Western Qatar

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I woke up fairly early this morning and convinced myself to go driving before the crazies got on the road. So I headed west. I took Salwa towards the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, then veered right towards Umm Bab (Love the name, though the town was nothing). It was mostly just me on lonely stretches of two-lane road, which somewhat worried me since I forgot my phone. Ooops! I passed ... well... desert. I saw occasional groups of sheep and goats with their shepherds, which was pretty cool. The closer you get to the western coast, the more it becomes industrial. Qatar Petroleum owns much of this area for their support facilities. This means NO PHOTOGRAPHY! There were signs against photography and "warning" signs all over the place which was a little frightening. It's also unfortunate because the gulf waters were sooooo blue and beautiful, but I was too frightened to take any photos. As I headed north towards Dukkan, another QP city, it become more hilly and quite beautiful. With the exception of heavy industry all over. I'd heard to turn north towards Zakreet to see some cool geologic outcrops, but i missed my exit and was a little freaked out with all the industry and warning signs anyway, especially without my phone.

I turned north at the next exit and head up past some minor towns, which were neat in their own respect. I saw fully functioning, non-touristy wind towers, more herds of sheep, some camels, and lots of desert. I reached a tiny town of Al Jamaliyah (sp?) and turned back south towards Doha. On this stretch, there were many huuuuuge houses and compounds, surrounded by tall walls. Then I passed the camel race track (I think it would be neat to see a camel race in the near future) and headed east to Doha. I got to drive by the Emir's giant palace grounds which appear to be under construction. You can't see anything but a towering wall with watch towers, but it is huge.

Then, I turned home and stopped at a grocery store. Actually, by this time it was almost noon and I was starving, so I stopped by McDonald's, one of the few places open before 1 on Fridays. But they were only serving breakfast, which I didn't want. I took it as a sign of my new healthy lifestyle and went to the grocery store to pick up a few things. So, I made a late breakfast of a crostini with labneh and strawberries - an idea I took from a cute cafe Jamie and I went to in Abu Dhabi. yum. And now I have beef stroganoff in my slow cooker for my dinner. It smells soooo good...

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Photos

Sheep in a truck
a usual sight

Road Trip
KSA = Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Another Shepherd
with a mule to assist

The Gulf
If you look closely, you can see the west coast of Qatar and the Arabian Gulf (it is NOT called Persian Gulf here)

Camels
I don't know why I always get so happy when I see camels...

The Royal Palace
And pretty much all you can see of it...

Yum breakfast
Crostini with labneh and strawberries

Comments

[Steve]

Surreal

[Romsa]

Once again, awesome pictures
Hello Pookie Those are great photos. I'm quite jealous of your roadtrip. Do the goats ever run across the roads?

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