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Published: March 26th 2011
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Photo 2
We woke up to a sand storm...couldn't see downtown from our place. This was our second full day in Doha.
All 4 of us had trouble sleeping last night. Nick woke up at 11 pm, after a couple of hour sleep, thinking it was morning. We were all awake at 2 am for a bit...but eventually had good sleeps.
We all were up by 8:45 am. Today is Saturday...the second day of the weekend here. Friday is the religious day (like our Sunday), and the only things open would be some shops and grocery stores etc. On Saturdays, many people go back to work. We could hear some construction in nearby buildings. Many workers start their day quite early...around 7 am, and sometimes earlier. Kids are in school by 7:30 am - Sunday to Thursday.
The weather today was on the cooler side. The wind was blowing from early morning all day. The temperature got to 26 C, somewhat cool for here. With the wind blowing, the sand blows too. It was very hazy, and while driving, sand would blow across the road, like our snow does back home. Still a good break from the snow.
After some breakfast, we headed out in two groups. Maria Sr., Maria Jr
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On the outskirts of the city...the sand is blowing around. and Noah went off to the market to get some groceries. They stopped along the way for some pictures. George, myself and Nick went in another direction. Our first stop was the Doha Golf Club. Every February, this course hosts the Qatar Masters, a European PGA event, with many of the top golfers participating. Past winners include Adam Scott, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen. I inquired about making a tee-time for later in our trip. I brought my golf shoes, some balls and tees. I'll have to rent clubs though. The club house is a traditional arabic building...very interesting.
I finally found a bank machine that would accept my debit card. The only machines that work for a TD bank account are the HSBC machines. All others will reject the transaction. It's nice to have some cash...thankfully there are english numbers on the bills next to the arabic symbols.
We were able to drive to the outskirts of the city today. This is where you really see a difference in everything. The houses are nothing like back home. We'll include some pictures to get an idea. Along the way, we passed the University. Next to the main university
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A residential neighbourhood. is a building that houses a branch of the University of Calgary (they have a nursing school here), along with a branch of Texas A&M. So the Canadian flag was flying next to the Qatari one. Very small world, in some ways.
George drives a Nissan Murano and we had to fill up with gas today. If the tank is empty, it would cost about $15 Cdn to fill. In Canada, that vehicle might cost $70 to fill, maybe more? It's hard to gauge prices here. Some things are very expensive, while others are very cheap. Maria Sr. was saying you can sometimes pay up to $8 Cdn for a large zuchini. Typically, if it's something that involves labour and is local, it is likely inexpensive. If it has to be shipped in, it's typically expensive. I'm sure we will know more about this as the trip goes on.
For lunch, we had reservations at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant, Maze. It's about a block or two from our place, along the boardwalk that we overlook. We had an amazing lunch. We happened to be the first people to taste their new lunch menu, literally. They kept coming over to
ask us our thoughts. The menu was a 3-course meal, where you have 3 choices to choose from for each course. There wasn't a course that we didn't like. Noah loved his white snapper. Nick enjoyed his octopus carpaccio. Maria had the snapper as well, while I tackled the Australian veal. The desert was amazing! We didn't see Gordon Ramsay, but the way the building was designed, you could see into the kitchen easily. It was very clean and organized, and after watching several episodes of Kitchen Nightmares, I can certainly see the difference in his places compared to some of the places he visits. We have talked about coming back next week, and making different choices for our meals, just to try different things. The presentation of the food was like nothing I've seen at McDonalds or Wendys back home.
We came back for a mid-afternoon nap/quiet time, which was a nice break in the day. We headed back out around 4 pm to head over to the Marine Festival. It was the last day for the annual festival, that I think runs for about 2 to 2 1/2 weeks. There were several things going on at the
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A typical neighbourhood. festival. There were some sports being played, lots of exhibitions, sand castle building competition, and several shows going on. There is no cost for admission, and all the shows were free. We really noticed the diverse make-up of this country today. There were extremely long lines forming for shows that started well over an hour later, and when you look at the lines, they were mostly Indians (people from India). We had a discussion about how different the people are from many of the countries. The Pakistani people do not like to talk to the India people, and vice versa. The Qatari people seem to be treated differently than anyone else. I was told that here, it didn't matter what it was for, if there was a line, the Indians liked to start lining up. Sure enough, 90% of the thousand people line up were Indian. We decided to skip that show.
There was an indoor exhibit, like an aquarium, where there was another line. We decided to stand in this line...again mostly Indians, and us. As we got near the front of the line, I was surprised to see how the different races are treated. Qataris were able
Photo 7
I'm learning more and more arabic. The sign on the right says McDonalds. No, I didn't eat there. to walk up, and past security, and right into the exhibit. Some Indians tried to walk in with some Qataris, and they were held back and told to get in the long line, yet the Qataris were able to walk right in. I was in the extreme minority, so I just kept quiet and held my spot in line.
A funny thing happened at the festival. A female, dressed all in black, with her face fully covered, other than her eyes (obviously a local), stopped and asked Maria for directions.
The wind today made it tough to really enjoy being outdoors. You could see spots where the sand was starting to build up (like sand dunes) against curbs etc. We are staying in one of the nicest, if not the nicest, part of Doha, and today we were able to see the regular parts of the city, and be around the locals. It was very eye opening. We will spend a lot of time at the beach or at nice swimming pools, but this vacation is different. It's not a place that I would go to relax and unwind. It's been well worth the trip to see such
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Maria's venture to a market...here are several types of olives. a different way of life. We'll upload a few of the pictures from today.
We saw one military jet fly over us today, otherwise I haven't noticed anything that would lead me to believe there is a lot of unrest in the area. The US has a large air force base 20 miles west of here, and at times, bombers will take off. As well, Qatar has military jets participating in the Libya "war", but I don't think the jets can fly directly there from here. They stop in Italy to refuel I believe.
Tomorrow, we are going to see what the weather is like, and plan the day accordingly. Sunday is a work day, so George goes back to work, and then has to fly to India in the evening for 3 days. We are all tired from the walking today. I think the wind can wear a guy down too. It's 8 pm and most of us are ready for bed. Hopefully we sleep through the night, and should be fully adapted to the time zone here tomorrow.
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Jeff Deitz
non-member comment
أشكركم على حفظ لنا تحديث كافة على بلوق. يجعل ثديي متحمس.
أتمنى أن تكون وجود رحلة عظيمة. هناك طن من الثلوج في الوطن وأحب عاصفة رملية قادمة من هنا وضربة. في اليومين الأخيرين كان هناك الامطار المتجمدة والقيادة لها الكثير من المرح لا. أحب بلوق ، وتشعر انها تقريبا مثل ونحن هناك! يبدو أنك رفاق هي وجود وقت كبير تتمتع الماعز. جيف الحب، تريزا، هانا والفلفل