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

We have had the privilege of watching this very good Indian film “Singh Is King” courtesy of our good friends, Dennis and Chui Peng. They told us that they saw this good movie on one of the screens in Carrefour and they really got into it that they stood there watching it for 30 minutes. They said that they got hold of its DVD and invited us over to their villa to watch it. We were supposed to watch it in their villa but then since they were already leaving, they asked Kharamaa for their deposit not knowing that right then and there, they’d cut off their services. So we ended up watching Singh is King here one Thursday afternoon for the screening of the said movie.

The movie was hilariously good, fun, witty and most of all well-thought of.  I have never imagined an Indian movie to be that good.  Yeah, there were the typical “Bollywood” sing and dance parts of the film which were quite a few but this only makes you realize how much time, effort and resources they had to put into the making of the film.  I’ve now new respect for Indian films, compared to a lot of Filipino movies that are truly technically rubbish and slim on story. Akshay Kumar (Singh) was good and we kept saying how beautiful Katrina Kaif, his leading lady, is. The music was additive to say the least.

All of us had a blast laughing at a lot of scenes.  It was like a date at the cinema with all the snacks that they were bringing and which we kept passing around. But most of all, we all had fun because it was nice to have spent more time with the Quek family before they leave Qatar for good.

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It’s been more than 2 weeks since I first called Qtel to have them add Mosaic TV+ as a service to my current package. Without getting any calls after being promised that they’d call me in 3 days, a reader of the blog has asked his husband to lend me a hand. So with him doing some internal calls, he succeeded in having someone come up to the house on Thursday morning, more than a week ago.

The installers were actually not from Qtel but from a contracted company that installs the set-top box (minimal footprint) and the wireless router, which is quite long. The brand of the router is Vood and the model itself is 453w (More Technical information here). It took them more than 30 minutes to get everything going as at first, there was no signal for the TV service. They were telling me that probably only 50% of those who asks for Mosaic TV+ at the Old Airport do get TV signal. Luckily, after some calls to their base, the router was showing that a signal was being received. I asked them if I could have access to my router settings but was told that they couldn’t give me access as even they don’t know the password to the router settings nor could they even give me WEP security because of this. I did try checking our stuff if they were connecting to the LAN and the Wi-Fi properly and I was able to connect to Xbox Live for my 360, Internet on the Wii, Nintendo DS Online, and Mavis’ laptop. I wasn’t able to check the Archos 605 but I’m sure it wouldn’t have any problems connecting. The most I’ve had difficulty with connecting to any Wi-Fi service was the DS so having been able to connect right away using the Wi-fi installed was a relief. Checking my Torrent port connection, I saw that it was giving me a red icon, meaning that I’m not getting connections from outside as the port was blocked. After some calls to Qtel Service (111) and asking them to open some ports, I was still getting the red icon. Luckily, I was able to find an open port and directed my torrent to that so I’m getting a green icon now.

So that’s it! We have Mosaic TV+ at last! Thanks to Mr. C and his wife! I’ll give you more reviews about the service soon.

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It’s almost here! The Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha is just days away! It starts November 3 and ends on November 9. Have you bought your tickets yet? We saw tickets being sold at Villagio two weeks ago but decided not to buy tickets. Why? Again, as I’ve said before, Maria Sharapova isn’t coming. And if we do decide to watch, I’m sure they’ll be giving away free tickets when you go there. You won’t get the best seats in the house i.e. the lower section, but if you’re just in it for really watching it, the lower box might not have the best seats for watching. That’s just my personal opinion. But if you’re raring to get some photos up close, then those would be the best seats.

Tickets are sold for 10 (upper section), 20 (middle section) and 50 (lower section). Seasonal tickets would cost you 350QR. Still cheap by standards; as other tournaments would have you pay thrice that per day. If you’re really interested, you better get your seasonal tickets instead of hassling around the stadium for tickets once it starts.

By the way, if you want to take a visit to photos of this years' Qatar Total Open (WTA Event) held in Doha last February. Go to the LifeontheSpot Gallery!

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I’ve wasted more than 45 minutes on the phone yesterday, dialing back and forth between 111 and 115 and pushing a combination of numbers along the way i.e. 111, press 2 for English > 4 for landline services > 3 Additional Services. Imagine doing this for 6 times just to apply for Qtel’s Mosaic TV+ and eventually not getting anywhere with the application and installation itself.Remember when I blogged about calling QTEL in the morning of yesterday to ask about the availability of Mosaic TV+ in Old Airport Area and getting told that it was already available? I was told I just need to call from home so I can apply and all would be set up within a maximum of 10 days. This is...

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I’ve been calling Qtel ever since they promoted their Mosaic Package in 2006. Apprently, only selected areas in Doha has access to Mosaic and the Old Airport Area is not one of the areas. vThis 'Triple Play' service brings together high quality voice services, Digital Broadcast TV delivered using Internet Protocol technologies and Broadband Internet access with WiFi all over one ADSL line. The Mosaic TV+ from Qtel offers you a set of TV Channels, 512kb Internet (wireless router included), and a landline connection for 250QR. If one gets a 512kb Internet connection, one has to pay 200QR monthly along with 33QR for your landline connection monthly charge. So for 250QR, having both plus the extra TV channels is a steal. You’re only paying extra...

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