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World News 2017: Selective Trump’s Immigration Bans

trump

(The omission was too glaring and that simply adds to the unfairness of the whole affair. Image source: http://www.slate.com)

Well, it finally happened – that “The Apprentice” guy, Donald Trump becomes the 45th President of the United States of America on 20th January 2017.

So it was not a big surprise when Trump decided to “shake” things down once he had officially taken office – Trump has been talking about throughout his election campaign. And that includes his promise to build the wall against Mexico (funding aside) and stopping people from certain countries from entering the country.

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Overseas Assignment 2009: Taking Time Off At Bangkok’s Busy Bazaar

Bangkok Bazaar Market

(Tightly packed shops on the left and right of the bazaar but the items on sales are not necessarily old and ancient)

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Fantastic Trip to Iran 2009: We Missed Staying In A Proper Hotel

Hotel Bangkok Orange

(The service apartment that I stayed in Bangkok, overseeing the great Chao Praya River is probably one of the best of all the ‘hotels’ that I have stayed)

Whenever I am on an overseas assignment, I have always preferred staying in a proper hotel than in some apartment.

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Fantastic Trip to Iran 2009: Sorry, No Alcoholic Beers Here

beer non alcohol iran

(It looks like beer, it smells like beer and the people are drinking as it is beer but certainly it is not beer. Great stuff from Holland!)

Iran, I guess is the second country that I have been to without any drop of cold beer. Brunei was the other country although I could have brought a crate of beer after declaring to the customs. Interestingly there are plenty of non-alcoholic drinks from local and European breweries to choose from here.

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Fantastic Trip to Iran 2009: Trip to ‘Chilly’ Restaurant

Chinese restaurant tanglung

(One good sign that it is a Chinese restaurant is red lights and tang-lungs on the inside and on the outside. By the way, Chilly in Iran means Chinese)

From day 1 after we had arrived here, we have been looking for a cheap Chinese restaurant and thus far, we have been unsuccessful.

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Fantastic Trip to Iran 2009: Time To Be A DIY Chef Part 2

chef food iran

(Another item on the chef’s list is a cooked chicken cocktail with fried eggs and a good dose of Maggi sauce – not healthy, I know but who cares?)

Lately, we have been finding harder to get by without having a good dose of vegetables – going for the ‘big job’ has not been as smooth as it used to be.

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Fantastic Trip to Iran 2009: No Internet Access!

iran day access

Last Wednesday marked the 30th anniversary of Iran’s storming of the American Embassy in Tehran and taking 52 people as hostages for 444 days. Apparently, this event is celebrated on a yearly basis in Iran. However this year, such ‘celebration’ was also used by the oppositions here to protest against the ruling party. Image source: Britannica

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Fantastic Trip to Iran 2009: Time To Be A DIY Chef

chef food noodles iran

(If I am trying to be a chef, the easiest dish to do would be instant noodles. One of the ‘local’ instant noodles on sale here but compared to Maggi and despite both take the same 3 minutes to cook, it was rather bland and tasteless)

If there is one thing that brings the ‘chef in me’ when I am abroad, it is learning to be independent in the kitchen – independent in the sense of ability to cook something for dinner. As every Malaysians would know, one of the lifelines for times like this is Instant Noodles.

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Fantastic Trip to Iran 2009: Mastering Persian Language

iran rial language Persian

The name Iran in the Persian language means the Land of the Aryans and it is not a big surprise when we find common Hindi words in Farsi (or rather common Farsi words in Hindi).

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Fantastic Trip to Iran 2009: Fine Persian Dining in Tehran

iran food tehran

The Iranian shopkeeper near to our Tehran apartment often hear me saying “Morq…morq….” and he would laugh. Morq is one of the few Persian words that I know to communicate when we are hunting for our sundry for a cookout at the apartment. By the way, Morq means chicken in Farsi and one need to know this so that one doesn’t end up getting beef or mutton or unknown meat for food.

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Fantastic Trip to Iran 2009: Deepavali Abroad

iran deepavali sunset

Photo of the sunset reflected off the window of our apartment on the Deepavali week. The dust is a major irritation here.

I can’t recall but this is probably the third time I am celebrating Deepavali far from home and family

The first year I did that was quite painful especially when my son had just born and it supposes to be the first year to celebrate it as one family. But work assignment and professional commitment took priority and we had to postpone our celebrations after I came back from abroad. Deepavali was a gloomy day on both ends.

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Fantastic Trip to Iran 2009: The Eagle Have Landed

iran boeing 747 tehran

Despite the age of the Iran Air’s Jumbo, the landing in Tehran’s newest international airport was surprisingly very smooth but even so, almost everyone clapped when the plane safely landed and that got us worried (clapping means the landing is not smooth most of the time?).

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