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!

Houston - Lost In Translation

Until the sun shined so brightly that passed thru my window and spattered straight onto my face, I finally woke up.

I landed at Doha Airport about 5.30am and believe me or not, it was as shiny and warm as 12.00pm in the midday! Lucky I was not allowed to go out from the airport, or else, I would have stripped my cloth and rolled over the sand. Haha!
I tried to get my lappy connected, but as what I’ve expected (considered I was lucky since hubby went there first and I just followed his trail), there were no available ports. Lazy to walk around, I sat at one side, and stared at the monitor that showed the current time at Doha. Hmm…another 3 hours to get boarded.
I looked around and found that, almost half of the place was occupied by Indians. Ya know, original Indians from India. They were actually waiting for USA flights (or I was the one who had a wrong flight to Goa, India, perhaps? Haha!) Husbands, wives, kids, parents, grandparents (yeah, seriously, those old ladies in white sarees, who needed wheelchairs). The WHOLE family was going to the States??? Damn rich huh? How come we, Malaysians, can’t afford to do that?! So I continued watching jet took off over again and again.
The monitor later showed 8.00am. I stood up and walked to the officer, right in front of the USA Immigration entrance. She told me that Houston flight wasn’t opened yet. The one that people were queuing was, for New York.
About 9.00am, I queued for Houston, and passed thru the first immigration officer, who peeped at those Indian chicks’ butts and boobies WHILE checked my passport. Heaven huh? Haha!

I later queued for the most stringent area, where all passengers need to take off their jackets, shoes, watches, and emptied their pockets. Laptops, handbags, hand-carry luggage were run under the scanner and officers will throw ANYTHING that they feel like throwing. Say adios to those thrown items.

There was an old Indian “patti” (grandma) in white saree, in front of me. Whenever the officer asked her to take off her jacket, she looked at me and said,

“Yenna teini patte wonnge tanggani blablabla” while showing her hand with “don't understand” sign and shaking her head like asking for my acknowledgment. Pity her. But I can’t speak Tamil la pattiiiiiiiii! Just take off your jacket! Haha!

She later understood and took off her jacket. Then the officer asked her to take off her shoes. Owh god, not again! As predicted, she looked at me and said,

“Unggal le patte ni blablabla” and again, showing her hand with “don't understand” sign and shaking her head like asking for my acknowledgment. Gosh! Where the hell was her son or daughter??? How did she manage to get her Visa approved? Haha!

Well, she did take off her shoes. I run thru the body scanner and picked all my things. Waited for about 20 minutes and sat next to an Indian lady, who I guessed an IT chick who was on business trip. Quite a chaos, when an old Indian grandpa tried to persuade the officer to check for his wife’s pendant that went missing during the checking. Hmm…pity him.
I later went down to the waiting area, where a shuttle bus took me off to the plane. It was A330 again, but the seating was 3-3-3 (earlier was 2-4-2). I got a window seat but the other 2 seats were occupied by a Mexican guy and a Filipino guy.
During take off, I saw something that I don't quite understand what it was. But it was so eye-catching la. See this below image and what do you think? I've googled for this image and found that it was The Pearl of Qatar! An artificial island that once completed, it will form a string of pearls. It's freehold...so you do the math! Gile kan?
Ok, then the same thing happened, I slept. The Mexican guy even slept harder. Ewww, bad breath! He took a sip of wine before he slept just now. Stupid! I woke up twice for breakfast and lunch, where the foods, again, vegetarian. (It’s all hubby’s fault! Qatar Airways served HALAL food lah!)
I managed to watch another part of Avatar and 2012. Again, I cried. But this time, I didn’t wipe my tears with that pepper-ized tissue! Haha! Clever…clever!

What I didn’t like throughout this journey was, I had to wake both guys up, whenever I needed to go to the lavatory. Damn. That Mexican guy was so arrogant! (Ok, he didn’t say anything but he gave me a very sour face). The Filipino was better! He even smiled in his sleepy face at me and comprehended very well that I had to go for a pee. Thus, I had to limit down the water consumption, JUST to avoid from going to the lavatory all the time. Damn!
16 smooth but tiring hours. I touched down at 6.00pm, USA time. I passed through the immigration and get bombarded with more than 5 questions from the officer. Went through the security check with flying colors, and yet I was sent to the left (to the left, to the left, just like Beyonce).
“How long have you waited?”

“More than 45 minutes, that’s for sure…” a French guy answered.

“That's ridiculous!"

There were four counters, but only one left opened. The officer was struggling scattering people things with his gloves on. 2 bagpacks in 45 minutes??? The next coming passenger had 4 BIG bags with her!!! How long should I expect that??? To add the madness, the system was suddenly not working. SHIT!

I knew hubby was out there, waiting for me. There was no flight delay, and I was pretty sure that he worried of me. Another officer later came and opened the next counter. Thank god! They still now what does “efficient” means. He later called me up and checked my hand-carry luggage.

As expected, there were no suspicious items found! For god sake! Why didn’t you guys just let me go?! I spent 2 hours in this place, and the Exit door was just next to my right!

I walked out from the Exit door and there he goes…my hubby, in his work shirt and lappy on hand. Pity him. Lucky he was very well aware of the USA custom. He kind of expected that I was having difficulties in ‘that’ area.

And I ran to get him just like Tom Hanks missing Wilson in Cast Away.