Ladies and gentlemen, I live in the dullest place on earth, at least according to the Lonely Planet website:
Around the Gulf, Doha has earned the unenviable reputation of being the dullest place on earth. You will be hard-pressed to find anyone who’ll claim the place is exciting. That said, there’s nothing wrong with Doha – you’re unlikely to get shot or mugged or die from cholera.
AAAAIEEE!!! Take me back home where I belong!
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This is the official mascot that was chosen for the Asian Games that will be held in Qatar in 2006. I personally think it is beyond hideous! |
We are back to Doha after a wonderful two-week trip to Jordan. And no, I’m not glad to be back. You can never get enough of your family and friends.
As soon as we stepped into our Doha flat, we were greeted by an unpleasant surprise: a bad odor.
It turned out to be nothing more than the smell of rotten food in the fridge due to a power outage that occurred while we were gone. You really don’t want to visualize the multi-color scene we were greeted by as soon as we opened the fridge! It was a horrible, horrible sight!
We had to get rid of nearly every single food item, ending up with a near empty fridge! And yes, I’m hungry! Welcome to Doha!
There is a huge sports event taking place in Doha these days. It is called “The 17th Arabian Gulf Cup.” The name of the event would not have attracted my attention had I not been closely following the latest Iranian uproar over the use of the term "Arabian Gulf" in National Geographic [see related] rather than their preferred Persian Gulf.
I wonder how Iranians will feel about the name of this regional, heavily-marketed event held in Doha. The press is all over this event with their headlines using ‘Arabian Gulf’ popping up all over the globe. I guess this is a smart way for the Arabs to market their side of the story. Arshad are you there?
We were shocked to see the amount of Christmas decorations Qatar is offering this year. You really feel it is Christmas time on the peninsula. City Center, the country’s main shopping center and almost the only hang-out, is all decked out and very glittery! Really, a very refreshing scene.
Things were so different last year. They were very few decorations, nothing like this time. City Center’s ornamentation consisted primarily of a couple of reindeer and a couple of mammoth presents dangling from the fourth floor ceiling.
Last year it was a bit depressing being in Doha during the holidays, as we were still new to the country and still living at the Movenpick hotel. To keep ourselves sane back then, we found a smattering of things to decorate our hotel room just to get some glimpse of the festive season.
This year, not only did they decorated the place, but they are also playing Christmas carols. Click the pictures for enlargements.
Last night I met up with a Qatari blogger, Peaceful Muslimah (PM). We really had a great time as we hit it off immediately over a hot latte at Starbucks.
We had a very compelling conversation about everything and anything: from Doha, to blogging to religion and politics. PM is a very smart, empowered woman who is really quite inspiring.
She is coming over to our place in a couple of days for movies and a good time! We are looking forward to it.
