Saturday 23 August 2025 – Roger

We boarded the Qatar Boeing 777 around 1pm for the 17 hour flight to Doha. We have passed through Qatar many times over the past few years, since Emirates fully pissed Sylvia off through really bad customer service and we switched to Qatar. The airline has some backward-facing centre aisle seats that fold down into a double bed, with which we normally book. Trying to stay awake for the whole flight to fit in with local time on arrival was a bit of an effort. A few movies (Inheritance and Drop were quite good) and a few walks around the plane, including a chat with the captain, a nice Indian bloke who had been flying for only 10-years, 5 on 777s, helped to pass the time.

We landed in Doha at around 21.30 local time processing really quickly through the Al Maha lounge that platinum members get to use. A Philippino driver picked us up in the hotel’s Audi A8 for the ~forty-five minute drive to the Mondrian hotel in the western district of Doha.

Everything is big here, with several lanes on the motorways lit up by lamps on poles resembling palm fronds. Many buildings are also well lit up in various colours like in Hong Kong, Vegas and Ashgabat. The hotel is quite opulent with large shapes including lamp shades in the foyer and restaurant.

 

Sunday 24 August 2025 – Roger

After a reasonable nights sleep, we headed down for breakfast just before 0800 and were the first to arrive. Lots of different staff took turns to cross to our table to see if there was anything else we needed.

We took an Uber over to the Souk Waqif markets on the east side of town, passing a large group of camel-mounted police along the way. Wearing long pants, as is the custom here, my phone must have slipped from my pocket in the Uber. The Pakistani driver saw this as a good opportunity to make an extra buck and charged 150 locals (~50USD) to bring it back.

The markets are huge, really clean, well laid out and somehow remarkably cool in spite of the open passageways. The people are nice to as they don’t hustle and try to get us to buy stuff. We wandered around and eventually found the falcon area where we looked at a few falcon shops. They are obviously a pretty big deal here as they even have a falcon hospital.

After checking out the camel yard we headed over to the National History museum. This is in a rather well crafted building made up of what look like a series of discs. Before heading into the museum and, after recovering my phone, we went to the museum cafe where a robotic trolly delivered our coffee, politely thanking us as it wheeled itself away.

There are around 800,000 people living in this small 11,500 sq kilometre country, of which about 330,000 are locals and the rest imports doing a lot of the work. With an interesting history of wars etc. over the last few hundred years, and owned at different stages by both the Ottoman and British empires, it  became a British protectorate in 1917 and eventually gained independence in 1971.  The country was mainly sustained by the pearl trade until 1949 when the first oil shipments started heading to Britain and Europe. It first started desalinating water in the early 50’s, transporting it to houses to supply the locals as well water became hard to find.

The museum is well worth a visit with a really well presented history of Qatar interspaced with lots of movies of different events projected onto the high walls. There is a rug on display with over 1 million pearls sewn into it. Well that’s what the text said I can’t say I stopped to count them. Little dishes that were used to grade pearls, and pearls of various sizes were on display ans well as some rather large pearl earrings that belonged to Elizabeth Taylor. There are also diamond and pearl tiaras and other jewellery worn by royalty.

There is a big section on oil, the black gold that helps put 16% of all households in the millionaire category.

From 2017 to 2021 the country was blockaded by the Arab League countries, ostensibly for its support of terrorism, but it survived and came out the other end stronger.

There is a model of the city that lights up year by year showing how small Doha was in 1949 to the size it is now at ~187 Sq kilometres.

Next stop was the  Katara cultural centre with a mosque, theatres, art centres, a large amphitheatre, street art, pigeon towers and lots of other impressive buildings, all built near the beach. With all the modern buildings it’s quite strange to see traditional boats (dhows) floating in the bay nearby.

After a stroll through the local, very upmarket, mall, and with the temperature now at 43 degrees C, we headed back to the hotel to wait out the hottest time of the day. It topped out at 44 degrees not long after we got back from a walk in the mall behind the hotel. Arriving back at the hotel we found the room made up and the bed strewn with rose petals… Someone must think we are on our honeymoon…

Late afternoon we were picked up by the guide for our Dhow trip.  After picking up a few others we arrived at the eastern side of the bay where a number of dhows were moored. Mounting this craft, which was well past being old, we pushed back and chugged across the port to the Westside, watching the sun go down and the skyscrapers begin to light up. We moved to the top deck, which had a knee-high ‘do not lean on me’ fence around it. Three young woman were also up there from Saudi Arabia, enjoying a holiday at the local water park. After a slow tour of the harbour, Sylvia and I wandered down to the large pearl sitting in its plastic shell to celebrate the earlier pearl industry before heading back to the hotel for dinner and an early night.

 

 

Monday 25 August – Sylvia

We were up bright and early again, not yet fully adjusted to the time zone. After another delicious breakfast, we met our driver for the day, Nasi. Having pretty much explored the city of Doha yesterday, we had arranged a full day tour of the North and West of Qatar.  We headed north out of Doha past Lusail, a modern city that was developed as part of the preparations for the FIFA World Cup in 2022. As with the rest of Doha the skyline is impressive with very few traditional rectangular buildings – most take on different and interesting shapes.

As we drove north on the impressive 5-lanes each way highway, we passed massive homes sitting out in the desert, surrounded by high fences. There was lots of street art, even on motorway overpasses. We passed several large stadia, all with different architecture.  One looked like a giant tent, another, a lotus and another like an oyster shell. The country side is incredibly flat – just dry sandy desert as far as the eye can see.

We stoped briefly at Al Khor, the second largest city in Qatar, where 1432 sailors work at the port. The harbour was crowded with dhows and large pots for catching crabs etc. were scattered around. I was struck by the pedestrian road signs showing pictures of people wearing traditional robes. Unfortunately it was quite difficult to get good photographs from the car.

Everything is very clean and tidy. Every guide has spoken proudly of the fact that Qatar has zero crime and zero tax, with excellent free health care and education. I guess this is one of the benefits of wealth.

Our next stop was Purple Island, a large area of mangroves. We wandered along the wide boardwalk. By this time (about 10am) it was already 42 degrees and we were grateful for the small shade shelters scattered along the way. I was quite surprised by the amount of wildlife thriving even in the crazy conditions here. Lots of small fish, crabs and birds.

As we continued north we could see lots of large fenced farm areas and huge animal sheds. I cannot imagine what it must be like farming in these conditions. We also continued to see large walled enclaves, owned by varias Qatari royalty.

Our next stop was Jumail, the ruins of the first village in Qatar. It was originally home to pearl divers but has been abandoned since the 1970s and is now in ruins. At 45 degrees the heat permeated through the soles of our shoes.

A little further on we came to Al Zubarah Fort. This was built in 1938 on the hill above the Al Zubarah UNESCO site. Around 200 years ago this was a bustling trading and pearl-fishing village with a population of about 6000, but is now in ruins. It is now an active archaeological site. The town experienced periods of boom and destruction with invasions from various parties over the years, interspersed with periods of prosperity. It was finally deserted in about 1895.

The fort is now a very interesting museum with displays in the various rooms depicting the history of the site and information about the pearl diving industry. Pearl diving was quite a dangerous affair with many perils awaiting the brave divers (Ghais). Each diver would make 50-60 dives in a day yielding up to 20 oysters each dive. They could reach depths of 15-20 metres with the descent taking 90 seconds. They then stayed down another minute or so to harvest oysters before being pulled to the surface by a rope. Each diver provided their own rope as it was their life on the line. They must have had incredible breath-holding capability. There are stories of divers being stung by rays or other creatures and returning to deck hallucinating.

Once on shore the oysters would be left in the sun to rot so they would be easier to open.  The crew would open the shells with a curved knife and would find one pearl for about every 5000 oysters opened. It is no surprise to me that the cultured pearl industry has replaced this practice.

As we climbed the towers to look at the view I was impressed by how effective the traditional cooling methods were. Despite the intense heat outside, small holes in the walls channel the breeze in, lowering the inside temperature significantly. It never quite reached a comfortable level for me but was definitely considerably more bearable.

A now-dry well in the corner of the courtyard was originally dug by hand. This was another challenging feat with only a thin layer of fresh water available… too shallow, no water; too deep and the water was salty. None of the wells in the area now have potable water.

After visiting the fort, we headed south and then west, passing a large camel racing area. This area contains numerous race tracks for the camels, which race over distances of 4-10 kms at an average speed of 30kph, reaching sprinting speeds of 40kph. Since 2005, for safety, they are raced riderless and controlled remotely. There is a large area across the road from the track containing houses and camel farms and the area is surrounded by businesses that support the industry, veterinarians and agri-feed etc. Camel racing only happens in the winter, given the excessive summer temperatures. It must be incredible to watch.

Nasi stopped at a petrol station and bought us each a can of strawberry Fanta. I must have been very thirsty, even though he had been regularly giving us bottles of water, because I actually drank the foul, incredibly sweet stuff. Not something I am in any hurry to ever repeat. It was a nice thought I guess.

Our next stop was Zakreet, an area of wooded rock formations looming out of the desert. These limestone shapes were formed as the wind and water eroded the surrounding areas. A little further on is the east-west monument, an art installation by Richard Serra, erected in 2014. Apparently they show the height of the land in the area before erosion. I am sure there are other more esoteric meanings to this and other art installations in the country but as my art teacher remarked in my fourth form school report “Sylvia is a little out of sympathy with this subject”.

Nasi then drove us to Zakreet beach, currently empty but apparently in winter, full of people swimming and kayaking. It seems very strange to think that people go to the beach and play outdoors in the winter and stay inside in the summer! Here he stopped under a shade umbrella and asked me to write a review for the trip on Trip Advisor. I complied but it did feel a little strange.

While on the tour we had arranged to also visit the desert area in the south of the country. After stopping for a quick lunch in a local restaurant (delicious kofta in pita bread), we headed south, skirting the city of Doha. We passed large areas of irrigated fields, looking strangely green in the otherwise arid landscape. Large settlements of sometimes brightly-coloured apartments are dotted about. We also drove past the Turkish Air Force base. We could just make out the tails of their jets in the hangars in the distance. A couple (Roger thinks they are Russian made) even flew overhead was we drove past.

I was amazed by the electricity infrastructure right through the country. The power is apparently diesel generated and there are huge pylons running the length of the country, making quite a statement in their red and white colouring. It wasn’t long before we came across a vast area of oil refineries with their huge flame-topped chimneys and gnarled building forms looking like something out of a science fiction movie.

We eventually arrived at the desert with its huge rows of 4×4’s and dune buggies for hire and large areas of cabin-style accommodation. Apparently in the winter people flock here and stay in cabins or tents. Our tour apparently included a camel ride but we have both done those before and were in no hurry to do it again, especially in the heat here. So after reducing the tyre pressure to 15, we headed off into the dunes. There are obviously many of these trips made every day with plenty of tire tracks marring the environment. We kept heading south up and down dunes. A few other vehicles were racing up and down the dunes as well, making quite a spectacle.

We eventually arrived at the ‘Inland Sea’ an area in the gulf, surrounded by Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Iran. After a quick photo stop, we turned and headed back to the hotel, stopping briefly at the end of the dunes to reinflate the tyres. It had been a very interesting day and we learned a huge amount about the country and its history. We were both pretty tired, even though we had sat for most of the day. I was impressed with Nasi’s energy even after driving.

Back at the hotel we headed to the ornately decorated and aptly named “Smoke and Mirrors’ where Roger enjoyed a cigar and a couple of wines before we headed back to our room for an early night.

We leave for Amsterdam early tomorrow morning. I am very glad we visited Qatar but feel no need to visit again. If I ever did, I would definitely choose to come in their winter.