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Published: March 28th 2011
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Photo 2
Part of the downtown skyline. Some different looking buildings. 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 little different here. They give lots of tickets to the Qataris and often they go unused. It will be Noah and I going, if we decided to go. Maria, Maria and Nick are going to stay back.
We spent about 30 minutes in a small travel agency booking a desert safari for Thursday. We will be going dune bashing, having a bbq out
Photo 3
Lots of construction. in the desert, do some sand boarding and riding camels. As well, we've timed it so we can see the sun set in the desert, which is so supposed to be pretty cool.
We had lunch in a place called The Fish Market. There is a 3 month waiting list for dinner reservations, but we went at lunch and showed up, which they got us seated. It's a pretty cool concept. They bring you a big basket of vegetables, and you make your own veggie appetizer with that stuff. You go up and there is a long display of fresh seafood. You pick out what you want, and they literally cook that fish for you. They hold it up, ask if this one is good, and off they go. We ordered this big red snapper, and they serve it family style. Two big plates and everyone digs in. The only women in the main part of the restaurant were non-locals. The arab women were in another part of the restaurant in a family section. Interesting.
This may sound disturbing, but stick with me here....I saw under a couple of women's arab gowns. The way they were walking, you
could see what they were wearing underneath. They looks pretty mysterious....many of them completely covered, even their entire faces under a veil. Some have their eyes showing, and some have their faces showing. So, you gotta wonder what the heck is under neath. Well they were wearing trendy jeans! The malls are full of all sorts of stores with normal clothing in it...so you gotta thing someone is buying the stuff. Well these women wear normal clothes under there. Never knew that.
We've uploaded a few of the pictures from puttzing around town today. The weather wasn't great today. Maybe 26C but pretty blustery. The sun was out, but it didn't feel too hot.
We hung out at the Hyatt pool for a couple of hours and then headed home.
Maria and I went out for supper to a nice Italian restaurant called Bice. The kids stayed home with Maria's mom. They must eat late here, because there was only one other couple in the restaurant for the first hour. More came in later. We had a table at the edge of a balcony overlooking the ocean, with the Doha skyline in the background. I'm not sure
Photo 5
A shelter for children. This facility is state of the art, with the best of everything. They want the kids to grow up with access to things, which will help them when they are adults. there could have been a better view for eating.
Most people don't tip here. It's not expected. I found it very tough not to tip after eating a fairly pricey meal. We did leave 25 riyals, which apparently is a lot for them. Divide that by 3 for the approximate Cdn $'s....not very much for a 2 hour meal.
Most thing are free here. Parking is free everywhere. Museums etc are free. Another difference between here and home...instead of washing your car to get the snow, salt, etc off the vehicles, here they wash them to get the sand off. Where do they wash? Most of the big underground parking lots (i.e. at malls, office buildings etc) have people from India walking around with buckets, and you pay them to wash the car while you are doing your stuff. Clean car costs 10 riyals...$3 Cdn approx. Considering how dusty it can be here, most vehicles seem pretty clean.
Nothing exciting today. Figured we'd throw up some pictures.
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Ron Deitz
non-member comment
Food...
And today at lunch I had the quarter pounder meal with fries and diet coke...they eat that stuff over here! and they cooked it for me too !!