Laut dan Pantai

Ini gambar2 santai di Pantai Telong, Tok Bali, September lalu. This small beach resort is just few km away from Tok Bali port, Kelantan. Bukan Bali, Indonesia ya! And it's only 30-40 mins drive from my parents' house. Oleh kerana nak ambil udara pantai, dekat pun nak bermalam jugak...

Sempena hari Malaysia, pagi Ahad tu kitaorg serbu pantai tu dengan 4 kereta. My parents, siblings and aunty's family. Mak dengan semangatnya pagi2 dah goreng meehoon, masak nasi, gulai ikan asam pedas, goreng daging kunyit. Ku goreng kopok lekor, my sis bawa nasi gulai kawah dan ayam pedas yg mak mertua dia masak. (dia masak?? ;p) Aunty & sister inlaw bawa jugak food and fruits. Banyak sangat makanan sampai ke petang lah, kiranya itulah breakfast, lunch and dinner kitaorang...  

Towards petang, masing2 mula bersurai sebab Isnin dorang kerja dan budak2 kena pergi sekolah, tinggallah ku dgn parents & sis's family, macam kitaorang yang conquer the whole beach area tu...  We've booked 2 chalet units, sebelah menyebelah. Chalet tu kira oklah untuk budget stay, kalau inginkan luxury, itu bukan tempatnya lah. Standard chalet kampung, basic sangat, yang penting bersih dan ada basic things macam aircond, kipas, so bolehla tidur dengan selesa... Berpadananlah dengan harga rm100/unit/night for family room with 2 double beds. Dalam bilik tu disediakan satu sofa panjang untuk menonton tv, so agak penuhlah bilik kecil tu tapi masih ada ruang untuk solat antara sofa dan katil. Diluar bilik, ada anjung untuk menikmati angin laut dan tempat berasap.. (ni port ayah ler..) Sekitar resort tu pun bersih, banyak disediakan meja makan dan tempat duduk. Kawasannya juga teduh (skelilingnya banyak pokok) dan terpelihara. 

Sebelum ni, keluarga di kb akan ke pantai2 yang dah terlalu commercial seperti PCB, Pantai Irama, Seri Tujuh, etc. Ini kira kali pertamalah kami ke Pantai Telong & we like it.  Next time, insyaalah kalau ada masa, boleh pergi ramai2 dengan hby & anak yang tidak berpeluang turut serta pada masa tu, maybe to another resort... banyak resort2 sepanjang pantai ni (kena rajin survey...) 

 ~I heart beach~

Subhanallah, hebatnya alam ciptaan Allah SWT, lengkap melengkapi... Dengan laut dan ombaknya, pantai dan pasirnya, langit dan awannya, sinaran mentari dan rimbunan pohon untuk berteduh...

Sekitar Permai Resort, kawasannya diteduhi pokok & terjaga bersih.. 

Pantai yg landai & banyak ketam2 kecil merangkak2 di situ. (macam baby la pulak merangkak2;p)

Ada lalat jugak especially time nak makan, ni spoil sikit! 

Suka lepak di bangku ni... 

Aktiviti anak2 buah...

Happy Summer Hols

Salam Ramadhan to all. Hope it's not too late to wish even we are approaching towards the end of this barakah month... hmm sigh, time flies. May Allah pardons our sin and grants us with HIS countless blessing, ameen.

Alhamdulillah, Akid & I have the opportunity to go back to Malaysia during the fasting month and insyallah will be celebrating Eid, here. Hubby will join us for Eid, later.

To all, Selamat Hari Raya & Maaf Zahir Batin.

~~*~~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~*****~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~~*~~

Di bawah ni, gambar2 sekitar Jun & Julai 2012 - cuti musim panas di tanahair.

Budak yang happy nak bercuti panjang, balik kampung...

We flew back to Malaysia via Oman Air & transit for a while at Muscat airport.

However, most of the school children in Doha had to go through the final Exam before going for a long summer break. Alhamdulillah, Akid had made an impressive progress in his class and received the Most Outstanding Progress award from the school.

Bravo dear and keep it up :)

Antara yang dirindui tentang Malaysia adalah keindahan dan kehijauan alamnya, pulau, pantai, jeram dengan deru air terjun, kicau unggas dan pemandangan bukit bukau yang sejuk mata memandang. Subhanallah. 

Akid bersama adik2 sepupu di Air Terjun Sungai Gabai, dekat saja dengan KL / Kajang. Sangat convenient untuk beriadah dan beristirehat bersama keluarga di hujung minggu. Kitaorang pergi untuk bersarapan pagi di sana, sekali sekala tukar angin :)

Air jeram yang sejuk!!

Gabungan tradisional dan moden di Souq Waqif

Souq Waqif (سوق واقف) is literally translated to "the standing market", a very popular place among locals and expatriates. This place dates back at least a hundred years and has been recently restored back to its original glory. As for me, it's kind of a unique 'souq' (market) as we can see a mix of traditional and modern character in it. We love to go there, sometimes just for dining. We enjoy strolling along the shops and dining in an open air during winter when the weather is cooler. There are dozens of good restaurants serving cuisines from all over the world and it is also famous for shisha lounges.

In Souq Waqif, we can find almost everything from clothes, handicraft items, spices, pets, jewellery, perfumes and souvenirs.  There are also shops selling 'ihram' clothing and other  essential materials for those who wish to perform Hajj / umrah. We like to buy dried nuts (I mean pistachios, almond, walnuts, etc). There's also a money changer which offer reasonable rates for those who'd like to exchange the currencies.

During holiday seasons, it sometimes hosts mini concerts and also some other art events at night. It's indeed very cheerful and lively nights. It's a 'must-visit' place for tourist while in Doha!! I'll definitely take my family and friends to Souq Waqif when they come to Doha :)

Let's scroll some of the pics taken in Souq Waqif...

a shop selling shisha pipes

@one of the pet shops

along the handicraft shops

Restaurants 

Yummy Haagen Dazs is here too!

Malaysian cuisine - famous nasi lemak, nasi goreng and satay 

rows of clothes shops

Officers on horses

Street show - Avatar theme

one of the art shows 

art show @ night

shop selling traditional rugs

Menyelusuri seni Islam silam

Going to museum? Yawn! Well, it might be boring to some people but not us, I mean me. When we were about to leave the house to the Museum of Islamic Art, my son asked me: "Why museum??" Sigh.

When I entered the building, my first impression was Wow! 

I love its masterpiece architectural and peaceful ambiance. 

~Among the displayed items~

This pen box from Spain was beautifully crafted from Ivory and brass, dated 1003-1004 AD.

 i.e. more than 1000 years ago and it's still in an excellent condition!!

Impressive!

These are quadrants from 13-14th Century.

Compass and ruler from 19th century

Gold coins of no particular order:

Muayyad dinar, Tremissis (third dinar), Abbasid dinar, Fatimid dinar and Ottoman findiq.

It was ancient ago!!

Hunting horn from Italy dated 11-12th century.

Ramayana text from India since 16th century.

Steel armour for the rider and horse from Turkey dated late 15 century.

And actually lots more of magnificent artworks collection from the different regions of the world (Turkey, North Africa, Middle east, Iran, Iraq, Europe, Far east, China, India, etc.) dating as early as 7th century. The (studied) physical evidence somehow provides useful information to the modern generation of the early Islamic civilisation, the Islamic world history, their inventions, technology, the diversify culture and creativity. 

For more information, please visit this website:

http://www.mia.org.qa

Singing Dune

Dune Adventure ~ 17 Feb 2012

Last Friday, my family and I went for dune adventures in Al-Kharrara. The place is called Singing Dunes as ones can hear the natural sound phenomenon produced by the movement of the sand, triggered by wind passing over the dune. 

That was the first time we went there, being lone ranger and just guided by the gps. It was like a 'redah' trip. Approaching Al-Kharrara, we saw the dunes from a far but we didn't really know how to get there. Luckily, there was this one 4WD vehicle coming from there. So we followed the same trail towards the dunes. It was an open rocky area with the trail of the vehicle tyres. We went around the nearest and biggest dune and found out quite a number of cars parking with some of family members were having picnic and barbecue. The children were having fun, going up and sliding down the dune. There were also few vehicles coming from the other direction, arrived the spot about the same time as us. The weather was just nice with bright sunshine. It was not too hot and not too cold even it was windy. 

Excitedly, we parked our car along and began to climb the dune. The other new arrivals joined the climbing, including a couple of middle age folks. At first I thought it was easy but it took a lot of energy and it needs a good stamina to climb the sand dune. I was panting huhu... Being on top of it was priceless! Going down the dune was relatively easy. Being down, we were watching this one 4WD going up and down the dune. Wow, it was impressive! It was then we heard a loud, eerie 'humming' sound from the dune. It was surprisingly loud which at first I thought it was coming from the aircraft engine or something and it lasted for only few minutes. Well it was actually the 'Singing Dune' :)

My son was so eager running up the dune

Bergolek-golek siap

The boys were on top of dune

We relaxed a while, feeling so good and captured the pics around.
Pic of the middle age couples were relaxing on top of dune.

Magnificent view from the top

The view of parked cars from the top. 

The children were having fun sliding down the dune

4WD dune adventure