Sand, sand and sand

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Actually i was kind of sad when we all left home to head for the airport. All of my other friends had to stay at home. Well at least ojo and rene were there. As usually we were too early at the airport. But ojo made new friends quickly. they wished him a good flight and lots of fish.
i was very exited, becaus it was my very first flight. and i did not know how tigers like hights. and there is no way i share a air sickness bag with ojo.
then rene went thru security. for some reason we we x-rayed twice. i told ojo not to make any funny faces in the x-ray machine, but he did it anyways.
we ckecked out if the flight was on time, and it was.
now this was a biggi! all the people had a seat, not like in the u-bahn rene sometimes takes me. we even had fish as a menue. and ojo and i got tired very quickly. the even had little sleeping bags for us. actually they were ment for rene, because they were filled with socks, a toothbrush, and something to cover his ears and eyes.
now that looked funny on him. but this way he got a little bit of sleep. we of course had a first class bed on his tray. we cuddled up and were asleep in no time. they woke me up for duty free. but there was nothing i wanted to buy. ojo wanted to buy a qatar airlines bear. but was to shy to ask then.
ojo was very brave on the flight. he was so happy with the fish, that he forgot all about the hight and puking. he even had a good look out the window, when we were flying into doha. this looked so beautiful.
we came in from the sea and the mornig was just about to come. everying was grey and blue and i could see million of bright orange lights lining the streets. and when we were landing there was so much sand. i have never seen so much sand before. this might be the dessert they told me about.
or maybe they had a lot of snow and put out the sand so nobody would slip and fall.
nah, not really. it was so warm outside. i think i am beginning to shed for my summer fur.
to go thru immigration ojo and i were told to hide in the bag again. although we complained, rene said, he did not want to but a visum for both of us.
besides that, i forgot my passport. well, thinking about it, i dont even have a passport. mybe i can get one in india. well, its tigercountry, isnt it.
rene says, in india you can get everything. well. i guess he is right.

we then took a taxi to the hotel and finally i saw so many palm trees. very beautiful. i wanted to honk the horn, but the driver would not let me. rats!

the hotel was a bit run down and a bit outside the city. but rene told me, all doha is like that. well, i guess i am used to big berlin.

the indians are running the hotel. but they dont have a tiger there. they were very happy, when rene was talking hindi to them. sincethen veryone is very friendly in the hotel. nice people.

rene was very tired and went to bed after a quick shower. either he has discvered a new taste for jasmine soap it was the only soap in the bathroom. well he smelled lovely. hihihi. the donkeys would love it. they always eat flowers at home, but they would never admit it. maybe i bring some soap for them. but maybe they eat it then and start foaming. i told the idea to ojo and he packed some soap immediately.

while rene was sleeping ojo and i sneaked out to see the neighbourhood. or the hood, as coolojo calls it. no bears and no tigers. no fish either. just sand and a fast food restaurant with funny arabic letters. but we were not hungry for chicken from kentucky. unfortunately they dont make fishburger or grillfish. or fish and chips.

it was so hot. i hope i can get rid of my winter fur quickly. and i need to get some sandals. the tarmac was so hot ojo and i had to run to not burn our feet. maybe i will get a arabian wite suit or at least a scarf for the head. must look cool on me. we will see. ojo says he rather waits till india. he wants to get a bright orange turban with gold edges. then he wants to learn hindi and i must call him mahabaloo witch means big bear in hindi. i think ojo was out in the sun far too long today.

back in the room we had a good look at the telefon. it has numbers and funny numbers on them. but the phone is not working anyways.
ojo tried to call roomservice to order the big fish platter. he always does than when rene is asleep. and he askes the waiter to put it down in front of the door and put the menu on the hotel bill. rene does not seem to mind.

in the evening we went out in a souk, which is a bazaar. sort of wal mart in arabia. i was surprised all the things they sell there. rene bought some incence and a burner. i am already looking forward to the smell later on. there were so many little shops there. the floor was very dusty and the roof was made out of wood. very nice. a little bit like in a movie set. but this was the real world.
but then we were all quite tired. the heat was still on and we went back to our hotelgarden to have a nice bbq with the indian friends.

i had chicken kebab. i think. i am not quite sure. there were so many new spices. ojo had fishcurry. i think he is even brighter orange today. he must be a currybear. no doubt about that.

so this was our first day in arabia.

the next day we slept in till 11 in the morning. rene went out to a barber shop to get a good shave. he did not bring a shaver with him. now this was very funny. they poured some whip cream in his face and had a really sharp knife to take it off again. well, rene told me it wasnt cream but soap instead. he smelled funny again. then he got a face peeling and a head massage, too. they seemed to like his blond hair.

i really dont understand, what shaving is all about. i would never get the idea of getting rid of my fur. although it is very hot at the moment. humans are funny sometimes.

we went to a big shopping mall afterwards. ojo met more bears here and they were armed. but i think they were just playing tough bears, as they cuddled a lot with ojo, too. he really makes new friends quickly. they showed him a place that only sells honey. ojo says the iranian honey he has tried is surely one of the best he has ever had.

then we took a stroll thru the city along the seaside. there is no beach there, well maybe they used all the sand for building the dessert. there were some small boats there, but thank god, noone would go all the way to the other side of the bay, where the bazar is. i dont like boats so much, actually i like boats but not the water. well after all i am a cat - sort of - i think. so we took a taxi instead. txis are fun. they always speed and drive like in italy.

the reflection of the skyscrapers looked so nice after sunset.

we went back to the bazar to look around. it was much bigger, than we thought yesterday. there was a road coverd with sand and a nice cafe. now this is kind of cool. there are benches with big pillows, where you can sit or even lie down. rene had to take his shoes off and ojo and i had to clean our paws. then we tried arabian coffee with cardamon. somehow i like tea with milk or just milk better. maybe thats the cat in me.

and of course ojo had to order a shisha. a shisha is a big bottle filled with water and some tobacco smoke going thru it. it had a nice smell of ripe apples. ojo always had to cough when he was drawing on the pipe, but the smoke coming out of him was looking kind of funny.

I swear he was pale orange for a while. but he always has to try out those things.

the arabian men where very friendly to rene. he says, they always look a bit angry, but are very kind and helpful if you talk to them. and they seem to like germany a lot.

on our way thru the bazaar we ran into a shop, that was guarded by real falcons. they had their eyes covered like rene in the airplane. maybe this is a thing about flying that i dont understand.

the shopkeeper was a very friendly man. and he was wearing the same white dress that many men wear here. he looked a bit like he just came back from the dessert. he told rene, that people from doha have fun with very simple things, like horses, camels and falcons. they like to go hunting with the falcons. tell all our bunny friends at home, to be aware of that, when they come here.

maybe next time i will go hunting in the dessert, too. after all i am a big tiger.

back at the hotel we sat in the garden and had bbq again. somehow rene is concerned about his tummy. he says he rather sticks to food he knows. last time he was in india, the spicy food gave him a hard time, but until now everything is going well.

the garden looks really nice at night, with all the lights and the smell of the bbq is great. ojo was not so hungry this evening. he was a bit quiet, too. maybe he should not have smoked that shisha. but it looked really cool. too bad rene didnt take a picture.

so i hope everything goes well with the flight to delhi. it is a night flight again. maybe we will get new sleeping bags and fish. we will see.

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Photos

Ojo makes friends quickly
Its easy for a bear to make friends at bearlin!

militant bears
even the bears are armed here in doha.

coffee break
the first time i had arabian coffee.