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Published: March 25th 2011
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A quick dip into the water at the HyattI 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 an hour, waiting for the plane to be de-iced. We had a nice 9 hour flight to London. With a 3 hour lay-over, we were not rushed as we changed terminals. We had time to grab some food at a restaurant and point out some of the differences between home and England to the kids. It's "chips" not fries. It's "pounds" not dollars.
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The kids are still learning to trust the fact you float in salt water. And it's bloody expensive.
From London, we had a direct flight to Doha on Qatar Airways...this one only 6 1/2 hours. The flight alone was quite the experience. It's considered a 5-star airline. The first class makes Air Canada's first class seem like the slums. I wouldn't know from experience though...just from a far. First class on Qatar, you get your own entrance to the airplane. When you arrive, they let first class off first...where a BMW or Mercedes picks you up and drives you to a separate first class terminal. Once the first class flyers are gone, they let everyone else off. Economy on Qatar Airways is very nice though. The seats are more spacious. They are constantly serving you food and drink - all free. You are offered hot towels to freshen up. The flight attendants are very friendly. Our flight attendant thought our kids were funny. Nick asked for a Root Beer....and the flight attendant had never heard of it. She even thought it was strange that our kids ordered the beef meal. I've heard that it's more common for the men to order the chicken...but I haven't verified that yet.
The other interesting thing
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Noah, working on his tan. was where we flew to get here. Our path brought us over the corner of Syria, right through the middle of Iraq (Bagdad was just to our right), right next to Iran, and right next to Bahrain. I was anxious before hand knowing that we would flying through these areas, but it was uneventful. I looked out my window at Iraq down below...and thought a lot about what these skies and the land had seen/experienced over the past 10 years.
Qatar is a small chunk of land that sticks out from Saudi Arabia into the Persian Gulf. I've been told there are just over 1 million people living in Qatar, most in the capital city of Doha. Of those, only about 250,000 of those are true Qatar people. There are many people from other parts of the world that live here now -India, Pakistan, Europe, and some North Americans (but so far I haven't seen many of us). It's a very wealthy country...thanks to oil. It's a lot like Dubai I've been told.
My in-laws live in a place called The Pearl. It's a man-made island that is supposed to look like a string of pearls. It's still
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George and Maria being built. The main island has about 20 or more towers being built, all about 20 stories tall. At the base of these towers are 3 or 4 story town homes (which is where George and Maria live. In the middle of the island, it's hollowed out, with a huge marina. All along the promenade are stores and restaurants. The older part is about 3 years old, where you will find high end shops, and restaurants like Maze from Gordon Ramsay, an Italian restaurant owned by Placido Domingo, and more. There are some amazing yachts in the marina as well. The part they live in is called Porto Arabia - with a Morocco theme. There are other areas being built to look like Venice in Italy etc, with canals and all. This entire area is an island...man made, and still in progress.
The sky line is full of cranes. The entire city is being built up more and more...and with the announcement of Qatar hosting the 2022 World Cup for soccer, the development is going to only accelerate. There are some buildings that are at a stand-still...owned by Dubai companies who have run into financial trouble.
We got
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A private residence at the Hyatt into Doha about 12:30 am Thursday night/Friday morning. We drove to our home for the next 2 weeks, and hit the sack, sleeping very well. We ended up sleeping until about noon...and it was hard to get the kids up. There is a 9 hour time difference here. Right now, as I write this, it's 9:30 pm on Friday....but my computer shows it being 12:30 pm back home. It will take a few days to adjust I imagine. Our kids were exhausted tonight.
When we got up "this morning", we had a bite to eat - we'll call that lunch. We then took a short drive to the Hyatt. George and Maria have a membership here, where they can use the spa, pool and beach facilities. They arranged for us to have a 2 week pass as well. The facility is very nice. The grounds are all well kept, with palm trees and pool after pool. There was a big company function going on today, so it was busy, otherwise it usually pretty quiet. We are given our own lockers and have access to various steam rooms, jacuzzis, ice cold plunge pools etc. We had to educate the kids
on proper etiquette here. They are very private people...so no walking around with your junk exposed. There are private showers, private change rooms etc. It will take a few days to train our kids not to throw their dripping wet swimsuits on the couches etc. We will be spending quite a bit of time at this facility.
Maria Sr. (will say Sr.when talking about my mother in law and not my wife) was working out in the gym at the Hyatt in November, and along side her were players from the Argentina soccer team, who were here to play Brazil.
After spending the afternoon at the Hyatt, we came back and had some dinner. From there, we headed out along the walkway out front. Our plan was to take a water taxi across to the mainland to attend the Doha Marine Festival. It looks to be a big festival with various shows and things going on. The traffic is very bad to get to it...which is why we looked to take the water tax rather than drive. After waiting an hour, we gave up, and decided we will go tomorrow, the last day of the festival. Instead, we
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Noah, digging to North America...get it? Can't dig to China because it's on this side. yuk yuk went for a walk, looking at all the shops along the marina. We stopped and had some gelato and coffee at The Chocolate Bar (it is supposed to be a very popular place in New York, with locations in Dubai and here as well). Our snacks and drinks were very good.
Tomorrow we have reservations for lunch at Maze, Gordon Ramsay's restaurant. Afterwards, we will beat the rush for the water taxis to the Marina Festival.
We really haven't seen much yet, however what we have seen is so different from home. There are sheiks everywhere. Ladies dressed all in black, many with just their eyes visible. We are told not to stare at the women. George says they will say they are dressed that way for religious reasons, but the underlying reason is that the men do not want people staring at their wives. They can be jealous. I have to say, though, they have very nice eyes. The sheiks robes (I'm not sure if that's what you call it) are very clean, white and pressed. I'm not sure where they keep their stuff (i.e. keys, wallet, phone). The men seem to be together in groups. The
women seem to be in their own group. The men will be sitting at a table together...all on their blackberries or iphones...or whatever type of phone they have. The women will be at another table together...all in black. Very, very different.
The plan is to write a bit each day. It likely won't be as long as today's, as so much is new to us today. We will also try and upload some pictures...but have to figure out how to do so first.
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anonymous
non-member comment
Spot the canadians coming from a long winter ;)