15 Dec - Closing Ceremony n Football Final

I woke up after a restless night. We are going to souqs. The boys, except Alvin, have been talking about "shouqing out" for the longest time. So for the first time, Wendy and I are souqing out. Kiok and Vivian have been there, and bought back plenty of nuts for us.

After a leisure breakfast at P9, we patiently awaits for Shaffique to arrive. Kiok told him last night to wait for us at P9 lobby at 9am. But a morning call at 9.20, showed that he has just awaken. Kiok said she has been bluff by ah neh again. So it seems that we can't run away from them. Even the grill of the manhole that we are stepping on just outside P9 is made in India.

Nonetheless, we went about our sightseeing trip in the morning. Wendy had a string of questions for Shaffique about the locations and buildings. She has seen it all on the beauty shots on all the feeds. But seeing for real for the first time, she needs some confirmation.

We were all taken back by the architecture of the souq, the oldest shopping area in Doha. It is a maze of whitewashed streets lined with shops that sell traditional Qatari clothes, shoes, cloths, spices, perfumes, and garden tools. This is the market place where the locals do their grocery shopping. We walked around before we arrived at a shop where we all went nuts. At least Wendy and I did. We spent the last of our riyahs in the shop.

For Shaffique, it must have been a total different experience bringing the boys and us to souq. We simply stopped at every corner to take pictures. He brought us to a place where they sold falcons. The falcons stood there, with their eyes and ears covered.

There was a manqué where we sat and drank hot tea, which was actually quite cosy with the cold wind blowing onto our faces. To our surprise, we need not pay for the tea as this is usually what the rich does when they sat here for the longest time to decide which falcon to buy.

Before we left souq, for the place will close at 11am for Friday prayers, we saw this stairs that God knows lead to where. We just ran up and Shaffique offered to take pictures for us. Soon, we made our way back to the IBC.

Along the way, as Shaffique drove along the Corniche, we ohhs and ahhs about the sights. With Kiok asking Vivian to wind down the window for her to take pictures, Shaffique gave in to a 5-minute stop for photo-taking. And it really has to be five minutes as he needs to go to the mosque for prayers.

Arriving at IBC, we hang around doing nothing as we make our way to the Star for India for lunch. The first and last time we are lunching together as a group in Doha. Arriving there, literally everybody took a picutre of the signboard that's suppose to direct drivers to the nearest carpark at the restaurant. It says ‘Parking Behind Also”. It became the joke of the day. The food was good there. I finally get to enjoy my chocolate cake that wasn’t sweet despite all the cream.

We had a wonderfull time there eating, chatting, taking pictures of the whole gang and comical pictures of each other.

I took a picture of Kiok that Alvin said, was the picture of the year. Everyone guarded my handphone for fear that Kiok would delete that picture.

After that, we make our way back to IBC in groups before we girls retreat back to our apartment. Kiok and Vivian went “shopping’ in the City Centre to kill time while Wendy and I sat in the living watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s stone.

After showering, we packed our luggage and went downstairs to wait for Alvin. While waiting, we caught Biao shu in shorts on his way to the gym in the apartment tower. Well, according to him, a 20-minute walkout before he board the plane.

The three of us make our way to the MMC for dinner there, for the last time. We feasted on the ice-cream with kiwis, and in Wendy’s case, kiwis and mangoes. I will miss some of the food here, especially the carrot and orange soup and the sushi that we ate when we first arrived. For the last time, we walked through the MMC and into IBC.

The closing ceremony is fantastic. The stories of Arabian nights turned into dance and lights. It was grander than the opening ceremony. I was mesmerised by the first hour of the show. As time ticked by, we grew anxious, worrying about the traffic conditions outside – we have to make our way to the airport at 10pm.

The closing ceremony ended ten minutes late. Shaffique “flew” us to the airport, taking a route via the residential area, avoiding the jams. The Qataris were out partying, for they had won gold in the men’s football. The journey to the airport is unreal.

We sat in the airport, waiting for time to pass. When it finally came for us to board the plane, I actually felt kind of hard to leave. It’s the ending that made me more appreciative of the times we had together during these days. The bonding sessions each night as we ate our dinner at the canteen, the racist jokes, the times when Jusri made me make executive decisions and stand by them and the times when he told me to bite the bullet when Alvin was not around.

I had learnt more than what I have here in 20 days than the whole year. Occasions like these that make me realised, I want to be part of these, part of those who created history. With the ending of the 15th Asian Games in Doha, I was already looking forward to next year’s SEA Games in Thailand.