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Published: March 27th 2011
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The Diplomatic Club Well, another day in the books, and we have not been part of any protests. ;o)
We had a fairly quiet day today. As usual, I was up before Maria or the kids. Maria and I went for a long walk to find a place to have some breakfast. We ended up back at the Chocolate Bar. We didn't put a lot of thought into ordering, and ended up with two baskets of breads (included various types of croissants). Maria had a cappuccino and I had a white mocha. The breads came with some honey and jams. It cost 123 Qatari Riyals...which is about $40 Cdn. Gulp. The area we are in is high end (a man-made island of buildings), so everything is more expensive here than on the main land. I've been told you can get a good breakfast (toast, eggs, etc) for about 19 Riyals ($7 Cdn) in other parts of town.
Some of the Qatari families have maids/servants/nannies. If you are in a mall area, you will sometimes see a lady following behind carrying all the bags. At breakfast, a local family came in and sat down (all dressed up in their Sheik outfits..not sure what
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Pool area at the Diplomatic Club they are called), and the nannies had to sit at another table, their backs were turned I guess to give the family some privacy.
As we were walking back, we saw a guy with an empty water bottle, bend down and fill it up out of a fountain that was in a mall area (you know the kind that are in malls with big fountains as decoration?). We thought maybe he was going to water some plant...but no...it was to drink. Many of the men and women working in manual labor positions are from the Phillipinnes, Thailand, India or Pakistan. I guess the water in the mall fountain may be cleaner than a lot of water sources these people are used to be back home. Our kids were playing in that fountain yesterday with their hands.
We came back and had to wake Nick up around 10 am (Noah had just woken up). They sure like to sleep in! The kids had something to eat at home, and we headed out for the day. We spent the day at the Grand Hyatt, where George and Maria are members (and we are for the next 2 weeks). When we
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Inside the Diplomatic Club were there the other day, it was very busy - some corporate event. Today it was dead. Hardly anyone on the grounds - just us and the Russian National Football Club (soccer). The players were playing beach volleyball and hanging out at the pool. They play Qatar in a match in 2 days - and this was on my to do list before we came on this trip. I thought it would be fun to see this match. Russia is ranked 13th in the FIFA world rankings...so one of the best teams in the world. And they were hanging out near us. Some of the coaches, and I think one player (I couldn't recognize who was who as I'm not an expert on Russian football) were playing soccer with a small ball in an area near the pools. Nick got involved with these guys for a while. In Canada, international soccer isn't really a big deal, but some of these players are the best in the world. I just did a google search, and Russia has players that play for Chelsea, Aresenal and other English teams. And here we were sharing the same pool, and the kids playing with some
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These are called the Zig Zags. They are apartments nearby. You don't want to live in the zig...the zag is better. The zig windows collect sand of course. of them. In other parts of the world that know a lot about soccer, they would likely know who these guys were. Some of the staff seemed pretty excited.
Noah happened to be wearing an Argentina club jersey (River Plate), and the players/coaches took notice of that. One of the staff came over and said he was sorry but he cheers for Boca Juniors (River Plate's main rival in Argentina).
The staff at the Hyatt are over the top good with service. If you want to move a chair, they rush over to do it. If you want an umbrella moved, they will move it anywhere you want. They bring you endless supplies of bottled water, and every so often they walk around with trays of fruit kabobs.
I think it only got to be about 26 degrees during the day, but it sure felt hot. Later in the week it will be in the mid-30s C...and I'm sure will feel much warmer than that. We all got a boatload of sun today... a nice and relaxing day.
George left for India tonight, so it's just me, the two Maria's and the kids for the next
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The kids playing at the Hyatt few days. Tomorrow, we have reserved a boat at the Diplomatic Club to take us on a tour of the city by water. A lot of the expats here get memberships at either the Hyatt or this Diplomatic Club. Both have amazing facilities. When we walked around the Diplomatic Club, the interior was like something you'd see in Saddam Hussein's palaces (not that I know from personal experience though). The walls and ceilings were all decorated with very intricate finishing. Lots of gold trim (obviously not real gold...I think). Fancy flowers all over the place.
There are three car dealerships about 2 blocks from here. We window shopped there yesterday. I can't decide between a Ferrari, Maserati, or Rolls Royce. *shaking head* I don't think they have any of these dealerships in Calgary, otherwise I may have already purchased one or two. We would look pretty good pulling up in one of those to our new 150 foot yacht parked out front. Maybe a few more years of work before we get there.
Tonight, we went to Souq Waqif, which translates to "standing market". Rather than me try and explain what this is...I copied this from wikipedia: "this
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Maria at Souq Waqif. shopping destination is renowned for selling traditional garments, spices, handicrafts, and souvenirs. It is also home to dozens of restaurants serving cuisines from all over the world, as well as Shisha lounges. Although this market dates back at least a hundred years, it has been recently restored back to its original glory. It is now considered one of the top tourist destinations within Doha."
First, I felt like we were in the reality show, The Amazing Race. We took a cab to get there (40 Riyals/$13 Cdn approx). The driver was from India I believe...and couldn't speak english (and I didn't expect him to). He didn't know where he was going, needed to get gas along the way, took us to the wrong spot...and on and on. We eventually got there. This place is a mostly outdoor market, with stalls all along these snaking alleyways. Some lanes are very small...others a bit wider. It was packed with people. You could buy almost anything you wanted in these shops. Most shops were very tiny (maybe fit 1 or 2 people in them). They like to negotiate....but Maria's first attempt didn't go well. She offended the shop owner with her counter
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One of the narrow lanes of the souq. offer. So we went to the next shop...heh heh.
We bought a few souvenirs, and might go back again before we go home. There were many people sitting around smoking those hookahs. They looked so relaxed I had to question what they were smoking. Some older guys make a living by pushing these wheelbarrows, looking to carry people's purchases back out to the streets. I have to say, this place was out of this world. For whatever reason, we felt very uncomfortable at first, but we eventually relaxed and took everything in. The kids were sitting to the side on the ground of one of the narrow lane ways, and the locals were walking by laughing, giving them the thumbs up.
On our way back home, as we were going through one of the round-abouts, the vehicle in front was going much faster. He went up on his two right wheels, and had to quickly correct before flipping over. They drive like maniacs here....and many round-abouts, and about 75% of the time they stay in the correct lanes.
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Tomiji
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hi
Wow, it looks like you guys are having great time!! And OMG, pink, blue, purple chicks!! Perfect for Easter... Have a safe trip!!