Sights Part 2

Sights around Doha

In the Souq

Part of the Souq is a series of restaurants. We stopped for coffee and a snack

Getting ready to drink some good coffee

Nothing noteworthy about this picture. I just thought the architecture is neat.

Downtown Doha, with a Dhow in the foreground

This was a really pretty interior courtyard. That is a fountain in the middle in the middle

This is an area under development called "The Pearl - Qatar" Eventually, this will be the super high-rent district with lots of exclusive shops. Not sure why we went here, I think we had a language issue with our driver. We didn't stay long.

Doha has some unique architecture

Downtown

My Only Day Off

The entrance to the carnival in the mall

The best part about this mall is that they have these suped-up go karts that you can race. It's really really cool. There's a video below.

This is a huge mall. They have an entire area that is an indoor carnival.

The Aspire Tower, outside of the Villagio Mall. It was built for the 2006 Asian Games. That little platform looking thing on the right is a swimming pool. There's a huge torch on top.

The Spaceship Project

Just some images from an assignment I had to do for school.

More of the Sights

Ok, I have to admit, I didn't take these pictures. I borrowed them from someone who has a better camera. Just wanted to post a few more pictures to show some of the sites.

A better shot of the Souqs

A typical shot of one of the shops selling spices. These places have the most amazing smell

Doha was once a huge pearling center of the Middle East. There are still a few pearlers out there but today the major industry is natural gas. This pearl fountain is downtown, across the street from the souqs.

The Doha skyline

If you're into soccer, you might know that Qatar is hosting the 2022 World Cup. They have hosted the Asian Games in the past and this is one of the stadiums they use.

There is a family of camels that live right outside the gate of the base. This is a baby camel.

A Night Out

I will apologize up front. My camera takes terrible night pictures and even some of the day pictures are getting worse.

I went with a group tonight to downtown Doha to eat and do a little shopping at the souqs. One of the places a lot of groups stop at is a restaurant called "Kabob King." It's pretty awesome. Good food, prices are decent and the staff appreciates our steady business.

Dinner....mutton, lamb and chicken platter with garlic naan, 3 types of hummus, chicken "lollipos" and butter chicken (a little Indian mixed with Arabic)

For those that have never been to the Middle East, they're not big on toilet paper...as in...they don't use toilet paper, nor do they offer it in most establishments. I won't get into the gory details but apparently they've had issues with westerners using paper towels as TP and clogging the toilets. I thought this was kinda funny. Let's just say...it's best practice to use the facilities BEFORE leaving home, at all cost.

The souqs are kind of a flea market if you're not familiar. There are themed souqs, like the gold souq, the electronic souq etc. The one we went to is called the "New Souq" and they sell mostly kitschy things like fabrics, arabic clothing, some food and spices, tea and pets... There's allegedly a part of this souq that sells falcons. I don't think Hannah would be happy if I brought home a bird of prey. She prefers to be the only hunter in the house. Here are some of the sights.

This picture is terrible, I know...sorry. This is one of the aisles, selling fabrics.

More fabrics

This is a cool tower...not sure of the significance, as it's definitely not the prayer tower (minaret).

There was a little song and dance thingy going on. These guys were bouncing up and down like a middle eastern Lord of the Dance

The souqs are open late at night because in the summer no one shops during the day. It will routinely get up to 120-130 degrees with 80+ percent humidity. Apparently this is one of the most miserable places in the middle east in the summertime. It's still pretty cool out at night here right now..but we've already seen 90 during the day in the last week.

This is the Islamic Cultural center. I didn't know it until after I took a picture that we're not supposed to photograph it...oops. It's a cool looking building.

An open air seating area with a couple of restaurants to sit and have tea/desert and....

Hookah!!

When in Qatar, do as the Qataris do....