The Simple And Extravagant

A super exposed picture but nevertheless caught the essence of it. Friends partaking Sudanese style food.

We had this at the Kandahar market area.

That's the grilled lamb in the middle of the lot. Fresh vege salad right in front of me. The one of the right is a mixture of tomatoes, cucumber with mayonnaise, pepper and a mixture of some local spice. Really good taste. The one at the top is fried lamb liver.

This is the simple meal. It comes with a concocted mixture of local yoghurt / 7-Up that made it nice and soothing after a heavy meal. It cost about 90 SDG (US$1 = 2.60 SDG). Yeah, you wouldn't believe the cost of living here.

The extravagant has to be tasted at a much more stylo place. It has to be in a local hotel. We chose the better hotel known as the Burj Al-Fateh Hotel. A new hotel owned by Libyans.

Even this swing door (forgotten the name used for this kind of door lah) is nicely decorated with animals (made of wood) placed in between glass panels.

The internal architectural design while looking up.











We went to the Mugran Restaurant which serves buffet dinner. What else man.










About thirteen colleagues were together for the once in a while gathering. Need to de-stress at times. Not de-stress from work but more of the life here.








The colleague who can't hide her excitement in seeing so much food. The food, in terms of choices, being served is akin to those 4 stars hotel in Malaysia.








Saw this floor guide in the lift and I seldom see people use "negative one" to signify a floor level.

You can tell it has links to Libya by the names there.











The nice facade taken outside the hotel.











This hotel is really quite grand with its architectural design and it shows that Sudan is progressing towards a better lifestyle.

Albeit, at a higher cost of living as well.

Exposed picture again. Took this from within the car as we were leaving.
Tags: Kandahar, Burj Al-Fateh Hotel, Buffet Dinner In Khartoum

Pricey Drink & Weird Food Name

As I was walking around the Dubai airport duty free area, I noticed a large glass casing at the area where alcohol is being sold.

Went nearer to see what it was.

Oh ..... the Remy Martin brand.

I wonder who will buy this bottle at a price of 142,200 Dirham or at US$39,500.

At a Dubai hotel, I saw this meal by the name of Ratatouille. Basically it's just mixed vegetables.
Tags: Dubai Duty Free, Dubai, Ratatouille, Remy Martin, Grande Champagne Cognac, Black Pearl Magnum

Survival in Dubai Airport

These pictures were taken about two weeks back when I was in transit at Dubai airport. Good thing I could rest in the Emirates Business Class Lounge at Terminal 3.

Once in it, it was to hunt down a good place to sit. Found a quiet spot. At 1.30am, every spot is a quiet spot.

On my right was a food counter, eat or drink all you can. This is one of the four food counters you can find around the lounge. A large lounge indeed. The main counter is where people will take their main meals such as lunch or dinner.

This one here mainly serves simple food e.g. snacks, fruits, titbits, drinks and ice-cream (stored in a small refrigerator located on right side of the counter).

And it is Haagen-Dazs ice-cream ........... eat all you can too.















There's a limit to the free ice-cream and the next best food found ...... all kinds of berries.

And the smoked salmon was fresh too.

After feeling my stomach, it's time to entertain myself since I can't sleep. Hopped over to the games corner.

There you go, a driver's seat with steering wheel all well placed for you to drive to your heart's satisfaction.

With three 42 inch monitors fronting you, what more can you ask for.





This machine was not easy to handle and I found that the steering control was so sensitive. A 1mm movement could trigger your car to move a lot on the track.













Once bored with the driving, I jumped onto the next game available. Xbox 360 it is. Football game, what else.

Picked Man Utd over many other teams and set it to a lower standard to get myself accustomed to the control gadget first.

Felt so nice in trashing many other teams, one of them is Liverpool.







The internet room was where I updated my facebook and blog at the same time.

Stayed at the lounge from 1.30am till around 9.30am while waiting for my connecting flight.

Ate, played games, surf internet, ate, played games, surf internet, ate (full breakfast too), played games, surf internet ......something like that till I left the lounge. Thanks to Emirates Airlines.
Tags: Emirates Business Class Lounge, Emirates Airlines, Haagen-Dazs, Xbox 360

Christmas Day Event

Yeah ...... it took me almost three weeks to blog about this because I just realised it.

One of the local hip-hip singer, Liang, was invited to perform in my church's Christmas service held at International Youth Centre at Bandar Tun Razak.

He's not only good in singing but a fantastic emcee too. I was there when he emceed at a few events.




He was fantastic with his songs. Belted few songs and he was able to get the crowd to participate as well. Incredible.

At the end of the service, many many people actually took pictures with him. He became a star amongst my church members.










Well attended Christmas service.

This blogpost should have more pictures but due to my involvement in the Christmas drama, I was too occupied with the preparations.

It was either this or that that was missing, not connected, not found, not the right one .... wow, really interesting.


This choir group, named the Praise International Choir, comprise of members from various countries. One of the countries is Malaysia and I'm sure Nigeria was represented. I wonder which African nation was represented too.

They have done exceptionally well way because of their hours spent practising their songs. Bravo!!

This is where I operated from on that day. Helped an Indonesian performance to play their songs via laptop ...... good thing I brought mine along otherwise another hiccup.

Mainly, my laptop was used to play the songs used for my drama entitled "1King". Yeah, I caught the fever of using the "1". Influenced by whom? I'm sure you know who.
Tags: Liang, Hip-Hop, Christmas Service, International Youth Centre,
Praise International Choir, 1King

Poor Telecommunication Infrastructure

At last I moved into my new home and almost got all boxes unpacked. Not that I didn't do put efforts into clearing the boxes but having hard time to decide where to put my stuff now. I have to remember where I have put my stuff now. I can tell you that it's not easy. Don't tell me that age is catching up.

Still searching for some household stuff here and there and frequent overseas travel took up my weekends where I could only muster enough time to source for stuff.

One of it is my internet connection. Of late, lots of work in office coupled with no internet connection has lessen my blogging activities.

And when I have time to do so, I took time to read some internet forums on respective internet service providers and enquired on the transfer of existing fixed telephone line to my new place.

Thanks to the Packet 1 advertisement, I have decided to 'cut' or 'potong' the Telekom Malaysia Berhad's fixed telephone line, TM net service and also the Streamyx service.

Not that I have subscribed for Packet 1's internet service but that advertisement was really catchy in a way.

Found out that P1 WIMAX wireless broadband does not cover my housing area. After 'cut' you are left with nothing. So much for their big time advertisement but their coverage is so so poor in my area.

As for Telekom Malaysia or TM, it's a total failure on their part for being unable to provide the service at my new home.

The talk of spending RM1.3 billion on High Speed Broadband in Malaysia does not cover my new home area.









Then they have the urge to advertise "If it's not Streamyx, it's not good enough".

That I know.

What happened? How come I couldn't get a line for my Streamyx?


A close friend of mine who moved into the new area applied for the transfer of the fixed line and Streamyx service. Shockingly, TM told her that they can't connect her at the new home. Reason given was there isn't enough subscribers for TM to connect us. Fantastic, just fantastic. Excellent! Bravo!

I tried too and TM said I have to wait. So, now what? No internet, no fixed line?

When I went to TM Point to cancel all my TM services, the officer told me that Streamyx is having a promotion now and why do I want to cancel. I told her that I'm cancelling because TM does not want to serve at my new home.

She asked whether I have tried applying for it and I told her my friend has already done so and was not entertained (yeah, entertained actually but to tell "Sorry, we can't help you"). I told her my house is part of a new phase of which only three occupants have moved in. She did mention that new housing development may face such difficulties.

You mean to say that with so much of technology investments, TM still can't do it or chose not to do it?

The officer that entertained my close friend, when she went to apply for the transfer, said that in order for her line to be connected TM need more applicants. What does that mean? It's not economical to connect one line?

Our houses are located on the same row of the earlier phase 2 (ours - phase 2A), sharing the same road, drainage, electricity. Phase 1 and Phase 2 owners are having TM lines already.

What's the problem after all? If TM has to wait for more applicants to apply I have to wait for the remaining owners / tenants to move in. By when? In this technology era, we are told to wait by the main internet service provider in Malaysia.

My close friend is already using DiGi wireless broadband service. The neighbours along Phase 2 do subscribe to Maxis wireless broadband too.

Let's say:-
If me and my friend decide to subscribe with other service providers, the next person from my phase 2A that goes to TM will still get the same reply ......... "When we get more applicants, we will inform you". This person will then opt for another service provider. The following person will do the same thing and will get the same response and so forth .......... when will the wheel end?

Not all houses may be occupied that soon as some are trying to dispose off the properties (maybe they are investors). If these houses are not occupied, there will be no applicant from that property then.

With people subscribing with other service providers, by the time TM thinks they have received lots of enquiries and start to call those earlier enquirers, we will tell TM that we don't need your Streamyx now because we have subscribed with other service providers.

In the end, who will lose out? It's TM!

This is what you call monopoly business. Never mind if they monopolised it but they still can't provide.

Reading: Investors put off by Malaysia’s high-cost, low-speed broadband - Malaysian Insider
Tags: Malaysia, Wireless Broadband, Fixed Line, Telekom Malaysia, Packet 1, P1 WIMAX, WIMAX, DiGi Wireless Broadband, Maxis Wireless Broadband

Grown Up Doggies

From little puppies way back in April 2009, our doggies have grown up a lot. Since most of us are not based in Sudan nowadays, we had to give it away to another Malaysian who is running a business there.

Once in a while, we will visit Leo ....... whose ears are always down.















Kujo will have one ear up only ........ that's how we differentiate them right from the first time.
Tags: Doggies, Puppies