Views of Qatar

Please enjoy some collected pictures of Qatar and Doha.

This is the Arabian, aka Persian, Gulf and the Inland Sea. When you're on the Arabian Peninsula - it's definitely the Arabian Gulf. Persia, aka Iran, is not a favorite thing. It has something to do with the Shia vs. Sunni thing, but I think more to do with nationalism.

Al Zubara Fort. North part of the country. Meant to defend from invading Bahraini's, I believe. Obviously obsolete, but way cool looking. It made me want to run around pretending all sorts of swash buckling and/or pistol popping adventures.


Al Zubara - Manned by Mormons!

Fetche de vache!


A traditional Bedouin tent - at a beach side campground.
The inside surface of a woven tent. Looks pretty darn hairy.

"Welcome to my majlis." A majlis (pronounced mah-zh-lease, the "zh" rhyming with "beige") is an area with cushions used for welcoming and entertaining. It is usually for men. There are female majlis, as well.

Some textures of the place.

These are carvings, though they look like divots.

Sand. There's lots of it.

Water - not so much.

On a dhow. Dhow is the Masai (?) word for boat. If it's not Masai, it's some East African language.
The following photos are from the roof of our house.




The entrance to our "compound."

Our street.


Waqif Souk. Traditional style market. Was actually recently demolished and rebuilt in order to look traditional.



They've got a bunch a truly fun fabric here.
And a lot of spice shops.
Dad has a rug fixation. I think he was rug deprived as a child.


This is at the local gas station/grocery store. Look closely at the upper right. Only found sold in back rooms of seedy places in the States.

Oops - here they are again - at a campground on the beach. Smoking with hookas is the thing here.
Some views of city life in Doha.
TGIF - should be TAIT. Thank Allah it's Thursday.

Ahh - do the dew, in any language.



Not a common sign in the city - but out in the country.
Some more pics from Al Zubara.





Some of the flora and fauna.




Falconry is a popular sport here. They sell the birds at the old souks and probably other places I just don't know about. Falcons have their own passports in this country.
Falcon prey!
An old abandoned village.
A mosque - though it may not look like it at first. We call it the port-a-mosque.


Doha at night from a boat, and by day from a car. The amount of construction going on is hard to see from this picture but approxiamately half of the tall buildings are not completed. Maybe even more.


Throne a stone in Doha and you're either going to hit a mosque or a sports stadium. Here's one. The tall thing by it was used as the torch during the Asian Games held in December 2006. I call it Lord Farquad's Tower.
This building is near the airport. The picture on the side is of the emir raising his hand in greeting. It was put up by a prominent Shia family (most of Qatar is Sunni, including the emir). There's just enough absurdity in the picture to tell that it was sponsored by -well- not a good friend of the emir, but not enough to get the sponsor in trouble. If you can't spot the absurdity - just ask my brother Bean.
This is the inside of a new shopping mall - the Villagio. Hmmm. I wonder if the Venetian and Bellagio could sue jointly.