Barney and Friends in Saudi

Qusay Tourism 1 Comment

The purple dinosaur came to Saudi, no we didn’t go, but from what I heard the venue was packed, and the tickets were not cheap.

The cheapest were around 100 for the seats where u see Barney and friends on a big screen while sitting on bad seats, and the most expensive were around 750, where you get to almost touch Barney, and where kids will probably be disappointed to find out that the make believe dinosaur is actually (probably) a Filipino in a costume.

I kinda feel guilty for not taking my son to see Barney, since he said he wanted to, but spending 3x the ticket price so we can all go see him, is a waste of time and money, especially that we have almost all of the DVDs.

Review: Yanbu Movenpick Hotel

Qusay Tourism 5 Comments

I had the pleasure of staying at the Movenpick hotel in Yanbu for a few days, it is the only hotel in town, and it is not bad at all.

Here are a some pictures of the place.

The bed was big, clean and comfortable

The bathroom was modern, and clean

The room I was in has no bathtub, but a shower with a very nice shower-head

A minibar that was not really stacked, the little invoice had items on it that were not actually there

They do give a complementary bottle of water

A safe and a prayer rug provided by the Gideons hotel

A Desk, and internet is complimentary, but it is not WiFi, you have to connect to it with a cable

The star of the hotel, other than being the only hotel in Yanbu Industrial City is of course the view, all rooms face the red sea

Of course, if you only get the standard room then you get to have a little distracting apparatus blocking your view, but I am not complaining

And because I do not care much about television, I forgot to take a picture of the flat screen TV in front of the bed.

The hotel is not perfect, the finishing touches were put together in haste and it shows here and there, and I once came and found the door not fully closed, I guess the cleaner forgot to listen to the click sound, and when I complained about it, the receptionist acted like it was nothing and gave me a blank courtesy smile.

The hotel has a private beach, with cigarette butts all over the sand.

I would rate it as a 6/10 as a 5 star hotel

Sydney Sheraton Darling Harbour

Qusay Tourism 0 Comment

A few months ago we had the pleasure of staying at the Darling Harbour Sheraton Hotel in Sydney. When we checked in, we heard the most beautiful words you can hear when checking into a hotel, “Sir, we upgraded your room to a suite” I am not sure if the room was upgraded because our room was not available or because I am a starwood member, I asked no questions, only gave them a big smile.

The hotel is the largest hotel in Sydney, and one of the nicest hotels we stayed at in Australia.

The suite was very nice, clean, and spacious.

Suite Entrance

The Kingsize Bed

Spacious Bathroom

View from the window at night

View from the Window in the Morning

We loved this hotel, the rooms were around $250 AUD a night. The only thing separating it from the harbour is a little bridge.

Paragliding in Abha – Saudi Arabia

Qusay Tourism 2 Comments

Saw this on SUSRIStube.

I am not sure what the conditions of entry were for these guys, but it seemed like an interesting video to share here. The two paragliders are Andre Bernhard & Adi Ibanez, and they seem to have had a good time. (video)

I would’ve liked them to use a lens that wasn’t too wide which makes everything look almost like it was shot with a fisheye lens, and I wish the camera did not shake as much as it did.