Monday, December 31, 2007

Ubaldo the vampire




Couple friends I know started up this little comic site Ubaldo’s the vampire. And to be frank, the site is incredibly cute & very talented. specially, following up on the little article posted and some other funny sketches!

Friday, December 21, 2007

Eid morals


, originally uploaded by mo_mughrabi.

First of all, I would like to wish every reader, family member and a friend a happy and blessed Eid. As for me, I've spent a very delightful morning with my family, although I was awake all night working (as usual) but seeing almost every one and specially the little kids was quite nice.

The thing I really enjoyed during this Eid was early in the morning when I saw this guy running after his goat in the middle of the street. It was a hilarious thing to see, his car was stopped in the middle of the road, and he was running between the cars trying to catch the escaped goat. I've never knew how fast goat can run until I saw that poor guy hehe.

Afterward, I was really happy to see all the little kids in the family. The majority are so adorable I could never get enough of them. Off course, over dosing on chocolate is mandatory..

KwtLinux unleash all the geeks


KwtLinux unleash the geeks, originally uploaded by mo_mughrabi.

I admit that I've not installed a Linux/Unix on my personal machines since I switched to Mac. but, my passion to get in the command-line mode has never gone away since I spend 8 hours at working doing so and yet I do run the terminal on my Mac machine every now and then. Kuwait Linux community came after the successful launch of Kuwait Mac community, there are lots of Linux/Unix users out there who's looking for a decent place to put their thoughts and share their experience. Only yesterday we've finalized the KwtLinux logo which was created by Guillermo.


Am certainly sure KwtLinux will be a great hit! stay tuned for updates..

Saturday, December 08, 2007

shrimps recipe

jumbo shrimps

After long hours of working and working and working. I finally came to my senses about having a day to relax and call in some friends. Started up little late after I picked up Majed and went to the local fish market.

Then the guys did something amazing with those shrimps, the recipe were very discreet. but, I managed to tell few flavors plus I was there helping out. After they cleaned up the shrimps we got garlic, lime, salt and little spices mixed together. I think, the garlic was a bit more than usual because I could feel the garlic heat. However, there is serious plans to repeat this experience only this time we will eliminate steaks from the picnic and stick with the shrimps!

more pictures from the picnic click here

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Toffee nuts is back, christmas!!

Today I was on my way to the office, passed by starbucks in the building and there was this smell. It hit me straight in the head, I followed my nose to the source and it was "Toffee Nuts late". Last year, I've been to starbucks countless times just get one almost every morning.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Movie break: American gangster


American gangster, originally uploaded by mo_mughrabi.

This movie had a unique thing going on. Denzel Washington was playing the lead roll in this movie, As far as I understood its based on a true events. It might not be everyone movie there was lots of violent, nudity, drugs..etc. despite all Denzel was the man for this movie, he showed a great characteristic and family values.

One of my favorite moment in the movie was when Denzal was giving advice to his nephew and brothers. He said, "Most important thing in business is honesty, integrity, hard work, family and never forget where we came from".

iPhone experience: SSH terminal

G'day, This is just mind blowing and couldn't resist not sharing it with you guys. How to get your SSH terminal running on your iPhone. first of all you will need to install three application and you must do them in order.

1. BSD Subsystem (size 6.6 MB - Unix tool for the iPhone)
2. OpenSSH (size 696.3 KB - OpenSSH server & client)
3. Term-vt100 (size 81.1 KB - vt100 terminal app)

Once all the above is installed you will immediately find the terminal icon appears on your dashboard.

terminal on dashboard
(Above image you can see the term-vt100 appearing in the dashboard)


Using term-vt100
(Above image you see when the term-vt100 starts up you can switch to bash)

Have fun everyone,

Friday, November 16, 2007

The iPhone experience, phase one


iPhone, originally uploaded by mo_mughrabi.

Yes, finally i got my hands on one of those. I was very thrilled to start using the new iPhone from Apple. At first, the phone looks incredibly elegant and fun to use. Any who, until now I've come up with a list with features i like the most and i hate the most.

Lets start with the ones I like the most
1. Amazing keyboard for typing messages.
2. Rich graphical interface.
3. Great video player - Resolution-wise - & cover float view.
4. Huge storage space for your movies to carry around.
5. Easy to setup mail services.
6. Installer to Add/Remove applications.
7. Amazing Alarm system.
8. Youtube application for streaming live videos and searching youtube database.
9. Synchronize perfectly with you Mac address book, Calendar..etc.
10. Since its based on Unix its allow you to install most the unix famous applications as HTTPD, SSH server/client, perl, php, python..etc.


Now the ones i don't like
1. Runs out of battery quickly.
2. Cannot forward SMS nor you can send to multiple recipient at a time.
3. Cannot customize the email checking process.
4. Cannot configure your own ring tone accept through iTunes store.
5. No google maps support for the middle east.
6. Cannot use the bluetooth to send/receive nor connect to your Mac.

Well, this is all for now.. I'll try to post more about the experience in general. Until then, thanks for reading and if you have any concerns about the iPhone please don't hesitate to post em up and I'll get back to you.

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

beach volleyball, first place!

Last week I was playing beach volleyball, the weather was blowing cool air, the sun light was keeping the sands warm and the energy was like nothing else. Good thing though I reached there exactly one hour before the volleyball matches starts (Hilton Mangaf). And yes, we won the first place in volleyball!!

It was far away from my expectations since the other teams were playing pretty good. On the semi final we took the lead with one score difference and on the finals the other team decided not to compete and call it a day. By default the trophy and 15KD Cheque went to us. YEY!

A very late "Eid Mubarak"

I feel guilty for not keeping my posts maintained in the past month. Specially, that Eid was in the middle, I had good things going on that time and wanted to blog them but due to busy hours. Well, I didn’t!!!

As far I remember it was a very nice kick, the chocolate we had this year is a complete turn on. During the first two days of Eid I’ve eaten chocolate more than what I eat in 2 years. In above picture you can see my cousin son is in melting mood, this is when you take the first bite and all your senses start mixing up! he didn't even remove the cover for GOD SAKES!!!

Well, there is nothing much to blog about since all the excitement of the moment is gone now. I just didn’t want to miss on telling the world “Eid Mubarak”

Monday, October 08, 2007

Using Mac OS X - Terminal as FTP client


Mac OS X - Terminal, originally uploaded by mo_mughrabi.

Many people don't realize the power of having access to command-line prompt. Recently, Apple has released all its Mac OS included an access to the command-line and since Mac OS is a Unix based this makes all the difference.

Now, if you want to use the terminal (shell, command-line) as your FTP client there is few things we should demonstrate here.

First of all, you will need to know the following information in order for you to access the FTP server. Host name (Domain name or IP address), username & Password. Now, Open your terminal and write to following command:

ftp kwtmac.com
Connected to kwtmac.com.
220 FTP Server (A+Net) ready


In the next step you will be asked to enter you username then you will be asked to enter the password. Once you get the below message that means you are logged in:

230 User mughrabi logged in
Remote system type is UNIX.
Using binary mode to transfer files.


here are some useful commands you can use once you are logged in:
1. ls = can be used to list the files within the directory.
2. pwd = will show you your current location
3. cd = will allow you to get inside and outside folders.
4. get = followed by the file name, this will download the file from the FTP server.
5. put = followed by the file name, this will upload the file to the FTP server.
6. lcd = this will allow you to specify the directory where you want downloaded files to be placed and uploaded files to be picked up from.


I believe an example will help to understand better, lets say we have a folder "TEST" and there is this file "mo.php" you want to download and then you want to upload "info.php" which is on your desktop.

cd TEST
ls
get mo.php
lcd /Users/Mughrabi/Desktop
put info.php
quit


This basic steps will allow you to access your FTP server, list files and folders, browse in and out from folders and download/upload files. Enjoy using your built-in command line interface and if you have any further questions please feel free to put them on.

UPDATE: Another copy of this blog entry is posted on kwtmac.com ( http://www.kwtmac.com/2007/10/08/using-mac-os-x-terminal-as-ftp-client/ )

The new desk


three macs and me desk, originally uploaded by mo_mughrabi.

Having a new desk is working for my advantage; the worst part of buying furniture from IKEA is that you have to build it once you get back home. I spent the entire evening with my brother putting this thing together.

Lately, I've been more organized than I use to be. I believe it has to do with the new thing am doing nowadays; I've decided to start writing my to-do's on a note book. And every time I remember something I'll write it there, on the first day I end up writing 2 pages of to-do. And it’s really working good, every day I take a look at what is left and work on them. Right now, I almost have one page already scratched as done.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Tomorrow is the beginning: Ramadan Mubarak


Ramadan's approach, originally uploaded by mo_mughrabi.

I dig Ramadan, although I thought i blogged about Ramadan last year but then when i looked up my previous posts turned out, this is the first time.

Well, am very excited about it in a way and very frustrated in another. You see, this is the first time I'll spend Ramadan through this hot weather. so, I assume i'll be sleeping through out the day and awake in the nights. More like vampires lifestyle....

I wish everyone a Ramadan Mubarak and full with joy and spirituality...

Monday, September 10, 2007

the new brand, MTC to zain


rebranding MTC to ZAIN..., originally uploaded by mo_mughrabi.

On the 9th of September, MTC has announced to the world the new branding which will take place from now on. The company has grown massively in the past 4 years to reach several countries in the region and the entire CelTel network in Africa.

The new branding will be something to be proud of, the brand "zain" was picked up very carefully to show the arabian identity. Therefore, zain will compete as one of the largest telecom companies in the world within the next years. You can also access Kuwait zain website through http://kw.zain.com/

And to live the life of zain...

Sunday, September 09, 2007

under sirius umbrellas


Beach umbrellas, originally uploaded by mo_mughrabi.

One of the biggest advantages of being in Turkey, Tekirova is the hotel systems. Considering the size of the city the hotels in that area are mostly resorts. Once you are inside, you will never need to go outside the hotel borders for anything. Most the hotels in that area offer full board stays including breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, open bar and free beach towels.

All the hotels in that region are located near the beach, from 3 stars to 5 star luxury hotels. We checked-in at Sirius hotel a 4 star decent package, within 100 meters from the beach.

Majority of guests were Russian or at least Russian speakers. You can rarely pop into someone who speaks English; only two persons in the entire hotel spoke good English. One of them was the waiter…

The breakfast buffet was useless there was nothing to be eaten accepts fruits (how hard is it to prepare fruits, any way?). Otherwise the lunch and dinner they often had one or two dish where you can actually enough.

Saturday, September 08, 2007

Turkey, Antalya once again


Turkish lighter
Originally uploaded by mo_mughrabi

I just came back from Turkey, a vacation which lasted for almost 8 days. It felt so much less because of all the connecting flights and the good time off course.

To be frank I never thought I'll go to turkey again, I've been there few times before and most my previous experience was terrible to repeat them. But, this time it was completely different perhaps the group was making this much better. Plus, Unlike the other visits I didn't follow the normal touristic root this time. I've been to a different city near the sea "Tekirova" which is 50 km away from Antalya city and 70 km from Antalya Airport.

I thought this time I won't post everything about the trip at once. Instead, I'll write this post in general and other posts about specific topics I feel it's worth bringing up...

Flying with turkish airlines is not the most pleasant experience. In the international root (Kuwait to Istanbul, Istanbul to Kuwait) the planes were new and the pilots were very skilled in the landing and take off. but, the domestic flight was a nightmare the plane seemed like never been into maintenance before. During the landing the chairs were shaking, roof, almost everything. If you got flying phobia you should never get on a domestic flight!! NEVER!!

Landing in Antalya, the airport is designed in a way it's small and very together. You don't even need to ask anybody it's easy to walk in and out since you can see the entire dimensions from where you standing.

Transportation, from the airport there is no public transportation, I was told there is buses but I never saw any. I was forced into one of the Taxi's, the good thing though near the taxi station you will find a big board with the exact cost for each area you heading. Written in Euro, Dollar and Turkish New Lira it will give you a clue of how much you are supposed to pay.

On board I've met with the best company ever, on a personal level it was amazing to meet Tania. In General, the entire group was fun, easy going and very chilled. I learned few words in Russian and am planning to dig more, in the beginning it was hard to make out if the sentence is over or if its only a pause. If this trip lasted for another 10 days I would blogged this paragraph in Russian (wink).

Monday, August 13, 2007

Sony Alpha


Sony Alpha, originally uploaded by mo_mughrabi.

The fact that I paid for a camera more than my laptop is annoying me. This is one reason, am thinking to uprgade my laptop sometime very soon. Yes, I've got the new Sony Alpha (DSLR-A100) and it's a beauty, luckily am going to Turkey on the 21 of August so I'll be taking loads of pictures.

Since, I got the camera yesterday and I've been practicing all the functionality and modes. Upon buying I got two lenses the ordinary lens and another one with 300mm zoom. I enjoyed using both of them,

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Climbing wall

Yesterday, I experienced something new, I went for wall climbing with my brother's. it was an extremely hard thing to do, it's not as easy as it looks.

Well, you definitely can go up once or twice. but, then you break down It requires a very strong grip. The new place is equipped with the best tools and it has 4 different levels to climb. You start with number one as easiest and then go to 4th which is kind a of impossible to do.

I've recoded some videos climbing the third level as you see below




After three attempts, I was taking a breath before going again here is another video I posted on youtube ( second video )

Oh that's me on number 20
( you can see all the photos on my flickr set)

Finally, you can go check it out by yourself it is near the Marina Mall and will cost you 4KD per hour. As far as I understood there is also membership programs that you can take advantage of.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Kwtmac.com, Extreme makeover


Kwtmac.com, Extreme makeover, originally uploaded by mo_mughrabi.

We have been running votes and opening up discussions about the upgrades will take place on Kuwait Mac. The team members were devoted and worked in sync to bring out the best quality.

First, I would want to take the opportunity to thank each and every one for their dedication and constant contribution.

The process of installing the new vBulletin went smoothly without any failures. Although, immigrating the data from the old phpbb2 into vBulletin triggered some problems.


The URL location also has changed to
http://vbulletin.kwtmac.com/

As for now, I hope the new changes will be easy to adapt. And the users won't face problems navigating through the site,

Yet, If you have any comments or suggestion do not hesitate to post them up,

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Urood.com


Urood.com, originally uploaded by mo_mughrabi.

This is something we can be proud of, urood the new site will exceed your expectation. It was designed professionally to fit the requirement of local users in Kuwait with listings of all areas and complete category of classified.

You can sign up for an account or even press the post to urood link and start posting without needing to register.

Enjoy the experience!

Monday, July 23, 2007

Sun Solaris workshop



For the past couple weeks I've been busy attending the Sun Solaris workshop. It was quite boring in the beginning but, I managed to entertain myself, the information I gained is mostly what I enjoyed. It was also a chance to break out the shift routine, and best of all I got an opportunity to meet up with fresh minds from different departments in the organization.

The class was given by Amer Saleh which came on special request from Egypt. Amer working for Oracle egypt and he plays a major role as Unix consultant.

Mainly, we covered issues related to Unix Administrator level one and two. There was extra one day we spent getting some shell programming done, basics as well for the advanced level. Yet, we finished a one month books in almost 8 days!

On the last day, I had my camera with me, i've taken nice pictures and uploaded the good ones on special set at flickr click here to list all the pictures.

As for now, I'll be getting back to the old me...

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Old taxi driver, buckle up!


Old taxi driver, buckle up!, originally uploaded by mo_mughrabi.

I remembered this story from when I was in Malaysia.. We got with an old chinese man (taxi), there was something funny going on though. When we got in the taxi and asked him to drop us at the hotel. He drove us to the back street of the hotel so then he stopped the car and asked us to continue from here:))

And really you cannot argue with an old man, you just get out.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Living stone


Yes!! Living stone.. I was amazed when I first heard about it.

The living stone grows in Malaysia, I don't know if there is else where.. but, this kind of stone actually grows!.. just like a tree.. In Malaysia you will find special shops selling this kind of stones.. it requires water and light to live and grow bigger.. the amazing part is, it grows really fast and you can see the difference, the colors keep on changing and a crystal will start shaping around it.

Monday, July 02, 2007

Smoking lounges


The only reason I would stop smoking is because am running out of places to smoke in!!.... and even when if there is a smoking lounge in the area it's will be just horrible, smells bad, crowded with people and there is no place to sit.


Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Danat AlBahrain




I and Reda went to this restaurant in Hawalli. It seem really creepy from the picture but there is more in there than what you see. They make the best grills in Kuwait
Well, not the best. But they come in the top ten…
You probably can spot their contact number from the picture, give them a call and they will help you out with directions…

the temperature is 37 degrees at 12 midnight






I went out to grab snacks from the near by supermarket and believe it or not. It was after midnight and the temperature almost 37 degrees. I guess, the weather here is very hard to get used too there is no such thing called season. The only thing we experience is 8 months of unbelievable heat and 4 months of unbelievable cold.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

free hugs



It's the one thing you will never expect to see in the street. Juan Mann is a young guy who decided to carry a sign which says "FREE HUGS" and wonder the streets for stranger to hug!

Started some where in the United State and spread around europe to reach London, Romania among other countries. Well, you can read more about it in their organization site

http://www.freehugscampaign.org/

Sunday, May 27, 2007

First cinema projector in Kuwait


DSC00373.JPG, originally uploaded by mo_mughrabi.


After they took down the old Salmyah Cinema this what they left behind. Actually, they managed to move the oldest cinema projector they had on show there to Sharq cinema. Here the sign says the projector was running from 1954 till 1959 which is impressive!!!


http://www.flickr.com/photos/mughrabi/tags/kncc/
(Those are some pictures I took at the Sharqia theater)

Monday, May 21, 2007

Dusty week


DSC00358.JPG, originally uploaded by mo_mughrabi.


The weather turning from bad to worst; above picture I took on the first day when the weather started being dusty. The vision was about 4 to 7 meters, horrifying to drive around Hamdullah though I made it home.

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Paypal in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia NOW!

I just found out that paypal is now accepting users from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. I just signed up for an account myself yet not all the options are enabled and functioning. Once you finish the process you are required to put on a Credit Card for verification purposes. Off course, this mean eBay will be the new hangout now...

Related posts

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Kuwait Mac (2nd Gathering)


DSC00318.JPG, originally uploaded by mo_mughrabi.

After lunching Kwtmac.com I was not expecting the growth to reach this amount in such a short period. Even the forums users arranged for some sort of a gathering where we got to meet each other and discuss issues related to Mac.

Last Tuesday (8th of May, 2007), I attended the first gathering at SECOND CUP café near BORSA market. Well, in the beginning we got enough time to introduce ourselves and know each other. There was some Q&A corner…

Yeah and there was a give away DVD – Software collection special thanks goes to BigMac for his outstanding effort.

Eventually, we shot a group picture using terrible phone camera – MINE – which ended up to be quite fine.

Regards,


BigMac also wrote about the same topic on his blog; follow the link
http://www.ahmad.tv/2007/05/11/2nd-mac-user-group/

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Award ceremony (Hamdullah)


DSC01672, originally uploaded by mo_mughrabi.


Last year was quite tough, there were times I had to spend hours after duty and attend on my off days. I guess eventually hard work pay off (Hamdullah)!

Thanks to my team mate who supported me and helped me in learning all the basics.

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Lions on a green land


Lions In California?, originally uploaded by Matt Roe.


I came across this breath-taking picture. Seems from the description that it was taken at a zoo in California.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Move break (300): Tonight, we dine in hell!


The 300 Spartan, originally uploaded by mo_mughrabi.

It's almost a week of waiting to the movie to be released. I was SHOCKED!

I found out that the story behind the 300 Spartans are not limited to this particular movie. In 1962 a British movie was released with the same exact story (The 300 Spartans).

Technology in movies production has moved ages since then. The current 300 movie going in theaters now, is completely different from any other historical movie I have seen.

The story is about the battle of Thermopylae an amazing incident. When the King of Spartan Leonidas led an army of 300 men to a battle against the Persian army. It was a battle of glory, "Spartans taught never to retrieve, never to surrounded. Taught the death in a battle field is the greatest glory he could achieve", Those are the words of Leonidas.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

No body slept enough


DSC00118.JPG, originally uploaded by mo_mughrabi.


Here comes the frustration of having to go through formal paper work. It tooks us forever to get toegether on the same day and get this done. but, eventually it's done now and we can move on in our lifes.. naah, picture was taken on the way back home!!

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Salamat buddy, enjoy the one month sick leave..


Retha and the broken arm, originally uploaded by mo_mughrabi.


I guess after this experience Retha will try finding ways of breaking his other arm. Am definitely sure it is all about the sick leave now, or what you think budd? naah, what the hell?, Salamat ya man

Cheers,

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Flying from happiness


Motion stop, originally uploaded by mo_mughrabi.


I don't know how am supposed to blog about something without giving clues. Although, one person might be able to understand what am talking about, today I started up way too fresh. Well, let's say good things are happening – and I hope it keeps on happening – until then.... Wish me luck!

Underwater picture


Scuba diving, originally uploaded by mo_mughrabi.


I was really expecting a better result (hehe) turned out the camera I was using is hardly functioning. 10% of the roll was noised - as the one above - the rest were miserable. The fact of going underwater is not reasonable for human brain to process, just like when aircrafts were invented. But, when my goggles started sinking under water, I found out there is much under there to see. The underwater-life is extremely beautiful, and not just the life! The rhythm all these creatures make is just amazing.

Eventually, I realized that beneath the surface is the most exciting part of all.

Friday, March 09, 2007

Harley Davidson - Kuwait


Harley Davidson - Kuwait, originally uploaded by mo_mughrabi.

The fishing harbor visit was a complete success. After such long walk and awesome roll of picture you definitely need a coffee. so, when we got to StarBucks on the Marina side (Sharq) there were Harley Davidson festival going on. A lot of people came from all over the GCC on their rides, press and other fans.

The crowd was reasonable and gave me a good chance to roll another 13 picture. The bikes were from new models and from all colors and shapes, including Choppers. I had to document all this on photos.. You can check them out on my flickr set..

Fisherman Diary


Fisherman skill, originally uploaded by mo_mughrabi.

Just came back from awesome day spent at the fishing harbor down by Souq Sharq. I also got a chance to click up few pictures with the fishermen working their routine. Also my favorite part was taking pictures of the Daw fishing boats, It is a complete reflection of Kuwait's culture.

I uploaded 20 pictures to my flickr click here to check them out.

Have a great day every one,

Saturday, March 03, 2007

Movie break: Ghost Rider

Two weeks back I went to theater for Ghost Rider. Before I go ahead and niggle in the details, I always believed that movies only worth going to theater when the direction is extremely good. And by extremely good, maybe a wild imagination that was put so good even your eyes won’t believe!

Fiction or non-fiction it’s not important as long as cameras are detailed, graphic are stunning and off course sound track that takes you to another dimension.

Moving on to where we were, the movie was quite a shock to me. I never seen Nicolas Cage in such a role, I thought he was really getting old for that kind of stunt. Although, most the movie a graphical designed character was playing the role.

Off course with SonyPictures producing the movie you will obviously notice the amazing and very detailed editing.




Above picture for the biker Ghost rider getting help from Ranger Ghost rider on a horse, it’s quite an image they draw.

Monday, February 26, 2007

Jordan from my brother's






Tallal -TJ - just came back from awesome trip to Jordan. He went by himself and met with some old friends in Amman, As far as I remember he visited some other places near by. I think he said something about, Jarash "If am not mistaken" and took some stunning pictures over there.

I couldn't let go! I had to flickr, such a nice collection. I will also arrange with Tallal maybe he could write something about Jordan some tips for instant.


Tallal posted some comments on flickr gallery just follow the link

Sunday, February 18, 2007

My cousin driving a scooter

Malaysia and Thailand from my lens

Last time I blogged was in the Airport on my way to start a vacation, and as far as I remember I said something about maintaining my blog on a daily basis. Well, that did not happen :)

Things were shaky plus I wasted too much energy every day seeing new things and doing as well. By the end of the day I was desperate for a sleeping marathon.

The trip to Malaysia:
It was extremely gorgeous – the country – from the moment we arrived to Kuala Lumpur airport things was going great. The airport is really massive equipped with cutting edge technology; we even had to take a train to travel from a terminal to another. So, you can imagine what sort of airports am talking about.

We spent in Kuala Lumpur two nights. There is nothing much in Kuala Lumpur for tourist. Accept seeing a modern, clean, organized city. What really amazed me is, the harmony Malaysians has, living together! I mean, a community built on different races.

Off course one the best things we came across in Malaysia. The next day we woke up looking for a decent coffee house to have breakfast and wake-up doses – coffee – and the next thing we see, Mahathir Mohammed the former prime minister of Malaysia.












Malaysians are such friendly people, welcoming and it’s a totally safe to go for a walk any time. Hotels were a bit expensive but it is what I expect from such a city, although food is delicious and cheap. You can hoop to any local restaurant, close your eyes and point something from the menu! Somehow it turns out to be delicious. They use a lot of spice on their menus. Off course you can always go for the fast food and there is plenty of other choices Italian, Mexican, etc.





Genting Highlands
:
A taxi from Kuala Lumpur to Genting Highland will charge 80 Ringgit, which is quite good for one hour drive. The taxi will not actually drop you to Genting Highlands itself, it’s a cable car station then you can continue with 5 Ringgit, the trip will take another 30 minutes.

Its totally different weather, the city is built on mountings and has a beautiful forest covering everything around you. The concept of Genting Highland is a typical entertainment city. Every kind of video games you can find there, plus roller costar which by the way rated as one of the best riders in the world.

Hotels are way too cheap, the one recommendation I would give. If you want to visit Genting Highland just make sure it's not foggy before you go!







Malaysia Pictures




Thailand (Pattaya)
:
OK, this was not planned at all. Suddenly we decided to go Thailand the main reason off course because it's so much cheaper over there. Within one hour and 45 minutes by plane we were at Bangkok airport, off course we had to return to Kuala Lumpur to arrange the ticketing and everything else. The moment we got there we hired a Taxi to Pattaya, took 2 hours to get there and charged 1,500 Baht.

Thailand – Pattaya – is a totally different from what you see in Malaysia. The country is a mess! Very poor and every thing is cheap. What I really enjoyed about Thailand, that you literally can do any thing you want. It's loaded with activities and most of it is very cheap.

The beach is extremely gorgeous, and has plenty of places to set and chill. You can rent bikes to go around since the roads are quite small and it's much better going through on a bike or a scooter.

My favorite's activity was going to this Island by boat; you will find plenty of boats waiting to pick up customers. It will cost 1,800 to rent the boat for you, will take you to three Islands the first one you can do under water walking and its quite fun. Then to another you can rent guns to shoot on targets which we didn't do, then to another Island which has the most beautiful beach I ever seen. The water was crystal pure and the sight is a breath-taking. There is a nice restaurant there, will serve fresh sea food (shrimps, hamoor, craps).






Another favorite is taking a scuba diving. It's incredibly cheap, with 4,000 Baht they will take you for three dives and they will give you the lesson on the boat going to the Islands. Off course, the place is gorgeous, crystal pure water. The staff from different countries (UK, Brazil) and were really friendly. The under water life is way too beautiful to describe, off course I was in a total mess not knowing how to use all the equipment on my back but once you start going down. Let's say, you just stop thinking about anything else :) I took some under water pictures I just didn't get the film done yet.





Thailand Pictures


That's all for now,
Have a great day everyone,

Friday, January 26, 2007

Trip to Malaysia (Day 1): Kuwait Airport Drama


We are here in Pizza express after all the check-in process was over with Emirate airways. It went smooth accept for the fact that me and my cousin has the same first and last name. So, check-in officers were a bit confused signing two people with the same name on board...

I will try to maintain my blog daily with pictures from Malaysia and what ever is there to share with every body with a small story If possible.