Doha Qatar

Hello Once Again,
Just spent seven excellent days with my brother Sven in Doha, Qatar.  He works as a medical engineer at the Sports Hospital located near Qatar's national soccer stadium.  Seventy five percent of the population in Doha are foreigners brought in to educate, engineer, build, and serve the remaining 25 percent who  actually are from Qatar.   This makes Doha,  the only settlement of note in this tiny peninsula of a country, (check Qatar out on a map, it is a little sand spit that sticks out of Saudi Arabia) quite cosmopolitan.  Doha has one of the most interesting skylines that I have ever seen.  It reminds me of Dr. Suess, kind of weird, but fun.  There must be a law here that states high rises are not allowed to be rectangular boxes.

 Doha also  kind feels like Calgary in that it is  basically a construction zone, and like Calgary they are desperately trying to bring culture into it.  So there are these markets and heritage villages that have been built to reflect the old culture that was once here.  The original stuff got swept away because of the oil boom.  Yet a remake somehow doesn't cut it like the real thing, which I have been experiencing in Hong Kong.  Still it is interesting and I find the traditional arab dress that so many men, women, and children wear here for real, fasinating. The religion in Qatar is Islam and mosques are everywhere.  Friday is the Islamic day of worship, so everyone gets that off, plus Saturday.  Sunday is the Islamic world's Monday.  Weird.  Yet, the unrest that is happening in the Muslin World does not seem to be an issue here.  The Qatari people live really well and when you see Lamborginis, and Ferraris roaring down the roads, it is obvious that the rulers are keeping everyone happy with lots of money.  Who needs freely elected leaders when the Emir (king) treats you so well by providing great education and a guaranteed income.

Any ways my trip started off with a bang.  Sven and I managed to get some tickets for the Asia Cup Soccer final between Japan and Australia.  Yeah I know Australia is not part of Asia, its part of Australia, learned that in grade 3, but ok they got invited.  The game itself was excellent, lots of chances, great passing, super.  Japan won it in overtime.  Unlike hockey soccer overtime is not sudden death, so Japan had to hang in for another ten minutes after they scored and Australia threw everything at them but just could not score.  Afterwards the Heir Apparent Emir So and So in traditional arab dress awarded the trophy to the Japanese and then there was a wild and crazy fireworks display over top of our heads.  So the standard was set for my trip.      
We also went to a mall that had canals modelled after Venice, with Gondolas even.  Only they were motorized so the guy at the back with the big stick just had to fake it.  This mall also has opulant archways like St Peter's in Rome plus a regulation rink for the Canadians who are here.  Reminded me of West Ed, but I think it was a little better here.  Finally we were right beside the Aspire Tower.  Built for the Asian Games a few years ago it is now a hotel.  Check out the picture.  The thing sticking about mid way out of the tower is a swimming pool.  I told you the designers here must have read a lot of Dr. Suess as kids.
By the way Doha will host the 2022 World cup of soccer.  They will build all these mobile stadiums for the event and when it is done they will donate them to poorer countries.  It is supposed to be in the summer when it is about 50 degrees above and since alcohol is a no no here the Germans in particular will not be happy.  Yet they plan to have airconditioning in the stadiums and have alcohol, (in reality drunk zones) around the city.  So the Germans will have designated areas to get drunk in.  Probably on some God forsaken sand dune well outside of Doha.
The World cup should be in January.  Here is my usual rub it in time.  The game on Saturday was played in plus 25 weather.  Perfect for soccer.

The second day here I was suffering from jet lag so slept quite a bit, but Sven and I went and viewed downtown Doah at night and checked out another mall with a rink.  Wow.  Hockey rules the world. So nothing great, but fun to be with Sven and as he filled his vehicle at 25 cents a litre and told me his income is totally tax free I could not help but feel some pangs of jealousy.

On Day Three I went to a renovated market called Souq Wakif.  Excellent.  Think the first Indiana Jones movie and the chase scenes throughout Cario or Allidan and you have an idea what it is like.  Bought myself an Arab head dress and slippers.  Sven had a good laugh when he came home from work and found me wearing it nonchalantly on his coach.  We went out for dinner at Souq Wakif at one of the numerous restaurants and sat OUTSIDE on Jan 31 with several others on a pleasant plus 24 evening.  Many around us were puffing on Shisha (a water pipe with flavoured tobacco) which along with the exotic smell of spices floating in the breeze made the air around us smell rather tasty.

Day Four was rather hazy.  I took a jog/walk along the Corniche a path along the bay of Doha.  Highlight of this little excursion was watching a camel patrol go through its paces.  Kinda reminded me of the mounties during their horse riding exhibit at the Stampede.  Later I went with Sven to the Souq Wakif where we ate Malyasian food outside on a pleasant plus 24 evening. There are these stores at the market where you can buy falcons.  Falconry is a big sport here.  The falcons for sale are kept blindfolded on little sticks in a giant sandbox.  Interesting.  We then headed to catch a movie called The King's Speech.  Very English, very good.

Day Five had some excitement.  Sven and I headed out of Doha to go to a beach resort.  The landscape out of Doha was flat, barren, moon like.  Ugly.  I had Sven stop so I could take pictures of this desolate place and the massive oil refineries that stretched for kilometers along the road.  (Just a little side light, until the discovery of oil Qatar was known for its pearls, fishing, and Arab nomads.  Oil and the billions it has brought in has changed everything.)  Anyways after I took a few pictures Sven and I stopped at a place where they were renting ATVs.  A police man came up to us and demanded that I give him my camera.  What?!!  Apparently I was not supposed to take pictures of the refineries and desolate moonscape.  So I managed to convince the policeman I was just a friendly tourist and deleted the offending pictures in front of him and got to keep my camera.  How incredibly East German of that guy!  Are you trying to tell me that if I googled this God forsaken country that there won't be satellite pictures of the refineries and this landscape from the moon?  Come on.  Any ways Sven and I had a little chuckle about this as we rented some ATV's and bombed around the sand dunes for half and hour taking pictures with Sven's I phone of the moonscape and the refineries in the background.  The CIA and the mounties will be getting full reports and pictures when we have nothing better to do with our lives.
After that we headed to the Sealine resort and rested from our ordeal under the palm trees.  I went for a swim on Feb 2 in the Arabian ocean and took pictures of a highly agitated camel, who was at the beach to give tourists rides for a cost of course.  I guess the camel was not happy with me hanging around, but I was entertained as he bellowed and made himself look very cross.  Note picture and salvia in camel's mouth.  His head was also covered with bugs and he stunk bad.  And you want me to pay money to ride a monster like that?  Don't think so.
After hanging at the beach for a while, which was pretty well empty we headed back to Doha.  I took several more pictures of the landscape and the refineries as we drove by always wary of the Gestapo lurking @ somewhere.  Thankfully nothing happened although Sven was relieved when I finally shut the camera down.
When we got to Doha we went to the Islamic Art Museum.  Very impressive building, very impressive artifacts, very impressive price: free.  After that we ate at the Souq Wakif again, this time we savoured Iraqi food.  Not bad.  So that ended an interesting day.

Day six was spent checking out where Sven works.  Like I mentioned before he is a medical engineer at a hospital located near the stadium where we saw Australia lose to Japan.  The hospital specializes in helping athletes rehab from injury and because the facilities and staff are so good there are patients from all over the world.  The doctors and workers at the hospital come from all over the world.  It was like a mini united nations.  Very interesting.  There was a former NBA player there too.  Barry White used to play for the Washington Bullets back in the day. 70's.  Was a good visit.  We ate well at the hospital lunch room.  They had a deluxe buffet set up and offered steak. Was great.  I also toured the area around the hospital.  Lots of soccer fields and other facilities for swimming and gymnastics.  A bike trail had speakers that blared out the sound of chirping birds.  Weird.  Later Sven and I headed to the Souk for a salad.  Without Sven and the Souq Wakif Doha would be pretty boring.

Day seven started early with a work out at the running trail behind Sven's hospital.  There were three types of trails to choose from.  Cement, rubber, and cedar wood chips.  Very interesting.  Running on wood chips is easy on the knees.  There was also a trail of sand on which you could run on.  The whole area is a workout paradise.
In the afternoon we went to a cultural center with a giant outdoor ampitheatre that faces out to the ocean.  Excellent.  We then ate Lebenese at our favouite Souq and thus ended an excellent little vacation.  Enjoy the pictures.  Next week I am heading to Ocean Park, a giant aquarium in Hong Kong.

Adios,

Dirk

Concrete Jungle

Hello Once Again,
Until I did some research and then saw it for myself I thought Hong Kong was nothing but a concrete jungle.  The fact is that only 30% of Hong Kong's land area has buildings on it.  The rest is jungle, hills, and beaches.  Yet to cram 7 million people into a small space is quite a feat.  There are thousands of super high and super expensive apartment buildings here.  Apartment towers are everywhere, in the middle of shopping complexes, in business areas, you name it.  Due to the incredible demand for housing, prices in Hong Kong  are out of this world.  My tiny 703 sq feet abode is worth 650 000 Canadian.  Yet I can walk a block and get a meal for four bucks Canadian.  Amazing.
Any ways I spent an afternoon wandering around downtown Kowloon, the city across the bay from the much more famous Hong Kong, and took some pictures of the architecture.  I hope you get an idea of how congested this place is and that it is also full of really unique buildings.
Kowloon also has some pretty cool museums and today, due to the cloudy weather, I ventured into the Hong Kong Art Gallery,(located in Kowloon, though) which would make my parents proud.  I was expecting to pay top dollar to get in there, but was pleasently surprised when they only demanded ten dollars to get in.  Ten Hong Kong dollars mind you, which is about a dollar fifty Canadian.  Sadly I was not allowed to take pictures but they had some statues from the Louvre in Paris like the famous Aphrodite, the semi nude girl. I am sure they were fakes because we were allowed to touch them after a thorough hand washing.  Still was cool.  I did not touch Aphrodite, just to let you know, that would have been a little weird.
They also had these ancient Chinese paintings.  That was different because they were painted on long scrolls so you had a wide sweeping view of a landscape.  Interesting.  So that was my culture for today.
Next week I am in Doha Qatar to see brother Sven so I am going to take a little break, but will have a special Qatar blog in two weeks.

Adios,
Tell then,

Dirk  

Flower/Bird/Ladies Market

Hello Everyone,
I am hearing that Alberta is experiencing a bit of snow and cold these days.  If it makes you feel any better it was kind of cold here too.  Plus 10 and a little windy.  Unlike yesterday I had to wear some pants. Oh no.  This weekend I just took a little excursion to the flower/bird/ladies market.  There is also a fish market nearby,  but I decided to forgo it. These markets are a couple of blocks each and are all very interesting.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Chinese New Year is on its way.  From what I hear it is a big deal and there are decorations everywhere.  The set up in my complex has a drum, which I am sure every kid in the Sky Tower has hit at least three times each.  Great thing about Chinese New Years is that I get a week off.  Pretty sweet.

I won't be here though for Chinese New Years.  I'll be spending some time with my brother Sven in Doha, Qatar.  He works at a hospital there so it will be fun and interesting to see him and the sites.  Stay tuned for that blog.

Anyways I was told that around the four or fifth month of being here that you would feel some pangs of homesickness.  I have to admit that I am feeling it and I'm glad I'll be seeing family in my brother and Eli in April and Elsie from May to August.  That will help a great deal.

Thanks for your emails and the Skype times.  They have become gold to me.  I really appreciate it.  God bless you all.

Adios,

Dirk

Escalator and Zoo

Hello Everyone,
Hong Kong is great.  Yesterday I took a nice fifteen minute ferry ride from Kowloon to Hong Kong in sunny plus 16 weather.  Once I got there I headed by subway to the world's longest outdoor escalator, 792 meters long or 2598 feet.  It was great.  There were some nice restaurants along the way and an interesting sight.  A tree growing out of a wall.  Check picture.  At the top I walked for about fifteen minutes to the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Park.  It was free, it was small, it was great.  Interesting birds, plants, and lemurs.
Then it was back on the ferry and home.  Later I spent time with a group from church sampling different Chinese foods.  Wunderbar.
Earlier this week I got measured for a suit in a weird little place in Kowloon.  But it comes highly recommended and so I should have a new suit for $150 Canadian by next week.
Finally my school rented a music hall at the International Christian Quality Music Academy and I listened to a lovely band concert put on by the students of CAIS.  The theme music for Mission Impossible and Get Smart was great.
I also helped a teacher celebrate his 30th birthday.  Unreal.  He is so young!  I felt old, real old.  Still overall things are good.  At the end of the month I have another holiday, Chinese New Years, and I plan to jet off to somewhere exciting.  More on that later.
God is good all the time.  Thanks for staying in contact with me.  Your emails and skypes are like gold to me.

Adios and all the best,

Dirk

Cebu, Philippines

Dear Family and Friends,
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
I decided to go by myself to a little resort called Cebu White Sands at Maribago Bay, located on Mactan Island in the Philippines.  So much has happened over the last year that I was feeling really overwhelmed and I needed a retreat to sleep, read, pray, meditate, and let God speak to me.  The resort itself was quaint, about five hecters in a lovely park like setting, with two outdoor pools and a small beach area.  There was great snorkelling if you walked aways in the water. More about that later.  I had not watched tv since I got to Hong Kong so the television in my room was like a novelty.  All the channels were in English and there were plenty of sport channels so I enjoyed watching that.  My room emptied out into a lovely courtyard that had antique furniture around a pond filled with Koi.  It was awesome just to sit on a rocking chair and read.  I found the filipinos quite nice.  They all spoke great English, it was an American colony so american english is wide spread, would always greet me with a smile and a hello and there were many times they would put their right hand over their heart while saying hello.  I thought that was nice.  I ate well and since the weather was always @ plus 30 I ate outside on the hotel's restaurant's veranda.
I explored my surroundings a bit and went through a bout of guilt as a result.  The resort was surrounded by favelas, intersperced with nice hotels and houses.  Still seeing all that poverty amongst all that wealth was sobering.  Kids should not have to beg.
I thought the jeepneys were so interesting.  Little covered trucks with benches in the back.  I rode in one and it was pretty tight, but for 7 pesos, or five cents Canadian it was a deal.  I also rode on the back of a motorbike and overpaid the guy 50 pesos about a $1.10 Canadian.  Crazy the disparity between us rich Westerners and the poor of the Third World.
One day I went on an island hopping tour.  At one island there was a marine sanctuary and I snorkelled with giant angel fish and dozens of other varieties feeding them bits of bread.  It was amazing.  Then it was off to another island.  While on route I saw a herring ball.  Crazy how the herring whirl  around forcing those on the top out of the water.  That was amazing.  After a decent barbecue meal on another island we headed back to the resort over wild water that made the trip feel like a roller coaster.  It was great fun but the Koreans that I was with turned green.
I took a tour of Matcan island and Cebu island as well.  The sites: a fort, a couple of churches, a monument were good, but I found the traffic and the way the filipinos lived much more interesting.  Chaotic is a good way to describe it.  Everytime we came to a red light there were beggers.  One was a blind man playing a little guitar.  He was guided by what looked like his mother.  It was so sad.  Another was a little boy holding a little girl begging away, looking real sad.  That was tough.  I eventually went into a favela and prayed for a rundown day care center and gave a financial donation to appease my guilt some what.  A worker at the hotel said that without the tourists things would be much worse.
Anyways the biggest highlight for me besides the rest and a chance to pray and think barefoot on a lawn,  was the snorkelling.  Wow.  Every time I went I saw fish I had never seen before.  I swam over thousands of these grey fish that when they tilted a bit the sun would reflect off them and they would turn silver.  There were yellow and orange angel fish, purple snub nose ones, these long stick fish and see through fish that swam nose pointing down.  Huh?  The fish and coral were every hue and color under the sun.  I saw Nemo and his dad a lot. Some of the fish were so bizarre and funny looking I had to laugh.  God has a sense of humour.   It was truly amazing and I have a new favorite sport:  Snorkelling.
It was at times tough being alone.  Yet calls and emails from home helped.  Still it was weird being alone at Christmas.  On Christmas eve there was a wonderful buffet with a variety of seafood and turkey with all the trimmings.  I stuffed myself good.  They had a filipino dance troupe.  One dance had them hopping up and over bamboo sticks that were being pressed back and forth by people on the ground.  You make a false move and your foot would be crushed.  No one got hurt.  The funniest dance was the coconut dance.  Three guys had coconuts draped over their back, front, hips and thighs.  They also had a little stick in their hand.  They beat the coconuts with their little stick while dancing.  Pretty goofy looking but they had rhythm and it was pretty fun to watch.
Then a filipino band came on and played Christmas chorals including "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas."  Had to laugh at that one as I sat in my shorts in plus 25.  Most filipinos have never seen snow at all.
The next day I went to Christmas mass at a church in the slums.  It was packed and some of the kids there were awestruck by the huge white man in their midst.  It was a good service.  The filipinos love Christmas and they make lanterns out of plastic bottles and other materials.  It is impressive.  And the manager scene called a Belen are everywhere.  The newspapers were full of stories about Christmas and the emphasis was all about the birth of Jesus.  That was great.
Anyways, all in all it was a wonderful trip.  I am glad I did it and I am looking forward to exploring more of this region and beyond in the upcoming months.
God bless you.   Till next time.

Adios,

Dirk

Badminton

Hello Again,
Summer in November is over.  It has gotten cooler here in Hong Kong.  Now it feels like September back home.  A little cool in the morning, than warms up to @ 20-24 then cools down again.  Many people are wearing parkas and are in layers while I continue in shorts.  They don't call me crazy, but something much more proactive, namely: strong.  I like that.  I am thinly clad so I must be strong.  Yes we Canadians are strong or maybe years of living in frigid temperatures has numbed our brains.  I do not, I repeat I do not miss the icy roads, and how hard winter was on the cars.  I do miss cross country skiing through forests of pine though.  There is a real pine tree in the lobby here at Sky Tower.  It smells great and reminds me of home.  Oh well I'll have to make do with the smell of jungle.  Its not bad either.
This week my highlight was going to a world class badminton tournament in Hong Kong.  There were Olympic champions at this tournament and they put on a good show.  It was fun being with some guys from school, and considering it was overcast and dreary outside, being inside watching some amazing badminton was pretty good.
Four more days with the kids, then a PD day and then a two week break.  Looking forward to it.  It has been an intense four months to say the least.  I'll be heading to Cebu Philippines and I'll blog from there.

Till then Merry Christmas,

Dirk

Biking Hong Kong Style

Hello Everyone,
Once upon a time just a few decades ago, the major mode of transportation for the average Chinese citizen was the bicycle.  I think we have all seen the pictures, probably from National Geographic, of seemingly millions of Chinese riding on those commie, black standard issue bicycles to work on a collective farm or to attend the latest Communist rally.  Just kidding, I think.  Hong Kong, for a good chunk of its history, was a British colony until 1996 when it was turned over to China and became officially known as Hong Kong S.A.R (Special Administrative Region).  Which means as long as Hong Kong is generating money for the "communist" government they'll be given special status.  So the communist government encourages capitalism and has declared that wealth is glorious.  Wait I thought communism was all about government control and sharing the wealth? Ok, I am digressing a bit here.  Needless to say Hong Kong has a lot of wealth, and needless to say there are a zillion cars here with the steering wheels on the wrong side and they drive on the left side of the road not the right…way.  While Kowloon and Hong Kong are too congested with buildings, people and cars for biking to be feasible there are surprisingly good bike trails in the relatively new "subdivisions" if you can call a subdivision of 600.000 people a subdivision, of Sha Tin and Tai Po.  Biking on these trails is interesting to say the least.  The people and bikes you see reflect Hong Kong society.  There are super high end bikes with super high end looking athletes down to old, must have come over from the mainland with their bikes built when Mao was in charge, wearing instead of helmets, straw hats, probably borrowed from someone working in a rice paddy, bikers to everything in between.   Most Chinese don't bike very well and many don't seem to understand the concept of staying in the LEFT lane, like the car traffic, which is clearly marked by the way, in Chinese and English for those not proficient in Cantonese, such as me.  Many wobble back and forth as they try to maintain balance, rolling all over the place and into areas that they should not like the left lane that I am obediently riding in.  Coming up behind or in front of wobblers is never a happy time as you try to anticipate which way they are going to wobble to.  Nevertheless, at least they are out there participating in one of the greatest physical activities ever invented.  There are also some narly mountain bike trails, but I have to admit, they are so difficult, like a double black diamond run on a ski hill, they sap the joy out of biking.  Hong Kong won a gold medal at the Asia games in mountain biking recently.  Easy to understand considering the trails around here.  So enjoy the pictures of my bike trip and I will check in next week.  Oh by the way I was biking in my shirts and a thin soccer jersey.  What is the date again?  December 4.  It is however supposed to get colder soon.  Down to plus 17.  Oh no, please fed ex extra large long underwear and a parka. And hurry! Sorry, the weather is so good no one talks about the weather.  How do you know the weather is always good in an area?  No one talks about it.  It is really a non issue.  And then there is Canada…  Great place, great people always talking about the weather.  There, did I save myself from you feeling pangs of animosity towards me?
Ok enough of that.  God bless you all.

Adios,

Dirk