Doha, Qatar

We were so happy when Qatar Airlines finally came to Penang International Airport (PIA). Now we can fly direct to London via Doha and safe some time. So instead of a transit, we opted for 3 days in Doha. Doha is a very small city. Actually one can cover major tourist attraction in a day,  I found out later. But since we already booked for 3 nights. we took things slowly and enjoyed our stay here. The

major Souq in Doha is Souq Waqif. I always liked to visit the local Souq, or central square of a country I am visiting. This gives you a rough idea of their lives, culture and tradition. Souq waqif presents you how Qataris, preserve their old market with its fascinating buildings, structures and alleys. It is also quite clean and houses a few boutique hotels and fine dining restaurants. Next to this market and a must visit is the Falcon Souq. Qataris love this bird and they really take care of the birds so well they even have a Falcon Hospital for them. Apparently there is only two such hospitals in the world. These Falcons can fetch up to thousands of Riyals.  These winged friend really enjoy their lives with all this attention. Although I personally think it quite unfair to tie them up and not allowing them to fly freely.
 Another place nearby is the camel ground. Here you can see camel feeding and if you get lucky try going for a camel ride. Another place of interest will be the Museum of Islamic Arts (MIA)
It’s a clean modern building and has a cafe downstairs. The artefacts are from around the world. You can even see a bejewelled falcon with rubies, emeralds and other gems. Wonder how much $$$$ this would cost!
The magnificent structure of The Pearl Qatar will surely fascinate anyone looking at it. Nestled along the Corniche is this man made island spanning only 4km. This is  a first freehold artificial island open to foreign residents. It is a lavish and luxurious promenade with Super Brands and fine dining. Qataris sure know how to live an extremely luxurious lifestyle

Pigeon Towers is another interesting place located in Katara Cultural village. A sanctuary for pigeons highlighting arabian heritage. Katara Cultural Village also houses museums, planetarium, restaurants etc. We were lucky to be taken on a short tour around the Village by a caddy. Truly enjoyed the ride.

There are other places like Doha Corniche, Malls, musuems that we did not visit. Maybe next time Insha Allah. By the way there is this restaurant called Zaitoon serving delicious food.  It is really worth trying. Another suggestion is a Syrian Restaurant in Souq Waqif called Damasca. The food is average although ambience really takes one into a beautifully Arabian decorated interior. That’s all for now. Hope these info helps someone.

More Pic In Istanbul

ISTANBUL..walking down the memory lane

Istanbul the Historic city.

After five days in Dubai our vacation continued to Istanbul. We reached Istanbul at around 6pm local time and was greeted with a beautiful sunset. We took the airport shuttle to our hotel and it proved to be quite expensive. We later found out that the actual price for our hotel transfer from the airport was only half the amount we paid.
Our hotel was located in Sirkeci which is about 100 meters from Topkapi Palace and 200 meters from Spice Bazaar. On the first day in Istanbul, we took the Bosphorus tour. This tour starts after breakfast, when we were picked up from the hotel by our tour guide Emut. We were taken on a short city tour and then proceeded to the mouth of the Golden Horn, to explore the bustling Egyptian Spice Market of 17th century origin - a colorful bazaar heaped with spices, Turkish sweets, dried foods and much more. Then we headed to Camlica Hills the highest point in the vicinity of Istanbul, 267 meters above sea level. It has a small teahouse in the midst of the pine grove which gives the peak its name. From here, there is an absolutely magnificent view, which makes it well worth visiting here. One has a panoramic sight of the whole city, the Bosphorus almost as far as the Black Sea, the Marmara Sea with the Princes Islands, and behind that, the great snow covered ridge of Uludag, the Bithynian Olympus. We took the opputunity to take many pictures here.

Then finally we headed to Eminonou to take our ferry for the Bosphorus tour.
We discoverd a wealth of impressive sights all along the shores in the Bosphorus ferry trip along Istanbul's famous waterway dividing Europe and Asia. The trip along this sea is about 1 1/2 hours during which we had the chance to relax and admire the shoreline of beautiful mosques, lavish palaces and decadent villas. we also got to see Dolmabahce and Beylerbeyi Palaces, Ottoman summer mansions and Ortakoy mosque, the defensive Rumeli Fortress and Bosphorus Bridge - one of the world's largest suspension bridges, all alongside passing fishing boats, yachts, huge cargo ships and tankers.Hubby mentioned that this could be one of the most busiest waterway in the world. On the way back to Eminonu it was already beginning to get dark. The temperature suddenly dropped. Thankfully I was prepared for I brought extra socks and gloves and shawls for everyone. The pictures here are of Camlica Hills, Bosphorus trip and the Spice Bazaar.

Dubai in five days..is it possible??

Glitzy, glamorous, ultra modern and a dreamworld, Dubai lives for attention. This city has been 'invented as a shopping haven on earth. Although one feels transformed to another world, the feelings come crashing down as soon as you see the price tags on most things in Dubai.It is my second trip to this ultra modern city and I can tell that you will never be disappointed by this city. The Arabs here live in style and luxury and sometimes it seems to be a change looking at them for us especially when we Asian are used to see on tv the 'other' middle easterners ..Iraqis, Iranians, Afghans.. living in war torn countries with no basic amenities. It is just pride that perhaps make me go back to this city. Proud feelings of fellow Muslims who can build extraordinary structures, skyscrapers, malls and what not. Anyway here are some of the pictures of places we visited in Dubai that I had caught on camera.

The first picture is of the dhow which cruises along the creek. We took this tour and of course like everything else in Dubai the interior of the Dhow was superbly decorated with five star international buffet.

The second picture is of my son MS who insisted on buying the Arab national dress for men and was learning how to put on the "head gear" from the shopkeeper.

The third is of the Burj Al Arab. The magnificent structure standing tall and proud in this dessert land. The Burj Al Arab stands on an artificial island 280 metres (919 ft) out from Jumeirah beach, and is connected to the mainland by a private curving bridge. It is an iconic structure, designed to symbolize Dubai's urban transformation and to mimic the sail of a boat.
I was lucky to have caught the picture of one of the white Rolls Royce which is used as Limousin service for hotel guest here.

The fourth picture is my favourite place of all in Dubai.. the SKI DUBAI in Emirates MAll. Ski Dubai is the first indoor ski resort in the Middle East and offers an amazing snow setting to enjoy skiing, snowboarding and tobogganing or just playing in the snow. You don’t have to worry about ski clothing or equipment either. Ski Dubai has thought of it all and offers guests the use of winter clothing, ski and snowboard equipment and my kids had a wonderful time here. Imagine one minute we were in temperature 32c outside and the next minute we were in temperature -3c.

And finally the last picture is of the plane we took from Kuala Lumpur International Airport.. KLIA to Dubai. I will post more pictures once I have sorted all and will also post some of the beautiful pictures of our holiday in Istanbul soon Insya Allah.

Its the holidays!!!

Alhamdulillah the school holidays are here again. In malaysia the school term ends in mid november and only reopens in the first week of January. That means we have roughly 40 to 45 days of school break. Wheww that is long especially if you have active kids with nothing much to do in the house. There will be endless arguments: from remote controls for the idiot box, to who gets to play games first, to whom should mum play with. Thankfully hubby decided to take us for a two weeks vacation. Now that had the kids excited and made them talk and plan about this trip, which means less arguments, and more fun. So here we are all packed and ready to leave. But before that I decided to post one recipe which is Creamy Sweet Potatoes and Carrot soup. Actually there are many other recipes that I had tried out the past few weeks but Only I did not have time to post it. Anyway I will try and post them when I come back InsyaAllah. Till then Happy Holidays !!!

Colmar Tropicale Bukit Tinggi Holiday

This is one of the best highland resorts in Malaysia. The small french theme resort town has buildings and cottages lined up European style. Colmar Tropical is sited on the Berjaya Hills which is about 2700-3,500 feet above sea level. Its many attractions includes a French Themed Resort, Berjaya Hills Golf & Country Club, Japanese Village and the Rabbit & Deer Farm. My family and I took the 2 days and 1 night package. We stayed in one of the apartment in Colmar town itself. This place with its lush green rainforest and fresh invigorating air is certainly your perfect getaway from the hustle and bustle of city life. As soon as we arrived, we went to the rabbit and deer park where we were able to touch and pet these animals. There was also donkey rides and Sofi rode on one. My son Salman had fun playing with his father paint ball and archery.

That night we watched life acrobatic show. It was a stunning performance by acrobats from China. Later for dinner we had Italian pizza. The next day we again were treated by street performance, tricks by clowns,and magic shows. My husband AK really enjoyed himself when we went to the clay work and hobby shop. All of us chose certain clay artwork and painted and decorated it ourself. It was fun doing this activity together and the children really enjoyed having both their parents together helping them. The beauty of it was nobody was in a rush to go anywhere thus we could all finish painting in a relaxed manner. One word of advise though, all restaurants and cafe closes at 7 pm.So for those who napped and came out late, there werenT any shops open to buy even a bun. The only food available is maybe in Berjaya Golf Resort which is about 15 to 20 minutes drive out of Colmar Tropicale. All in all It is a Beautiful place and we might go there again sometime.

KOTA KINABALU HOLIDAY

On 28th June 2008, my family and I made a trip to kota kinabalu for the school holiday break. We stayed at the famous Sutera Harbour Resort which is nestled along the coastal road overlooking the South China Sea. It was a beautiful resort and the first thing that caught my attention was how friendly and polite the Sabahans were. Most of the people there spoke very good english. Kk is also a very clean town. When we went about KK we were quite surprised to see clean roads, parks, and even their public toilets. But one thing I don't understand is why there was no air -con in one of their biggest shopping centre. When we asked around, we were told that there was some problem with their air con system.But later when we went to another shopping parade there was still no air con. So I am not sure if this is normal in KK but it was very hot and customers looked annoyed and agitated. Imagine eating in Pizza Hut in a shopping mall minus the air con.

Anyway back in the hotel the kids were having such a good time eating swimming and just enjoying the ambiance. The rooms were quite comfortable and their food in Cafe Boleh can be considered excellent. I am saying this because we have experienced eating food which is not tasty in good hotels. The dessert normally looks good but taste horrible. But in this restaurant the selection and the food tasted good. One place to go is the Filipino Market near Sinsuran. There are many handicraft things and souvenirs here with reasonable price. But you must be able to bargain to get a good price.