Sand Dunes & Saudi Arabia

After Sealine Beach we drove to the inland sea. The eastern shore is full of huge sand dunes. The drive is somewhat quiet (more quiet than driving over rocks on the western shore). Most of the time we were driving on flat rock either covered by a little bit of sand or exposed. Occasionally we drove over small dunes which was an adrenaline boost. We saw several other vehicles that were driving over the huge dunes and speeding past us at about 100 or 120 kilometers an hour.

We finally reached the inland sea and that was the best beach I've ever been to. The sand was perfect, so fine and cool on your feet. The shells were preserved perfectly, some were still attached to each other. There are no waves here, so the water just washed the shells up gently and pushes the sand back creating amazing patterns in the sand. All along the shore there were bedouin tents that people live in during the winter months. Across the sea there's another shoreline that can be seen. It's actually Saudi Arabia. That is as close to Saudi Arabia as I ever want to be.

Camel Rides at Sealine Beach

Dad and I rode camels on the beach. It was more of a guide because we don't know the first thing about directing camels but it was still exhilarating. At first the camels were a little scary, grunting and showing their teeth. Camels are strange creatures, they fold their legs under themselves when down and then to get up they first straighten their back legs putting you at almost a 45degree angle making you feel as though you are going to fall off. Then you're up and it's like a riding a horse. At the end of the ride the men directing the camels told them to get down so we could get off. Mine was being stubborn and didn't want to get down. Now I can say that I rode a camel (an authentic camel ride, not the one from the zoo).

The sunset in the desert is beautiful. And so is the moon rising. The temperature dropped significantly enough to roll down the windows and drive. We had to pass through a small town, Zikreet, to get back to Doha and I had mentioned that since it was sunset, it would be amazing if we could hear the call to prayer. Sure enough, just as we approached the small mosque, the call to prayer began. It was an incredible day of being in the right place at the right time: the delays that timed out perfectly to finding the movie set when the animals came out to driving through Zikreet at prayer time. Right time, right place.

Note: I didn't want to take video because I didn't know how the locals would react but the audio is there.

Desert Wildlife

After an entire day in the western desert of Qatar we finally saw some wildlife. First we saw four ostriches and followed them south toward the movie set that we were trying to find.

We then saw an antelope off in the distance along with the ostriches. We didn't see animals all day and now we see a lot in a couple minutes.

Dr. Evil

We think it's the headquarters for Qatar Petroleum but it looks more like the headquarters for Dr. Evil.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my underground liar. I have gathered here before me and the world's deadliest assassins."

"You know, I have one simple request, and that is to have sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads! Now, evidently, my cycloptic colleague informs me that that can't be done. Can you remind me what I pay you people for? Honestly, throw me a bone here!"

Dukhan Beach

We reach Dukhan Beach and it was one of the best beaches I've ever been to. I don't know if I would have gotten into the water (mainly because I read about stonefish when are dangerous and cause extreme pain). But the water was clear and the shells were perfectly preserved.

Where is Dukhan Beach?

Today we decided to take a trip out to the west coast of Qatar, to a town called Dukhan. This town mainly exists because of Qatar Petroleum. We had to enter through this security check point. It was a beautiful town (for the first few meters or so) and then it was all construction of new housing, old housing falling down, roads being paved, etc. Roundabout after roundabout we could not find the beach.

It seemed impossible. Some cruel ploy by Qatar Petroleum to keep us in their town. Finally we came upon this road that seemed to lead to somewhere.

It actually lead past a golf course. It seems weird to put a golf course in the desert. Even though the town was well landscaped, they didn't decide to put grass on the course. Eventually this road we were on lead to another security check point. We didn't know if we were allowed to pass through or not but the gate opened and we kept driving.
We were surrounded by oil pipelines, fueling and un-gassing stations, and signs at the start of side roads that said we were not allowed to drive there. We had no idea where we were and especially no idea why we were allowed past the security check point. We tried to drive to the water but once again there seemed to be barriers. We had managed to get past the wall of Dukhan but not past Qatar Petroleum.
We finally decided that it was too much trouble to try to find the beach and so we departed from Dukhan and headed north. We came to the first roundabout coming out of Dukhan and there was the sign we had wanted to see for the past hour: Dukhan Beach.

More Signs.

On our way out to the desert we encountered "Camel Crossing" signs

There were also quite a few camel farms.

Typical pedestrian crossing sign.

Let's talk about gas baby.

We had to get gas today. So we went to the petrol station and filled up a Toyota Land Cruiser. 

52 Riyals for 78 liters of gas

Translation:

73 cents a gallon, $14.25 for 19.5 gallons of gas

Signs

Speed humps/Speed bumps.

We have no idea what this says. It probably should say "yield" but no one here yields.

Run (don't walk) to the closest fire exit.

Happy Thanksgiving

My Thanksgiving is coming to an end while others are just beginning. Here it's obviously not a holiday but a group of people from VCUQ got together for a large dinner at the home of the head of the fashion department. They hosted this dinner for VCUQ faculty and staff and a couple American airmen from the local base here. The great thing about this dinner was the diversity among the group. Most were expats but not from America. I had the opportunity to talk with several people, all of whom knew I was "the daughter". There was a couple that were fun to talk with, Rehab is Egyptian and a film producer who is married to a guy from Texas who is a photography professor. Another woman I met is a film professor who is American and a Muslim and used to be married to a Kuwaiti. Just a great group of people and wonderful conversation.

Earlier in the day we went shopping at one of the malls (the new Souq). They did a wonderful job on the interior, each shop had a store front like you would see on the streets and the ceiling was painted (rather realistically) like the sky. There was an ice skating rink in the food court and a river running through some of the mall with gondolas you could ride. Most stores were European, a couple I knew like Monsoon and L'occtaine but others I've never seen before, all with the newest fashions. They also had American stores like Gap, Banana Republic, and Sephora. 

Oh and a Starbucks. Completely different over here than back in the states. First they have different holiday specials, here is was Toffee Nut. And for the holiday season, meat pie. Seriously, they had meat pie.

One thing Qatar has that is better than the states is sunsets. Granted they are at 4:30 in the afternoon but still beautiful:

Side note: We were responsible for picking up some beverages for the gathering tonight and so we went to a grocery store. My dad got excited over A&W Root Beer and Squirt. I thought it was weird mainly because I'm used to seeing it. We get to the house and he tells another person who got very excited, especially over the A&W Root Beer. I guess when you don't have something, especially something that used to be a common thing, you get excited when it's discovered... like water in a desert.

Evening at the Souq

The Souq in the evening.

Al Bandar

Tonight we ate at Al Bandar restaurant. Restaurants around here are different, there's no host/hostess to seat you. It's more like find an empty table and flag down a server. The food was good. We had Homos Bil Tahini (Hummus), Baba Ghannouj (dad has said that word about 10 times already Rosemary... I'm still keeping count), and I had Kabab Khashkash.

This was about 10pm and the Souq was still filled with people. All around us were tables of people, most smoking hookahs like they were oxygen tanks. I'm surprised that someone hasn't put one on wheels and walked around with it. I wish I was kidding but all these people had the pipe in one hand (like the man in the background) and just kept it in their mouth. Inhaled through the mouth, exhale through the nose is the most effective way of smoking a hookah, you never have to let go.

After dinner we decided to try Turkish coffee. It has all this hype and we wanted to know if it was as good as it's supposed to be. After a while they brought out a small tray with two small cups on it with a small container of coffee. The first sip was not what I expected. I felt like I was taking a shot. It was strong and had some spices in it. After a second and third sip I decided it was absolutely delicious.

Now you can't drink all of the coffee because at the bottom are the ground that sink to the bottom. It's like liquid crack. I felt like I needed a needle or spoon and lighter to finish off the coffee. I know my brother-in-law, Joe, would have licked the cup clean. He would have been ready with needle in hand to inject it in his veins.

City Views

Views of Doha driving back from the Souq:

One of the many mosques in the area.

Modern Doha

Islamic architecture.

The Souq Surroundings

This is the restaurant (Al Bandar) we were thinking of going to but decided to go to the Moroccan restaurant.