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).