Homecoming

We had our homecoming celebration on 20th September at Xiyan, a private dinning restaurant.

Started by a celebrity chef from Hong Kong, Xiyan, which means feast of happiness, specializes in Chinese cuisine with other Asian culinary inspiration.

The evening's 12 course dinner (+ 1 on the house) was an absolute delightful dining experience for me. Every dish on the course was unique so I found myself looking forward to the next dish. Moreover, portions were just right, leaving enough for second servings.

Second row (L-R): Jacky Yu (celebrity chef and owner of Xiyan), me, Xinyi, Lindsay (Xinyi's sister), Jackson (budding actor and Xinyi's brother; First row (L-R): Parents of Lisa (Xiyan's partner), Xinyi's parents.

Farewells

Another belated post from Singapore.

Before we left Beirut, we got together with some colleagues to say farewells.

Restaurant Pinocchio @ Monot, Beirut (12 September)

Us with Cho family: Cho san, Agnes and Yun chan; Yeoh san & Houari

Hickies @ Gemayze, Beirut (12 September)

Hickies before the crowd came in

Us with Pablo & Houari

Second drinks: Vodka Redbull

Us with Pablo (holding on to his Mojito)


Red-faced me having a tequila pop and Houari looking on. Speaking of looking, what is Pablo looking at....or rather who?

Happy Houari! =)

We discovered a new drink that night. Liquid coccaine. 3 of this is enough to get you high.

Liquid Coccaine recipe:
1/2 oz Bacardi® 151 rum
1/2 oz Goldschlager® cinnamon schnapps
1/2 oz Jagermeister® herbal liqueur

Tequila Pop recipe:
1 oz tequila
1 oz 7-Up® soda

Vodka Redbull recipe:
2 oz Absolut Vodka
I can Red Bull

Mojito recipe:
3 fresh mint sprigs
2 tsp sugar
3 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 1/2 oz Sagatiba Pura club soda

Casper & Gambini @ Verdun, Beirut (13 September)

Playing Tennis in Algiers

I began playing tennis in Algiers at Unite Golf Club at Cheraga.

It was a weekend Friday so there was no work.

I haven't played tennis for years. The last time I picked up a real tennis racket, it was during a physical education during junior college years. Although, I "practiced" some tennis moves on a Wii in my colleague's Beirut apartment occasionally.

In reality, I have no inkling about tennis, other than Sharapova is really eye candy. In the words of one team-mate, Pablo, we pretend to play.

It is an understatement because Pablo is one of the best players among us. Or perhaps the rest of us really sucked?

After several games, I do realize that I'm have a consistent form when it comes to hitting the net, hitting the ball out of court or failing to hit the ball at all.

My failure rate to hit the ball was more pronounced when I was on the receiving end of service from Mike, our number 2 player, who incidently is an excellent badminton player who had done some coaching in Japan, and therefore, doubtlessly, packs a powerful serve.

Then there are our two Japanese team-mates, Terada and Tsuchiya. Terada is reportedly an excellent baseball player, which explained his donning of baseball attire even when he was playing tennis.

Terada also has a real talent for humour. Once, he mimicked the throwing style of famous Japanese players. Unfortunately, I'm clueless when it comes to baseball or the game's famous personalities. But he looked really funny so the humour was not lost.

Tsuchiya san is really a nice team-mate to have. Among the team, he and I had been in Algeria the longest. Super nice guy with a good sense of humour. The Algerians also never forget his name once they were introduce to him, because his family name is similarly sounding to an Algerian traditional musical instrument.

Encouragingly, my gym sessions in Beirut were beginning to pay off. After running after balls that I failed to hit (it happened a lot!), I was able to maintain some level of fitness. Yey, me and gym membership!

Interestingly, the tennis courts at the golf course don't come with electric lighting. As evening approaches, we found that we could not see the ball very well anymore and have to stop the game. No offense but is this really a golf club?!

After tennis, it was a spicy Thai dinner at the newly opened Bangkok Thai branch near Deli Ibrahim.

The following are some pictures:

Pre-Game
I was invited by Mike (Thu san) to his guesthouse for lunch. It was curry chicken and fried eggs, nicely concluded with a delicious melon and Hagen Daaz! I simply right the watermelons in Algeria. The sweetest!


Unite Golf Club @ Cheraga, Algiers

Front entrance
Part of the club house and restaurant

Doing our warmups
Pablo (left) and Terada (right) in his baseball attire
Mike (left) is our badminton expert and Tsuchiya (right) is named after a musical instrument.

*This entry is post-dated to 3 Aug '08, as I didn't have internet access to upload. Incidentally, this is my last visit to Algeria.

Bangkok Thai: Restaurant Thailandais

I kid you not, this was on the menu of Bangkok Thai, the Thai restaurant in Draria, Algiers which I frequent. I think the restaurant is making a huge mistake on it's menu.....like erm...Satay is not Thai food?

Having said that, Bangkok Thai is one of my favourite restaurant in Algiers. It is the only restaurant I know that serves decent Thai food. No surprise here since the entire kitchen crew hails from Thailand.

Catering to local palette, the taste was scaled down so the food is not as spicy as true Thai fare, and also it is a lot saltier. But after dinning there several times, the chef, perhaps, learnt about our preference and tends to be more generous with the chilli and will do away the extra salt or MSG.

The Tom Yum (Mixed seafood soup with coconut milk) must not be missed. I never fail to order it because I felt it combines the best of both worlds: authentic Thai cooking and fresh Algerian squid. I usually give away the prawns to my dinner companions because of my allergy. The fragrantly wok-fried Kao Pad avec Viande (Fried Rice with meat) is another favourite.

Tom Yum Khom with Algerian squid

Appetisers: Satay and fried spring rolls

Main: Fried rice (back); (front): Pa Ka Pow beef (left) & green curry / cari vert (right)

One flip side though, the Pa Ka Pow (Stir fried) beef is not authentic but nevertheless delicious. Everytime I order the dish, it came tasting more Chinese than Thai. This could be due to the miscommunication between the Algerian waiters and the cooks because I think I'm being served another dish on the menu - Stir fried beef with oyster sauce.

But one can hardly fault the kind and gentle Algerian waiters there. By local standards, their customer service standard in Bangkok Thai is one of the best I've seen so far. That's if I go easy on the mandatory long waiting time and the frustrating communication barriers, of course. But these happens everywhere in Algeria.

The interior of the restaurant is decorated with memorabilia that seemed to have come from Bangkok's Chatuchak bazaar. What I like is that the place is kept clean and odorless. As with most restaurants in Algeria, ventilation is bad. Restaurant dining areas are filled with strong smells straight from the kitchens. This is not so obvious in Bangkok Thai.

The restaurant also provide a saloon for customers to relax. During hot months, there are two sheltered tables in the outdoors but there is no view. I'm told that there is a massage palour complete with a Thai masseur on the second floor of the restaurant. The service is provided only for women only (because the masseur cannot touch men?!).

Restaurant Bangkok Thai

Outdoor dinner area

Overall, I like this restaurant despite some drawbacks. Especially, I'm not used to paying such a high price for the kind of Thai food served in the restaurant, which, in Thailand are considered standard fare. (5 000 DA or 72 USD for 3 persons). But anyone in Algeria who enjoys good Thai food, Bangkok Thai is a must try.

Bangkok Thai
Restaurant Thailandais
Lot. "C" No 71 Draria - Alger
Tel: 0221354897 / 0552984940 / 0770925050

Prague (Part 3)

As promised, I'm going to blog about my European trip. This entry is about my second day (24 Apr '08) in Prague, Czech Republic.

This day in Prague was spent quite leisurely. I didn't have to go for training at the local office until the late afternoon.

So with a map, a camera and a bottle of water in a backpack, I went out walking. My target was to go to Prague Castle on foot.

The weather wasn't as cold as initially forecasted, but at below 15 degrees celsius, a light jacket was necessary to keep the wind out.

Along the way, I was treated to beautiful buildings and scenery reflecting an old central European charm. I also encountered a park along the way that presented some nice photographic moments.

Tram

Street along Mala Strana

Sculptures in park along Mala Strana

Park

Eventually I made my way to St. Nicholas Church at Lesser Town (Mala Strana). Facing the church was a row of pubs and restaurant that looked really appealing. I reminded myself to come this way on the return trip to try one restaurant there.

Observing a concert queue formed outside the church, I vaguely remembered that central Europe was famous for their love of classical philharmonic music (unverified knowledge). It occured to me that it would be a pleasureable experience to enjoy a concert here. However, this time, I didn't have the right company nor the time for it.

St Nicholas Church

St Nicholas Church

Concert goers at St Nicholas Church

Statue near St Nicholas Church

Passing the St. Nicholas Church, up a steep sloping road that eventually led me on a left turn around more restaurants and finally Up the a steep flight of stairs, I arrived to the Prague Castle at last.

By that time, I had already covered about 4 km on foot, including some very steep stair climbing. Forgot to mention that in the morning, I had a 2.4km morning run and some exercise at the hotel gym and the legs were already aching.

So I was quite tired and seriously entertaining the thought of hailing a taxi for the return trip.

Prague Castle - Hradcany
Glimpse of Prague Castle

When I arrived, I was in time to catch the the changing of guard parade. A band was playing on the second floor on the right during the parade.

Changing of the guard parade

It was mentioned in Lonely Planet that the uniform of the guard was designed by the costume designer for the film Amadeus. Nice!

Prague castle is an amazing place! It is the largest castle in the world and has been for a long time, the seat of the country's government, including the current president. Inside the castle is a complex of buildings each reflecting different architectural styles, creating a captivating ambience.

My personal favourite building is the cathedral of St. Vitus. The sight of this gothic church looming over other buildings added a forboding and eerie dimension to the beauty of the place.

Unfortunately, I was not able to enter the church because I didn't have any Czech crowns on me as I didn't want to break my 500 Euro notes. There was also a long queue of waiting tourists outside the cathedral and I didn't have so much time.

Prague Castle entrance displaying statues of clashing titans

St Vitus Cathedral

St Vitus Cathedral

St Vitus Cathedral

St Vitus Cathedral

Street Cafe at Prague Castle

An Idle Noon

Lunch
Pivnice U Glaubicu - Czech Pub

Honoring my promise to self, I made my way back to the row of restaurants near St. Nicholas Church for lunch. I chose one that has a name I cannot even pronounce. From outside, it looked like a traditional pub diner but I realized there were more extensions that housed several more dining chambers inside, making it bigger than I've imagined.

In Singapore, when we dine with our Muslim friends, we try to avoid non-halal food out of respect. Yesterday while dinning with my Algerian colleague, I stuck to ordering halal food, although I had some beer. This time, since I was eating lunch by myself, I had no qualms about ordering anything. I've been dying to try the popular traditional Czech dishes of roasted pork and duck.

Lunch: vegetable soup & Pilsner

Lunch: Roasted Pork Knuckle

I chose roasted pork knuckles over the duck. The serving size of half a duck would be too much for me. The pub's customer service was slow so I had to wait for my lunch. After relieving the mug of half its pilsner, my roasted pork knuckle at last landed in front of me. Weighing almost 1 kg, I ate heartily and sumptuously. The Czechs really know how to prepare their meat and I thought that I could definitely live here comfortably. Food compatibility is important to me.

The heavy lunch was definitely the culprit for making me sleepy during the rest of the day. In addition, I became tired from the walk back to the hotel. In total I covered 10 km in distance by running and walking in just half a day.

During the training, I had to rely on a few cups of coffee to keep myself attentive. I could barely work up an appetite and had little for dinner in the evening, even though it was a amazing restaurant, named Cowboy, with an excellent night view of the city.

To be continued...

Beach

Sometimes life's a bitch. Or maybe management's the bitch!

As I mentioned previously, just as the beach-going weather sets in, I received instructions to move out of the guesthouse at Palm Beach, Sidi Fredj.

Conditions at Sidi Fredj is very bad but at least there is a beach to spend the summer. The Cheraga guesthouse can provide better comfort but the surrounding area is really boring. Both places cancel each other out in different pluses and minuses so I really can't complain.

The bottom line is that I hate moving!

Moving Day/ Traffic
On moving day yesterday, I could see the road leading to Palm Beach jam packed with beach goers. The queue of cars trying to enter the beach was so long even during the late hours in the afternoon. Probably the late sunset at after 7 pm helped as people could stay at the beach longer.

With heavy traffic everywhere, it was nice to see policemen stationed at almost every junction to direct traffic. I think that this is one of the things Algeria is superior to Morocco. In Morocco, I see a lot of policemen on the road doing nothing about the traffic. They are just there to collect bribes. Yes, the Moroccan police are that disgusting!!!

Isn't it labor intensive and expensive to expend so much manpower to direct traffic, you'll ask? Yes, it is. But judging from the Algerian driving style which disregards most traffic rules, the roads will be impossible to drive with every vehicle trying to meander around each other. Bottlenecks will appear everywhere. So the human "touch" is necessary!

Last Moments At Sidi Fredj?
While the bulk of my things were already transfered, I will continue to stay at Sidi Fredj for the remaining two days of this visit. I leave tomorrow for Beirut.

Trying to maximize my remaining time at Sidi Fredj, I mingled a bit with my fellow tenants, the ICTs. I was invited by the Chinese (3 of them) ICTs to their apartment for dinner for several times. Once I contributed a dish - ABC soup, South-east Asian style.

A home-made Chinese dinner, easily tastier than Restorante Mudan at Hotel Mecure


Me and Pablo, my Colombian colleague, being the other manager there, were also invited to an evening teaparty organized by the Syrians and Egyptian ICTs. We munched on digestives, sipped beverage and shared our general disdain for most of the commercially prepared Algerian food we can. It was a nice evening that uplifted Pablo's spirit after Colombia's defeat to France in a friendly soccer match that day.

The boo boo-factor at Cheraga is the lack of social activities. Cheraga guesthouse is occupied by senior managers and they aren't a lot of fun. Most of them just want to drink, smoke and sleep.

At The Beach
Yesterday, I visited the beach with Pablo. It wasn't the best but it wasn't that bad. At least there were efforts to keep the beach clean.

The lack of safety consciousness in Algeria showed in few instances at the beach. In particular, young men are especially prone to reckless and dangerous behaviour.

For instance, many riding motorcycles were observed to be dashing across junctions and traffic at breakneck speed along crowded roads. Some were doing willys. None of them wore helmets. Perhaps they think they look cool but they could endanger theirs and others life.

Things were not safer at the beach either. I saw young people riding jetski along and very close to the coastline. These people own the jetski, so they are rich and probably well educated. But yet, they also don't have the consciousness that riding that close to the coast line could endanger the safety of people in the water, especially children.

I'm no stranger to high speed ocean going crafts, so I know how difficult it is to spot a head bobbling in the ocean. And also I wonder in the first place, why are these people jetskiing so near the coastline when the ocean is so big?! If not to draw attention to themselves than what else?

Algerians are sometimes stupidly crazy like this. Everything that can be done, they will do it.

While I was observing the jetskiers, a rider on a horse galloping along the beach came into my view. I know that there is a horse riding school nearby but didn't the rider think about safety also. What if the horse got startled by something, went berserk and started trampling on the sun tanners? Can a rider control the horse 100% of the time? I think not, especially in a place with so much distraction.

It wasn't all bad though. I did get to enjoy a nice sunset and experienced some interesting activities of the local people at the beach.

I thougth they were playing majong (popular Asian domino game)
So in love.... =P


Merry makers at the beach - drum n dance