Arabic food

We do have quite a number of Mid-Eastern restaurant in KL thanks to the influx of Arab Gulf tourists every summer. But I doubt many (if any) Malaysian make it a point to visit and dine in any of these restaurants. Therefore, besides kebab, I guess most Malaysians don't know much about Arabic food.

Therefore I decided to blog a bit about the Arabic food (Disclaimer: pictures are not mine, plucked from the web).

There is first shish taouk which is BBQ meat. It is usually chicken (but can also be lamb or beef). Sometimes it is the filling of a sandwich but mostly eaten like the following picture.

And there is also the kebbeh which is ground lamb meat mixed with some herbs and wheat.
Hommus is the sambal of Arabic food. It makes an excellent dip to go with the bread, salad and meat. There are two types... the original one is made from chickpeas. They have another type which is mixed with eggplant to give a coarse texture and darker color.

Another appetizer is the falafel. It is chickpea mixed with some herbs & spice and fried.

A typical appetizer would look something like this. Salad with kebbeh, hommus and of course the most important item - kubus (Arabic bread). The version here is quite small. Some of their kubus can be as big as a respectable table cloth.

Another popular dish is yabrak which is rice + lamb meat wrapped in some leaves. Sometimes it is also served in soup:

Actually, taking an Arabic meal is more like having a BBQ as everything is either grilled or BBQ-ed. Whilst I wouldn't say their food tastes bad, but personally I feel they lack creativity with food. Perhaps they have very limited ingredients here. And if you can't live without fish, Syria will be a challenge to stay in. Fish is almost non-existent and whatever fish they have is not fresh. And the only way to cook fish here is to grill, you can forget about steam. And come to think of it, the Syrians don't seem to have been acquainted with prawns, crabs or oysters.

All in all, the best food I believe still has to be Malaysian food. Can't wait to savor all those nasi lemak, char kuay teow, chee cheong fun, roti canai, asam laksa, dim sum, pan mee.... gosh the list of Malaysian food is endless. Malaysia Boleh! Malaysia Truly Asia!

Internet Connectivity

The speed of internet connection in Syria can best be described by the following comic which I saw on one of the office doors:

Imbecility

Found an article talking about the term "imbecile" in wikipedia.

Imbecile is used to classify a type of mental retardation. It is derived from the Latin word imbecillus, which means weak or weak-minded. It is ranked between idiot and moron according to IQ measurement.
IQ 51-70: Moron
IQ 26-50: Imbecile
IQ 0-25: Idiot

Sounds funny.... I thought "idiot" is mild compared to "moron" or "imbecile". Maybe my English is degenerating after months in Syria.

"Imbecile" quickly became a derogatory term, and it fell out of professional use.

Other definitions of imbecile:

• A stupid or silly person; a dolt
• A person of moderate to severe mental retardation having a mental age from three to seven years and generally being capable of some degree of communication and performance of simple tasks under supervision.
• A person of subnormal intelligence - changeling (what is this?), cretin, half-wit, idiot, moron, retard
• Simpleton, simple - a person lacking intelligence and common sense
• Mongoloid (what the heck???) - a person suffering from Down Syndrome

You may be wondering why I am suddenly researching on imbecility. Unfortunately I'm not in a position to divulge further information for the time being. Suffice to say, I found some interesting definitions of this term which I thought was simply an offensive word.

Earthquake in Aleppo

I just read from some blog that a 4.6 earthquake struck Aleppo 10 days ago. Aleppo is about 1 hour from where I am staying. It's surprising that nobody seem to talk about it at work and I wouldn't have known had I not been surfing the web aimlessly. And the most interesting thing was I actually felt the earth shaking abit about that time 10 days ago. Actually, I was preparing to go to work in the morning and was basically sitting on the throne in the toilet. Suddenly I felt the apartment trembled slightly. Actually, I was a bit scared initially but that only lasted for a few seconds. Then it was all normal. I later found out that my neighbor felt the same. I felt the same yesterday evening while I was taking nap. (Or maybe it was a dream).

The thing was... although I am staying in Syria, I am totally ignorant of what is happening around me. I know what is happening in Malaysia (thanks to Star). I know what is happening in Iran (thanks to Al Jazeera). I know MJ is dead (thanks to MTV & CNN). But I have no idea what is happening in Syria. And this is because the only Syrian TV channels are all in Arabic and I couldn't find a single English newspaper in this country. So I may be in Syria, but I have no idea what is going on. This is the first time I feel so detached from my immediate neighborhood.

Well the earthquake wasn't quite bad I suppose as there were no injuries or fatalities whatsoever. Perhaps this is why it went quite unnoticed by most people. But if you examine the standard of buildings in Syria, it doesn' take a genius to recognize the potential hazard these buildings present. A massive earthquake would decimate entire towns. I wonder if they even have any building code in this country. Houses seem to be built haphazardly on hill slopes. House extensions is not horizontal but rather vertical! All I hope is there is no major disaster in the immediate future.

After wheat, it is sunflower

Update 1: About Agriculture

The wheat harvest season is almost over. There is still a stream of trucks headed to the warehouse which stores Syria's one-year supply of wheat grains. And it seems that some of the wheat farms are now being replanted with a different kind of crop. The most obvious I could see is sunflower. And some of them is blooming brightly and cheerfully under the hot summer sun. They plant it for its seed - eaten like kuaci and also for oil.

Syria is a very seasonal country when it comes to agriculture. Fruits and vegetables are seasonal and different kinds are available at different times. When I first arrived, they had really huge cabbage (size bigger than a football). That soon went missing and spinach was aplenty in the market. Spinach did not last long as it is then the lettuce season. I have no idea what is next... It is the same for fruits. I've posted earlier about cherries being served in every house and office as it was the cherry season. And now the cherries are all missing as the Syrians await for the fig season. And by the way, what is fig fruit?

Update 2: About TV Shows

Have been following a show called "Fringe" on MBC Action. It is a sci-fi show about an FBI detective who "surrounds herself with a double-agent, a criminal and a lunatic" as she investigates various abnormal cases involving "fringe science" (cybernetics, rare diseases, teleportation, cryptids, transhumans and the likes). I didn't even know that "fringe science" is the term used to describe this kind of sciences. Not sure whether they screen this in Malaysia.but I thought it was quite an interesting series to watch and have been following it the past few weeks. Of course this is among other series like Simpsons, Frasier and occassionally Desperate Housewives. The AAB channel is also showing a Chinese series "Tang Dynasty". Sometimes, MBC Max or MBC Persia screen English-dubbed version of Stephen Chow movies which were absolutely ridiculous. Imagine Stephen Chow speaking English in Shaolin Soccer! And by the way, Syrians are great fans of Jackie Chan!

Update 3: About the Weekend

No plans for this Friday. The summer sun is getting stronger by the day and day is also getting longer. Sunrise is now before 5am and sunset is only by 8pm. Think the day time temperature is now about 38degC. Not exactly a nice season to do much travelling. Nevertheless I do have one more place on my list which I like to visit - Apamea, the Hellenistic/ Roman city famed for its Cardos Maximus (a long column-lined boulevard). Maybe I would visit it on another day. This would complete the list of places of interest for the time being. There are other places like the Dead Cities, Aleppo Citadel and the grand amphitheater of Bosra. But I doubt I'll have the time for those now as I expect my tenure in Syria will end in July. But then again, that is only a hope... There is a project meeting next week which hopefully will clear things up. Right now it is all a bit blurry for everyone. There has been quite a lot of upheavals and changes in the past weeks and things are getting abit messy.

Church of St. Simeon

It's a lazy Friday morning and you are in Syria. What can you do? Visit one of the many citadels that dot the country and get a lesson in history and civilization of mankind!

That's what I can think of anyway. And this time I visited the Church of St. Simeon which is about 1 hour out of Aleppo. This is the site where a famous hermit monk (St. Simeon) used to preach atop a tall pillar. It is special because most hermit monks prefer to live in a cave, but Simeon decided to live on a pillar. The only thing that remains of this pillar is its foundation. After his death, a church was built around this site and came to be known as Church of St. Simeon. Of course, the church that remains is more of a ruins but you can't help feel the grandeur that it must have had in the good old days. And it is always a wonder how they constructed such massive structures without the help of machinery and cranes. Mind you, it sits atop a mountain!

Other posting on places to visit in Syria:

• Palmyra
• Krak des Chaveliers
• Road to Baghdad
• Castle of Saladin

Castle of Saladin

Saladin is supposedly a great hero of the Muslims. He is the one who captured Jerusalem from the Christians. You would know him if you have watched the movie "Kingdom of Heaven". I watched it the week before I visited his Castle near the port city of Lattakia. Finding this castle is not so easy as signboards seem insufficient. The castle sits atop a mountain. The road leading up to it is winding (and they have 360 deg turns), steep and narrow with dangerous ravines. Obviously, the castle was quite strategic as it commands a view of its surroundings and all visitors will very unlikely to be missed by the guards.

Pretty much of what is left of the castle is in ruins. The view of the surrounding forest is nevertheless beautiful.

For pictures of other interesting sites in Syria:

• Palmyra
• Krak des Chaveliers
• Road to Baghdad

Anyway, my visit to Saladin's Castle was more than a month ago. Just didn't get to upload the pictures here. Tomorrow is again Friday... a weekend in Middle East. My itinerary tomorrow shall be "Church of St. Simeon" which is located near Aleppo. More on that when I return! Till then, happy weekend to everyone!

Damascus

Just decided to upload some pictures of some sightseeing tours of the past month or so. Let's start first with Damascus, the capital city of Syria. There seems to be nothing much of interest in this city. The popular spots are Umayyad Mosque, Old City and Souk Hamidiyeh. In fact, the only meaningful thing I did there was to visit some fellow colleagues who happen to be working near Damascus.

Personally, I prefer Aleppo to Damascus. Aleppo is a bit more compact but charming. Damascus, is well a city in the desert.

Harvesting Season

It is now harvesting season in Syria. The previously green wheat-farming fields have now all turned yellow. Actually, the landscape now doesn't look as beautiful as before. I prefer green. But after all, this is an important moment as the wheat is finally ready for harvesting. They plant wheat almost everywhere, even in front of Carrefour in Aleppo, even within the power station complex! (Oh... btw Carrefour is really a blessing coz I can actually find ikan bilis sambal paste!)

I do not come from an agricultural background - I don't even really know how paddy is being harvested and processed to rice. All I can describe about the harvesting process here is they use huge machines to 'tuai' the wheat. Then they are piled up in the field waiting for trucks to collect. You can then see long queues of trucks (those colorful trucks almost like what you see in India) sending the harvest to the processing plant (or maybe it's a storage). This has been a daily affair for the past weeks or so.

Correct me if I'm wrong.... wheat is used to make flour? And flour is pretty important here as the main staple is arabic bread which they call kubus. And again daily, you can see huge crowds storming the local kubus bakery as if they are distributing gold. It's kubus for breakfast, lunch and dinner here (Arabs are not really good in food variety!). Just get a huge piece of kubus (which is perhaps 1.5 feet in diameter), apply some olive oil, sprinkle some vege and chickpeas and it's a good meal for the locals.

I also get my kubus (albeit the mini version). But no chickpeas for me, I prefer my kubus with tuna or jam. I don't have a choice as sliced bread is hard to come by.

Oh... it's also the season for cherries. This fruit which usually sits atop the icing of a cake in Malaysia, is now available all over Syria and sold in huge boxes. All I need is to drop by at any of the offices of the client and there is always a tray filled with cherries which they always insist (practically force) that I savour some. And after that I'm always asked to join them for shai (tea). They are big tea drinkers here - I do wonder whether the 400 workers of the station comes to work or to drink tea?? Btw, 400 workers is almost 1 worker per MW. But I really have to make sure the amount of sugar they put into my glass. They are kind of sugar-inclined, 5 spoons of sugar into your tea, anyone?

Well... seems my post this time kinda scattery with a lot of diversions from the main line of story. Anyway, it's harvesting season in Syria. Soon the wheat will be completely harvested and they'll replant with a different kind of produce as summer is here and wheat don't go well with the heat.