Ottawa International Children's Festival

Pagi Ahad yang redup dan sejuk. Memang enak jika tidur. Cuma teringat semalam dalam perjalanan pulang dari Suruhanjaya Tinggi Malaysia, Maryam dan Aiman telah melihat khemah-khemah besar International Children's Festival di hadapan War Museum dan bersungguh-sungguh hendak ke situ. Maka lebih kurang pukul 8:30 pagi kesemua selesai bersarapan roti bakar dengan toaster yang baru dibeli dari Canadian Tire pada harga $9.99. Perlu keluar awal jika tak mahu berdepan masalah parking. Alhamdulillah, pada pukul 9:30 pagi, kami kesemua telah ke sana dan dapat parking betul-betul berhadapan dengan pintu masuk Festival di hadapan War Museum. Parking pada hari Ahad percuma.

 Aiman dan Maryam di hadapan pintu masuk Festival.

Pengunjung masih belum datang. Pertama sekali kami ke khemah Susu Lembu. Maryam dan Aiman bepeluang memerah susu dari lembu patung yang ada di situ. Keluar air!

Kemudian Maryam bermain Dynamic Maze. Perlu tolak bola besar melalui maze yang terdiri dari bebola besar dan tiang-tiang seperti lalang yang tinggi. Aiman masih belum mahu bermain apa-apa.

 Selepas itu, Maryam ke khemah face-painting. Sambil beratur menunggu khemah dibuka, ada dua penghibur jalanan yang berpakaian seperti ahli sihir menegur Maryam. Salah seorang dari mereka menulis nama Maryam pada penanda buku dan diberi kepada Maryam.

Untuk face painting, perlu bayar $5. Inilah hasilnya.

Selesai face-painting, masuk ke khemah pertunjukan untuk melihat pertunjukan pentas oleh kumpulan The Silly People. Bermula dengan juggle, kemudian yoyo dan Chinese yoyo. Akhir sekali seorang kanak-kanak penonton dijemput ke depan dan ikut serta dalam pertunjukan dengan diberi pakai pelbagai bentuk belon yang dibuat secara spontan oleh kedua-dua pelawak The Silly People.

Selesai pertunjukkan The Silly People, hujan turun renyai-renyai. Maryam dan Aiman menuju pula ke khemah Mark Your Paint untuk melukis. Hasil lukisan ditampal pada dinding tiruan yang ada di situ untuk dipamerkan.

Bila sudah agak lapar, kami menuju ke deretan trailer gerai makanan. French fries jadi pilihan. Fresh. Dibuat dari kentang segar. Memang rasa betul kentangnya. Garam dan sos perlu diletakkan sendiri.

Selesai makan, Maryam dan Aiman pergi ke khemah peralatan muzik dan mencuba pelbagai jenis peralatan muzik yang ada: trompet, gitar, congo dan piano elektrik.

Lebih kurang pukul 12:30 tengahari, kami bergerak meninggalkan kawasan Festival. Deretan kereta memenuhi tempat parking sepanjang Ottawa River Parkway sehingga ke Wellington Street.

Malaysia Street Food Bazaar

Our first time to attend Malaysia Street Food Bazaar! Although we have been here since 2006, we didn't have the chance to visit this event because during this time of the year we are already in Malaysia for summer holidays. And of course there is food bazaar everyday, everywhere in Malaysia!

If not mistaken, this is the third time the event is organized by the High Commission of Malaysia in Ottawa. Thanks to our diplomats who work hard to organize such an event ~ apart from promoting Malaysia to non-Malaysians, for us the Malaysians it's really great to get a chance to taste all those good food thousands of miles away!

Parking was a huge problem - there was another major event happening in the city - Doors Open Ottawa. Basically many buildings which access are restricted to public are now opened to public during this event. It's free. Nearby the High Commission, there are two buildings that participate in this event: Royal Canadian Mint and the Delegation of the Ismaili Imamat. Hence the parking problem. Alhamdulillah after few minutes we managed to get a parking a block away from the High Commission.

Aiman at the main entrance to the High Commission.

We arrived around 12 noon, and there were already many people around. The longest queue was at the Roti Canai & Murtabak stall, and Aiman said he wanted roti canai!

Quickly I bought $40 of coupons and first bought satay for Maryam. There were not many people at the satay stall. $5 for three pieces, which I think is too expensive!

However since Maryam said she wanted satay, I just close one eye (Malay: tutup sebelah mata - basically just ignore the expensive price) and get a plate of three satay for her. Unfortunately the taste was not that good, and she only took one piece but finished up the rice cubes.

Then the long queue for roti canai. It's Aiman turn. I had to wait for about 30 minutes to get the roti canai. Well, to make that 30 minutes worthwhile I decided to get one roti telur for myself. Didn't order murtabak. They were still on the pan and there were already few people in front of me waiting for their murtabak. It was $2 for plain roti canai, $3 for roti telur and $4 for murtabak, which I think is reasonable. And the taste was excellent! Aiman finished his roti canai without sugar since there was no sugar and he always eat roti canai with sugar.


In the mean time my wife brought nasi dagang with mackerel curry for $7, and Aiman finished one whole plate by himself. So we bought a plate of nasi lemak with fried chicken for $7 for us to share. Maryam roamed around with her friends.

Next for dessert we opted for ABC (air batu campur) - shaved ice with grass jelly, peanuts, sweet corns, beans, milk, and syrups. It's $5 a bowl.

At the ABC stall they also have teh tarik made on the spot - $1 per cup. The Malaysian student who made the teh tarik is really an expert.

We left the High Commission around 2:45 pm, about 15 minutes before the event ends. We brought some popiahs (spring rolls) for to go. I was a bit frustrated since there was no cendol, and know what, as I was lining up at the ABC stall there was a Canadian who also told me he and his wife were disappointed that there was no cendol!! Anyway later we stopped at Chinatown and brought two packets of freshly made cendols there.

Dominion Observatory

I've always wanted to come to this place long time ago. Each time when I drive through Carling Avenue, this old green-domed Romanesque building really attracts me. Hence today we found some time to come over here. It was really quiet, there was nobody. Well, this place is not a tourist trap list-type. There were few parking spots designated for visitors.

Plaque about Sir Sandford Fleming and William Frederick King.

Map.

The Dominion Observatory was used primarily for astronomical timekeeping. Maryam and Aiman enjoyed plucking the dandelions and running around the circle in front of the main obervatory building.

Astronomy amazes me, always. Shouldn't it?
Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day are signs for those of understanding. [Quran, 3: 190]
And it is He who placed for you the stars that you may be guided by them through the darknesses of the land and sea. We have detailed the signs for a people who know. [Quran, 6: 97]

Transit in Doha: Qatar Visa

After Maryam and Aiman were born, Aimi and myself decided that we should always spend a night or two during our transit on our way back to Ottawa. This time we traveled with Qatar Airways since it was the cheapest price that we could get. So we decided to spend 3D2N in Doha.

I checked the Qatar Embassy in Washington D.C. website (since they don't have an embassy in Ottawa), and it shows that Malaysians are required to have visa to enter Qatar, but they can get visa-on-arrival at the airport. I double checked this by calling an officer at the Qatar Embassy in Kuala Lumpur and he confirmed that we can get them at Doha airport upon arrival. He told us the visa fee is Qatari Riyal (QR) 100 each, approximately RM 80 per person.

When we were checking-in at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, the officer told us to have our hotel booking confirmation slip since sometimes the Qatar immigration officer might ask for hotel slip before issuing a visa.

We landed in Doha at about 1:55 afternoon at the old airport. The new Doha airport is not completed yet. Everyone has to use the stairs and board a bus. The bus has several stops - transfer terminal and main terminal. To make things easy, Qatar Airways issued boarding pass with different colors - so just look at the color of your boarding pass and the color of the bus stop. You should get down from the bus if the color of the bus stop matches your boarding pass.

The main terminal building is rather small. There were not many people at the immigration checkpoint. We lined up and in few minutes it was already our turn to go to the immigration desk. Initially I thought that to get visa on arrival, we need to fill in some forms - but I was wrong. There is no form needed. We simply submit our passports to the immigration officers and she asked whether we want to 'buy' the visa. Of course I replied yes. So she asked me to pay QR 400 for four of us. I was about to give her QR 500 notes when she said, "No cash, credit card only!" Yeah, I recalled that I saw it somewhere on the web - was it Trip Advisor or Virtual Tourist - that mentioned visa payment must be done with credit cards only! So I hand in my credit card to the officer. All adults have to be taken pictures - there's a camera behind the immigration officer - so if you are wearing a cap or glasses, you have to take them off. I was asked to take my glasses off. By the way, she did not ask for our hotel slip.

So finally we got our Qatar visa! We got one month stay, and we are also allowed to enter the Sultanate of Oman as well. Now our adventure in Doha begins!

Notes:

1. The telephone number for Qatar Embassy in Kuala Lumpur is +603-42565552.
2. The website for Qatar Embassy in Washington D.C. is http://www.qatarembassy.net/.