The problem im currently facing stems from the idea of, how do I make this blog sound less like a literary slide show about my holiday to Qatar in Doha and more like an entertaining report on the living life of a kiwi lad outside of NZ....
Doha has a flag which is half maroon and half white separated by a jagged edge of 9 serrations whereby each serration represents one of the states of the United Emirates leading up to to the aforementioned 9th state being Doha...... the white colour is representative of the peace this country abides by and the maroon represents the blood that was shed prior to achieving the peace......... stop stop STOP - Kane its not a general knowledge lecture, try again.
So we landed in Qatar (which felt like a perpendicular landing to the runway) and we exited the plane to a winter that was nothing like the winter we had left in Japan. I quickly realised upon arrival that a "scarf" was a non essential item.
I could rave on and on about my experiences in Doha, but for most of you I fear a loss of interest so I will just outline some of the highlights.
Firstly we will cover driving - so I thought Japan was bad ha ha ha - not even close. Everyone in Qatar seems to think they are a formula one driver, and arriving at there destination with the fastest speed possible will win them the Qatari/Le Mans championship title. Now at all costs is their individual race going to be won, and no man shall stand in the way while negotiating this quickest possible route............ Taxi courtesy in regards to a comfortable safe ride is non existent here.
My driving is average at best but you're safer in a car with me touring France than you are riding as a passenger with a local in Qatar. So we shall leave the driving at that.
I went to the local museum of Islamic art with my father...... the museum was full of old stuff (dont know what else I was expecting) but the nice new looking exterior tickled my fancy... it was good to just wander around with my father for a while and talk about how big the place appeared and how old the stuff inside it was. Sadly my art history appreciation failed me this day and I was more inspired by the buildings exterior and lavish entry way decked with palm trees and a mesmerizing water feature that ran from basically the front door, a good hop skip and a jump down the stairs away from the building.
My cousins (Haydn and Oliver) along with partners (Mariko and Jess) and I joined one day for a night in the desert. Prior to our evening in the huge sand safari that was surrounding us we had the pleasure of some off road shenanigans.
Now for a moment think like a young 16 year old kiwi lad with a new drivers licence, he has the keys to his parents four wheel drive along with a property that is backed onto the local beach filled with sand dunes, his mates want to be wowed by his "mad driving skills" and if he damages anything its ok because his rich grandfather will always bail him out. These guys seem to have made a business out of this concept and have started taking people on their tours. It was a well worthwhile little moment of madness.
After we had experienced the desert at 140 kilometers an hour, traveled swiftly behind a fishtailing SUV followed by a brief stop that had one member of the accompanying group throw up due to the motion sickness.
We arrived at camp and enjoyed a bacon free BBQ while puffing on the local shisha pipe. We settled into our air conditioned tents (air con was not needed at this time of the year luckily, but I just wanted to mention its availability, as the
air con decked out tent impressed me) and we slept well in the knowledge that we had endured a day of high speed car recklessness in the desert and we were now just left in the middle of nowhere. The next day we were picked up and driven back into town and I must say the whole experience has me smiling even now which is weeks later - hats off to these lads with what seems like a simple plan to them, but a great moment in time for me.
In my opinion food is a big draw card when visiting somewhere new, and the dates in Qatar were fantastic! A flavor that oozed freshness and a size that dwarfed the standard bagged up weirdness we get back home.
Oh yeah and while on the topic of food the baby camel I ate smelt like it had been shoveled off the road out the back of the restaurant we were dining at one night....... however it was super tender and once you got past the aroma it actually tasted a fair bit like very well done but gamey lamb.
Next topic, Hair cuts and beard upkeep. This was a part of my trip I strangely fell in love with - I don't know if it was the neck cracking massages, the adrenalin rush I got from someone holding a blade so close to my throat or the price tag of $15 for a shave and a haircut compared to the $80 I had to pay last time I was back in NZ! My little obsession (more so with the shaving and general bearded upkeep) found me in the barbers at least once every 2-3 days and I was quickly becoming rather attached to the ever so well trimmed facial hair that I had sworn to shave off on the first day of the new year. These barbers I miss tremendously.... however with more thought I think I just liked someone else having to take care of my shaving routine that didn't involve me doing anything more than just sitting there.
Moving along and onto wrap up mode, one of my final days had me travel to the north of Doha to see some old town ruins. Walking through this place I couldnt help but wonder who had been here so many years before me but the bag of rubbish sitting next to me suggested the garbage man had dumped his load off recently. The concept of "long term" and "environmental damage" like myself seemed foreign to this place. Out from under the bag a beetle ran chasing what seemed to be my shadow. He was a grunty little sucker that soon realised my shadow was moving and that he was safer under the bag from which he had come. I managed to get a shot of the guy before he departed and he reminded me of those beetles off the film "The Mummy". As happy as I had been playing dodge the giant unknown, possibly yet unlikely, harmful creature, I turned and left him at peace in his ruins.
Its at this point that I shall stop myself for now (we havent even touched on health and safety (or the lack of it) for which you can see in this last photo, with the construction worker nicely modeling a non existent hard hat and safety cable, perched perilously on top of some random building).
It was a good Christmas and New year with my mother, father, auntie, uncle, cousins and partners - I enjoyed meeting some of the local residence (like the millions of madly breeding cats that just roamed the street until (and im assuming) were being stewed up and labeled as baby camel for some flash restaurant in town) and teachers at my parents school.... the holiday ended though and I returned to a rather chilled Japan and an internet free household because someone hadn't paid their unreadable internet bill......... yeah I should sort this language thing out ha ha.
With that said and done - Qatar, it gets a thumbs up from me.
