Introduction
Delivery Dinner
Seattle to Doha
Exploring Doha Day 1
Exploring Doha Day 2 & 3
Doha to Seattle
Conclusion
Thursday 15th November 2012
My first full day in Qatar was busy with arrangements made with Qatar Airways to not only see the city but also to visit the New Doha International Airport (hereby referred to as NDIA) under construction. It was an earlyish start to head over to NDIA but to be honest, I try to keep a normal routine when I am travelling to help beat the jetlag. This means that no matter what I am always up around normal time (530-630) to have a work out. So this morning was no different and I hit the hotel gym for a run nice and early. Pretty decent gym to!
Breakfast at the hotel restaurant was pretty spectacular as well with no end to the options and after seeing “Porridge” on the menu I couldn’t help but try it and it was British style as well. Still a bit runny but made on milk not water. With lots of goodies on offer, it was a tough call on what to have but I kept it under control, kind of.
After breakfast we headed off to NDIA for our brief and tour of the facilities. Unfortunately no cameras could be taken with us on the tour of NDIA so lugging the big camera bag around felt like a waste (but in the end we were allowed to take photos on the outside, just not the inside). We got a full brief by the project manager of the airport on everything and some of the figures were just staggering. The new airport expects to handle 24 million passengers a year with a Minimum Connect time of 30 minutes between flights. That is a BIG call considering most flights start boarding at that time!
The facilities were impressive; especially the new Amiri Terminal (still couldn’t get a quote out of them about the 747-8). The Amiri terminal is the new replacement to the Ministerial lounge we had arrived at the day before. This facility was way more impressive, surrounded by water; large domed style facility which I’m sure on the inside would be truly epic. Even on the outside it has a full jet bridge that is open to the air, but can be covered and allows people to step off the aircraft onto the red carpet with no stairs involved.
The Mosque at the airport was just as impressive with a beautiful design. It would have been stunning inside if we had of been allowed in. I would be a very happy person to spend some time in that airport considering what it was. The biggest thing that startled me was just how finished it is, however it’s not scheduled to open anytime soon due to delays in the construction. During our tour we got taken through the immigration area which was eerily empty (sure it won’t stay that way) and also went past all the baggage testing that was being done, with test bags and all (where they got so many god awful looking suitcases I’ll never know).
After the tour we dropped a couple of people off at the Premium Terminal as they were heading home, before heading to the hotel for a brief pit stop and to pick someone else up. It was good to have a bit of a rest for one where nothing was required and I surfed the net a bit on my phone thanks to the Wi-Fi. Eventually we got back on the road and headed to the Museum of Islamic Art. Designed by I M Pei who also designed the Louvre the place is just beautiful.
It is full of pieces of Islamic art and culture from all over the Islamic world (Egypt, Iran, Iraq, and Turkey etc.) and some of the pieces dated back to the 10th century or earlier. Just looking at some of the pieces was amazing, sadly we only had about 30 minutes or so here before we had to go to lunch (since we were running late… as usual). One thing I will give the museum is it is on a damn prime piece of real estate. The views towards Downtown Doha were incredible. Breathtaking would be a good way to describe it.
From the Museum we did a bit of a quick tour of a few places before heading off to the Souq area for lunch. Unfortunately the Souq was closed as they seem to close between 12 and 4pm daily, pretty much cause in summer, there is no way you could be out during that time!
We had lunch on the balcony overlooking the now closed Souq and it was again, more Arabic cuisine, but our entertainment was provided by one of our fellow lunch guests and some Sheesha. Pretty good food to, I do like some of the Arabic food, especially the bread. Yummmm.
After Lunch we were picked up by our driver Mustafa and we headed out to the Desert about 45 minutes from Doha where we were going to go off the highways and roads, let down the tires and hit the sand. I hadn’t been sand driving in years (last time I was on Fraser Island) and even then that was on a huge bus. We were in a Landcruiser (which funnily enough is the number 1 car in Qatar, and I think they sell them all with the same stripe down the side to). Mustafa was pretty cool and told us a lot about living in Qatar and being a local born Qatari. How life differs here to back home in Aus or the USA. Always good to learn these things from a local in a more relaxed setting.
Once we hit the desert we were both stunned by just how many people were out and about in the dunes by that time (it was around 415-430 by now) and just how beautiful it could be. The light was fading, the sky was changing colors and the photos were getting snapped like crazy. I did manage to get a couple of videos and it was a heap of fun going up and down the dunes. Some of the dunes you looked at and you just looked at it thinking “Am I really about to do this?” They were just looked like the dumbest thing to do. But we were fine and Mustafa was in his element.
After making it all the way out to the Inland Sea where we only there about 5 minutes we headed off via the dunes to the Bedouin Desert Camp where we were to have some time relaxing and some dinner. We were told we could go swimming (neither of us did) and when we arrived that we could do as we pleased. What we didn’t expect was that the Desert Camp normally holds 150 people. Myself and Ben were the only two people there! It was a bit overwhelming. We got waited on hand and foot and kind of felt a little bad that all these staff were looking after us.
After a lovely relaxing sit by the water chatting, dinner on a carpet sitting on pillows and a bit of a lie down, we navigated our way back through the dunes in the dark. How they can do that I have no idea because it was pretty much pitch black. Once off the sand we pulled up by the side of the road at some shops where a couple of guys were refilling people’s tires with air. Great service, you rock up, tell them the tire pressure, hand them some rials and your tires are pumped up without you even moving an inch.
We got back to the hotel and Mustafa dropped us off, Ben was leaving around 1am but it was only around 9pm and I wasn’t all that tired. Mustafa had mentioned that the Souq (which we missed out on seeing) was open till around 11pm. So I headed out to explore and get some souvenir shopping done. The Souq Waqif was pretty pumping. People were enjoying their “Friday” night (even though it was Thursday, but the Qatar working week is Sunday through Thursday) out in the Souq, eating, drinking tea and smoking some Sheesha.
I explored the laneways, looking, browsing, and bartering. I bought a couple of things (and an extra bag to carry all the swag home in) and found the spice Souq (but couldn’t take anything home with me since I doubted I could bring It back) and also the animal Souq where you can buy a lot of different animals including fluro colored chicks.
After shopping to my heart’s content (and not costing me all that much) I headed back in a cab to the hotel where I passed out pretty soundly. My first day in Qatar had been a success.
