Camels, Horses, and Qatar

This past week I have been on holidays from the College for the semester break. Carolyn and I have had a chance to do some things that we hadn't done before, plus we got out to SeaLine Resort for a beautiful day on the beach. Carolyn organized a trip to SeaLine for about 16 people, on Monday, hired a bus, and got us in for a reduced rate. We had a great time, swimming in the sea, sunbathing, and just laying about soaking up the sun. On Wednesday, my wonderful wife and organizer had booked a tour of the Camel Racing compound, the Emir's stud farm, and the equestrian centre. Once again, some of our friends came along. When we got to the camel track, we had to undergo a thorough security check, as the Heir Apparent, His Highness Sheik Tamin bin Hamad Al Thani, was going to be on site for the race. Our tour guide, an affable Moroccan named Jamal, was able to get us into the section of the stands reserved for the Royals, under a huge tent with cushioned seats, and complimentary soft drinks. The race itself was somewhat disappointing, as the camels were only in view for about 15seconds before they disappeared on a 14k course. The Heir Apparent, apparently arrived on the grounds, but we had to leave before he made his way to the royal seats.

Our next stop was the Emir's stud farm, Al Shaqab, where he raises purebred Arabian horses. Some of the horses here are worth millions $US. The stables are so clean, and the horses pampered in every way, with one groom for every three horses. The stables look like palaces.

After the Emir's horses, we went to the Doha Equestrian Centre and Racetrack. The horses here were Euoropean lineage, a little bigger, and certainly more docile than the skittish Arabians. These stables too were very clean, and the horses well cared for. I can only imagine the cost of boarding horses at this facility.

Yesterday, (Friday), Carolyn and I rented a car, and with our friend Chas took off for the northern reaches of the Qatar pennisula. We wanted to see for ourselves what the rest of the country was like. Well, there is not a lot to see. It is just rocky flat desert for miles. We saw the sea at a number of spots, but didn't go in the water. There is one beach that is supposed to be 42 km long. We saw a number of towns, the largest of which is Al Khor (about 20,ooo), and Ras Laffan, which is a natural gas centre, and completely secure, so we couldn't enter. Most places were little dusty, drab villages, with few people around. We did go to an old fort at Al Zubara, on the West coast, which is supposed to be one of the older settlements in Qatar. There was a display of a number of artifacts that have been preserved. At the West Coast town of Dukkan we stopped for something to eat, at a McDonalds. (They're everywhere!) After that we had to hurry back to Doha to return the rental car before the 24 rental period ran out. All in all we've had a great holiday. Looking forward to ending my stint here and getting back to good old Canada!!

speedboat video

Apparently my first attempt at uploading a video was not successful, so I'll try again. The winner of the event was the boat Fazza, from Dubai, and it is the boat in the video. The Sheik from Qatar actually placed second in the race after the other boat from Qatar which had been leading most of the race ran into technical problems. Sorry, still no luck.

speedboats at Doha

This weekend the Class 1 Powerboats competed in the first race of the season at Doha. Wow, what speed, what power. A member of the Royal Family of Doha, his excellency Sheik Hassan al Thani was the pilot of one of the two Qatar boats entered in the race. The other Doha boat actually won the pole postion for the race, and Sheik Hassan was in third spot. The boats travel around a course which comes into the harbour and back out to sea for 21 laps. (96.5 nautical miles) The boats themselves are about 12-13 m long, weigh about 5 tonnes, and are capable of speeds of over 200km/hr. They are powered by twin engines, either V8s or V12s, and have all the latest technology on board. It's hard to capture on a camera the speed of these things, so I included a video. The quality of the video, taken with a small digital camera, isn't great but it does give a bit of an idea of what we were watching. Carolyn has a press card from the Goderich Signal Star, and it was good enough to get us into the restricted area. She also got a chance to talk to several of the crews, including the Sheik, and has lots to write about for her regular report to the paper. I am on holidays from the College right now and in the coming week we plan a trip to a seaside resort, and a visit to the horse and camel races, with a special trip to the Emir's personal Arabian horse stables. It is never dull here. We are both feeling anxious to get back to Canada however. Only 9 more weeks to go!!

mosque tour

Last weekend we took advantage of a tour of a nearby mosque sponsored by the Islamic Centre in Doha. Although it fairly obvious that the agenda was proselytizing, it was still a very interesting exercise. It started with a talk and tour of the Islamic Cultural Centre, near the souks in Doha, where we were given an explanation of the basic tenets of Islam. All the women were taken to a side room and issued 'abyahs' (the long black robes) and black headscarves to wear. Carolyn asked why the women had to wear the robes, but the men were not. She was given a long convoluted, but totally unconvincing, argument, about respect for women, etc. Then we were loaded onto a bus and after a 20 minute ride taken to a beautiful mosque in Al Wakra, a small former fishing village. The mosque here is very beautiful, with many interesting archetectural details. We were seated on the carpets inside the mosque while many of the features were pointed out. Then back on the bus, to the Islamic Centre where we were invited to attend evening prayers in the mosque there. Very interesting to see 400 bottoms up! Of course the women were not allowed to sit in the same area as the men, but had to watch through a lattice work in an upstairs room Afterwards we were fed a very nice meal of lamb, chicken, and rice. All in all an interesting day, and Carolyn got to keep the abyah! Certainly we were not in any way tempted to become converts to Islam, but it is good to understand a little more of their beliefs and ways.

trip to the desert

Last Sunday was a holiday, so Carolyn and I and four friends hired Safari Tours to take us to the desert to do some 'duneing'. After a short drive we left the pavement behind. There were two vehicles (not a good thing to head out alone!) and the first stop was to lower the tire pressure to 15psi. The tires themselves are larger than normal and balloon shaped, with not cross-tread at all, just grooves going around the tires. After that we headed out into the desert. Shortly, our driver indicated he was going to climb a huge dune, and then turn and come down. Some of the group decided not to go along, and got out. One of the pics is of our vehicle coming back down the dune (They look like giant snow drifts). Then we continued on, and got used to climbing and sliding down the sides of the dunes. A little scary, but fun. (Some of the young bucks at the college have actually rolled their vehicles with great damage to their vehicles and themselves). While driving over the trackless desert we saw a man on a distant hill waving to us. When we went to investigate we found two men, a woman, and a small baby, with their SUV bruied to the axels in the sand. They were in a depression in the sand and had been there for some time before we came along. We were able to pull them out, but thought how silly they were to be out there without a second vehicle. After cruising awhile longer, we came to the 'inland sea', a rather large inter-tidal lake. On the other side was Saudi Arabia. In fact there is still a dispute regarding whoes territory this is. After a stop to cavort on the beautiful beach (it stretches for miles) we headed to a camp on the gulf where we were fed a delicious traditional meal in a bedouin tent. This has definitely been one of the highlights of my time here.

pics for Spain and Italy

Christmas in Spain and Italy

Carolyn and I had our 'honeymoon' trip to Spain and Italy over the Christmas break. Leaving Doha we flew to Zurich, then to Majorca, and on to Malaga. We spent a couple of nights in Malaga and explored the downtown. While there Carolyn wanted to go to the English Cemetery. Years ago she was engaged to be married to a guy who was killed in a motorcycle accident nearby. We found his grave in the English Cemetery and she was able to finally say goodbye. While at the English church we made some aqaintances, and attended a lessons and carols service there. We then went to the resort we had arranged in Fuengirola, a seaside town about twenty minutes away. We had a great place there overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, and got in some tennis, and even went swimming on Christmas day (in a heated pool, not the sea). We also explored a little town in the hills, and made a car trip to Gibraltar, a little over an hour away by car. After Christmas, we flew to Madrid, and then on to Rome. Only problem was, our luggage didn't make the trip with us, and we ended up in Italy with just the clothes on our backs and a change of undies and a few other things in the carry-on. We spent a couple of days in Perugia shopping for a few things, and the family who owned our lodgings loaned us a couple of sweaters. We still had a wonderful time in Italy, with visits to Rome, Assisi, Cortona, and Siena. Of course, Perugia itself has many wonderful things to see dating back to before the Romans. We drove back to Rome to catch our flight to Doha, and after checking in decided to see if there was any word on our bags. The arrivals area in Rome must have had about 300 bags simply sitting around unclaimed. We looked through them and wonder of wonders found Carolyn's bag. By then it was touch and go whether we could get this bag on the Doha flight, as boarding had already been announced, but thanks to the great people at Qatar Air, we made it on the flight, and so did the bag. After returning to Doha, we sent a thank you note to Qatar Air for their help, and mentioned that my bag was still missing. They said they would try to find it, and three days later called to say it was on a flight from Rome. They were great, but it sure made Air Europa look bad as we had been in constant contact with them ever since losing the bags, and they couldn't find them (actually they probably didn't even look!) Anyway, it was a great trip, and we will cherish the memories for a long time to come.

pics for winter in Doha

winter in Doha

My last post was before Christmas, so lots has happened in the intervening time. First was a 'honeymoon' trip to Spain and Italy for Carolyn and me. We had a wonderful week at a resort not far from Malaga in southern Spain. The weather was great, and we enjoyed a car trip to Gibraltar, and visited many spots in Malaga and Fuegirola. From Spain we went to Italy and spent a marvellous week at a family Villa in Perugia in central Italy. I'll create a separate post for that trip.
We were fairly busy since returning to Doha. We took in the Doha Open Tennis Tournment in early January. It was amazing to see the likes of Nadal, Murray, Federer, and Nester up close and personal. And the seats are a real bargain at about $20 per for semis and finals. It's a real festival atmosphere as well, with camel rides and lots of food tents. Then a week or so later we walked took in the Doha Open Golf Tournament and saw Garcia, Els, and many lesser lights take their swings. Things are slowing down a bit now; good thing as I've had a serious cold for about two weeks. (Carolyn had a bad cold all the time we were in Italy, and for a couple of weeks afterward, but didn't let it slow her down much!)