Travel

I had a quick visit to Paris last week and took a few pictures. 

And I really mean quick - I spent 3.5 hours walking around Paris, and then was confined to a meeting room for the rest of the day.  After that, I came back to Doha. 

I did have time for some good bread and chocolate croissants though.  I've never quite appreciated the croissant genre until walking to La Defense and stopping in a random Boulangerie and having one.  So amazing delicious.

I did have a stop at the Eiffel Tour, Arc de Triumphe, and Champs Elysees.  But that's it. 

Oh, and it was freezing.  Well, almost (1 degree C).  I don't like freezing cold any more.

Genny and I are contemplating going to Iran.  We'd like to go skiing and such.  Some of our friends just came back and had a great time and are thinking about going again. 

But - being American obviously might add a challenge or two. Apparently, we can though.  And the fact that it is only 80 miles away adds some interest.  Email or type a comment if you've got advice for us.

In other Iran news, Genny went to the bookstore yesterday and asked for "Iran Awakening" by Shirin Ebadi.  The Virgin Megastore guy typed in "I Ran Awakening".  hmmmm.

Ankur

We decided to take an end of year trip to South Africa for a few weeks.  It has been a long time since we've taken multiple weeks off in a row, with the last being Hawaii a few years ago.  We are lucky to be in a position where we can take frequent week vacations, but it is nice to just shut off for a while.

Also, for the past few months Genny and I have been playing a lot with our camera and trying to learn how to take better pictures.  We bought a tripod and another lens as a costly result of this learning :)  So during this trip, we ended up taking a lot more "keepers" than in previous trips, but it also meant that we deleted a lot more pictures as we made many mistakes as well.  Genny posted more than I did on snapfish if you'd like to see more.  Anyhow, we hope you enjoy the pictures.

We started off arriving into Johannesburg (Jo'burg) and spent the night at the airport (slept a few hours on a metallic chair...oh so not comfortable). But soon enough, we were off to Cape Town.  We spent three days there enjoying the amazing restaurants, people, and scenery.  It was their summer, but oddly these three days (and only these days) were unusually cold as we were convincing ourselves that we packed poorly and we needed jackets.  The weather did end up warming up and we did a wine tour of Stellenbosch where we pretended that we were wine connoisseurs and rated wines from many different wineries including Simonsig, Fairview Winery (makers of Goats du Roam) and others and we ate a lot of cheese.  For lunch, wine was free, but other drinks cost money.  We also met Addi Feinstein, a Med student from New York spending a year in Durban doing AIDS research. 

From Stellenbosch, we rented a car (VW Chico) for the remainder of the journey which was good as it gave us a spontaneous meandering capacity and headed to Oudtshoorn.  This is a curious out of the way place that has way too many ostrich farms (we even tried to ride the ostriches).   There was a great waterfall and the Cango Caves were great (we did manage to break almost every rule the caves had).  There is also an overly touristy wildlife park there where they hustle you through the fences as past as possible.  Not impressed. 

Jeffrey's Bay was next which is a surfer's paradise.  Unfortunately for us, it rained the entire time we were there, so we ended up eating and reading (and watched some TV).  Hmmm - we're bad tourists.  There's something there about the world's best 90 degree wave or turn or something that surfers do.

Addo was one of our highlights as we spent two days doing a self-drive Safari.  The first day we ended up being surrounded by elephants.  While very cool, it was also a bit scary knowing that they could destroy our car in an instant.  We got some great pictures of them though - along with buffalo, lions, kudu, zebra and a handful of other animals.  Missed the rhino though - just couldn't find them.  Searching flickr for "addo rhino" doesn't yield many results either, so they really must be elusive. 

From here, following our trusty Lonely Planet we ventured to Graaff-Reinet.  The book said something about this being a historical monument with lots of great architecture and blah blah.  It sucked.  There's potentially the ugliest monument ever to Huguenots that died there.  Anyhow, if anyone ever does a search and finds this blog in regards to Graaff-Reinet, don't go.  But if you do, stay at the Buiten Verwagten B&B - they're fantastic.

In Mossel Bay and Montagu, we relaxed and walked.  Montagu received a lot of rain, so we attempted to ford a few rivers that weren't supposed to be there before realizing that it wasn't too safe in slippers.  I kept getting visions of Oregon Trail and "Genny got typhoid" or "You ran out of food, would you like to shoot buffalo."  "you can only carry 100 lbs of food with you".  Ok, enough Oregon Trail reminiscing. 

We did a few days in Muizenburg as well and saw Cape of Good Hope (go there early and eat lunch at the restaurant after you're done with the walk) and my favorite beach in the world.  It's called Boulders and is in Simon's Town.  Simon's Town is the penguin place by Cape Town and these particular ones just relax right next to you on the beach. 

And we're back to Doha now.  Happy New Year, Merry Christmas, and Eid Mubarak to all of you!

Ankur and Genny

To celebrate the end of Ramadan we got 3 days holiday. I took the whole week off and went to Taiwan! My Dad met me there and we had a full schedule. The day I arrived we had dinner w/my Dad’s 4 brothers. It was great to hear old stories and eat real Taiwanese food and pork! That night we went to a new spa owned by my Mom’s friend from school. It was not too far from Taipei and was the perfect retreat. The rooms had a simple modern Asian flavor including tatamee mats and slippers. They have 2 spa areas, one outside with several different small pools each with a particular herb and temperature. And one closed off for men and women separately…no swim suits required. Needless to say I tried all the different pools! The next day we had lunch at an outdoor place in the mountains. For lunch one of the dishes was pig small intestine…so gross. What can I say, they love eating every part of a pig (or any animal for that matter). The next day we tried to go to the National Museum but it was closed! Instead we toured my Dad’s old high school and the botanical gardens. Was a lovely relaxing day and I got to eat my favorite pot stickers! The following day my aunt and uncle took us to two nearby towns where they make wood statues (mostly of Buddha) and pottery. Sounds boring but they were very cute towns and great places to shop for local crafts. It really satisfied my need (yes, need) to shop. Next up was a 70km (return) bike ride from Taiwan University to Danshui. My uncle retired and has taken up biking as one of his hobbies…well is more than a hobby for him. He has biked around Taiwan several times including once while the President was campaigning…in case he fell or something. It was probably my favorite day of the trip. The bike trails in Taiwan are impressive so it was a safe way to get out of the city hustle. I was amazed to see the variety of people riding bikes and exercising in Taiwan. They’re really a fit bunch of people. I consider myself pretty healthy but these people put me to shame. I should have figured considering the athleticism of my parents and grandparents. After the trip I was incredibly exhausted and sore all over but my 60+ yr old Dad seemed to have no issues aside from a sore bum! Was really fun and something different.

The next two days we spent in a small town south of Taipei where my Dad’s cousin lives. It is also near a big giant Buddha statue…not very exciting especially w/o my camera. We learned a few Taiwanese traditions and some tai chi from his cousin. The retired people in Taiwan really know how to keep themselves busy! I also saw the “house” where my Dad was born…is more like a little shack now. I’m so lucky I grew up in the US.

We got back to Taipei in time for a big fancy dinner with aunts and uncles from both sides. They say Americans are loud but my goodness this restaurant was loud and our table was no exception! It was the perfect last dinner (plenty of pork on the table too) before the long flight to Doha.

Am now back to life as usual in Doha…no more short working hours or stuffing my face w/pork (am actually thankful…I really over ate all week in Taiwan). At least I have one thing to look forward to…

Ankur is coming back on Nov. 1!!!!!!! :)

-Gen

-Gen

During Eid, we decided to spend 3 days in Bahrain visiting the country and staying with a co-worker in his huge pad. This turned into four days as we missed our flight back to Doha because the car rental guy was taking a nap. Oh well.

Eid is a celebration after Ramadan, where Muslims rejoice after breaking their fast.  Most countries get between 3-5 days off for this, while government offices can get up to 2 weeks off. 

We decided to go to Bahrain because we needed to relax a little.  We ate some amazing meals and saw the Grand Mosque.  We also managed to take a tour of the country in the rental car and visited A'Ali, the beach, and Bahrain
International Circuit.

Most of all, we took a few pictures. 

There's Genny wearing an Abaya (sign-in required)
There's a picture of a potentially rabid cat.

But to see all the pictures, go to the main Tag in flickr (2006102x - Bahrain During Eid).

Ziad is a friend of ours from Qatar. His girlfriend decided to have his birthday party at a resort in the UAE, about an hour south of Dubai. The resort was Jumeriah's Bab Al Shams Resort. It was one of those places that just stands out for it's classy decor and amazing pools.

Take a look at the pictures for a glimpse of the resort.

I'm about 2 months late publishing these (these were taken on September 15th).