What to see and do in Qatar?
Let’s go or linadhhab, as they say in Arabic, and make the most of our limited time and finances to see and do what we can during our stay in Doha, Qatar. For us, as ex-pat residents, it’s a year or three, but as a visitor, it will be far shorter. And, possibly, if you […]
Eclectic Arabic heritage museum treat
A thousand Arabian oryx, 700 handwoven carpets, 600 classic cars, hundreds of pieces of furniture, a dozen or so dhows, dinosaur teeth and toes … etcetera, all amassed over five decades by one wealthy, passionate collector. And, it’s all available for us to view at the Sheik Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museum, about 30km […]
All aboard for Doha’s underground – the Metro
Qatar’s Metro is a super-efficient light rail underground system, criss-crossing Doha with thousands of passengers daily. And I’m their number 1 cheerleader. Why? Because the Metro is economical (even in South African terms) reliable easy to use quick safe, and clean. It also means I can still move about this modern Middle Eastern city of […]
Arabic flavour for 2022 World Cup football feast
From a distance, Doha’s impressive city centre skyline is like a mini-Manhattan. Up close, however, it has a distinctive Arabic flavour, especially with the growing FIFA 2022 World Cup branding. A visual football feast awaits. The prolific presence of Arabic writing, calligraphy, decorative motifs, geometric shapes, rich Middle Eastern colours and design references to the […]
Doha, dry? Don’t believe a word of it …
Doha, Qatar, is in a desert, but there’s water everywhere. It is also a conservative Muslim country, but there’s alcohol too. It’s just not everywhere. Questions about water and access to one’s favourite tipple in this tiny peninsula county abound. And, with the FIFA 2022 World Cup around the corner, the thirst for such information […]
Shopping pleasures in Doha
Shopping in Doha is akin to shopping on steroids. Everything is bigger-better-faster and more convenient in the many malls of Qatar’s capital. In fact, shopping here is pretty much a visual smorgasbord of the sumptuous first-world life on offer in Doha. Every nation (there are residents from least 115 different countries living here), every brand […]
Squeaky clean Doha awaits
Pristine, polished, spotless, sparkly, spic and span, ship-shape, shiny … There just aren’t enough superlatives to describe just how comprehensively clean Doha is. This Middle Eastern city is squeaky clean on the grandest of scales. For my sake, and for the benefit of reading this post, please imagine the shiny luxury of a five-star mirrored […]
Fruit and veggie heaven comes to Doha
Snake gourd, red bananas, Jack fruit, kohlrabi, yams, pak-choy … and the list goes on and on. Fruit and veggie shopping in Doha is both a visual feast and geography lesson. Well, it is if your fruit and vegetable fare has been confined to common old garden varieties of potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, apples, oranges, […]
HE, tea and dust in Doha
The small stuff can be a game changer in Doha. Every country has its own quirks or, at least, that’s how these so-called differences or peculiarities are perceived by outsiders. But they’re normal to those who have always lived there and therefore, hardly worth a mention. In Qatar, there’s a wealth of small things, that […]
The Journey to Doha
A false start … and who on earth is Ehteraz? I first heard about Ehteraz in the build-up to my departure for Doha. By all accounts, this Ehteraz, whose name constantly escaped me, was important and extremely well connected. It was best, folk warned, that I get to know him as soon as I could. […]