Week(s) in Review: The Doha Days are Over…

As soon as we got back from Sydney, John and I finalized a major decision.  As much as we’ve enjoyed our time here, we both feel ready to take on a new adventure, so….after some careful planning and research, the Hollers will no longer be in the ‘ha, as of January 30th!

There will be more details to come, but for now I’ll just wrap up the events of the past couple of weeks.

The jet-lag was pretty intense the days following our arrival, but once Sunday rolled around we had no choice but to buck up and get back into the routine, especially since I had an important work related event that first week back.  Luckily I was able to break it up by having a beer out with the ladies after work one day, and of course still make it to yoga and Bachelor night!

By the time the week was over, we were both exhausted, and just stayed in Thursday night and made tacos.

Friday we got up at a decent hour and cheered a friend on at her first marathon!  She did a great job, and we were all very proud of her!

We didn’t run at all, but needed to refuel from all of that stressful spectating afterwards at FatBurger.

Saturday we got lucky and scored some free tix to the ExxonMobil Tennis Tournament. This also gave us a good excuse to eat at Bukhara beforehand.  At the tournament we had a special treat- a surprise visit from David Beckham!

We had a lot to take care of that week, but I managed to cook something new- tofu curry.  It was actually pretty good!

John went out with some friends that week too to the International Handball Competition.  I’ve never heard of this sport before, but apparently its like water polo on land.  Qatar tried to draw a crowd to this not very popular sport by flying in both Pharrell and Gwen Stefani to play for the semi-finals.  Apparently there were still empty seats though…

Thursday night I went out with some gal pals to La Spiga, and then out to Wahm at the W.  We had fun!

Friday night we went to a party our friends in the compound threw- it was a combination goodbye to us, and welcome to our new friend’s upcoming delivery!  Our friends certainly are very clever and thoughtful!

After the party Friday night we checked out “Krossroads,” a super smokey bar known for their fabulous Filipino cover band.

Saturday we took care of some business, and pretty much spent the rest of the week doing the same, with the exception of yoga and Bachelor night on Tuesday.

Once Thursday came around, we were ready to party again!  We had people over, along with a specially delivered keg, and a whole lot of food.

Friday ended up being a pretty lazy day (probably had something to do with the fact that we went to bed at 4:15 AM…), but we had planned on going to a golf tournament, where UB40 would be performing at the end.  They are most famous for (the song they probably wouldn’t be allowed to play in Doha) “Red Red Wine.” Unfortunately with the passing of the Saudi King, Qatar decided to cancel the concert so that the country could mourn.

In hindsight that was probably a good thing though, since we had a lot to do!

In lieu then of the concert, we went with some friends to Issan at the Grand Hyatt.  It’s a Thai restaurant and very good!  We all did a tasting menu and had lots of yummy dishes.

Saturday was a big day- the packers came!  They worked very quickly and within a couple of hours our entire villa was in boxes.

John took some items out to donate, and we were happy to see that they were taken right away.  He also brought us back a snack from one of our faves-Paul.  Later on I took this bag of assorted currency and was able to exchange it all at the Travelex.  (for a rather large commission of course.)

Saturday night we went to dinner at a friend’s villa, and then afterwards had our last night in the compound.  The next day we moved into the Marriott for the week.  The hotel is very full- lots of the handball teams are staying here right now.  We had to compromise and get a room with 2 double beds because it was the last non-smoking room left!  Luckily though the hotel is very conveniently located, and they have a WONDERFUL breakfast included with our room.  Omellette station erryday.

Sunset view from our room

After a long day, we just had a quick dinner and then retired for the evening, although I didn’t get much sleep that evening because I was constantly checking my phone- my sister back in the US gave birth to my very first nephew!  I’m a proud new Auntie.

 

And that brings us to today!  Only 3 more days and then out of the ‘ha.  We’re both working up until the very last minute, so with that, TCB, and meeting up with friends, the time is flying. Sappy nostalgic post to follow, once we’re out!

Trip in Review: Sydney Pt. 6: Opera-tion NYE

Wednesday was New Years’ Eve and we took the day pretty easy as we had big plans for the evening. 🙂

We travelled first by bus up to Newton to check out “Brewtown Newtown,” for coffee.

 

Then we took the bus close to Darling Harbour to check out the Aquarium. It was super crowded, but we still enjoyed the fishies and dugongs.

 

Dugong Meals

Afterwards, we had the great idea to go to the Sydney Fish Market for lunch. On the way though we popped into a little pub advertising craft beer.

When we got to the fish market though we were immediately overwhelmed by the crowds. We seem to not have very good luck at fish markets.

Nonetheless, we had some fresh sashimi, cut right off the fish in front of us.

That didn’t exactly fill us up, so we went then to Chinatown and had some dumplings.

By this point we needed to pick up our tickets for our evening festivities, so we headed over to the Sydney Opera House. As you can imagine it was super crowded and security was being very tightly enforced. We had to first pick up a ticket to pick up the real tickets, then walk through 2 check points (past all the people who had been setting up shop since approx. 10 AM), then to the real Box Office inside the Opera House.   The whole “quick pick up” of the tickets took about an hour.

It was late afternoon by this point, so we took the bus back for a little rest and then had a quick drinky on the terrace before catching the train to Martin Square, and then walking to our dinner reservation at Rockpool Restaurant.

The restaurant was amazing- highly recommend! It was definitely a splurge, but completely worth it for both the food and atmosphere. The service was awesome too- they asked us if we had any time restrictions right in the beginning, and even packed us a little complimentary dessert to go! (Which we totes ate on the way to the Opera!)

After dinner we headed to the Opera House and got caught in a bit of wind…

…but we made it in plenty of time, and had amazing seats for the Opera New Year’s Eve Gala show.

Instead of a full blown opera, this show was more like “opera lite.” It consisted of a series of arias and orchestral pieces, all tied together by an entertaining emcee. There was an intermission timed right before 9 PM, so we could grab a glass of champagne and then get near the windows to watch the first fireworks show (it’s a smaller one for the people who don’t want to stay up ‘til 12.)  The show also had a heartfelt tribute to Australians and other entertainers who had passed away over the year. At the end of the show, all of the singers came out on stage and opened up a bottle of champagne for a toast!

I loved it! The singers were extremely talented, and the whole evening felt very elegant and fancy.

 

After the show, we went to the after party on the upper deck of the Opera House. All of the singers were there too, chowing down on these delicious mini meat pies! Around 11:30 we made sure to secure a spot on the outside deck overlooking the harbor and bridge for prime viewing of the 12 AM fireworks.

As expected, the fireworks display was the best I’ve ever seen. I am forever spoiled for NYE.

To conclude our evening, we sat and watched people dancing to the jazz band, had a couple more glasses of champagne, then managed to catch the train home around 2:30 AM.

So as you can imagine, staying up so late (and feeling a little woozy) the next morning, led to us having a pretty lazy last day.  We slept in, got coffee, had some tacos for lunch, visited the PowerHouse Museum, took the bus over to Bondi to walk the beach, and then home to change for a final sunset at the observatory.  We had to be up super super early in the morning, so instead of doing an elaborate dinner, we got take out from a Thai resto near the hotel and ate on our terrace.  I guess in hindsight we weren’t that lazy, haha.

Friday morning we were up at 4, grabbed a taxi, and made our way to the airport where unfortunately we had to check our bags (damn Emirates 7 kg carry on weight limit), and I got stuck with a middle seat in Economy.  Luckily we’re troopers and the flight went on without any hiccups, we finally got our bags, and then made it back to Doha.

2014 was a great year, but I’m pretty excited for what 2015 has to bring!

Trip in Review: Sydney Pt. 5: Contemporary Culture-ing

Tuesday we had planned on driving out to the wine country using another GoGet, but after thinking it over, we decided to stay in the city.  The closest wine region to Sydney is still about 3 hours drive, and it’s not exactly the best, so instead of dedicating the day to wining and driving, we cultured ourselves by checking out not one, not two, but THREE museums! We also had a nice lunch, checked out Bondi Beach, and did yoga by the sea. Busy busy (walla)bees.

We of course first started the day though with a traditional trip to a coffee shop.

 

And then we passed by this neat atrium-esque mall so popped in there for a bit.

The first museum we visited was the Museum of Contemporary Art. This was my favorite of the 3. They were having a special exhibit by the American artist Chuck Close, but since we are not art aficionados, we just opted for the free pass access to check out the regular collection. I don’t know much about contemporary art (and I don’t know ANYTHING about Australian artists), but I picked up on a common theme of “displacement” and cynicism towards the Australian government and society. To see some of the work we saw, you can click here.

There was another interesting “piece,” titled “The One Hour Laugh,” where as the name suggests, 4 people stand around and “laugh” for an hour. Think what you want! An excerpt (only 5 minutes, not an hour unfortunately) is found here.

---

After this museum, we went over to the Sydney Museum, which was kind of disappointing.

It jumped from British colonization to modern day very quickly and there were very few actual artifacts- mostly just pictures/photos. I did like learning about the “First Fleet” of 11 ships. Here’s a quick excerpt about that, via the State Library of New South Wales:

“Over 252 days, the First Fleet brought over 1500 men, women and children half way around the world from England to New South Wales. 

 On 13 of May 1787, the fleet of 11 ships set sail from Portsmouth, England. Led by Captain Arthur Phillip, this historic convoy, which later became known as the First Fleet, carried officers, crew, marines and their families, and convicts from Britain to a distant and little known land on the far side of the world.

 The Fleet consisted of two Royal Navy escort ships, HMS Sirius and HMS Supply. They accompanied six convict transports, the Alexander, Charlotte, Friendship, Lady Penrhyn, Prince of Wales and the Scarborough, and three store ships, the Borrowdale, Fishburn and Golden Grove.”

 By this point we were hungry, so we stopped and had lunch at a really tasty Italian restaurant called “Fratelli Fresh.”   The pasta was awesome and the atmosphere was very Italian.

Grandpa needed a bib

Then it was onto Museum #3, which was a bit of a blunder because we thought it was the Museum of Science and Technology, but it turned out to be only the observatory (which was mneh, ok- better to book for an evening visit so you can use the telescope.)

From there we went back and changed into yoga clothes before heading out to Bondi Beach. We took the bus and it was about a 30 minute ride from the hotel- not bad!

I actually liked the vibe at Bondi Beach better than Manly. It just seemed a little more laid back and “kewler.” The whole time we were in Australia though we didn’t really dedicate much time to the beaches- with our milky skin and propensity of skin cancer, I’m over lying out and cooking in the sun.

So we opted for a different type of beach experience- yoga by the sea! Only downside was that being out in the open led to lots of spectators.

The class was great and we both felt refreshed afterwards. So refreshed that we had to have a beer and a burger to revive ourselves.

The night was still young at this point, and since we weren’t going out to the wine country at all, we settled for a visit to a wine bar.  The spot we found was pretty neat- you get a scan card and then make your own “tasting” using bottles of wine that are hooked up to automatically dispense.  Overall I think Australian wine still has some room to grow, but we had some decent Shiraz and Semillon.

We did not try this wine…

So thats Day 5- 2 more days in Aussieland to chronicle, then back to the Land of Sand.

 

Trip in Review: Sydney Pt 4: AI in the BM

Monday morning started with a flat white from a local café…

Then we found “Dory” who took us out to the Blue Mountains for a walk in the bush.

Dory is a car.

Before we left Doha, I registered us for the “GoGet” carshare service in Sydney. It was very convenient, and a lot cheaper than renting a car for the whole week. All we had to do was activate our membership pack that we picked up on the day we arrived, and then we called and reserved a car the same morning we needed it. The service has cars parked all over the city. The agent on the phone then located the closest available car to us, and then voila! We used the smartcard in the membership pack to unlock the car and were on our way.

The agency keeps track of the cars by naming them- Dory was a practical Yaris. We opted for “her” and not for Cassidy, the Audi.

The drive took about 2 hours, and we stopped along the way at a grocery store and got sandwich fixings for an impromptu picnic while hiking.

Originally, our plan was to visit “Scenic World,” a theme park basically built into the mountains with a roller coaster going in and out of the hills.   But upon pulling up, we noticed just the line to buy tickets looked to be about an hour wait.  It was a trap! So we skipped it and just made our own adventure by hiking around Katoomba Falls.

The walk was nice and the area was really pretty, but even the hiking trails were crowded. And by crowded I mean, busloads of foreign tourists with every photo taking gadget available stopping, shooting, selfie-sticking, repeating.

 

Nonetheless, we had a good time, and it was nice to get some exercise and out of the city for the day.

---

 

To treat ourselves for our strenuous walk, we stopped and got gelato on the way home at “The Cow and the Moon.”

 

That evening we played it pretty low key- took a nap, then got take out burritos and took them over to the Sydney Observatory lawn.  It was the perfect place to watch the sunset, and we liked it so much we returned there again on our last day. I was a mess and spilled my burrito all over my dress, but luckily it was black!

 

Afterwards we went to 2 pubs located in the “Rocks,” a historic part of Sydney located close to the Sydney Bridge.  There was a super drunk man who looked like Santa Claus at the second one and he would shout “Anchorman”-esque comments to people walking by.  My favorite was “Ahh a bevy of beauties!” to a group of girls who looked like they were about 15.

And then home for the night to rest up for a busy day of culture on Tuesday.

Trip in Review: Sydney Pt. 3: Koala Yummies

Sunday in Sydney we started our day super early, because we had a special breakfast to attend. We had to be up and out of the hotel by 6:30 AM to make a train, but unfortunately we JUST missed it (like Sliding Doors missed it.) Since we were worried we’d be late, we opted to hop in a cab.

Our breakfast was at the Wildlife Sydney Zoo, located in Darling Harbour. There are 2 zoos in Sydney, and this is the smaller one. After looking at reviews, we opted to go to this one for several reasons:

1. The larger zoo is more of an all day affair, and we didn’t want to dedicate the time.
2. Tne larger one requires a ferry ride to get to.
3. The larger one does not offer breakfast….with KOALAS!

So yes, our special breakfast was with these furry friends, but before that, we got to tour around the zoo in a small group, which was also great! Later in the week we went to the aquarium during Gen. Pop. Hours and experiencing the crowds made us appreciate being in the zoo before the masses even more.

Koala montage!

It’s B.

Along with the koalas, we also saw a crocodile, kangaroos, wombats, Tasmanian devils, “the most dangerous bird in the world,” and other assorted weird Aussie animals.

 

The breakfast was buffet style and they had vegemite, so I gave it a try. I will not be making any vegemite sandwiches anytime soon!

 

After the koalas, we took the ferry out to Manly Beach for a few hours. It was very crowded, but we still managed to go for a walk along the beach, and pop into a brewery for lunch!

 

Fish and Chips, and Sunday roast- loved the British influence on the pub food.

A combination of being up early, being out in the sun, and drinking beer at lunch made us sleepy, so we returned back to the hotel for a nap. Later on, we headed out for a cocktail at a local 1960s themed lounge, and then sushi at a neighborhood joint which was also BYOB. (Something a lot of restaurants do in Sydney.)

The people who were sitting next to us in the cramped restaurant were oldies who had been going to this particular restaurant for 15 years, and while John was at the corner store getting a bottle of wine, they tried to convince me to get the terikyaki shrimp combo platter. Alas, I did not heed their advice. (And was glad I didn’t! The sushi was great, and actually a pretty decent value.)

From dinner we went over to the Surry Hills neighborhood for a night cap, and then eventually a late night snack at an Indian restaurant- bread filled with potatoes and cheese: yum!

Next up: Invasion at Scenic World and hiking the Blue Mountains

Trip in Review: Sydney Pt. 2: You like chili?

As I said in my last post, Day 2 in Sydney was super busy! So busy that I stayed in my workout clothes all day. Not my proudest moment.

First we got up and ate breakfast on our terrace, then walked over to the Harbour.

 

Then we walked across the Sydney Harbour Bridge to Kirribilli (hence the work out clothes) for coffee and a snack.

 

Afterwards we got a lovely massage at the Four Seasons, compliments of John’s Aunt and Uncle. We also stayed a little bit afterwards and enjoyed the sauna, steam room, and other perks of the locker room.

 

Feeling hungry, we made our way over to the suburb of Marrickville to check out “Marrickville Pork Roll.” I came across this humble food stand on multiple food blogs, and we were not disappointed! Had it been located closer to the city center, we probably would’ve returned again (and then again, and again).

 

We were stoop kids and just ate our sandwiches on the steps of a bank.

Lucky for us, we were in the vicinity of a local brewery, Batch Brewing, so after eating our sandwiches we walked on over.   We ended up each having a “crate” and making the acquaintance of a local Aussie who was very chatty…and kinda weird.

 

While we were there, I casually scrolled my phone and saw that there was a cricket game that evening at Olympic Park. Neither of us have any clue how to play/follow the rules of cricket, but it seemed like a fun thing to check out.

 

This is my “excited” face

We didn’t stay for the entire game, but enough to get a feel for the sport. Something about hitting a ball with a paddle and running around a stick. Good enough for me!

 

This is probably the most horrific attempt at a selfie ever. You can see why the people behind us took pity.

After that, we headed back into town and checked out a cool spot- Frankie’s Pizza.

And then onto the “Keg & Brew” where John made friends with the bartender.

And then home, with a quick pitstop for a midnight snack, and a taste of “home”.

Next up, breakfast with koalas!

Trip in Review: Sydney Pt 1-Headin’ Down Under

As I mentioned in my last post, John and I said goodbye to 2014 with a bang by traveling to Sydney, Australia. While not ideal, we left Doha late the night of December 24^th, spent about 6 hours in a Dubai Holiday Inn Express airport hotel, flew all day December 25^th, and landed around 7 AM in Sydney on December 26^th. It was a pretty exhausting trek and to top it off we had a 6 hour time difference, so the jet lag was pretty rough.

Our Holiday Inn- Dubai Airport was very old fashioned…

His and Hers

But, we got a surprise upgrade to Premium Economy on an A380 on our long leg flight. A Christmas miracle! I wasn’t expecting anything because we don’t have status on QANTAS, but it’s a OneWorld alliance member so our Qatar Airways status applied. It was my first time flying this airline, and I liked QANTAS a lot, I would recommend them- despite the long time, we had a very comfortable journey.  (Perhaps the guy sitting behind John got a little too comfortable…)

 

That’s a foot.

Once we landed, we took the train from the airport into Central Station, then switched lines for another train into Kings’ Cross station. Our hotel was located about a 5 minute walk away, and as expected at 8 AM, our room wasn’t ready so dropped our bags and had breakfast at a café down the street.

While I wouldn’t agree with our hotel’s rating as “4 stars,” it was fine for the 7 days we were there.  And I really didn’t book it to be in the lap of luxury, but more so for…

1. The location: it was close to a train station, and major buslines. We didn’t rent a car for the week as parking and paying for parking is horrendous. We also could walk to lots of different neighborhoods within roughly 20 minutes.
2. The kitchenette in the room: Aside from the first day, we made breakfast in our room each morning and then took it up to the shared rooftop terrace, which hardly ever had any other people on it!
3. The terrace: Had views of the Harbour bridge and the Opera House.

Being high season in Sydney, it wasn’t cheap, but it was a lot cheaper than pretty much all of the hotels you would find in the Central Business District or Harbour area. It’s amazing what you can get in different cities, depending on the currency exchange and time of year you visit. Sydney, unlike the previously visited Budapest and Cape Town, was unfortunately at the higher end of the cost spectrum, but we knew this going in so were prepared.

After breakfast we walked over to Oxford Street, and then to the main shopping district around George Street, to experience the absolute chaos of Boxing Day shopping. For those who are American, imagine Black Friday. There were long queues going into many of the stores, policemen directing mall traffic (as in, directing people on and off the escalators,) and all around insanity as people scrambled to get the latest deals and steals. John and I both lucked out and got some great buys too.

 

We then walked over to the “Harbour” in an attempt to catch the Boxing Day Yacht race, but since we were Sydney newbs, we didn’t realize that there are multiple “harbours,” and the yacht race was not being held at the Harbour with the bridge and famous Opera House. Not a big deal, since neither of us are yacht enthusiasts- it was simply something to do. We settled for lunch and people watching instead, and had our first “schooner” of beer of the trip.

 

After lunch, we took the train back, stopped and got some basic groceries and snacks, and then took a nap before appero hour on the roof.

 

For the evening, we decided to venture out to Newtown, a neighborhood South of downtown Sydney, and close to one of the major universities. We were feeling something light for dinner, so just stopped in one of the MANY Vietnamese restaurants for noodle soups. Seriously, there were soooo many Vietnamese restaurants in Sydney. Everywhere you looked there was a bahn mi stall.

Afterwards, we went to a lively bar and had a couple of drinks. A curious observation that I noticed during the trip was that most bars do not have barstools, nor do people mill around the bar area. You’re more so expected to get your drink, and order food there, and then return to a table.

From there we headed back to the train station, and then onwards to the hotel. One thing that was slightly annoying was that the trains do not run as frequently as they do in many other cities. Instead, you have these giant double decker trains that run in varying times ranging from 8 minutes to sometimes as long as 30 minutes in between the next one. We realized this a little too late, so the first 2 days we had some considerable lag in the train stations. One positive about the public transportation though is that even as a tourist you can use the “Opal” card-which is a scan card that you can preload for use on public transport. We used it on the bus, train, and ferry while we were there.

So that wraps up day 1- I was going to continue, but looking at my pictures, we did A LOT on day 2, so I’ll devote a new post to that. G’Bye for now, mate!