Doha

So, this is the view of West Bay, Doha in Qatar from the Corniche. I know it's been quite a long time since the last post, and for that I apologize. Getting ready to head over to Malaysia had me all wound up and excited with tons of energy for all this blogging stuff. I can't say that I haven't been excited the last few weeks in getting ready for Qatar, but it's been more of a whirlwind than I imagined.

Regardless, this is a nice little shot I took while walking one afternoon on the Corniche, which is sort of like Qatar's version of a boardwalk. It was actually quite beautuful, with some nice SoCal weather, as I walked from my hotel in the West Bay down to the main souq (market) in Doha, though the market itself wasn't that impressive. I think it was mainly because there just weren't that many people milling about at the souq, buying, selling, haggling, bargaining, as I would have expected. Maybe there are better times to go, and maybe I should go with someone besides myself next time....

No more Malaysia... :(

So, just after I published my last post I found out that my company is dismantling the development group and my move to Kuala Lumpur was canceled... what a bunch of poop, right?

Well, after a wonderful holiday in the boonies of British Columbia with my family (and Carla - I managed to drag her along) I returned to NY to figure out what to do. Little did I know that I was soon to be offered a position in our to-be-created Middle East office. After a few weeks of being in the dark, we finally manage to determine that I will be representing the company in Doha, Qatar, doing my best to develop as many CDM projects as possible. Sounds pretty exciting to me...

While I was really looking forward to sharing my travels throughout Southeast Asia on this blog, I am now even more determined to do so with my future travels in the Middle East. I won't officially be over there until the beginning of March, so apologies for the silence between now and then.

Stay posted though - I'm chomping at the bit to get over there and start taking photos!

So this is a photo I took of the Temple of Dawn just as the sun was setting (so twilight and NOT dawn). I think it turned out striking, nonetheless. If you ever want to go, it's just across the river from Wat Pho, which show's the largest reclining Buddha if memory serves me right, and is just south of the Grand Palace in Bangkok.

Here's another one, as I couldn't decide which was better... you decide.

Ko Koot

So, we just got back last night from a wonderful three day weekend on Ko Koot ('ko' means island in Thai). Walter and I were invited to tag along with four of our coworkers, as well as one of Boyd's friends, which we simply couldn't refuse. As you can see in this pic, the sunsets were breathtaking.

This is a photo I took at the Bangkok river festival last month with my coworkers. In Chiang Mai you can see thousands of these little lighted balloons going up - an unbelievable sight! Here in Bangkok, there are only a few of these that go up, as here they prepare tiny floats with candles and incense that are then lit and sent down river, each float/balloon representing your life.

The beginning...

Please raise your glasses to toast the official beginning of my blog, "Ramble On."

I'm keeping fingers crossed that it'll be a good one...