Just Keep TRI-ing

Raya tahun ni, merupakan raya yang paling meriah, padat dengan jadual ziarah menziarah keluarga dan sahabat dan paling expansive . Ialah sebelum ini aku hanya ada satu keluarga, sekarang aku sudah ada dua keluarga, sebelah aku dan sebelah Hani. Sejak lepas kahwin bulan 6 hari tu kami terus pulang ke Qatar, aku tak sempat untuk mengenali saudara mara Hani. Dia pun macam tu juga. So Raya ni kami dah buat perancangan rapi untuk menziarah saudara mara dan sahabat yang ada dari kedua belah pihak. Siap dengan itinerary. Tak lupa juga buah tangan dari Qatar, Baklava. Sampai excess baggage, dan beg Samsonite besar aku tu pun sampai tertanggal zip. Bila keluarga dan saudara mara dah bertambah, maka kosnya pun bertambah lah. Pening juga nak aturkan duit raya, nak asing asingkan siapa yang patut diberi lebih. Budget kena cukup. Tetapi, kerana kami sampai Malaysia lagi satu hari nak raya, maka bank2 pun dah tak ada stok duit2 kecil, so aku cuma dapat tukar sedikit RM 10 selebihnya RM 50. Jadi untu...

This was such an embarrassing story quite frankly. Qatari drives on the left. Sometimes I got confused after spending 2 months in Malaysia and got used to the rules of driving on the right hand side of the vehicles. One day, after work, I rushed to the company van that was already waiting for me outside. There was someone sitting at the front right (great the driver’s here, I thought). There was someone else cleaning the vehicle outside. He looks familiar. There were few other people near the van. They were chatting. This guy (cleaning the van) smiled. I smiled back and trying to remember if I know him while finding my way to the left seat at the front of the van. I took the seat, fasten the seatbelt (safety first remember) and smiled at the guy on my right (the one I thought was the driver). He looked puzzled and turned looking at the guy who was cleaning the van (now cleaning the rear window). From the rear view mirror I saw the cleaning guy smiling wider than a normal smile, to a p...

Hani was constantly nauseated and tired since we got back from our Eid holidays. I suspected that she’s pregnant but she was scared or maybe too nervous to try the home pregnancy test kit. We had a couple of false alarms before. It would frustrate her if it turns out negative. Suddenly I received an SMS from her saying ‘mom to be’. I called her and she did the test at work. I was overjoyed. I broke the news to some of my work colleagues and decided to come home early. I took Hani to Al-Ahli hospital for test and consultation, but the only available slot was in 10 days. We can’t wait that long. So we went to Gulf Laboratory and she had a blood test. We had dinner while waiting for the result. We went to Thai Snack as Hani suddenly had a crave for tom yum. But she threw it all up when we finish eating. We went back to the laboratory and the result came positive. We were elated. I shook hand with the doc. Hani was 6 weeks pregnant. So all this time during Eid she was already pregnant, but...

It has always been my dream to set my feet in Istanbul. The city breathes with history from the Byzantium, Constantinople, and Ottoman to the modern Republic of Turkey. I remember reading a novel ’Meet me in Istanbul’ by Richard Chisholm when I was 10. Since then I dreamt that one day I would see Istanbul and all its glorious past with my own eyes. The day finally came. Hani and I decided to have our second honeymoon in Istanbul. We had a great 4 days in this magnificent city enjoying its sights, food, shop, and immerse ourselves in their culture. 26 Aug 2009 The location of the city cannot be more strategic, straddling across Asia and Europe, built around the Bosporus connecting Marmara Sea and the Black Sea. I would say I fell in love with Istanbul at first sight. The taxi ride from the Ataturk Airport to our hotel at Sirkeci was like riding a time machine. In a short distance we were taken from a modern glittering city to a charming old town with maze of cobbled streets teeming wit...

Qatar can be a boring place to live for some. We usually spend our past times at shopping complexes or cinemas if there's no invitations for Jamuan (feasts , gatherings). But today Hani came up with an idea for a picnic at a beach. So we headed 84km west to Dukhan. She prepared a picnic basket of Nasi Lemak, mineral water and fruits but did not pack any swimming gear. We did not intend to swim anyway. We set off for Dukhan at 3 pm and took a detour to Zekreet. There was a deserted rustic Arabian village and some beautiful rock formations along the way. We continued our journey to Dukhan beach after taking some pictures. It was a windy day. We set our picnic basket at a shelter by the beach and had our late lunch. It was hard to enjoy the meal in the gutsy wind. We had our plates and meals blown by the wind a number of times. We thought of heading home after taking some pictures at the beach, but could not resist the temptation to have a dip in the azure water of the Arabian Gulf. W...