiinnnngggggggg........ all of us went shopping at ZARA.. kind of wierd, five guys shopping together hehehehe

Around 4:30pm, after few SMSes asking where were we, we have to stop hanging around the mall and drove back to the patiently-waiting AAH.. Apparently, he has been waiting for us since 2:30pm and has promised the watchman at his new apartment that he will be moving in by 2:30pm.... hahhaahaaa... sorry...

Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of his apartment (actually, Zal forgot to do that). Anyway, I have decided to have a Tea Time Gathering at his apartment this weekend. Yup.. it is me who decided that he has to do sort of "house warming" function... :-)) AAH has no choice but to agree with it... some much fun when you are in power hehehehehe

~ MT @ Qatar
~~ Bin Mahmoud, D0ha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: Makan-Makan @ Dom's

Last night, another episode of stuffing ourselves - Makan-Makan Pot Luck style. The host, Dom took advantage of his house-mate trip to AUH and his girlfriend not flying by having a gathering at his villa.

About 20 of us turned up and the ladies were majority from the only 5-star airline in the Middle East. The event started at 7:30pm and ended around 11pm. As for me, Zal, NN and his girlfriend, Sha, we purposely planned to be fashionably late. We reached there around 8pm and they not even started yet. Hahahha.. so we were ON time.

Zal made his trademark triffle and ayam goreng madu while Sha brought bihun goreng and raspberry cheese-cake. Me ? I bawa perut je.. makan.. :-))

~ MT @ Qatar
~~ Bin Mahmoud, D0ha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: Weekend...

It was a tiring weekend. My plan was to start on my assignments. I have been delaying the assignment for many moons now :-)

On Thursday, after work, I just stayed at home. Cleaned my kitchen. Hopefully cockroaches will not return. Then, around 10pm, friends started coming... it has been a routing to have a karaoke session on theweekend at my place. One thing special for the night was that we have new people joining us. Couples of cabin crew... at least we have real female voices :-) Also, it was a record for me. Not sleeping for nearly 24 hours. I woke up at 6am on Thursday and kept on going until 5:30am Friday.

Don't think it is something to be proud of, but at least, I prayed Subuh within the time :-) And how I wish there is a stall selling nasi lemak or at least mamak restaurant here. At around 4am, five of us - myself, Zal, NN, ZI and DK went for an earlybreakfast at a restaurant near the airport. For the first time ever I witnessed sun-rise in D0ha.. at 4:54am. Beautiful. I just love the weather in the morning.

Woke up 11:30am, just in time for Friday prayer. Thanks to Zal who woke me up. In the evening, Zal and myself were invited for a dinner at one of Malaysian family house, KK and family have been here for 3.5 years. It was a beautiful house or I would say a villa. 6+1 rooms and furnished with wooden furniture from Ind0nesia. Met few other Malaysian familys there too. Plenty of food, including Mrs KK specialty, bubur jagung.










After the dinner, went to Coffee Beanery to meet our Pin0y friend. He just got back from his hometown, Cebu and a vacation in Malaysia. It is nice of him to buy me a tee from Cebu. Thanks Jyerex.



Saturday morning, I have promised AAH to go apartment hunting. Picked him up at his temporary company housing. We started with my area and moved on to Bin Omran, Sadd and Mansoura. The cheapest we found for a 2-bedroom apartment is QAR7500 per month while the 3-bedroom fetches up to QAR10, 500 per month. He has yet to decide and hopefully he will find more choices to choose from.

Also, I heard a bad news from our dearest friend, KM. Two of his Suzuki Swift tyres have gone missing. Stolen right in front of his apartment. Poor him. Hopefully he managed to do the police report and get insurance claim (hmm... ada ke insurance tayar kereta?)

In the evening, I went to my boss villa for a dinner. Once a while, the boss organized "makan-makan" at his villa. A very nice villa indeed. The dinner was a Morroccan dish ordered from one of the most expensive Morroccan restaurants. A lamb stuffed with saffron rice and surrounded with cous-cous. The lamb alone costs QAR1500.

Then I called my parents. They are going back to my hometown on Sunday afternoon. My mum told me there is a saman for me. Committed on 25 June, 2007 at KM 6.2 Kuala Lumpur. That is what according to the letter. That's very helpful. KM6.2 can be anywhere in Kuala Lumpur.

Ended my day by having juices at Mandarin with Zal and NN.

That's wrapped up my weekend. Another week tomorrow...

~ MT @ Qatar
~~ Bin Mahmoud, D0ha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: Red Box?

For the past two nights, my apartment has been turned into "Red Box" by Zal and gang. Maybe it is not as happening as the Red Box in KL but it serves the purpose for MiME to practice for the first ever MiME Idol... hahahaha... [tu pun kalau ada...]


I brought back three new CDs - mostly songs from my era.. the eigthies :-) and at home, apparently SS (NZ's girlfriend) has bought few CDs and two new wireless microphone. Huh..apa lagi, lelaki-lelaki kesepian terus melonjak kegembiraan...

As for me, am not feeling very well and unable to stay until the end of the session.. A sign of getting old.... :-))

~ MT @ Qatar
~~ Bin Mahmoud, D0ha

~ To TravelIs To Discover Oneself ~

QA: Breakfast @ 1:30

Invited few friends to join me and Zal for breakfast/lunch today. Originally planned for breakfast, however, due to Friday prayer rush by 11 a.m. we decided to have the "makan-makan" after the prayer around 1:30 pm. So, we had breakfast at 1:30pm :-)

I cooked Nasi Kerabu and Zal cooked his favourite, Nasi Lemak Sambal Udang and Rendang Dinding (?). He also fried some bihun.

This was the second time for me to cook Nasi Kerabu and surprising it was well received :-) probaby due to 5 guests are Kelantanese.

We had good fun and thisis the first time alo we met Aina, another fellow MiME blogger and her husband. Thanks Aina for coming. Glad that you met your ex-collegue all the way in D0ha... what a small world indeed..

I was very happy with today's makan-makan. The food was enough and everybody seemed to enjoy themselves. At around 3.30pm, we started the karaoke session until everybody lost the voices. Then some of us ushered to KM's place to watch the malay horror movie, "Jangan Pandang Belakang".

It was a very tiring day, but lots of fun :-))

~ MT @ Qatar
~~ Bin Mahmoud, D0ha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: After three years.. well almost

In yesterday's newspaper, there was a small article inviting non-Arabic speaking Muslims to join congregation for Friday prayer at FANAR (Qatar Cultural Islamic Center). I went there with Zal for Friday prayer and this is my first Friday prayer in Qatar where the sermon is delivered in English. We reached there around 11:30am (right after Zuhr azan) and the place is already jam-packed with people. Met couple of Malaysians there.

Today's sermon is about knowledge. The importance of knowledge for Muslims and how Muslims should utilise the availaibility of infrastructure and technology to gain more knowledge. It was delivered by Bro Bilal Philips, a Jamaican Canadian who now resides in Qatar.

At last, my Friday prayer will be different.. hopefully FANAR will organize this every week rather than once a month...

~ MT@ Qatar
~~ Souq Faleh, D0ha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: Project Dukhan (Day 3)

Today was the last day of the festival. It started at 10am until 6pm. Last night, we reached home around midnight and stayed up until 2am to prepare for today's sales. We did not cook earlier because we want tomake sure our stuff are freshly cooked few hours before the sales.

Unfortunately, due to lack of stove for cooking, we were not able to be at Dukhan before 10am. There were few stuff that needed to be cooked that morning. We reached there around 11am and our customers were already there waiting for us. Yes! Our customers were waiting for us when we got there. I felt so honoured :-)) There were people who wanted to eat our Nasi Lemak. The sales were not as good as Day 2 due to the fact that the crowd were locals and not many new faces.

We wrapped up around 4pm and left Dukhan with a very sweet memories and valuable experiences. Now, time to count the money :-))

~ MT @ Qat4r
~~ Dukhan

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: Project Dukhan (Day 2)

Luckily the day 2 sales started at 3pm. And this gave us the whole Friday morning to prepare the food. In the morning, the time was devoted to prepare "Roti John" ingredients, bihun and sambal for Nasi Lemak. Although SK has to work today, he did join us around 5pm with AI. So, leaving me and Zal to prepare all these while NZ joined us after Friday prayer. KM came just before we left for Dukhan. There were lots of visitors today and majority of our customers were Malaysians longing for nasi lemak and "Roti John". To the foreigners, we introduced "Roti John" as Malaysian Kebab :-). Else, it will be a bit difficult to explain what it is.

We put up our menu in Malay with a translation in English. However, couple of the menu were not translated and one of them was "Roti Jala". The funniest translation of "Roti Jala" that I heard was "Fishing Net Bread".. ROFL.... It was translated by one fellow Malaysian to his foreign friend.

The Malaysian group performed "Dikir Barat" which I missed to watch it. Heard they won an award for the performance. Congratulations!

Same goes to Mrs. KAZ and Mrs. J for winning a title each in the cooking competition.

In fact the whole day was filled with enjoyment and fun. It was a tiring day, but at the end, I feel worth it...

Stuff for Day 2











Sales in progress












~ MT @ Qat4r
~~ Dukhan

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: Project Dukhan (Day 1)

Since my working time on weekdays is from 8am till 5pm, on this Day 1 of Project Dukhan I have requested to leave early. I still have to clock 8 hours a day - which means I have to skip lunch in order for me to leave office at 4pm.

Rushed back home and changed into the "uniform", picked up some stuff that Zal and SK have asked me to bring and drove to Dukhan. Within an hour, reached Dukhan - the road is terrible. The highway is still under construction - by our very own G4muda W-C-T joint venture. So, you cannot really go beyond 100km/h unless you dont really care about your car. Potholes are everywhere.

Reached there after Maghrib and KM, Shah & Dom were already there. Same with NZ, Zal and SK. Shah & Dom helped us bringing some stuff and decorating the stall. Thanks a bunch guys... MR also came to help us - selling her home made donut :-)

Menu for the day includes Nasi Lemak, Roti Jala, Air teh bunga (kekwa), keropok ikan, bahulu, karipap and home-made donut.

Majority of the crowds are local people. Not much sales but our teh bunga has its own attraction. This is something new for some of them.

By 9.30pm, we started to pack things for the day. We had another long nite today to prepare for tomorrow. Nasi Lemak need to be cooked, bihun need to be fried and roti john ingredients need to be prepared.

Definitely going to be a tiring and hectic weekend.

Enjoy some photos on the first day.....

~ MT @ Q4tar

~~ Dukh4n

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: Weekend Affairs

Hmmm.... there were lots of things happened during the weekend and few days before that. To summarize, we had a new friend from K U L who just arrived on Wednesday. Then, we had a makan-makan session (yup, eat-eat again to make me fat), a dust/sand storm (well not really a storm) blanketed D0ha and addition to my personal life, I had a short talk with my MD from Sp0re detailing his plan for me (yes, just a short one since he called less than an hour before Friday prayer....).

Will blog about all the above.....

:-)

~ M T @ Qat4r
~~ Ibn Mahm0ud, D0ha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~

QA: Fly...fly...away

Today, I will fly off to SHJ... to see the "arowana"...

Hopefully, there is time for me to update my blog and reads others at the "arowana" place...

till then.. enjoy your weekend... i hope i will too.... :-)

~ M T @ Qat4r
~~ Sadd, D0ha

~ To Travel Is To Discover Oneself ~