Malaysia – Kuala Lumpur

Firstly i just want to say Malaysia is about the coolest place i’ve ever been to. It’s clean, green, and vibrant. And lots of fun. We stayed in Kuala Lumpur for 2 days and had a blast. Between eating out at the hawker stalls and spending time in the glitzy shopping mall we also visited the KL tower which offers great views of the city and also a jungle area next to it which has been preserved while the city expanded. We had a very knowledgable guide who knew about all the trees and animals in the jungle except the mosquitoes which he forgot to warn us about. My leg were a mess by the end of that.

Anyway we also went to a bizarre place called a fish spa. This is where you basically dip your feet in an aquarium and the fish come an nibble the dead skin off your feet. I wasn’t convinced but after getting used to it i actually enjoyed it.

We also visited a butterfly park which is nice if you like butterflys (which Larissa does) and if you don’t it’s in a really nice park which is nice to stroll around in.

We then went off to the train station to catch our overnight train to Wakaf Bharu for the journey onwards to the Perenthian Islands.

People are leaving Doha

The last 5 weekends have been spent attending various individual’s leaving parties. Having retured home from yet another leaving party it seems my group of friends in Doha is rapidly shrinking as they take off to fresher pastures. Good luck to you all and well done for getting your asses out of here. Hopefully i can follow suit soon.

Why i think the UK is f*cked

OK so get ready for a massive rant.

To be honest i’m not happy that Cameron is in, but i’m not sad to see the back of Brown. The difference between the two men is stark but i think i’m more on the side of Brown. But that brings me to my point – i think most people are just uninspired in general by our choice of leaders. THey just don’t care. The Uk is in decline and nobody has any idea what to do.

I think this is down to a few items:
1. Over the last 20 years the manufacturing industry the UK was once a world leader in has slowly been chipped away. FIrst it was Coal, then steel, then crap plastic toys and now heavy engineering, automotive and high tech is going. Why? The Chinese, Vietnamese, Taiwanese can do it cheaper. And better. The companies are based in the west but nothing is made there. It is made in China. So basically the companies in the UK are admin centres and sales people. We just don’t have the expertise to carry out these tasks anymore. The industry we do have is shit. i’ve seen it with my own eyes here in Doha. We are buying goods from the UK which are of lower quality than those from China. So please don’t think we are making higher quality goods that them to compete. we are not because the expertise is gone. China can provide what we need. The Uk is unable to.

2. So one of the big problems in the UK is “Dole dodging chavs” according to the Daily Facist. OK so i made up that quote but you get the idea. Surely the solution is to stop giving these people benefits to “Make them get off their arses and work”. Wrong. This is why – there are no jobs. Our population grew to a level that was sustainable with mass employment in industry. Which is now in China. The population now can’t find work because there is no work. This leads individuals to depression and feelings of lack of self worth. This can lead to drug problems and the associated crime. But more importantly it creates a massive underclass of people trapped in poverty.

3. 40% of people go to Uni? Why? what for? to get in debt and get a crap job afterwards? i was lucky – i got a good job but there are people going to institutions that are barely universities and coming out with useless degrees. Oh wait – thats because there is nothing else to do because there are no jobs. There are a set of very good graduate jobs that people in the top Unis will get. There rest are looking at doing jobs they could have got with only A levels. I’m 100% for social mobility but not false social mobilty we seem to have here.
5. Surely we can make more people do apprentice ships? OK but what are these people going to do after they finish? Work in a factory… oh wait a minute.

This brings me back to my opening paragraph. What is any party going to do to stop this decline? Maybe it’s too late. I may be wrong about all this but i have seen no ideas what so ever to tackle the real problems that are affecting our country. So that i think is the reason that nobody gives a shit about whether its Brown, Clegg or shiny head Cameron that is PM because they are not going to (or it is not possible) do anything to help us.

This is hilarious…maybe not

Election

There has been an election and I am rather surprised. Not by the outcome but by how so many people use Facebook to declare their political affiliations with the Conservative party. I mean where was the loyalty at the last election? And what makes them think that i (or anyone else) will think they are any cooler (which let’s face it is the only reason people update their status) for stating it? Also how does voting for David Cameron and Oliver Letwin make you cool? It doesn’t. It makes you middle aged and bitter. I’m just saying.

Hi, I’m back

Hi everyone, incase i have some regular visitors to the site (which is highly unlikely – if you are one please say hi!) i must apologise for the gap in writing stuff.

Well anyway, whats happened in the past few months? Well i’ve been to Sri Lanka and back to Germany and Scotland. All very interesting and nicer than here. But i have found a new hobby which is quad biking. It must be one of the few things to do here that you genuinely cannot do anywhere else. We rock up to the rental place, hire a quad and off we go into the desert. After discovering a weird camel farm in the middle of nowhere, some bedouin camps, untouched sand dunes and nearly becoming stranded in the middle of a 1000m wide mud flat we decided to call it a day and go home. Brilliant.

Eid

So i have suffered nearly 4 months in Doha and now it is Eid. I can’t really believe that i’ve been here so long with out respite. It wasn’t on purpose. I was supposed to have a training session in London with my company but this was moved to Doha… DOH! So i’ve been here that long. Now i’m going away for Eid to Germany to the Oktoberfest and a little trip to Salzburg. Oh and i’m getting married! Hooray! So this is my last entry as a “single” guy…

Apart from that i’ve been driven mad by staying here in Ramadan. Never again.

Tasty Bell

I got back from the gym just now but on the way home i got a bite to eat at “Tasty Bell”. I often go here for a snack or some light dinner. it is conveniently located at a petrol station that also has a veg shop, grocery store and bakery. So it’s now my new alternative to the pure hell that is Carrefour. Tasty Bell is run by a bunch of Indian dudes and it is surprisingly well run. I’m not sure why this place is so much better than other food places but they have it down to a tee. The menu has everything on it. When i say everything i mean literally any kind of meal you can imagaine. Thai, Chinese, European, Arab, American, and of course Indian and some random dishes thrown in for good measure. This does not however mean that you will be able to get the meal you want. Today i got my vegetable club sandwich but the last time i ordered a Shish Tawook. This is a nice Arabic BBQ chicken with a soft bread. Unfortunately (for me) they decided that i didn’t want this for dinner. No – what i wanted was some chicken nuggets in a sandwich. So this is what i got for my dinner. I was forced to eat it as i was runnign out of time. But I inquired as to why i was given this when i ordered something else. Was it some kind of mistake? Did they hear me wrongly? The actual reason was it would take too long to cook the Shish Tawook. So they Unilaterally decided that instead i would really like a deep fried piece of chicken intenstines on a stale roll. Nice. Don’t get me wrong this place is great. I’m still going there.

Doha Rage

I must admit i thought i’d finally got over it. Being here for 16 months, working in construction and getting to leave periodically I thought i’d mastered living in Doha without being angry 95% of the time. Infact since returning a month ago from California i lulled myself into a false sense of security and started to believe that living here was ok. Even when being brutally cut up by an insane Qatari Land Cruiser swerving through the traffic at 150kph i could almost let it go…

Well that came crashing down around me this week. I can’t really put my finger on the exact reason why but it started with not eating any breakfast and then mistakenly ordering a cesar salad instead of a chicken cesar making me ravenously hunger and therefore in a foul mood by 4pm. Then i discover that i can’t buy any food at work after 2pm because the canteen is closed. So after knawing my hand for a few hours i was eager to get back home. No. The biggest traffic jam ever and some of the most stupid, selfish and dangerous driving i have seen. I’m not talking about my driving either. Just imagine the foul mood i was in. Couple this with some monumental f*ck ups at work due to complete inactivity from someone or stupidity from another (all not my fault but sadly my responsibilty) the next two days and bang i’m back to full Doha hatred mode. Hopefully it will filter away and i’ll forget all about it.

Rental Car

This is my friend Matt’s video about handing back his rental car. It is fair to say this Nissan was less than well looked after. Filmed by yours truly, edited by Matt.
http://www.vimeo.com/5286325