Doha - at home with the Storm family

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Hello everyone from sunny Doha....the city where it never seems to rain.

Well I've been here for over a week now but have been busy uploading my Africa shots so haven't had much of a chance to write anything.

I've been having a lovely time hanging out with the Storm family and seeing what their life in Doha, Qatar is like. And I have to say it's quite different to life back in NZ with early school hours due to the heat, a myriad of nationalities everywhere you go, no drinking in most places (except 5 star hotels and in the privacy of your own home), petrol at about 20 cents a litre, mad Qatari's driving like maniacs, sand, sand and more sand, white and beige buildings as far as the eye can see, oh and did I mention lots of sand!

So I arrived last Saturday which is actually Sunday here as the weekend is Friday and Saturday (Friday is the holy day) and Trudi had a welcome bbq organised in the compound that she lives in so I got to meet a few of their friends. The next couple of days were pretty quiet as I tried to get over the lack of sleep over the last few days. The shops are open until about 11.30pm here so Trudi and I went out in the evening to check out the local shopping centre called Villagio that has a canal with gondolas....modelled on the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas I guess.

Trudi had Tuesday and Wednesday off work so we did the rounds of the other shopping centres in the mornings before doing the school run in the afternoons.....with time for lots of coffee and cake stops :-) We had a night out on Tuesday with Justins friend David....went to the W hotel for cocktails, dinner and drinks...with a little dancing. It was a fabulous night at a lovely hotel....from the pre-dinner mohito to the over the top bathrooms (photo incl) it was fabulous.

There is an incredible amount of construction going on here with the skyline filled with half finished buildings and cranes. A lot of the buildings are apartments and you can't help but wonder how they intend on filling them all....it'll be interesting to see what Dubai is like as they say that Doha is what Dubai was 15 or so years ago.

On Friday we made a trip into the city and went for a ride on a dow boat in the harbour then headed to the souk (markets) to visit the animals with Oli and Harrison (2 of Trudis children) then wandered around the rest of the market which was a mix of kitchen stores, head scarves, spices and lots of knick knack shops. We decided to head home early as we had a big day in the desert on Saturday...............................

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Comments

[Robin]

Doha
I am sooooo jealous of you spending time with my daughter and grandsons.

[Trud]

a 13 hour stop-over in Doha
Hey Tracey: Great pics and description of Doha. I am a new travelblog.org member and I am looking for info. I'm travelling to Bangladesh via Doha. It appears to be easy enough to get a transit visa for a day in Doha so I was just wondering what you would reccommend I do, with a 6 hour and then a 13 hour stop-over in Doha. Trudy (that is my real name - funny that your friend in Doha has the same)

[TraceyB]

Info on stopover in Doha
Hi Trudy Thanks for the feedback on my travel blog :-) To be honest with you there isn't a lot of touristy stuff to do in Doha....if you are going to be there during the day on the 6 hour stopover the options are really to go to the Islamic Art Museum (short taxi ride from the airport) or to a shopping centre...Landmark is probably a good one as Villagio is quite a distance or you could head to the corniche and take a dhow ride on the water...the dhows aren't far from the museum. Or if you are there in the late afternoon or evening a dhow ride and a wander around Souk Wakif is a good option...the souk isn't far from the museum. For the 13 hour stopover you could always look into going out to the desert on a tour and doing a spot of dune bashing in a 4wd, but once again it depends on the time of day. Public transport is pretty much non existent so you'll need to use taxis and they are relatively cheap. Happy travels....hope this has helped. Cheers Tracey

[Trud]

Hi Tracey: Thanks very much. I will defintiely visit the Islamic Art Museum on the short stay and probably the souk on the longer lay-over. Happy travels to you too. Trudy.