Day and Night in Doha

We were again fortunate to meet Canadians, this time "accepting the kindness of strangers" from Edmontons' Shepp family who we met at Kamala Beach. We had dinner with Dennis, Joyce and Adam one night and accepted an offer from Dennis to play tour guide for us in Doha where he is working on contract. Dennis' generosity transformed our short stay from what would have been a hotel stay over to a mini-middle east "experience" in Doha, Qatar.





I know it sounds myopic or maybe even patronizing but the best word for me to describe our time in Doha is "exotic". Dennis' tour of the town took us to the nicest mall I've ever been to, surrounded by a parking lot full of brand new Toyota Land Cruisers. Doha is a city under construction with what looked like hundreds of climbing cranes dotting the horizon. We "ran into"- or perhaps should say nearly got run over by - the same Land Cruisers out in the desert ... driving out where the pavement ends and cars, ATVs, dune buggies and camels (camels?) pass both sides from either direction. It's a mostly male thing called dunes bashing


with intended purpose of taking your vehicle as far up and out into the dunes as you can before you get stuck, roll over or smack into someone else. We saw 3 ambulances. Dennis was very careful. And we got to dip our toes in the Arabian Sea.



Last stop was the spice market










or "souk" where we saw a cacophony of locals and expats strolling with friends and family

enjoying a drink with sweet tobacco (big water pipe)


and listening to the sounds of the market compete with the call to prayer rolling out from several different mosques at the same time. SO VERY COOL! And all thanks to our new friend Dennis Shepp ... a stranger no more.

BOSgone