Life on the Spot! Life and Leisure in Doha, Qatar

It is Friday nevertheless we all got up early.  But rather than having an early breakfast we decided to have brunch instead.  A friend of mine who just came back from their holiday in the Philippines gave me “daing” and “tuyo” (dried fish) as “pasalubong” (gift from vacation) last Monday and since then I’ve been dying to eat it.  I got it all planned.  I kept telling my husband that we’ll have it for breakfast on the weekend.

So today, we had fried garlic rice, dried fish, fried eggs and Purefoods (a Philippine brand which I got from a Filipino store at the Souq) beef franks and coffee.  It was the best meal ever.  We were all satisfied.  The dried fish was so good especially when dipped in vinegar with garlic, black pepper and hot chillis.  But of course Xianelle didn’t eat the dried fish, she was even turned off by the smell of it at first.  Well, she has always been sensitive when it comes to odors even when she was a small girl though we always tell her that she should be more tolerant of different kinds of smell because some food can be pretty smelly but it doesn’t mean they taste bad as well. 

Sometimes the best things in life need not always be extravagant and luxurious.  Even simple things, like a feast over dried fish or sardines, can make your day as long as it is spent with loved ones especially family.

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We had to send the car to the service center last Wednesday for a maintenance check.  Naturally, we had to rely on other people for transportation.  Thank God, a friend who does transport was able to squeeze me into her schedule in the morning.  She didn’t want to accept payment so I just treated her to brunch.  In the afternoon, we were lucky enough to get a transport.

We wanted to rent a car but changed our mind since we thought the car would be ready yesterday.  But it turned out that it’s going to take a bit longer so we had to make a booking with Karwa.  I called at around 4pm, Wednesday.  I was hoping to get a 6:10 am booking, which gives us enough time to drop Tian off to work and then to school.  Unfortunately, the 6-7am time slot was fully-booked.  The guy from the Karwa call center suggested that I get the 5:45 booking and call them again at 5am to change it to a much later time.  However, having past experiences with Karwa always being late, I decided not to change the time of my booking anymore.  Surprisingly though, the driver started calling at 5:20 and came at 5:40.  We were hoping that the taxi would be late.  But what to do, we needed a ride to school.  Since it was too early, Tian wasn’t ready yet and decided to stay behind and just leave much later.  It was so early and no traffic yet.  Obviously, we arrived in school really early at 6:00 am which was quite annoying.  Xiane and I had to wait outside the school gates. Thank goodness time flies fast, before we know it, a co-parent and friend who was kind enough to let us stay in her car came.  We stayed there till it was time to go inside the campus.  In the afternoon, a good friend helped me out in fetching Xiane from school.

It’s really difficult when you don’t have a car.  It’s so much harder to move and do things.  Everything depends on the availability of public transport.  I wish that we have a better means and more accessible means of public transportation that is available at all times especially when the need arises.  But thank God for friends who are there to give a helping hand.  I’m glad that we got through the last 2 days without our car.  I hope tomorrow the car will be ready for another week is yet to come.

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A friend of mine, together with her children, just left Qatar for good.  It’s always sad when someone leaves and even sadder when you know that it might take forever before you see each other again.  But I am thankful for the friendship and being a part of her life, especially when it mattered the most.  I will forever be grateful that she welcomed me into her life with open arms.  But most of all I am thankful for a number of good friends that she has brought into my life. God bless you friend and I wish you and your children a good and happy life.

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Everything is set for our Palawan trip!

As always, I plan way ahead.  This time, we’re going to Palawan. I’ve saved enough personal money this year so I’ve decided to take my parents and siblings to the beaches of Palawan. We were supposed to go to Boracay but I decided against it as there was nothing much to do in there aside from hanging out in the beach. In Palawan, you have a lot of activities and tours that’ll fill at least 3 days.  In our case, we’re planning to stay for 4 nights and 5 days to enjoy and take in everything, spending 2 days on the beach and the other days touring around Palawan.

I already contacted Kawayanan Resort to book 2 family cottages for our June/July stay. My dad was able to pay the deposit thru the bank and got confirmation of our stay  and the van which would pick us up when we arrive in Puerto Princesa.  I was also supposed to get the tours arranged by them but then looking at some blogs, it is better to just rent a van instead of joining a tour. You pay a flat rate for renting a van (depending if your group can fit in the van) instead of paying per head on a tour i.e. Php1000 for 3 hours rent vs. 800 per head (9x800). However, for the Subterranean River trip , it might be better to get the tour. By the way, the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park and the Tubbataha Reef are nominees  for the New 7 Wonders of Nature so try to vote both of them.

I also completed booking a flight for all of us (7 adults and 2 kids) from Manila to Puerto Princesa thru Cebu Pacific Airways.  I paid around Php32500 (QR3000) for all our tickets.  It’s actually surprising to see that the published rates for local flights in the Philippines are cheap. However, once you get to the payment page, you’ll eventually end up paying 6X the amount of the published rates. (More on this on another entry)

Our annual vacation a month away and we’re all sure excited about it.

Resources:

Kawayanan Resort
Abaa Rd., San Pedro, Puerto Princesa City
Palawan, Philippines

http://www.palawan-resort.net
Email: kawayananresort@yahoo.com
Telephone Number: (63) (48) 434-7078
(63) (48) 434-7088
Cellphone Number: (63) (918) 693-6960

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