Mystery Revealed!

finally, the days have gone back to routine... i'm again, as usual... busy with work... and alas, time to reveal where i went disappear last 2 weeks!

"SaLLaAm!!" is the first word u should learn when u are in this country. because, it means "hello". yes, just in case u are guessing... you are wrong. i was in Libya!!!

question... where on earth is Libya?! Nobody knows where is Libya. technically speaking, it is at North of Africa, an Arab country. Yikes, why was i sent to Libya? because Libya found oil, and they are the richest country in Africa. and since

OIL = MONEY = RICH

they have the money to develope a town, just like that. Our construction site is about 2.6km x 3.5km, imagine how big the development is!

but look at this place, u really eat sand more than anything else.

besides sand, they also serve mud! this is the construction site next to the office where i spent most of my time rotting there.

And also, not forgetting the HOT sun!! By looking at it, u feel dizzy already!!

The temperature during summer is about 35 degree celcius. Well, u may think that it is the same as in Malaysia, but then it is far worse than u expect. Libya is so much drier and hotter than Malaysia because it has less trees, and south of Libya is Sahara and north of Libya is Mediterranean sea. In fact, once i cross the road at the back of the construction site, it is the sea already!!!

but this is not just it... more to come, about Libya! (they have some interesting historical places to serve, not just sand and mud!)

Happy Moi!~~

yes i am finally home!!!
and these are the things i miss the most when i'm over there!!! what were u thinking?? haha...

No.1 - Yin Yong, also known as Kong Fu chao (mixed fried rice vermicelli and kueh teow with egg sauce)


No.2. Dong Fun Ha (vermicelli in condensed milk and tiger prawns, plus spices of parsley and chilli )

No.3. of course, not forgetting the Ultimate Hokkien delicacy......

HOKKIEN MIEN!!

don't u just love Malaysia for its food culture?

The Night Before i leave this mysterious place

finally... i'll be going back home.
all the tasks are completed (at least mine is) and all my team members are very eager to go home. time to seek for some relax and relieve after work. And guess what i found here?! wow... i must be lucky! this green bottle looks very familiar, isn't it? but hey wait...

Look carefully what it is written on the bottle!? it is ...

NON ALCOHOLIC?!!

what the... is this a BEER? does it still consider a BEER if it is non alcoholic?
and why on earth does anyone want to drink something non alcoholic whereas it is supposed to be alcoholic?!

Seriously, this baby has the bitterness of beer, but it doesn't have the kick of a beer at all. and the worst is... it made my headache worse! due to the long duration of exposure to the sun and not enough water in the afternoon (and i'm not supposed to drink water in front of these people)

Just cant wait to go home! ASAP!!!

Ughh.... this crazy place!

remember last post what i said about this country? people are only active during night time. and since it is fasting month, the locals are passive during day time when the sun is up. They tend to sleep until noon during this time. Then they will wait for a few more hours for the sun to set, break fast... send in their prayers, and start behaving very actively after 10pm. And they will be remain hyper until 4am, then sleep. the cycle will repeat itself thoughout the whole fasting month.

and the story goes like this...

i was sleeping in the site cabin since last week. yea and they look like this (this can be considered a high class cabin for a Construction Site!)

the thing i'm gonna tell u, nobody will believe what i said, but... it is really true story, kisah benar!!!

i will dedicate this special incident to my blog, it happened on the

"7th September 2008 at GMT +02:00, 02:42am!"

as usual, i was sleeping (who doesn't sleep at 2am? for normal people) being all tired and exhausted for all the late night non stop working since August 25th (and i mean not a single weekend / day off) not to mention the craziest transit waiting for 13 hours at Doha air-port.

sleeping on my hard rock bed in the cabin, i was awaken by very noisy engine sounds, and it was so loud that i thought it was EarthQuake!! (the buildings we are designing here are for Earthquake Zone)... so i thought so.

the noise was so clear because it was happening just OUTSIDE my cabin... i am sure, it was definitely someone cutting grass, using a Lawnmower!! and when i checked the time, it was 2:42AM!! my friend, who bothers to CUT GRASS AT 2:42AM IN THE MORNING?? what is so important to MOW YOUR LAWN AT 2:42AM??

this is totally crazy! people over here! i just cant wait any longer to get away from this country!!!

Snippet of where i am now

just in case anyone is wondering where i am now, these are some of the hints...

Rules and Regulation in this country

1. Men cannot stare at women on the street, else u will be sent to jail. - (stare in the office but not on the street can or not?? meaning women can stare at men here, legally?)

2. High heels are not allowed, for women. (but i saw a lot of heels on sales, multicolour one)

3. NO women shall wear skirts on the street, nor revealing attire. (but why are these on sales everywhere??)

4. During bulan puasa (coincidently it is fasting month for Muslim now), u CANNOT eat / drink / chew gums in public, to show ur respect to Muslim in their Holy Fasting month. (memo was issued by the company to reinforce this rule)

5. Working hours for local Muslims are 10:00am - 3:00pm (5 hours)

Working hours for non Muslims are 7:30am - 5:30pm (10 hours)

(this is a construction site, so working 10 hours is a norm here. In fact, every construction site is about the same. but why the locals' working hour....)

7. People here are only Active during night, since it is rather hot and dry during daytime (summer) But what i mean is REALLY ACTIVE... will reveal in my next article...

so anyone know where i am now?

So much Hassle... all the way!

i've been away for quite some time... just in case u are not aware... i've disappear from Malaysia and gone to somewhere else (still part of earth) to resolve some job issues. this trip is really disaster!! will slowly tell. but now i'm quite happy cos the job is done and issues have been resolved. that's the reason why i can have the leisure to blog here!!!~

long before i've finished blogging about my Europe trip (here n here), now i somewhere else, trapped!!

but first... the best flight meal, ever! (who will know how bad is my condition later)

by the Qatar Airways, from KL - Doha - (somewhere i'm stucked now)

the meal is served from KL - Doha. see what food they are serving for just economy flights?!

Kueh Teow with fishball + crabstick, with a bun (tactic to make u full, fast), fruits with salad and vanilla cake as dessert! what else can u complain? and not to mention i asked for red wine and they gave me a small bottle, look at the left corner (but of course it taste like @#@# of course)

they have another rice + curry chicken option but i am just curious why Qatar airline can serve KuehTeow (a local malaysian food!?) not to mention it really taste nice!

MAS u totally need to improve what u are serving for your customers. being the Malaysia official airline, u need not to just get best service awards 1 2 (which i don see much), but also to provide good food. (what people demand on a plane) i rather pay some money to buy food on a Airasia plane than suffering from the souless food MAS served on plane. (not to forget Airasia's tasty hotdogs n nasi lemak)

to be continued... ...