RiPleY's CoLLecTioN

Someone got my birthday gift! Thank god. I sent it a few days right before the big day and had to send by courier as I was worried it may not reach in time. The courier fee alone costed me 80 bucks!!! The gift is actually a custom made iPhone pouch. I had one done for myself (Elmo) and one with a special message “Faith, Hope, Life, Love” linked to a music note…meaning music gives us faith, hope, life and love

Custom made iPhone pouches

I love holidays but I hate airplanes. I am still OK with a 3 hours flight but more than that really is a torture. I flew to Doha last week for business and took a couple of extra days off for leisure. The flight took 7 1/2 hours. I did not visit Qatar at the right time as it is Ramadhan month, so the muslims are fasting during the day and seems when they fast, the also don’t work! None of the shops open during the day and they only open at night. So, during my few days in Qatar, there is actually nothing much to do during the day. Thank god there are places for me to take photos but the hot weather (>40 celcius) is really a put off. I gave up going out during the day soon and just stayed in the hotel before heading out in the evening.

An advantage of traveling solo is that you meet so many interesting people from different backgrounds. I chatted with hotel and restaurant staffs, some local, some not and they all have different things to tell me. About their home country and what they feel about Doha. I also met a pair of friends from US at a restaurant. They were seating next to me and we struck up a conversation. They were really funny and we shared our love for food.

Every place that I go, I will learn something new. Experiencing people’s culture, life and seeing new things open up our minds. Only if you experience things yourself, you’ll realise how narrow minded we can be sometimes. Just because we have never seen or heard of something, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exists or we should be afraid of it. You’ll be surprise how much people will open up to you if you have an open mind and try not to make prior assumptions! Go with the flow and you may be in for a surpise.

The spiral mosque

The famous Souq Wakif

1 of the alley @ Souq Wakif

Souq Wakif @ night

Museum of Islamic Art

Inside the Museum of Islamic Art

Doha’s largest mall, Villagio

Starbucks & McD in Arabic

From left to right: Local yellow rice with meat, kebab and meat skewers, camel meat stew with bread

My hotel room is so HUGE!!!

(Photos taken with Canon 550D & S90)

Back in the old days when I travelled, important things were clothes and toiletries but so much has changed since then. Now, the essentials are mobile phone, camera and laptop. I can’t believe that I am travelling with 2 cameras (DSLR & compact), 2 mobile phones (iphone & SE) and my laptop! And can you imagine the wires, chargers, USBs that I have to pack? It is insane……in fact, my luggage can go missing since it is just clothes and toiletries but my backpack which has all my gears is always with me.

It is amazing how technology managed to change our lives and now even change the way we travel. Heck, I am blogging at the airport lounge now waiting for my flight to Doha at 1.30am!

Anyway, have been looking forward to the trip. Part work and part holiday. Can’t wait to try some exotic camel meat or local dishes and take some middle eastern photos.

I woke up with a very sharp pain on my lower back. Realised I actually strained my back accidentally yesterday night. I can’t even get up from bed as it was so painful. Sitting down was also painful. Gosh. My family took me to a Chinese acupuncture doctor where I received treatment for my sprained ankle the last time. The doctor was so good! After a few touches, he knew immediately where the problem was. A tear muscle… and he said there was slight swelling as well. Gosh, no wonder it is so painful. He gave me acupuncture with electricity and at the end of the session, I felt so much better! However, the really bitter medicine he gave me is really I have to go back for another treatment next weekend.

Although still quite painful, but at least I can sit better now. I miss doing simple things like bending down to pick up things as I can’t even bend right now! Really have to admit I am no longer as young as I used to be. Hope I can recover fast…

Had foochow noodles with my family after seeing the doc.

(Photo taken with iPhone)

Busy weekend for me. Visited the kids again with my friends to drop off some items. Since appearing in newspaper, I received lots of calls of support and donations. The power of the media! With the extra money and items collected, we were able to get the kids school bags, shoes, mattresses, etc. Mission accomplished! We felt good and the kids were obviously super happy and excited with their new things. I think I was more happy then them. Happy that we made a small difference and hopefully, they will study hard and when they grow up, make a difference in someone else’s life too.

Also found time to watch Salt. Angelina Jolie kicks ass but she really does look like a superwoman! She was kicked, punched, thrown around, got shot, etc but still manage to look good and cool throughout. Haha….amazing… The plot is not new. Actually, it reminds me of another movie but I can’t think of the name right now. Anyway, luckily the producers casted Angie instead of Tom Cruise who was 1st approached for it. I think this movie suits Angie better. If it was Tom Cruise, it would have been so boring. Tom Cruise in another spy/cop movie. I liked him in Knight & Day more. Such a super funny movie! Actually, now that I mentioned it, Knight & Day is better than Salt. Salt is just an OK, average movie. Oh well, better luck next time Angie!

I was reading the newspaper on my favourite species of durian, the “cat mountain king” and was craving for it so went to my usual durian stall to get some. However, they ran out of “cat mountain king” !!! But the owner was nice enough to recommend me another type (forgot the name), so I got that instead. It is actually quite yummy and although still quite expensive but not as expensive as “cat mountain king”. Not bad….but I still prefer my “cat mountain king”

Durian!

(Photo taken with iPhone)

I couldn’t sleep yesterday. 1 reason was because of my neckache. Must have strained my neck in the cinema since I was sitting at the side and didn’t moved an inch for the entire 2 1/2 hours while watching Inception! The other reason I couldn’t sleep was because my mind was thinking about the movie plot. Generally, I think I “got” what the movie is about but some parts, I don’t get it.

The power of the internet! I was reading so many theories and discussions on the movie but a lot of them don’t sound too logical to me. However, I finally found one which actually makes sense! This website discussion is dedicated to explaning most of the confusing parts of the movie and also the ending! Now I can finally sleep in peace. Gosh…there is actually no “real” answer to the ending because I think the director purposedly made it this way. So everyone is free to interpret their own versions. The explanation in the website above makes the best sense to me.

I think the director did a good job in trying to “confuse” us all or perhaps I should say make us think. Not a lot of movies makes us think nowadays. This one is surely something you’ll be talking about for a very long time. It is indeed a classic great movie. Christopher Nolan is now officially my 2nd favourite director! I was already full of praises for his Batman movie but this one. Gosh…a genius!

So the lesson is, I really should not watch such a thought-provoking movie during a working weekday next time!