Houston - Yalla! Doha! Yalla!

Since we had 25usd free voucher for “saving the earth” campaign held by the hotel, we ordered breakfast. Eggs, tomato, and potato. Hubby was needed at the office that morning but he came back in the noon, to catch our flight at 4.00pm.We drove to the international airport and did a few round turn coz we kept on missing the exit to drop the rented car. Haha! But we finally got into the exit la. They inspected the car and took back the GPS and we went up into the terminal to pay for the rental. 500usd for 10days…ok la kan. Macam Malaysia je.We had our lunch at one of the restaurant in the terminal called Ruby’s. The good thing bout all restaurant in States, they served cold water beforehand. Since I’m such a sucker for cold water, I didn’t have to order for another drink! Hehe! Free plak tu.We ordered a dish and shared coz we knew that we gonna eat twice in the flight later. We checked in and boarded into the flight and luckily, there was no one sat next to us. So we got one extra seat! Yeay! Bleh baring.We slept all the way to Doha and woke up for breakfast and lunch. We arrived at deserted Doha around 7.00pm and we decided to go out from the terminal. We paid Visa on Arrival for 100rial (RM90+) at the immigration check point and get a cab to town. We changed few hundreds or Qatar Rial, for cab, dinner and shopping. The officer told us we can go to Souq Wagif if we want to get something for souvenirs.We called a cab and paid 24rial for about 4km distance. Gile mahal! Padahal minyak murah! Yeah, they paid 0.70sen rial per litre. Nice huh? No wonder la pak arab senang-senang je drive Hummer, Mercedes, BMW sesuka hati with their jubah and serban.

“Wah cantiknyer! Ape tu?”“Tu la masjid…macam miniature kat Taman Warisan Terengganu tu.” hubby explained.

“Ni la Souq Wagif tempat shopping tu…”

We went in and what we saw was just jubah, clothes, and households. HUH? Ape ni? We asked the locals, where we can get fridge magnets and one of the guy told us to go the the front side of Souq Wagif. Owh, bagus!I bought caps for my bro in law and went into one shop, to get me a t-shrit. Hubby sempat amik gambar kat World Cup. Haha!I saw one couple who spoke Bahasa.

“Malaysian ke?” I suddenly asked.

“Haah…Tu kitorang dengar, you cakap melayu…” they replied.

Terus kitorang sembang kat luar. We talked and chat, while choosing the t-shirts to buy. Rizal worked at one of the oil and gas company, came to Doha 1 year back with his wife, Ina, and a son, Ikhtihad. Lots of stories being told and suddenly,

“Assalamualaikum.”

“Waalaikummussalam.” we replied.

Another Malaysian guy came and greeted us, who worked for Petronas. But he stayed in Doha, alone for 3 years, as he thought that Doha was not a good place for his kids.

I bought a t-shirst and 2 magnets before they invited us for dinner. They asked us to try a Qatarian food and tea. He chose I shop and ordered, while we sat on the high long chair. The tea was superb, as well as the “roti banjir with chicken curry”. There was another dish, like “roti tisu”, itu sedap gile!Lepak punya lepak, si Rizal tu ajak minum lagi. Unfortunately, we had to make a move. He paid for all the drinks and foods. Sangat baik. Orang gaji banyak, ape la sangat kan. Hahaha! (If keje security guard gaji 24k, apetah lagi gaji dia kan…)
We exchanged facebook and waved each other. We later went in front of the mousque and snapped few pictures, before we moved to the airport.If at Houston, "cabut dan menang" adalah kereta BMW and Porsche, at the Doha airport, "cabut dan menang" diorang isssssssss Maserati! Gila arh!Once checked in and boarded (we got couple-seated), we took a nap and ate, nap and ate, watched movies, nap again, until we reached KL at 2.30pm.

Letih!

But 20,000km distance, 35,000 feet above ground on 500mph airspeed, for Houston, I will definitely do that again!