Doha

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo 1: view from Christopher's apartment. Note the imaginative modern architecture and the dusty air.

Photo 2: Phil and Christopher at the Museum of Islamic Art.

Photo 3: Dhow with very common background scene i.e. construction site.

Photo 4: Us having pretend gondola ride at Villaggio Mall.

Photo 5: inside Villaggio Mall.

Photo 6: Brunch at W Hotel with Christopher's friends from the local theatre.

Photo 7: Souk at night.

Doha is a real revelation for us. The city comprises an older, traditional part and a massive new area of skyscrapers most of which have been built in the last 15 years. The Qataris have a huge national income from oil – so much that there is no income tax and money is no object when designing and constructing buildings. As a result the modern buildings reflect a great variety of imaginative designs. The ACT Government could learn a hell of a lot about modern art and architecture from the Arabs.

Construction is underway everywhere in this town. There are huge numbers of foreign workers on the building sites, most apparently from Bangladesh, Syria and some other Asian countries. They certainly make a big contribution to the local economy.

The city is very vibrant and full of life at all hours except the afternoon when it is too hot to even think! The traffic is heavy most of the time and the most favoured approach to driving seems to be rather Darwinian – the most aggressive driver with the fastest car survives, the others get stuck in traffic purgatory or die trying to get out. Thank goodness Christopher knows how to drive to the conditions.

One unfortunate feature of the environment is the cloud of dust from the Saudi Arabian desert that constantly hangs over the city. Apparently they only get about 20 clear days a year. You can see from our photos that it tends to dull what would otherwise be stunning distance views of the city and environs.

On Thursday we visited the Museum of Islamic Art. The MIA has the most wonderful collections of Islamic religious and secular art including pottery, rugs, glassware, sculptures, paintings and much more dating back in many cases to the 7^th and 8^th centuries. There are Qur’ans dating from those centuries that are beautifully decorated in geometric and floral art (the depiction of people and animals is not permitted in the religious context but is in the secular). There is currently a display of swords some of which were owned by Moghul and Ottoman emperors which, despite their obvious purpose, are covered in beautifully crafted scripts. In one case the scabbard is encrusted with jewels!

That night we went to the Souk Waqif for dinner. The Souk is an old area comprising shops in crazily winding alleys, rather like a bazaar. It is very easy to get lost there – in fact it is hard not to get lost if you want to have a really good look around. The shops sell a huge variety of things from clothes to brassware, rugs, art works, food and so on. One thing we noticed about the shopkeepers is that they are very polite and not pushy. They will invite you into their shops but they know how to take a polite ‘no thanks’ for an answer. This is in complete contrast to the shopkeepers in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul who practically tackled you to the floor J.

We went to a sea food restaurant and Phil had hammour, a local variety of fish. He is not a great fan of fish but really enjoyed it, thereby proving that it can be good to be a little bit adventurous on holidays. Mind you, the memory of ouzo is still a caution J.

We also visited the nearby Gold Souk. It is a sort of gold and jewellery mall in a modern building. Nothing cheap there! We think the locals might cash up to shop there by selling an oil well or two.

Friday is their Holy Day here, so shops etc don’t open till about 4.30pm, and no one goes to work.  We went to an international hotel to meet up with Christopher’s theatre friends for a “Brunch”.  It is a 4 hour eating and drinking fest.  You can have the drinker’s package or the soft drink package.  We had the soft drink package, however that does include the cocktails of the day, so we did have a couple of drinks too.  There are food stations around the room, and you just head for whatever takes your fancy.  The food is wonderful, and the sweets buffet had to be seen to be believed!!  We did make several trips, as we found out the chef cooked deep fried ice cream balls while you waited!!!  Thank goodness we have also been walking our feet off!!  Christopher’s theatre friends are a hoot (and I suppose after 12 jugs of mojhito and copious quantities of champagne they would be!!!)  We have taken some photos to share with you, and some that will have a restricted audience!!!  We came home and had an afternoon siesta before deciding that none of us needed dinner.  Christopher went for a short sleep at 5pm, and woke up the next morning around 7am!!  Short sleep???

On Saturday morning we went to the Villaggio Mall. As soon as we walked in the door we thought we had been magically transported to the Venetian Casino in Las Vegas. We were confronted with a street scene from Venice with the ‘sky’ painted blue with scattered clouds and a ‘canal’ with gondolas – as if the whole thing was created using a photo of the entry to the Venetian. As with every public building in Doha everything is done on a grand scale, opulence is the order of the day and money has obviously been no object.  Villaggio caters for a range of markets but the high end section really takes the cake. Name an expensive international brand and you’ll find it there.

That night we visited The Pearl – the main upmarket shopping district. When you see the Ferrari, Maserati and Rolls Royce dealers all together in one spot you know you won’t be able to afford anything in the place. Christopher took us to a huge amphitheatre built not long ago that has hosted some big productions.  It seats about 1500 and is built following the amphitheatre built be the Greeks of ancient times.  We had dinner at the Seafood Market which was great. The service we received was excellent. We were invited to select our seafood then discuss with the chef the numerous options for cooking it. The result was some of the best seafood we have ever had.

Being with Christopher again has been just fantastic!!  He has lost about 15kgs and is soo fit.  He is keen to tell Sue it is because he is sooo much younger than here – a whole 2 years that she ism reminded of every time we catch up!!  He has such a huge knowledge of Doha after only 2 years here.  He has just signed on for 2 more years, which will take him up to retirement, before he moves back to Australia.  We have shared many stories and much laughter while we have been here, and no doubt will all shed many tears as we say farewell.