Travel Blog Posts
April 5th 2011
Almost 10 pm, and decided to do another entry. This is likely the last one. We go to the airport tomorrow night for our flight to London. We have a 6 hour layover and then a direct flight home...back Thursday afternoon. Today, We divided and conquered. Maria's mom had a driver take her to a doctor's appointment early this morning. She left me the car and I drove first thing to the golf course. There is one golf course in Qatar, Doha Golf Club. Every February, this course is the host of the Qatar Masters, a pretty big tournament on the European PGA tour. I think I've said, but past winners of the tournament have been Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Adam Scott...some big names. They have the massive trophy on display in the club house. The ... read more
April 4th 2011
Getting ready to wrap up our trip in Qatar. We leave Wednesday night (technically Thursday morning). A good chunk of Sunday was spent at Katara Beach. It's in the Cultural Village (which if you have read previous blog entries is where that coliseum amphitheatre and the Fish Market is). It costs to use this beach area - they give you wrist bands when you check in. I think it's the nicest beach area we've seen here. The sand is white and soft, and the water very blue. They have lots of activities, of which some are additional costs. We rented a 4 person paddle boat for half an hour, and distracted the kids from renting sea-dos. They have this massive inflatable play area in the water...it reminds me of that TV show Wipe Out. Ropes to ... read more
April 2nd 2011
There's not a lot new to report from our end. Weekends here are Friday and Saturdays. Friday is the religious day. Everyone seems to go out late Thursday nights here. Then Fridays, the streets are empty. Many people work 6 days a week, so Saturdays are somewhat in between. On Friday, we drove west of Doha about 30 km I guess, to where the camel race track is. We were hoping to see some races, but they were not on. We found out when we got home that the races typically happen on Saturdays. The track is very large, with paved roads on the inside and outside of the track. The camels are typically younger/smaller camels, and nowadays are ridden by robots. The camel owner, and robot operator ride on the inside of the track, often ... read more
March 31st 2011
We didn't write anything yesterday - we didn't do anything different...just did some shopping and hung out at the pool at the Hyatt. The kids did do go-karting in the mall. They had a blast doing that. Noah had to use the washroom in the mall. He came out a minute later, panic on his eyes. He couldn't use these washrooms....the toilet was built into the ground! I never did go in to see it, but they weren't your typical toilet. He managed to make it to another store and used their washroom. Today, Nick woke up at 5 am and didn't feel good. He had a high temperature and achy. So, he stayed home with Maria's mom, while Maria, Noah, and I went to the Hyatt. We hung out at the pool until 2 pm. ... read more
March 29th 2011
This morning we spent an hour or so on a boat touring the area by water. We were able to see the downtown skyline from the water. There are a lot of very different looking buildings. I'm sure architects love to design buildings here because there doesn't seem to be any conditions set for them. It's a free for all. From there, we went to the Hyatt and hung out at the pool for the afternoon. A relaxing day. Noah and I decided to go to a soccer game. An international friendly between Qatar (ranked 90th in the world) vs Russia (ranked 13). We didn't have tickets. We thought we would go and see if we could get in. We had a driver take us and drop us off within a block or two of the ... read more
March 28th 2011
Today, we had arranged for a boat to take us around the waters of Doha, but when we got there, the boat didn't have a roof...which was requested...for some shade. So, that was put on hold until tomorrow. Instead, we went on a hunt for tickets to the Russia vs Qatar soccer match. Funny thing though, we couldn't get them. We had the conceirge of the Hyatt (where the Russian team is staying) trying to find where they are sold. We were sent to one of the main malls downtown, and at one time there was a booth selling tickets, but not now. I'm going to play it by ear, but if I want to go, I'll have to just take a taxi to the stadium and see if I can get tickets. They operate a ... read more
March 27th 2011
Well, another day in the books, and we have not been part of any protests. ;o) We had a fairly quiet day today. As usual, I was up before Maria or the kids. Maria and I went for a long walk to find a place to have some breakfast. We ended up back at the Chocolate Bar. We didn't put a lot of thought into ordering, and ended up with two baskets of breads (included various types of croissants). Maria had a cappuccino and I had a white mocha. The breads came with some honey and jams. It cost 123 Qatari Riyals...which is about $40 Cdn. Gulp. The area we are in is high end (a man-made island of buildings), so everything is more expensive here than on the main land. I've been told you can ... read more
March 26th 2011
This was our second full day in Doha. All 4 of us had trouble sleeping last night. Nick woke up at 11 pm, after a couple of hour sleep, thinking it was morning. We were all awake at 2 am for a bit...but eventually had good sleeps. We all were up by 8:45 am. Today is Saturday...the second day of the weekend here. Friday is the religious day (like our Sunday), and the only things open would be some shops and grocery stores etc. On Saturdays, many people go back to work. We could hear some construction in nearby buildings. Many workers start their day quite early...around 7 am, and sometimes earlier. Kids are in school by 7:30 am - Sunday to Thursday. The weather today was on the cooler side. The wind was blowing from ... read more
March 25th 2011
I have never blogged...but going to give this a try. A somewhat last minute decision was made to visit my in-laws, who moved to Doha, Qatar last summer. They plan on living in Qatar for approximately 3 years. We wanted to make the trip once, as we would never have an opportunity like this to see another part of the world that is so different from home. We decided tonight that we should keep a blog of our trip. It's so very different, and I doubt we will experience something like this again. I remember my mom giving me a book to write a journal in when we went to Scotland in 2004. We talked about that tonight over coffee...and this blog was born. We left on Wednesday, March 23rd. Our flight to London was delayed ... read more
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