Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas Travelers, I look out on the white dunes a poorer, poorer man from this point in Qatar. I must admonish in advance that my sleep schedule since leaving Japan (and even before, to be perfectly honest) has been less circadian rhythmic and more circadian 'atonal, uncoordinated deaf child doing the macarena' (I bet there's a youtube video of that, but I swear I just made that up for illustrative purposes). I'm actually in fairly good spirits having slept a couple of hours and having decided to splurge on the $15 travel adapter (Why didn't I buy [View Full Entry]

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I'm deeply opposed to thumb twiddling in airports. But what can you do with three hours in Doha? Lots, as it turns out. We met camels, saw the sunset over the Dhow Harbour, and walked the Corniche, where local lads had parked up their cars and turned up the Arabic pop full volume. There was a very fitting crescent moon once it got dark and a hot, foreign breeze. All of this was much better than mooching around in Duty Free and was only made slightly tense by the fact that it took us forty minutes to flag a cab to [View Full Entry]

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Doha is truly fascinating in all facets of Islamic religion, culture, surroundings, incredible wealth and people. This is all obvious as soon as I left the airport, although I was exhausted after 4 long flights from Canada I was kept awake by the excitement of the new environment. The 40C heat was bearable due to low humidity although I am now a fan of siestas after getting up at the crack of dawn; the city becomes alive at 5.30am. Qatar has a population of 910,000, only 20% of the population is Qatari and the rest are mainly from the Indian Continent. [View Full Entry]

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We enjoyed a Dune Bashing trip near the Sealine along with a dessert style overnite camping right on the ocean. Much of Qatar's oil and natural gas wealth is visible in Doha, which is the economical centre of Qatar. Doha is home to the headquarters of the country's largest oil and gas companies. Like the nearby city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Doha's economy is moving away from its dependency on the oil and natural gas industries, although unlike Dubai, Doha's main focus is not tourism. Construction is also booming in Doha, a result of increasing corporate and commercial [View Full Entry]

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Flight en route from Manchester to Ho Chi Minh City. We stayed at the SAS Radisson at Manchester Airport on Saturday evening, avoiding a very early drive from Shropshire. We had a so-so meal with Jen sending her fish back (of course) and middling service that meant free coffee and liquors and some of the cost written of. We'd have rather paid full price for what could have been a perfect dinner... The Servisair lounge at Manchester couldn't find the paperwork to charge us for Jen's entry so both of us were admitted on the strength if my IoD card. This [View Full Entry]

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After a couple of car bookings went missing I found myself in Doha airport sans wheels, and since I know my way round the the slums of Calcutta better than the average taxi driver knows his way round Doha, I resorted to Hassan Baghazal Trading Est. (Rent a Car Division). On the phone I spoke to someone who's name sounded like "Mr. Lovely", but I assumed that a combination of telephone and background noise, and English not being his first language, I had misheard somehow. Not the case. But the funny thing is, he is actually a really nice bloke. Well [View Full Entry]

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Sternzeit :: 0.17.92 :: Den ersten Teil der Anreise haben wir hinter uns. Wir sind planmaessig in Doha gelandet und muessen uns 6 Stunden bis zum Anschlussflug totschlagen. Das Essen hier auf dem Flughafen ist ein kleiner Vorgeschmack auf das, was uns ev. erwarten koennte, denn nicht einmal die Pommes haben so geschmeckt wie sie ausgesehen haben. Das schreit eigentlich nach einem Schnapserl, doch leider sind unsere Flachmaenner im Reisegepaeck (Mist). Im schlimmsten Fall muessen wir uns halt mit Imodium volldroehnen :). Fotos gibts dann hoffentlich beim naechsten Mal, denn anscheinend gibts hier noch keine USB Schnittstellen .... Testeintrag Ende. [View Full Entry]

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The seven-hour flight aboard the Qatar Airlines Airbus went surprisingly quickly. Leaving behind the frost and cold of England, Angela and I arrived at Doha International, straight into the scorching heat of the desert. The temperature was easily hitting the middle thirties. Welcome to winter in the Middle East! Clare Jackson, Angela’s old neighbour who now lived in Qatar as a teacher at an English-speaking school was there to meet us. “This city is changing very quickly,” she told us as we drove through central Doha. Outside, a forest of skyscrapers was being built, about ninety of them Clare told us. [View Full Entry]

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If you didn't know already, I'll provide a quick update on my recent activities. I packed in my job having decided I'd regret not travelling before settling down; those who've known me for a while know I've been considering this for far too long before actually deciding to do it. I handed my notice at the end of April, rented my house by the end of July, finished work at the end of August and set-off on the 14th September for one year's worth of travelling solo. The plan was to visit Qatar, UAE and Oman, India, South East Asia, Australia, [View Full Entry]

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"I'm sorry sir, the only car we have left is a big one sir" said Maylene, the girl behind the Hertz desk at Doha International Airport. "How much for the day?" I asked. "300 Riyals sir" she told me. "I'll take it please" I said, handing over my credit card, passport and driving licence. I'm not really that interested in cars with less than one gearbox but I thought having a Chevy Caprice or a Dodge Charger for a day might be fun, especially as I had to go up to Ras Laffan on the North East side of the Peninsula. [View Full Entry]

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