As Eid Al Adha approached, all of my colleagues and friends were feverishly planning all the really cool places they would be heading to, and I was was scrambling to figure out what I would be doing to entertain my mother and her friends here in Doha. As most ex-pats and visitors know, once you've been on the ground for about 4 days...there isn't much else to do except eat and shop. In any case, we managed to fill 9 days and I will admit there was A LOT of shopping.
We arrived from the airport around 2am on Saturday and I was definitely ready for bed since I'd been up and running all day. The ladies, however, had other ideas. For them it was only 8pm and they were raring to go. We decided to have a drink or 9 to see if they would tire out and after 2 hours of talking (and me yawning), they were finally wound down enough to go to sleep. (Seriously, after 20 travel hours, I don't know what they had left to talk about!)
It was slow going in the morning (late morning that is) when we got up but we managed to exit the apartment around 2pm and the girls wanted to get money exchanged. So not surprisingly we headed for Villaggio Mall. We spent 7 hours wandering around, looking at Turkish mosiac lamps (and ultimately 1 was purchased), exchanging money, and having dinner. We had a great dinner at Thai Chi, a delicious Asian Fusion restaurant in the section of the food court that doesn't serve fast food. What a long day that was!
An overnight desert safari was the order of the day for Monday. We took a trip to the Inland Sea with Black Pearl Tourism Company and our guide, Hazem, couldn't have been better. Our adventure started when Hazem attempted to pick us up at the apartment. We got the overnight bags loaded into the Land Cruiser (the standard dune bashing vehicle) and 5 ladies piled in. We were all going a mile a minute...we all of us but the SUV anyway...that wasn't going anywhere! OMG! It wouldn't start. Hazem called for a replacement SUV and driver to take us until he could get the issue resolved. Hazem met us out at the Sealine Beach Resort area just as we were preparing for camel riding (you have to do it at least once for the experience).
After the camel riding, we headed out to the dunes to see what they were made of...turns out..It's Sand! Who knew? Dune bashing feels like you are on a roller coaster. The only difference is that the driver can controller the level of thrill. If you have an aggressive driver and everyone is a bit daring, it's a blast. I can say that going over the top of a dune when you can't see the sand beyond is like the crest of the 1st drop on a roller coaster. We spent a couple hours in the dunes and it was dark by the time we made it back to the camp.
At the camp we were served a catered buffet dinner of Arabic food and were able to enjoy the atmosphere of the camp or climb to the top of the dune to see what was on the other side. Our tents were traditional bedouin style - with electricity of course! Cushions for sitting and sleeping were provided and turned out to be quite comfortable. Breakfast, a climb up the dune and walk to the Arabian Gulf was the order of the morning. By then, it was time for Hazem to return us to Doha.
We visited the gold souq, three times to try to find jewelry that was not outrageously priced. I can't remember if we found jewelry there but we did find some "designer" handbags by Coach and Burberry and some others. No trip to Doha would be complete without a visit or 3 to Souq Waqif for pashminas, souvenirs and some food. (I did warn you about the shopping)
We also had an unexpected treat during their stay. We were invited to a Qatari wedding. We were all quite honored to have a glimpse of this tradition within the Qatari culture. Of course we did only get to see the Women's side of the party as men and women do not socialize together the same as we do in western culture.
It is quite obvious that the women spend a significant amount of time to prepare for an event such as this. There is the hair and makeup to be done, nails, hair removal and of course a dress to find. We did not see 2 of the same dress and every dress was fancy. In Cape Breton, you can usually count on several people wearing jeans or shorts and t-shirts or casual tops at a wedding reception. That is so NOT the case at a wedding in Qatar.
Overall, we all had a great visit and I think the gals all went home with some interesting memories and some great souvenirs...
(See Mom, I didn't mention the glass door or the speed bumps!)
We arrived from the airport around 2am on Saturday and I was definitely ready for bed since I'd been up and running all day. The ladies, however, had other ideas. For them it was only 8pm and they were raring to go. We decided to have a drink or 9 to see if they would tire out and after 2 hours of talking (and me yawning), they were finally wound down enough to go to sleep. (Seriously, after 20 travel hours, I don't know what they had left to talk about!)
It was slow going in the morning (late morning that is) when we got up but we managed to exit the apartment around 2pm and the girls wanted to get money exchanged. So not surprisingly we headed for Villaggio Mall. We spent 7 hours wandering around, looking at Turkish mosiac lamps (and ultimately 1 was purchased), exchanging money, and having dinner. We had a great dinner at Thai Chi, a delicious Asian Fusion restaurant in the section of the food court that doesn't serve fast food. What a long day that was!
An overnight desert safari was the order of the day for Monday. We took a trip to the Inland Sea with Black Pearl Tourism Company and our guide, Hazem, couldn't have been better. Our adventure started when Hazem attempted to pick us up at the apartment. We got the overnight bags loaded into the Land Cruiser (the standard dune bashing vehicle) and 5 ladies piled in. We were all going a mile a minute...we all of us but the SUV anyway...that wasn't going anywhere! OMG! It wouldn't start. Hazem called for a replacement SUV and driver to take us until he could get the issue resolved. Hazem met us out at the Sealine Beach Resort area just as we were preparing for camel riding (you have to do it at least once for the experience).
After the camel riding, we headed out to the dunes to see what they were made of...turns out..It's Sand! Who knew? Dune bashing feels like you are on a roller coaster. The only difference is that the driver can controller the level of thrill. If you have an aggressive driver and everyone is a bit daring, it's a blast. I can say that going over the top of a dune when you can't see the sand beyond is like the crest of the 1st drop on a roller coaster. We spent a couple hours in the dunes and it was dark by the time we made it back to the camp.
At the camp we were served a catered buffet dinner of Arabic food and were able to enjoy the atmosphere of the camp or climb to the top of the dune to see what was on the other side. Our tents were traditional bedouin style - with electricity of course! Cushions for sitting and sleeping were provided and turned out to be quite comfortable. Breakfast, a climb up the dune and walk to the Arabian Gulf was the order of the morning. By then, it was time for Hazem to return us to Doha.
We visited the gold souq, three times to try to find jewelry that was not outrageously priced. I can't remember if we found jewelry there but we did find some "designer" handbags by Coach and Burberry and some others. No trip to Doha would be complete without a visit or 3 to Souq Waqif for pashminas, souvenirs and some food. (I did warn you about the shopping)
We also had an unexpected treat during their stay. We were invited to a Qatari wedding. We were all quite honored to have a glimpse of this tradition within the Qatari culture. Of course we did only get to see the Women's side of the party as men and women do not socialize together the same as we do in western culture.
It is quite obvious that the women spend a significant amount of time to prepare for an event such as this. There is the hair and makeup to be done, nails, hair removal and of course a dress to find. We did not see 2 of the same dress and every dress was fancy. In Cape Breton, you can usually count on several people wearing jeans or shorts and t-shirts or casual tops at a wedding reception. That is so NOT the case at a wedding in Qatar.
Overall, we all had a great visit and I think the gals all went home with some interesting memories and some great souvenirs...
(See Mom, I didn't mention the glass door or the speed bumps!)
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