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A Querulous QR Quest to Q8

jani — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 02:53:54 -0700

A part of a longer story on Flyertalk.

Hotel review: Al Muthana (Almuthana), Riyadh

jani — Thu, 22 May 2008 06:12:37 -0700

For some odd reason, all the "branded" hotels in Riyadh were full last week, so I decided to try out a place I'd had my eye on for a while, namely Al Muthana (or Almuthana, as they like to spell it). It's a new-looking building right on King Fahd Rd, just behind al-Faisaliah, that I passed by on my daily commute.

Wahhabalinese Adventures: Riyadh and Janadriyah

jani — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 06:33:13 -0700

First Wife Bribed for Understanding

Reviews of a Gourmet Snob: Kafe Warisan, Seminyak, Bali

jani — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 20:41:34 -0800

When I booked Kafe Warisan for a friend's birthday dinner, I couldn't help but snigger at their slogan of "World Famous French Mediterranean Cuisine in a Classic Rice Terrace Setting" -- surely a little pretentious for a small restaurant in a podunk town in rural Bali, no? And thus I was expecting mediocre, somewhat overpriced food in a cheesy Balinese setting... only to get way more than I expected. This was easily among the best Western meals I've had in Asia, or anywhere else for that matter.

Wahhabalinese Adventures: Singapore (2)

jani — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 09:54:12 -0800

The plane touched down at 5:00 AM and rolled up to the gate at Terminal 3 at 5:05 AM. Changi was quiet, and I was through immigration and customs and inside a taxi by 5:15. By 5:30, I'd reached home and by 6 AM I was showered and in bed.

At 11 AM, my alarm clock rang, and I ran off for an hour of errands and came back just in time to see Z climbing out of a taxi with her rollaboard. Tomorrow was her birthday, and I'd booked award flights to Bali for us in economy... or so she thought.

Wahhabalinese Adventures: Dubai

jani — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 06:54:46 -0800

The original plan had been just to do a simple transit in Dubai, but the flight I wanted on Tuesday was full -- a good thing, in retrospect, as not only was Bush Jr and his security brouhaha in town, but unusually strong rains made sure that the city was completely and totally jammed. Wed was full too, so I booked Thursday -- but on that day the connecting flight to Riyadh was full. Bizarrely, the earliest next flight out on SV or EK was at 4 PM the next day, 21 hours later (!), so there was no choice: I had to overnight. I shed a crocodile tear and rang up local resident F.

Wahhabalinese Adventures: Singapore

jani — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 11:49:04 -0800

Unusually enough, I was looking forward to the airport more than the flight itself: this marked my first visit to the spanking new Singapore Changi Terminal 3, officially opened just a week earlier. Aviation geek that I am, I'd already had a sneak peek in the pre-opening "open house", but this was my first time venturing into airside.

Wahhabalinese Adventures: Index

jani — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 06:39:09 -0800

Introduction

At a squeak over 10,000 miles, this trip is no great shakes when it comes to distance, but there can't be too many places on Earth with a greater level of contrast than its endpoints.

Hotel review: Courtyard Frankfurt Messe

jani — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 06:53:59 -0800

This is probably my boring-est hotel review ever, but this turned out a little longer than I thought, so I'll crosspost it here from Flyertalk.

Indolaporan Dua: Bandung di mana?

jani — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 08:38:50 -0800

I'd been planning to visit Bandung for quite a while now, but never seemed to have an opportunity -- until, on this trip, opportunity presented itself in the way of a training session being held there. With only two days midweek, most of them spent at work, it would be a short visit, but who was I to complain?

The trip didn't start particularly well: after some confusion with the driver who showed up, who was evidently expecting an entirely different job, our project manager (fresh off the plane from Singapore) and I bundled into the car and hit the road.