doha

Best Burger in Qatar & our 1st Shoot at Mia Bazaar!

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Been staying in Doha for the past 1.5 month already, and it's surprising there's so much more to explore about Qatar! Its swamp forests, beaches, sand forts, dunes and many more. This time, I googled the best burger places in Doha, and I found one really near us!!

ASPIRE PARK, QATAR


Burgeri
Located just adjacent to the back of Villagio Mall (near Laduree entrance), we realised that Burgeri is actually located in Aspire Park, which is sooo cool. We went there for lunch on a weekend afternoon, and the park was really gorgeous in the daytime. There are families and joggers around, but serene enough for you to enjoy moments with nature.

The industrial style interior of Burgeri is TOTALLY hashtag house goals. So many details into their decor and lots of details in each area too. 




Plenty of light, feels like a small little cafe in the huge park.

My favourite person in the whole wide world.... So much misses for this one. :'(

Featuring Wagyu Mushroom Melt and Wagyu Majestic Double, along with our sweet potato fries, onion rings and lemonade tea

The bread was soft, in a goo way because it was a great combination.



The moment I took a bite out of my Wagyu Mushroom Melt burger, I knew that this was the ONE. The meat was succulent and juicy, not like your typical kind of meat patty. The entire combination of mushrooms, cheese and beef go so well together that it'd be hard to not go for a second helping. 


Sugar and Spice
Next to Burgeri is Sugar and Spice, a dainty pretty fairytale-like decorated candy house cafe serving western food and desserts. D said we could go there for some desserts after our lunch. Highlight of the day! Heehee.


Ain't the cafe cute!

The interior is sooo pretty too!



Thankful for this man. He pampers me like a princess most of the time, feel so blessed to have him in my life. 


After much consideration, (SO MANY OPTIONS in the menu) we settled for this cake in a jar which turned out to be pure AWESOME, just a tad sweet. The malty aroma mixed with warm chocolate cake chunks and vanilla ice cream complement each other very well. Just thought they can cut down on the caramel!


Am a big fan of this blueberry cheesecake too! The cheesecake is so decadent and tasty, unlike the bland ones you'd find in established coffee joints. *Ahem* 


There's two other cafes in Aspire Park as well, which we didn't have the chance to check out due to time constraint. However, Burgeri is definitely a must-try, along with Sugar and Spice! :)



We did a traditional photo shoot with the Qatari local costumes just a night back, and it's super cute!
Don't think we can pass them off as well as the locals do, but it was definitely a once in a lifetime experience.

Dear went for the Saudi Arabian style, which I stuck to the stylist's recommendation.

By the way, we did our shoot for QR80 (around SGD 30) at Mia Bazaar, just located right outside The Museum of Islamic Art :) It's a fortnightly weekend market that happens every once in a while, with many vendors selling food and handmade stuffs!








So much fun doing the shoot because we've never done such a photoshoot wearing traditional costumes before! People started gathering around us and taking photos! We were sweat profusely - not sure whether because we were abit nervous or the warm night. Hahaha.


Loving Doha so far :)

doha

A Day out at the Sand Dunes Safari, Qatar

Monday, October 02, 2017

After 4-5 days not seeing the outside world (other than our compound, of course), I was absolutely thrilled to be out again, exploring the other parts of Doha!

One of the places that I’ve been talking about the entire time we touched down in Doha was the Sand Dunes Safari! Pictures of the Arabian Desert, cute little camels and land cruisers can be found on every touristy magazines and of course, it’s a must see and do when you’re in the Middle East. D was sooo sweet by accommodating to my request though he's already having lots of stuffs on his plate. :(


On Friday morning, our guide, MJ picked us up from our accommodation and we headed down South, about an hour’s drive to the Sand Dunes. Throughout the ride, MJ was really friendly and tried to get to know us better throughout the journey, keeping us entertained and laughing all the way.


Upon arrival, the first thing we saw were CAMELS. Lots of them, all sitting under the (very hot) sun, just chilling like everything’s cool. Hahaha. It was our first stop whereby our car's tires were about to get deflated (to reduce traction in the sand) so we were given 30 mins to hang around the area, go for the camel rides if we wanted to and enjoy some karak tea in the meantime.

The camel rides were not part of our packages, but it only costed us about QAR 20 (about SGD 7) for about a 10 mins ride?  D told me to go for it since he’s already tried it in Abu Dhabi.

Poor little camels had knitted "beanies" over their mouths. Not sure why but it could be to prevent them from attacking people. I didn't like the idea of the knitted stuffs over their mouths, because their skin was bruising and cut from the ropes too.


A local helping me to get up the camel.. So excited!

And finally, my dream of becoming a desert princess for 10 minutes came true... Hee hee.

And that's what went behind the scene. The local Qatari guided the camel and we went around a fair bit for just 10 minutes.

Look at how tamed and gentle they are! 

The Qatari told us to touch them, and we were pretty surprised because they didn't even budge when we try to pet their head! 

Heading back to our resting area for our karak tea. 



We were served hot Karak Tea despite the extremely warm weather, but that didn't stop us from enjoying their tea. Their local Karak Tea is a MUST TRY when you're in Qatar! It's so good I dream about it everyday and nag at my boyfriend to bring me out to drink it. Hahahaha.


And here's a shot with our guide - MJ

About 10 minutes later, we set off for our sand bashing adventure!


We actually drifted in the sand dunes, I kid you not. MJ was so good at handling his Toyota Land Cruiser that we drifted more than my fingers can count, and I was just screaming throughout the entire trip while bursting everyone's eardrums in the car. Sometimes, he'd stop the vehicle at the summit, hovering over the edge before going down fast like a roller coaster. At other times he would drive along the ridge before suddenly dropping sideways over the edge, guiding the car at a 45-degree angle over the shifting sands all the way to the bottom. 

We even did a REVERSE stunt down the 45-degree angled steep slope while another car followed us in front closely.

 "I just want you all to enjoy," he'd say.

Look how tight I'm gripping the car handle. LOL

Most of the sand dunes were enormous and were up to 60 metres in height. We scaled them all, and MJ slowly increased speed while I was just holding onto my dear life. D was really chilled about everything and occasionally laughed when I whimpered in fear.

Finally, we reached the Inland Sea aka Khor al Adaid, one of Qatar’s most impressive natural wonders. This site is a UNESCO recognized natural reserve and it is the only place in the world where the sea is surrounded by the desert! It's inaccessible by road, so the only way is by across the rolling sand dunes. Such a serene sight, surrounded by mountains of sand on all sides.




My handsome one with his GoPro




 And trust me, I made a poor choice of wearing slippers because the sand was BURNING my feet!
Think it was like 38-40 degrees over here in the desert. Thankful for the aircon in the car. 

MJ and us. And see how scenic the entire background is. Ahhh.

No clouds, just clear blue skies and the sun shining mercilessly at us. Thankful that our scalps were not burnt. Lol.


Upon reaching our last point - a small beach, we dipped our feet into the crystal clear lukewarm waters and in the distance, we could see the coast of Saudi Arabia clearly, just right across us. 


After wading in the water for some time, we headed back to a nearby station with the others to inflate the wheel tires again behind hitting the road back home.

Our ride, Toyota Land Cruiser. This beast is literally built for deserts, I swear!


A pity that we didn't get to swim in the sea and do sand boarding due to time constraint, but perhaps it's a good idea we didn't because we'd be soaking wet when we get back into the car!


Thank you to Qatar Inbound Adventures for this adventure of a lifetime, and making our experience such an enjoyable one! :)

In my opinion, the Sand Dunes is a MUST GO in Qatar and also, I'd recommend Souq Warif as well for a lovely cuppa Karak Tea and some yummy sweet Kunafa at Al Aker Sweets. I'd be doing a separate blog post on our trips to other parts of Doha, so stay tuned! xx

adventure

Random Roadtrip to Malacca

Friday, June 07, 2013

According to my web stats for the past few months, many people have been actually coming to my blog because of the blog post I did about Phuket, Batam, Bangkok, etc.


So I thought I could do up a one about Malacca!
Not exactly new to Malacca since my boyfriend and I have been going to Malacca ever since we started dating. This was our 3rd or 4th trip together there again! -_-"

But of course, these trips were mostly a 1 day thing :)

Just wanted to share with y'all what to do in Malacca, their famous spots, and their damn good food!


I know I haven't been posting recently for a month but I've been so caught up with my new job recently, working from 9am to 6pm is no joke....... I don't even have the energy to hit the gym after work at all! :'(

Mondays are normally my off days so on Monday, we took the day off together and decided to go on an impromptu trip to Malacca by driving there! 
It's not exactly that difficult because there'd be signages directing you the ways to reach Malacca. It's pretty easy!

Initially we wanted to leave the house at 8am, but apparently I was too sore to wake up after the RPM lesson at my gym the day before. But still, I dragged my almost dead body out of the bed and quickly washed up! We ended up leaving the house at 11am :(

Went to change money at Raffles Arcade and it was already 12pm plus! Yes, it's a 2 hours ride and every minute counts! We wanted to be at Malacca as early as possible to enjoy the historic walk along their famous landmarks and indulge in their yummy food!!


Trying a daredevil stunt by actually placing my baby out of the window when the car was travelling at the speed of 130km/h O_O 

 And as you can see, normally Mondays the highways are pretty empty! :)

"Getting baked" in the car -_- 

Yes, the weather was damn hot that day! I think I got sunburned in the car. LOL 


It was about 3.30pm when we reached Malacca's Jonker Street. We were so hungry that we decided to have their signature chicken rice balls! Yes, Malacca is famous for their chicken rice balls because of its unique way of eating the rice as compared to Singapore's.

We went for Famousa's outlet just right outside the entrance of Jonker Street.



The interior of their restaurant





At that timing (3.40pm), there were considerably quite a number of people in the restaurant! Most of the people were Malaysians, which even gave us a more enhanced local experience. Hahahah

Omg, I love their Luo Han Guo!! It's damn shiok especially for their mad hot weather there!

And here it is! Dear ordered Roasted Chicken Rice Balls while I ordered Steamed Chicken Rice Balls :)

Side Dish 1: Stir Fried Veg with Oyster Sauce

Pork with the crispy skin. I forgot what this is called but this is my favourite!!!! 


My boyfriend ordered another plate of normal, ordinary rice because he didn't felt used to the rice balls. For me, it was something that everyone should experience when you're in Malacca so I had no problem eating it :P
Their vintage machine 



 One of the must visit restaurants in Malacca, especially if you want to experience their culture and way of life here!


Next up was Jonker Street.
 Yes, apparently Malaysia is having their own school holiday too so it was a little bit crowded with families :(


Dear and I enjoy walking along Jonker Street because it is so clean and peaceful! The shops are so vintage and traditional, and we always feel like we're in another world or something. Hahaha. Especially with the smell of freshly baked tarts and pastries all over the street. Ahhhh~




There're almost drink stalls everywhere here! 


Naruto drinks for you? 



 Chinese Temple that offers foot massages for tired tourists (of course need to pay la)



I guess if you're looking for a place to shop and expect to find trendy clothes/bags/shoes etc, this is not the place you'd want to shop :(

Their bags and clothes are not very trendy, mostly quite old fashioned but if you're lucky enough, you can prolly get a few trendy stuffs at quite a reasonable price!

Next up was the famous Durian Chendol Shop along Jonker Street!
It's located near the entrance and it is a MUST TRY if you're a durian lover!!!!
*I kinda forgot what the shop's name was but it's quite noticeable*





 They sell yummy pastries and tarts and coffee too! (Most tourists from other countries will stop by and buy a whole bulk of their packaged pastries)


And here it is! Their famous durian chendol! IT IS SO GOOD I CAN CRYYYYY

 But Dear insisted on sharing it with me so I was abit angry lor :( Why can't I have my own bowl! Zzz

Our happy meal~ 


After that, we walked down as we wanted to go to the Malacca' famous Christ Church.


Checking out their menus... it was quite expensive! 

Yes, you can travel by foot, by their fanciful trishaws (that blast horribly loud korean songs blah), or even their boats! 











We decided to hang out at Dataran Pahlawan Shopping Centre instead so we went to park the car at the nearby hotel which only charges at RM 2 for 4 hours! Whoop, that is only $0.90 for 4 freaking hours!!

The link between the hotel and Dataran Pahlawan has a few shops that sell really cheap and pretty clothes! I was going abit crazy over there :P Wanted to buy a few dresses but I wanted to save the money for our Korean dinner later :P


I love walking at Dataran Pahlawan Shopping Mall! Their mall is huge and there're quite a lot of things to walk and see!! They're like a mini version of Fareast Plaza, but they're only 2 storeys. Hehe.


After that, we walked out to take the Menara Tamingsari ride. It's one of Malacca's famous attractions too!



We paid RM 15 for each person cos we said we were locals :P Obviously she started talking to us in Malay and we just nodded our heads like idiots. LOL.

 The ticket comes together with a muffin and a drink for you to snack on during your ride!

 Super excited! It was my first time :)

The queue time wasn't very long, because around 10 minutes, it was our time!

Yay!! 


So the ride went up super high...... And we could see the entire Malacca! I was a little scared cos it felt like it was going to drop down anytime and we would all die in pieces boohoo :'(

Jonker Street from afar 





Just couldn't stop imagining what it'd feel like if we fell down :( 

Anyway, it is a good experience that everyone should go for when you're in Malacca!
Now, the best part........


One of the best Korean restaurants in Malacca is just located right next to Pahlawan Shopping Centre and opposite Starbucks. We've been patronising them everytime we visit Malacca because their service and food are just SO GOOD!


Do visit Daorae Korean Restaurant when you're there!!

We ordered beef and pork, and there were so many side dishes that came together with it! We also ordered our all-time favourite ginseng soup! :) 

Yes, the waiter was cooking the beef for us, and even placed it in the appropriate sauces and side dishes for us to eat! :)


FREAKING good ginseng soup! 

Loving the authentic Korean food served here. Even the atmosphere.. everything feels like it. The waiters were speaking to each other in korean too! 

Eating in the stylo way with really good service :) 

Love their seafood pancake too! Dear and I finished this even though we were quite full :P This was actually on the house, they were so sweet  :)


Visit them when you're in Malacca! ;)

Grabbed a hot Green Tea latte from Starbucks before heading back home~
Another 2 hours ride back home and though we were tired but we enjoyed ourselves so much! :)

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