Rambles & Quizzes

Hi all

Another weekend, another ramble with the Qatar Natural History Group.
On this excursion, we travelled along the Arabian Gulf coast then inland to Barooq. From ostriches to TV location set and Bedouins on pedestals, one thing’s for sure, a Ramble outing is all about discovering, and if you’re lucky you might pick up a fossil remain or just take in some breath-taking views/scenery.
This ramble was extra special. I met my fellow countrymen who were seasoned ramblers in their own right and they came well prepared from ‘pitching tent’ to preparing some good old fashioned home-cooked foods for their picnic. The family-ness of it all was reminiscent of my outings with my parents to coast of Malaysia. I sure miss those days, but I was glad to see this Singaporean group gathering friends and family members together to commune under a make-shift ‘winnie-the-pooh’ fleece blanket and sharing a yummilicious pot-luck.
With a few hours of rest and wash-up after the ramble, I met up with Lawrie and his wife, Niki , Niki’s sister, Jean and Chris. It was Pub Quiz Night at Al-Khor community club.
For those not too familiar with this British culture, pub quiz is “Who wants to be a Millionaire” minus the glitz and glamour and the million dollars (you do get a prize, but its a small token). It’s a very popular activity in UK watering holes. So instead of just sitting on a bar stool and drinking, pubs may hold regular, weekly quiz nights, generating social stimulus. The quizzes will test your knowledge on topics ranging from Sports trivia, music, history, geography, etc. This culture has spread to other British-themed pubs all over the world (in Singapore, Penny Black) and yes, even in Doha!
Al-Khor community club does not have a pub but to create the atmosphere, you bring your own ‘pub’ in a cooler bag; yes, it’s BYOB – Bring Your Own Bottle.
It was a fun-filled evening of laughter and entertainment as the participating groups were ever ready to take on each quiz dished out by the quiz master.
Even though we didn’t win top prize, it was all done for the fun of it. Cheers!

Photo link: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=marthaleemei&target=ALBUM&id=5318298217728559873&authkey=Gv1sRgCLavpd_l6ebkFw&authkey=Gv1sRgCLavpd_l6ebkFw&feat=email

Till next time, Mart.

Drag racing and ice cream

Got myself an invite to watch a Drag Race event. An interesting drive out of the city limits and into the industrial part of Doha, aka MAD MAX CITY.

Not quite like Formula 1 racing but it was interesting all the same watching fancy sup'd up cars and bikes screaming down the straight course to clock the fastest time.

With our ear-drums a little numb and hard of hearing (forgot ear-plugs), that didn't deter us from making a detour to Villagio for ice cream @Stone Cold Ice Cream stall. People come here not so much for the flavours of ice cream but more to watch the servers perform; its quite entertaining to watch them dish out a generous helping of ice cream, plonking it onto a cold marble slab and 'goreng' the ice cream balls with a mix of selected ingredients of your choice. Pure entertainment, but a berry good tasting one too.





Photo update link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/marthaleemei/DragRacingQRCDoha?feat=directlink

Till next time, Mart

My Weekend - Photo/links update

Update and more information on OUR LADY OF THE HOLY ROSARY PARISH

Other links to church: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iWu5QzLEeuIIV8NPATAd0SSXyL7g

Getting Around Doha - DRIVE THIS!

If you want to drive in and around Doha with confidence, you need something with a little extra armour and muscle. So it's advisable you get a 4WD rather than a saloon.

Here's a vehicle I thought would be quite useful, and it's quite up to speed with latest car-tech...something to consider...problem is, I don't think it'll quite fit into the parking space at the apartment...hmmmm...

Surviving Doha

Here are some personal ‘survival’ tips when living in Doha.

Lesson 1: Always, always insist that you get a brighter apartment and use the excuse that, should your boss come to know that you are not located to an apartment to your liking, someone will be in trouble. When you’re single, and a woman, you are likely to be taken advantage of, so better to have some sort of upper-hand; in other words it helps to have a boss that supports you.

My transit home (7 Pearls Apartment) has now become my permanent home. The transit unit was a little short on natural lighting so I’ve moved to the next block with a unit facing the main carpark and which allows me to draw the curtains without construction workers peering into my hall/bedroom.

Lesson 2: Get to know your neighbours well, without whom you will not have free rides to office, trips to supermarket and invitations to a ramble!

In the past few weekends, I’ve made some new discoveries, courtesy of Dave and Lawrie, my two English colleagues who are staying in the same apartment compound. Lawrie invited me to participate in a ramble to the desert plateau/crater cum beach picnic with the Qatar Natural History Group, whilst Dave and his wife, Pat, bring me along for trips to the supermarket to pick the week’s groceries – there’s a ‘Geylang Serai’ district, a Family Food Centre that’s similar to Sheng Siong and even Daiso, with all things going for QR5! Then there’s Lulu Centre that’s very much like a mini-Mustafa! The shopping malls are nothing less than spectacular (Villagio has a 200m canal in the mall with Gondolas; look up the ceilings and you have a fresco of the sky, day and night scenes!).

Lesson 3: Walk around Doha, and meet new people. While my work-week keeps me pre-occupied, I look forward to my weekends discovering new places in Doha that even my Singapore friends never knew existed, and they’ve been here for two years or more! Better yet, queue at a MacDonald’s outlet and just listen if you can pick out a Singaporean in the crowd. You have to learn to be spontaneous and thick skinned.

I have made new friends from varied nationalities, cultures and professions, and as my colleague quipped, “we all seem to get along quite well, somehow or rather”.

I also met a group of Singaporeans at a tea-session. It was nice chatting with them and listening to what they had to say about their stay in Doha. They shared with me their experiences (living on their own, away from their loved ones, missing local fare, sedentary lifestyle, more quality time with kids, etc.).

On Wednesday, the Red-dotters club (a club for Singaporeans/PRs) will be hosting a dinner to welcome President Nathan to Doha. Will I be attending? As my Singaporean acquaintance put it eloquently, “Free food, die, die must go”!

Lesson 4: Record your moments and share it with your family and friends. I hope you have been kept entertained with my stories and photos. Sharing these moments have kept me sane and a-live.

Last but not least, lesson 5: Pray, even if you're not religious; you never know what's going to happen at the round-about and an unsuspecting car suddenly appears about an inch from your door and manages to manouvere the front of the car in front of you! Driving can be hazardous to your health, and certainly not for the faint-hearted.

Here's the photo update.

http://picasaweb.google.com/marthaleemei/Chapter4Photos?feat=directlink

Till next time, Mart!

My Weekend Outing

Hi all,

So I am no longer enjoying the comforts and cares of a hotel live-in as I had to be relocated to one of the company's apartments *sigh*.

A little closer to work but still not near enough to walk. I have also another week left before I have to forgo chauffeur privileges (*Double sigh*).

My first weekend was spent on a drive tour, courtesy of Mr & Mrs Willie Swee from Singapore. Charming couple, with two children. I had been chatting with them over the internet in Singapore to get more info about Doha living, and you could say, I came a little more prepared with their helpful advice.

Like most countries, there's always some popular hotspot or shopping district. In Doha, that would be the SOUQ WAKIF (somehow, in my earlier walkabouts on my own I had accidentally by-passed the area without realising that it was the Souq).

The Souq is set in a courtyard (very much like the courtyard @Riverwalk). They are many shops and cafes; meander into one of the alleyways, you'll come across rows of shops selling a range of items from local arts and crafts, dates, spices, nuts, live pets (mostly birds), etc. We didn't stay very long, and after a quick tour, nuts buying and a snack (thosai styled pancake), we headed out for a drive around the city centre.

On Friday, the Swee family invited me to fellowship at their Church. The worship services were conducted in a villa, not far from the city centre. After a one & half hour service, we adjourned to lunch at the Thai Snack restaurant for our individual meals. Very tasty (lots of MSG) and service was rather quick.

On Saturday, I started off early with a brisk walk from 7 Pearls apartment to the Corniche. Although the distance was short (about 6km on my GPS), it felt much longer, and found that I had to be rather careful/mindful as there were few pedestrian crossings and more roundabouts in Doha (to get in and around Doha, it's better to use roundabouts as landmarks and not buildings). Luckily, it was the weekend morning, so traffic is not so hectic.

My Saturday morning was spent walking along the Corniche, and window shopping at City Centre, Carrefour, when I actually got a chance to do a "comparative study" on grocery pricings (ok, I had nothing else better to do).

I found some things cheaper (toilet rolls; in-house products, biscuits, breads, juices) than home, while other items (instant noodles, fruits, vegetables) a little more expensive. Can't ask for everything, but at least I know I will be able to survive without having to penny-pinch on basic necessities.

By noon, it was just too hot to walk so I decided to try the local bus system. Mr Willie Swee had warned me against taking the public transport (all you see are men/labourers and you certainly won't see any women in a bus). It's pure psychology - tell a child not to do something, the child will be tempted to do it anyway. I became that child that day.

So i took the bus. It wasn't too bad. In fact it was very comfortable and there were seats marked out for women - "Priority for Ladies/Handicapped".

Each ride within the city limits is SGD1.20, one-way, however short/long the distance. The bus plied along the Corniche, the Harbour, Parliament house, into the older part of town (Souq area) and ended its journey at the Terminus. The Central Bus station is a very colourful place, well actually, just mostly ethnic indians. All in all, it took me about 40 minutes (including wait time) to board my connecting bus to the apartment. If you don’t have your own set of wheels and you need to get around, the bus is the way to go to see Doha.

Sure felt like a tourist that afternoon and quite enjoyed the day.

Here's the link to view more photo shots:

http://picasaweb.google.com/marthaleemei/DohaPart2?feat=directlink

Till the next time.

Just another day in Doha

Hello,

Hope everyone's well.

It's coming close to a week in Doha and alot has happened since I last wrote.

Today (Wednesday) is Ash Wednesday, and my colleague at work invited me to attend the one and only Catholic Church in Doha. It was a 20 minute drive out of the City Centre and into the Desert. About 3km off the road intersection that leads to the borders of Lebanon, there stood a fortress-like Church in the desert with a few uncompleted structures in the surrounding area. It didn't look like a Church; it had no signage, nor the symbolic cross of christ. It was still a "Work in Progress" Church. The construction of the Church came with one condition imposed by the government - no cross must be displayed on any part of the buidling.

The Church caters to various sectors of the community, largely made of Philipinas, Indians and Lebanese. There are designated services in respect of the 3 communities mentioned, in their respective mother tongue. Then there's an English mass for the general masses. Seating capacity is about 2000.

To get to the Church, you certainly need a set of wheels. In Doha, driving/owning a car is a necessity.

On the subject of driving, boy oh boy, what a thrill I had in the car today.

We started off later than usual, and the newbies in the car, including myself were pooled together to attend our medical review at the Doha Medical Centre. It was some ways out of the City Centre but the peak hour traffic was something to contend with.

The driver had skill, and *balls* - the one thing you learn about driving in and around Doha is the ability to know your minor roads. From one small road to another, our driver got us to the medical centre in no time. Pavements are not just for pedestrians; drivers will just "carve" out an extra path just to inch a few hundred metres to the intersection.

As we approached nearer to the medical centre (which was on the other side of the road), he made a quick cut across the divider, drove about 200m against the flow of traffic and into the main entrance.

Dropping us off at our respective centres (one end for males, and at the other end of the building for females), he shoved QR500 into my hand and told me to "draw blood" and get x-ray. When I'm done, I was supposed to call him. What was his name - "My name is Hussein, Sadam Hussein"!!!!

At the medical centre, its pure chaos and mayhem. I am truly, truly thankful that we have an organised queue system in Singapore. You get your queue tickets dished out manually, then move on to a row of seats which is manually dictated by a masked woman "bouncer"! There's no queue number. When the bouncer points, you move to the next available seat. It was obvious that the bouncer gave priority to the caucasians and would many a times overlook queue-cutters! That irk one lady that got the brunt end of the stick from the bouncer; the irked lady got pushed a few notches down the queue and had to wait out longer than usual.

Once you get finger-pointed, you basically make payment of QR100, get a receipt and head out to the adjoining rooms with a signage that says "Draw Blood". The nurse was more attentive talking to her colleague than finding a vein in my arm!

The x-ray was the fun part when we had to get undressed and stand exposed to the radiation - it was done in an open room!!!! We also got to view x-rays of each woman passing through the scan before it got to our turn.

As the credit card ad goes - medical review, QR100; experience, priceless!

Till the next time, Martha

Doha - First Impressions

Hi there,

It's just my 2^nd day in Doha and am slowly settling in.

On my arrival, I checked into Ramada Plaza, a rather distinct gold-paneled building – hard to miss landmark if you get lost. After a much needed nap to recover from the 9-hour flight, I decided to compose a walk route with my Garmin handheld GPS. Didn't get quite far, about 5km out of Ramada's range. Many shops were closed and there wasn't really very much to gawk at. The nearest grocery store was The Centre. An overly priced store filled with expats shopping to fill their weekend trolleys. To give you an idea, a bag of Doritos corn chips is about SGD7, and I thought Kettle Chips was expensive!

Climate-wise, it's a hot and cool affair. Daytime is about 27-30 deg. C and by 5-6pm, temperatures drop to about 15 deg.C. Yesterday was a clear blue-sky day but today, I experienced my 1^st sand-haze! It's just a lot of dust in the air, and if you are donning any dark coloured clothes, you will find specks of dust settling on them. Truly amazing.

So my 1^st day of work started with a 30km drive out of the City to a location I can't even pronounce. The company's offices (HR & Admin) are temporarily housed in Villas, and with a quick orientation and surrendering my passport and mugshots to the immigration centre in exchange for a residence permit, back into the car I went for a drive back to the city centre – it was time to meet the boss and the legal team.

As we drove out of the "villa-desert", the landscape changed to one of modern high-rise buildings; impressive tall structures that are architecturally bold – there's a "WOW" factor to them.

Salam Tower is a dwarf amongst the bigger buildings surrounding it, but when I got to the 12^th floor, the view was quite spectacular. My boss's room looks out to the Corniche, a 13km esplanade that greets the Arabian Sea. If the skies were clear, I would have a brilliant view of the buildings standing along the Corniche's coastal line.

My room is about 150sq.ft. (what a stark contrast to what I was used to at KW). There was space for a large table, a stand-alone antique cupboard and two tall chairs. I was in awe, and I just had to sit and soak in the reality of having a room of that size, albeit without a view, but I didn't really care.

After chatting with boss and an intro to colleagues, it was time for lunch – I couldn't refuse free food, which everyone was entitled to.

Time ticked away, and by 3:30pm, I was whisked back to Ramada by my chauffeur, who was quick at the wheel, avoiding any sort of jam.

Observation:

From the time I landed, I had been greeted by a Bangladeshi, met several Indians, Pinoys, US and Canadian citizens. My boss is Sudanese and the legal team is made of persons from varied nationalities/cultures; had not been introduced to someone local just yet. So truly, Doha is run and serviced by expats.

There are many more days, weeks, months, years for me to discover more of Qatar. Honestly, I feel quite welcomed, pooling with other expats, and am looking forward to what's in store in the days ahead.

Anyway, attached are some snapshots for your viewing pleasure -

http://picasaweb.google.com/marthaleemei/DohaFirstImpressions?feat=directlink

Till the next time.