Roadtrip : Doha - Mekah - Madinah (Mac 2011)

Ni adalah citer lama... road trip umrah dgn kawan2 kat doha ni. disebabkan ni cite lama, so cite pasal trip ni disertakan dgn gambar. aku sudah lupa2 jugak cerita nya, so cerita bergambar lagi mudah... let's start with the plan...
trip ni plannya agak last minute and agak impromptu. although mmg semua yg pergi ada hajat utk mengerjakan haji. tp the set timing tu tak tetap. tambahan plak pihak saudi lambat skit nak buka border utk umrah. selalunya bln dua, tp thn 2011 ni bulan 3 br start blh buat umrah. oleh sbb kurang preparation, especially ada constraint dgn timing/cuti. trip ni cuma 5 hari saja. sgt ringkas dan pantas.
aku tak plan sgt nak cite pasal ibadat umrah dlm blog ni. aku cuma nak cite pasal perjalanan dan pengalaman roadtrip dan travel with my close friends. kami pergi ber 9 dgn satu baby. asalnya pergi 3 kereta, tp tukar plan last minute, kena pergi 2 kereta je. so nasib baik kereta aku blh muat 6 org. berjasa jugak lah. mmg niat aku beli kereta ari tu nak g roadtrip. dpt plak rezeki bawak org g umrah ni. among 9 of us - 3 org dah g haji, 3 org dah pernah g umrah dan 3 org first timer, including my wife. Alhamdulillah. terkabul doa aku bwk wife ke sana.
perjalanan dr doha ke mekah dlm 1600-1700 km!!! so, kami mengambil masa hampir 20 jam utk sampai ke mekah. bwk kereta dlm range 140km-160km/hr. sbbkan ramai lelaki, kami gilir2 lah memandu. so tak penat sangat. perempuan tak blh langsung drive disaudi ni. dan sepanjang perjalanan, bandar besar yg kami tempuh - riyadh... selain tu pekan2 kecil. ada satu part tu, yg kawan2 aku cakap mcm grand canyon plus wadi. aku tak dpt tgk part ni, aku tgh tidor sbb kitaorg lalu kat situ dlm pkl 8-9am. aku dah drive mlm tu... pg tu tak sedar langsung.
sepanjang perjalanan ada lah restaurant2 kecik dan stesen2 minyak tempat berhenti. but sadly to say, most of the toilet yg ada masa kitaorg buat toilet break tu, either dirty or too dirty sampai totally kena skip... bukan nak kata kotor sbb busuk, najis pun ada merata2... sungguh tak melambangkan islam... tp kalau berhenti for makan. toilet kat restaurant agak reasonable. toilet masjid yg selalunya kotor... tak paham aku. btw, although it's 1700km pun, cost minyak tak mahal mana, its 60sen (RM0.50) rasanya, per litre... :-)
tp food sepanjang perjalanan was marvelous. although tak byk pilihan i.e. restoran akan tanya nasi dgn daging atau nasi dgn ayam. nasi dia sedap, lauk pun sedap. n among all, ada satu restoran ni mmg the best (pic below). nasi mandy ayam... kitaorg pun mmg penat and lapar kot... but seriou sly kedai simple harga murah makanan sedap... perfect.
apart from that... mmg padang pasir sahaja... sampai la kami ke tempat miqat di Taif. Taif ni tempat miqat bg org2 yg melalui jalan ni ke mekah. lokasi nya dlm 90km dr mekah. dah dekat sgt. for yg kurang tahu, tempat miqat ni lah tempat memakai ihram dan berniat utk umrah.
di tempat miqat ni disediakan kemudahan utk mandi sunat. toilet+bilik mandi superbly clean. tp aku ingat masa aku g haji dulu lagi lah bersih tempat ni. mmg mudah... satu toilet besar, byk tempat sangkut baju. and toilet cangkung yg bersih. air banyak... what else do u need kan... cumanya bawak lah tuala sendiri. anyway, kain ihram tu pun tebal, boleh jd tuala.
dah siap... kami pun ready to go for umrah... labaikallahhuma labaik.... perjalanan ke mekah agak sukar jugak. sbb hujan agak lebat masa tu. and kereta2 tak biasa bwk dlm hujan, byk pakai hazard lights. and aku plak mmg tak berapa nampak, tp mmg dr malaysia, bila hujan aku suka nak cepat, sbb nak settle cepat n tak suka slow2 dok belakang lori, sbb lagi tak nampak. kesian plak kat kawan kereta belakang yg rasanya tak biasa. sorry geng... anyway, aku tunggu jugak kena sound, suruh slow, sbb kami communicate pakai walkie talkie, tak pulak suruh slow... so kira ok lah :-)
ooh masa sampai mekah, dlm bandar ada sesat2... dlm nak sampai ke hotel tu, tetiba aku termuncul dkt benar dgn masjidil haram. mmg tak sangka dpt drive sampai situ... kami tiba dekat sgt nak masuk waktu asar... n by the time dah dekat dgn hotel, mmg dah azan pun, n jalan ke hotel pun dah tutup sementara. tp sekejap je. kami tiba rasanya khamis mlm jumaat, so agak ramai lah org2 local berdekatan dtg mekah jugak.
hotel kami tak jauh sgt dgn masjidil haram. a simple hotel. own by malaysian rasanya. cukup lah serba serbi utk bermalam 2 mlm. rasanya satu malam SR200 ke, 250, tak ingat. bilik utk 2 org. setelah refresh... kami pun turun utk mengerjakan ibadah umrah.. hujan pun dah berhenti sejak kami tiba di mekah tadi.
kami set utk start umrah lepas solat isya. tp by the time sampai masjid, hujan berderu2 turun... lepas solat kami berkumpul sekejap, ingat nak tunggu lepas hujan berhenti br nak buat tawaf, ye lah, masa tu lantai basah n hujan renyai2. tp memandangkan tak ramai org tawaf, baik turun waktu tu jugak. yup we got lucky, tak ramai org... tawaf sungguh selesa.
lepas selesai mengerjakan umrah, upacara tahalul... yg lelaki semuanya potong nipis, tp tak botak. some of us mmg tak pernah potong senipis ni before.... alhamdulillah selesai umrah. it was a small achievement for me. tak sangka betul finally dpt kerjakan umrah. u know, within 24 hours dtg dr doha, terus sampai mekah n settle umrah. alhamdulillah dipermudahkan perjalanan dan ibadat kami. we were too tired by then.. straight away balik and berehat. we have jumaat esoknya di mekah.
Actually, masa kami g umrah tu mmg ramai org dtg berumrah. as aku cakap sebelum ni, visa utk umrah keluar lambat. ramai jugak jemaah dr malaysia, sbb katanya pakej mmg dah plan dr januari tp march br dpt pergi.. mmg sgt ramai... lepas solat jumaat tu jalan penuh sesak.
we had the full hari jumaat di mekah sebelum the next day ke madinah. although aku benci bgnn ni, tp kat situ lah tempat melepak pun. abraj al bait. dlm tu byk kedai2 utk shopping including starbucks yg sah2 yahudi. kitaorg g jugak lah... hehehe... but, sapa yg pernah pergi sini. perasan tak starbuck mekah ni bersopan skit or diubah logo dia. see the pic below...
apart from that pusing2 kedai... n jalan2 around hotel... ramai sungguh manusia. kami pun shopping gak sikit2. beli souvenirs and jubah. jubah lelaki kat mekah ni lg byk choice dr kat doha. ada byk color n different designs. harga pun murah.
the next day, lepas subuh dan breakfast kami meninggalkan mekah menuju ke madinah... as usual, tawaf wida adalah sessi yg paling sedih bila mengerjakan haji or umrah or meninggalkan mekah... sbb selalunya masa ni lah kita akan terfikir betapa best nya berada di mekah, dekat sgt dgn Allah, kecil sungguh diri ini, banyak sgt dosa belum terampun, byk sangat hajat belum diminta and tak tahu bila lagi nak dtg ke sini. mmg aku sangat sayu bila mana terpaksa membuat tawaf wida'. plus for this trip, rasa mcm tak sempat buat apa2 dah nak balik dah. mmg sungguh introduction on umrah to wifey. tp alhamdulillah, sempat jugak lah.
perjalanan ke madinah mengambil masa lebih kurang 4 jam, sepatutnya lah... tp ntah mcm mana kami ambik masa lebih dr tu. kitaorg keluar dr mekah dlm 10.30am (tu pun masih tak puas hati antaranya sbb tak jumpa restoran al baik, fast food ayam goreng restoran said to be way much better than kfc :-)).
sepanjang perjalanan byk nampak bukit2 kecil batu batu. ada unta. and as usual, bila jauh berjalan nak jugak berhenti for toilet break. again sepertimana yg berlaku dr Doha ke Mekah, kat sini pun facilities kurang. ada nampak macam proper rnr and station minyak, tp establishment yg elok ni mcm tutup atau mcm baru yg belum dibuka. aku suspect, tempat2 ni dibuka bila musim haji kot. bila masa umrah ni, traffic tak byk, depa tak buka. tp entah lah... susah nak paham. benda ni bukan nya utk org g umrah or haji je. rasanya byk je org lain lalu kat sini n local pun. kenapa tak well maintained.
ada sekali tu, kami terpaksa buat 3 stop berturut, i.e. first stop... toilet tak leh guna - tutup. then next stop berhenti lagi - toilet sgt kotor. then 3rd stop - lebih kurang kotor, tp manageable... balun... sbb kenkadang tu, tak leh nak tunggu lagi... kalau tunggu next stop sama je. make sure air ada... settle (below pic one of the stops). kami pun tak de lah nak jadi org yg menambahkan lagi kotoron. tp ironi nya, selalu nya lepas settle, the next stop (the one after - or the 4th) cantik lah plak. proper lagi... in our case, tetiba siap ada masjid and ada restoran at tazzaj. mcm sesuai plak berhenti for lunch n solat zohor. so berhenti lagi... sebabkan ni lah... kitaorg ambik masa 6 jam dr mekah ke madinah. anyway, nothing to rush pun. plan nya mmg janji sampai di madinah before maghrib.
kami tak buat persiapan awal kat madinah. hotel pun tak book. thought that we could find rooms easily. ye lah, bg yg pernah dtg, we could remember hotel madinah tak mahal. and banyak giler sekitar2 masjid. kami pun nak tido for 1 night je, takkan lah takde bilik kan... so gamble je. lepas je lunch, aku suruh member aku drive and aku start buat phone call utk book hotel n tanya price. garmin tu ada gak taruh no tel hotel, from there je kami cari mana hotel nak book. satu2 aku call... dr yg mahal 5 star ke murah 3star... alamak... mostly hotel penuh lah plak.
sbb kan kitaorg pun dah set in mind, mana area hotel nak cari. sampai je kat madinah, park kereta ke tepi, aku pun g jalan dr satu hotel to another and tanya bilik. dekat lebih 10 hotel gak lah aku ketuk, alhamdulillah, we got one good and cheap (atas tu). quite near to masjid. sbb satu malam je, kitaorg dpt dok situ. and kena check out awal sbb ada org lain dah book for the next day. Alhamdulillah... and we still got plenty of time to get ready for Maghrib.
aku mmg suka madinah sbb ketenangannya. and bandar dia best utk jalan2... org2 agak tenang n xde nak rush2... kedai pun banyak... hahaha... apa lah aku ni, dtg umrah nak beribadat, ni sibuk nak citer shopping... pagi esok nya pun kitaorg sempat jalan2 sekitar masjid. dlm masjid... sambil sembang2 dgn wifey about future... hehehe... and by noon tu mmg nak gerak balik semula ke doha. berat hati sungguh. penat pun tak hilang... rasa mcm nak je stay another night. tp sbb dah committed dgn member2 insyaAllah next time sempat lagi ke sini.
perjalanan dr Madinah - Riyadh - Doha lebih elok dr Doha - Riyadh - Mekah ari tu. ikut kan jarak dia lagi dekat. tp yg lagi best nya highway dia ada proper toilet n rnr. siap ada coffee juncture and located just nice within the other. tp make sure korang isi minyak masa ada kat madinah lagi. jgn tunggu masuk highway. sbb the last petrol pump dkt highway tu mcm agak susah nak g, so aku skip, ingat kan lepas tu ada petrol pump... hahaha... tak sempat sampai, minyak kitaorg dah dkt nak abis. if u miss the rnr, mcm kat malaysia, kena lah masuk pekan or kampung kecik dekat2 highway tu. in our case it was about 7 km out of the main highway masuk kg. tp ok lah... ada experience isi minyak tgh2 padang pasir... n sempat gak rehat2. masa kitaorg g ni, cuaca agak dingin. walaupun panas tp relax. anyway, tak bekejar apa pun. janji sempat sampai doha the next day. ni lah kenderaan kami...
again, tepi2 jalan takde apa sgt... desert desert desert... cumanya ada lah bukit ni mcm table top mountain kat cape town, tp versi kecik. tu je rasanya yg ada tepi jalan tu. bila masa siang, seronok drive ni especially bila semua berjaga... borak2 sambil share balik citer buat umrah ari tu... n share all the foods dlm kereta. and bila penat kami berhenti kat rnr. ada byk good coffee shop kat sana... mostly drive through.
if you drive to mekah or balik dr madinah ni, mengikut kata org, kalau plate nya bukan local saudi mesti akan ada org dtg nak pow duit or so... ni terjadi kat kami. masa sekali berhenti tu, aku tgh isi minyak ngan member while ada few tgh kat dlm kedai convenient store beli2 jajan. tetiba ada satu kereta tahan aku, merayu minta sedekah. katanya dia dtg dr jauh. tetiba hilang duit kena curi. pastu bini plak sakit ke anak sakit, aku tak ingat... mmg cite sedih lah. n mmg wajar la bagi sedekah. tp bila teringat cite kawan, n ada gak mcm ketidak logikan nya and amount yg minta pun sampai 500!! aku tak jadi bagi... hmm... bersalah ke aku? anyway, when we discuss balik dlm kereta. rasa nya ok je ko...
we decided utk berhenti kat riyadh for dinner. sbb masa dtg ari tu tak sempat pun singgah riyadh. and timing mcm elok je... kami sampai, although agak lewat around 8-9pm tp kedai masih buka. btw, jalan nak dekat2 masuk riyadh agak busy and ada byk spot speed trap. so jaga2 ye. kitaorg chose one mall then terus ke situ. and dah jalan2 kitaorg decided utk makan kat tony romas. berbanding doha, kat saudi ni, even non-muslim pun kena pakai abaya. plus utk makan, kalau ada perempuan wajib dok kat family section. agak strict rule tu kat sini. kami yg ramai ni susah gak nak diaccomodate, sbb family section mostly utk 4 org n bertutup. nak makan tpt open, takut mutawwa (org agama) marah. so ikut je lah. and since one of us birthday dia ari tu, we bought a simple cake n celebrate... saja je buat happy2 skit... tak abis pun kek tu, bg je kat pekerja tony romas.
after riyadh, ada 5 jam perjalanan sebelum ke doha/border doha. we left riyadh around 1am. lepas je isi minyak. kitaorg shoot terus ke doha. i was driving alone masa tu. semua org kepenatan. berwalkie talkie sembang dgn kereta satu lagi. was thrill n kagum dgn capability aku utk drive 5 jam straight. kitaorg singgah sekejap kat satu tempat for solat subuh n arrived at the border around 6-7am. the clearance was smooth.. by 8am dah sampai doha. alhamdulillah.

bila aku tulis entry ni, terasa rindu sangat nak kembali ke sana. bila lah ada rezeki lagi. tq to friends yg ikut journey ni. it was pleasant, dipermudahkan. insyaAllah ada keberkatan kita pergi hari tu. yup, bila lah aku nak gi sana lagi. terasa sgt rindu...

National day quiz..

Sempena Qatar National Day 18 Disember ni, MOI (kementerian dalam negara) Qatar will organise pertandingan quiz peringkat kebangsaan... they named it National Day Quiz for Non-Arab expatriate... mmg mcm tergesa2 je plan penganjuran pertandingan, sbb lambat notification, tak sempat pun nak cari peserta, bg short notice je kat malaysians yg nak masuk. and tak semena2 aku plak yg kena sbb tak cukup org.

MOI ni jemput 10 negara (india, pakistan, bangladesh, sri lanka, nepal, indonesia, malaysia, singapore, phillipines, nigeria) utk menghantar pasukan. each pasukan diwakili oleh 10 org. kenapa team2 tu yg terpilih, aku tak tahulah. although macam 'chokia' tp bear in mind, negara ni largely run by pakistanis and indians ni. and depa ni dah dok sini since born kot... well versed ngan selok belok sejarah negara ni.

so, sbb late notification, a day before the quiz (16 hb quiz day) br lah sebok2 aku nak membaca. we were told, yg perlu baca... website MOI, MOFA, National day dan Emiri Diwan. so aku concentrate kat website tu je lah.. in fact tak jugak. aku tak buka pun MOI and MOFA, hoping org lain baca. and for this year since national day ni depa nak angkat nama Jassim bin Mohammed al thani (following the path of the founder), sejarah org ni mmg kena lah tahu betul.... (but the funny thing was, the more you baca sejarah depa ni, the more u rasa mcm, hmmm... betul ke ni? mcm re-write je..., go read cerita mamat jassim ni, mcm hebat giler!!!)

as expected, mmg nampak sgt kuiz ni not really well planned. first, depa blh tak expect ada participant perempuan, malaysia hantar 4 drp 10 participant tu, perempuan... agak kacau jugak masa penyertaan.. tp tu settle... then come with the question and mcm mana nak jawab, kelam kabut and totally not prepared... tp takpe lah, relax je kan. since dah ramai org dr negara2 yg suka complain, we remained silent most of the time, wakil2 negara lain lg byk tak puas hati ngan cara quiz tu... so i let them complained :-) (btw, aku tetiba dilantik jadi team captain hehehe).

in short, quiz tu mcm ni. first sessi jawapan bertulis (24 soalan). soalan diajukan, kita kena tulis jawapan dan serah kat volunteer quiz. pastu bila keluar jawapan, n compare ngan jawapan kita. since geng2 organiser ni tak prepare, agak kelam kabut lah. pastu second round plak, verbal... style sama, tp specific soalan diberikan kat specific team. so nasib lah dpt soalan senang ke susah... kalau tak dpt jawab, soalan tu di pass kat specific team i.e. since it goes by alphabetical order, pass kat negara ikut abjad... agak tak adil, but ikut je lah...

antara soalan... the first five were about mamat jassim tu lah... pretty simple sbb semua org baca bab dia... then come to history section, arts, current affairs, MOI, general info, sports and etc... antara soalan killer yg takde org betul... apakah nama pearl paling luxurios and valuable... (jawapan al-jiwan... malaysia jwb hessa), apa nama dhow yg digunakan utk diving pearl (apa ntah jawapan nya), slogan hari lalulintas 2010 (ntah apa ntah jawapannya), bila first time national anthem qatar dinyanyikan (17th GCC summit, kita jawab GCC summit and tak tepat, dpt 0 markah)... and many more soalan...

then... came the results...

sebelum start 2nd round, diumumkan team Malaysia was leading by 5 points... (56points) India second 51 points, Indon 3rd 50 points.... then masuk second round... serious india mmg nampak berusaha gigih... kitaorg selamba je lah... jawab apa tahu... second round yg patut semua team dpt 4 soalan terpaksa diberhentikan awal, sampai 3 soalan each je... and both of us, india and our team manage to answer 2 out of the 3 questions given to us... which means.... we have won.. yup yeah... Malaysia menjuarai pertandingan Quiz Qatar National Day... :-) (lega... nasib baik tak kalah... seriously, agak pressure gak memikirkan kalau kalah ngan nepal or nigeria hehehe...) hadiah nya QR5000 not sorang QR5000, tp share 10 org.. jadilah... dpt gak 500.

oklah abt organisation ni mmg boleh diimprove... tp for sure, makanan dia bg masa break mmg superb hehehe... very nice roti n sandwich, mana depa dpt ni? kedai mana ntah... tp sedap and banyak!!!

hmm.. kena interview tadi ngan Qatar tribune, tak sabar nak tgk news masuk surat khabar... :-)

Cooler each day

Doha weather is getting cooler each day... since hujan masa time around raya haji (mid nov), winter sudah menjelma di Doha ni... tahun ni aku rasa cepat plak winter...

so bersempena winter... dan 3 bulan post-marriage effect i.e. peningkatan berat badan secara mendadak (4kg in 3 months!!!) aku ngan wifey pun plan utk jogging starting this week :-) cool weather ni best, jog for 30 minutes a day for 2-3 times a week kat corniche...

tgk doha city center while jogging... above tu, doha still berkabus, ni jam 6.30 pg ni... (18 degree)

so this is one of many 2011 resolutions, to consistently exercise, bg mengelakkan pemboroian mendadak berlaku... dan mengekalkan stamina dan kesihatan jantung hehehe... plus, jogging n exercise ni, at least bg ruang utk aku makan n continue makan, terasa kurang bersalah skit :-p

Miss 'Manila'

Aku g tgk Miss Saigon musical theatre kat doha ni, my first experience tgk musical kat sini... and the 3rd time tgk musical in my life... yg first tgk PGL (season 1) and 2nd time masa kat NY dulu (spring awakening - baru aku tahu yg minah glee ni original act show ni, tp masa aku g dulu dah bukan dia dah). tp for the friends (and wife) yg tag along tgk musical ni, hanya sorang je yg pernah g... so it was a good introduction for them lah since show ni local production je.

although local production, i think the leads (the actress especially) was superb... best dia nyanyi. from our seats (2nd row from front) mmg nampak all the expression and dgr jelas suara dia... best!!! and set dia agak simple lah, but the only set yg gempak was kewujudan kepala helicopter atas pentas... gile hebat, cuma kemunculannya ada lah dlm 5 min.

tp yg agak kureng nya... only the main actors (and most of the budak2) je yg bukan filipino... yg lain2 geng2 pinoy ni. understandable lah sbb nak taruh muka asians sbb cite ni miss saigon kan... tp sbb depa bunyi sgt filipino english and slang masa cakap bunyi gitu, aku terpaksa tukar cite ni, jd miss manila instead of miss saigon... anyway, mmg bangsa depa suka je nak ikut american n tukar passport jadi american passport... oops... tp tak leh nak cakap apa lah jugak, mmg org2 depa je ramai kat sini n known as bagus menyanyi kot...

pas ni nak target nak g tgk musical kat London plak... bila lah ada rezeki... hmm

HIQ : International events...

Minggu ni ada 2 international events in Doha... from 26 - 31 October 2010...

Sports, we have WTA Championship... Women Tennis tournament mengumpulkan the top 8 ranking players... based on the website, ni nama2 yg qualified (and probably datang):
1 Caroline Wozniacki
2Vera Zvonareva
3Kim Clijsters
4Francesca Schiavone
5Samantha Stosur
6Jelena Jankovic
7Elena Dementieva
8Victoria Azarenka

Serena Williams dah withdraw due to injury and Venus tak sure whether withdraw or memang tak layak, tp gambar depa mmg merata kat doha ni... hehehe...

for me, most of them are nama2 baru.. aku tak kenal... tp mainly sbb aku tak follow sgt tennis, but anyway, aku dah beli tiket dah for 28th Oct matchday. its an international event, so dtg tgk je...

then ada jugak (on the same period) 2nd Doha Tribeca Film Festival... last year susah benar aku dpt tiket... so this year dah beli tiket siap2... tp aku tgk 1 movie je among all... sbb dah nak g tgk tennis and plan nak g tgk the free movies je... kalau tgk banyak2 terpaksa lah depa lantik aku jadi jury plak... hehehe... tiket ada dijual kat city center and villagio... opening would be on 26th... and closing on 30th... check out the films in their website here...

and... for football fan.. Asian Cup tickets dah start jual dah merata2... go and grab ur tickets... btw, sesapa nak g, sound aku gak, aku nak g. tp takde geng lah.. hehehe... kalau nak tgk schedule, g ke website here...

so.... enjoy your week!!!

Travel Report : Roadtrip II - Muscat (Day 3)

The apartment provided breakfast, so senang lah tak payah fikir pasal tu kan... we started the day around 9am... breakfast n the first place we went was the the museum. Aku decided bawak depa g museum dulu, sbb i think it is better kita tahu overall cite negara tu, br blh appreciate more. plus, aku rasa the museum (bait al baranda) is one of the best museums in gulf (ni my personal opinion). and plus museum tu pun dekat muttrah, depan corniche n sebaris ngan souq...right after museum tu, terus je menuju ke souq muttrah. spent good 2 hours there. souq ni tutup everyday dr jam 1pm to 4pm... so kalau plan nak g sana, make sure take note on the opening hours. aku dah 2 kali pergi souq ni sebelum ni, tp kali ni first time aku tahu yg ada gold souq gak.. and ada lagi banyak small alleys yg aku tak g... aku jumpa semua ni sbb aku sibuk cari mana lah mak aku ngan makcik2 tu sesat... hehehe...masa kitaorg kat souq tu, ramai giler org2 putih yg maybe dtg dgn cruise. gile ramai... sesak gak lah souq tu. on items yg jual kat situ, basically byk yg sama mcm kat doha, therefore tak lah aku beli apa2... yg special benda kat sana n tak dapat kat sini (yg aku tahu) halwa muscat (kalau org perak, mmg ada halwa maskat masa org kawin, so i guess ni original halwa muscat) dan komma (its the kopiah yg org omani pakai mcm pakcik dlm gambar bawah ni). lepas shop, sebelum pkl 1, kitaorg g cari lunch. we had arabic lunch for today. since masa kat doha, my brother tak merasa pun nak makan makanan arab, so now nak try lah... tried omani traditional dish (apa ntah nama nya) n mandy (ni asal from yemen). very nice restaurant near Qurm Park. Lepas lunch, straight g ke Masjid Sultan Qaboos (ye, yg ada carpet paling besar dlm dunia) utk solat zohor n asar.it's 3pm... mostly kedai tutup... so apa lagi... sessi bergambar lah.. since muscat/muttrah ni cantik... almost everywhere good utk ambik gambar... of course, we have to see the Sultan Qaboos Palace...and Bar al Jissah...and Corniche...
Since my dad still agak demam, we end the day early and my mom cooked for dinner... dia mmg beriyer nak masak. :-) anyway, if u have only a day in Muscat, i guess my itinerary here mmg suit for 1 day trip, maybe u can change to do souq later bila dah malam n siang lepas museum tu, blh lah g tempat lain... perhaps, g tgk dolphin. (i did the dolphin trip dulu, so tak nak buat lagi dah. yup, i saw dolphin, tp tak byk).

Doha Visit...

it was my parents second visit to Doha... but the first for my brother, Maksu n Makcik Ani (kawan Maksu). kebetulan hari depa sampai tu Doha tetiba sejuk (ok, this is last February, 2 months ago punya cite) since the most memorable and talkable experience masa my parent dtg sini 2 years ago was g beli ikan kat corniche, tanpa berlengah first night kat sini dah turun ke corniche nak g beli ikan... tp kan.. sbb sejuk sangat ada 2 org je jual ikan, frustrated. beli je lah apa yg ada... (gambar bawah ni masa kitaorg g the other day, byk la ikannya)hmm... kalau aku tulis aktiviti tiap2 hari kat sini mau 2 page entry ni... :-) so aku tulis ringkas je lah...walaupun mcm 4 minggu depa kat sini, apparently depa cuma ada 3 weekend je, 1 weekend doha ni dan 2 weekend lagi kat muscat-dubai (aku cite pasal ni in the next entry). so takde lah nak berjalan mana... tp parents aku dtg sini bukan nak jalan mana pun, dia nak bg anak dia makan je.. hik hik hik... so, main activity was g corniche beli ikan or else g pasar beli ikan (lagi) and sayur.. selang 2-3 hari g situ..so the only weekend kat doha, aku bawak depa g main quad bike, actually bukannya utk my parents n3 hari aku g pasar jam 6am... hehehe.. weekdays tu, bgn awal giler... makcik2... more kepada experience for my brother je... n g ke bir zikreet utk tgk burung kasawari, tapi seekor burung pun takdak.. abis masa je... hehehe...
on weekdays, sempat lah g mall, souq and the pearl. gi pun malam lepas dinner... aku plak ada kelas french, so tak lah g mana2 sgt... sian depa... hehehe... tp kan ke nak bawak ke dubai and muscat, so tak lah bersalah sangat... hahaha...
oh... tapi sempat gak buat bbq kat beach... mmg mak aku nak sgt buat bbq kat beach ni, sebelum datang lagi dia dah cakap nak makan bakar kat tepi beach. dulu masa dia datang aku buat kat simaisma, but this time around, aku pilih spot lagi dekat ngan doha... seriously good place utk buat bbq... (gambar last tu, view doha from the place kitaorg buat bbq)

and... mak aku mmg nak experience sangat nak jual2 kat pasar malam (aku selalu cite kat dia pasar jual2 bazaar ramadhan n pasar malam). so mmg aku dah set kan utk ada pasar malam doha while they were here... hehehe.. there goes 2 nights sbb depa sibuk nak siap kan benda2 nak jual :-) dan hari pasar malam tu... seronok gak depa dpt join. siap plan utk guna hasil jualan buat belanja gi trip muscat n dubai... berbaloi gak lah depa angkut brg2 yg banyak dr M'sia utk buat jualan ni... Alhamdulillah, 80% abis :-)

byk gak aktiviti blh buat kat doha...kadang2 aku tgk... cantik gak doha ni...