Greetings from Doha, Qatar – Just Another Beautiful Sunny Day

With no causeway over the open sea yet built between Bahrain and Qatar – the most convenient way between each country is via plane. It is a very short flight – something like 130km with maybe 30 minutes in air. My flight was empty – the few people on this Qatar Airways flight each had their own row as well as several rows of extra empty space around them. We were given little candies upon takeoff.

Doha Airport is large, modern, gleaming and very clean. As you exit the International terminals of many airports around the world you are immediately greeted with crowds, taxi drivers and lots of shops. Here there was none of that. I found one money exchange shop located some distance away from where you exit, a few statues of animals, a Limousine reservation counter and that was about it. Other than the cue for the taxi’s which also was completely empty. I wish all airports were this empty.

My stay was at the K108 Hotel which was recommended to me by my cousin who has been living in Doha for the past four years. This new boutique hotel is 10 stories with fantastic views from the roof as well as a bar and rooftop pool. And they donate 100% of their profit to various charities.

Although *really* wanting to jump in this pool and do nothing for the rest of the afternoon, I wanted to scratch the itch of the travelers addiction to explore even more.

So I headed out to the Corniche – a pretty walkway overlooking the Museum of Islamic Art as well as a backdrop of the center of Doha including plenty of very creatively designed buildings. How come we don’t have buildings that look like this at home?!

Then it was a quick stop to Souq Waqif, although I was there when all the shops were closed, my visit ultimately proved productive as I found a delicious Greek salad, “wine leaves” and Lemon Lime Mint Lemonade. Much of this souq appears to have been restored – with hundreds of shops selling everything from birds and assorted pets, to rugs, spices – you name it, it is here. There is also an excellent art centre.

There are plenty of cafes here and on a warm early winter day, is a perfect place to sit, smoke the water pipe and watch people walk by – of all nationalities and dress. Things do not get much better than this 🙂