Christmas in Doha

Our Christmas Eve dinner at the Radisson Blu -
  

I returned to Doha on December 23 so I could be with Stephen for Christmas. Many of his co-workers were free to go home for the holidays, but since Stephen had the month of November at home both for surgery and for the Thanksgiving holiday, he was on duty for Christmas. We had dinner Christmas Eve at the Radisson Blu, where we were one of only two couples dining at the early hour of 6:30. I hope they had more customers throughout the evening, but for us it was a bit lonely, and we had the full staff hovering nearby ready to serve our every need. One young woman was very shy and I asked her where she was from and she told me Myanmar. She is the first person I have met from that country and I would have loved to invite her to take a seat at our table and to tell us more about her life and how she ended up in Doha.

I continue to be fascinated by the international mix of people who have come to Doha to make a living. I am also fascinated and somewhat horrified by how much western culture has invaded this land. Everywhere there are American companies - especially fast food restaurants. Just across the street from our apartment there is a Burger King, next door to a MacDonald's and down the street there is a Chili's, an Applebee's, a TGI Fridays, a Popeye's and a KFC.  And just like in the US, obesity is a serious health issue here too.

The street where we live

Normally I am very adventurous, but the traffic here is daunting. Crossing the street is the most challenging part of living here for me. There are few accommodations for pedestrians, few cross walks, and drivers here like to drive very fast and honk their horns.

This visit too the time change seems to have taken a toll on me. I have been sleeping late and having a hard time getting motivated to get down to the gym or to get outside at all. Finally today, I did get downstairs and ran on the treadmill for 30 minutes and lifted weights for another 30 minutes. Then I took a short walk outside and I am starting to feel normal again.

Friday is Stephen's one day off - the sabbath for the Islamic faith - so this past Friday we decided to go to the movies to see "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty." We were seated in front of a group of about six middle school-aged boys - young shabaabs - dressed in the traditional garb of long white shirts called a thoub and their heads covered with the ghutra - in this case a folded cloth in white and held in place by a black cord - the iqal. As soon as the movie started, with subtitles for Arabic speakers, I wondered how these boys could possibly understand the story. So much of popular film is made up of fantastic events - a world of impossible elements presented as real. But I wondered if the boys could understand that in this film, these scenes were really Walter's fantasies, his way of escaping his mundane and powerless life. The boys, like middle school aged boys everywhere, were more interested in goofing off and talking and splattering each other with candy.  Reading sub-titles certainly did not hold their interest. As young as they were too, I wondered if they could understand the sense of adult life being unexciting and unsatisfying and without much reward. Of course, in this version of the story, Walter does break out of the ordinary to experience the grandest of adventures. But I doubt that these young viewers had any sense of that either.

This could be any town, but it is Doha, Qatar.

Our last night in Doha till we return

We spent our last night  in Doha at the Souq, but getting there, driving through town at around 5:00 PM when laborers were leaving work, was quite an ordeal. The size of some of the construction sites is just astronomical. They are building an underground rail system, so some of the sites are huge holes in the ground right now with tens of power cranes on every portion of the site and hundreds of laborers.

A typical site in Doha. Men getting off work getting on the bus to take them to the camps where they  sleep. Traffic congested and inching along, power cranes lit up at night, some so they can keep working.through the night.

This is a bit blurry, but it captures something about Doha. Stephen says there  may be a million workers here constructing all of the projects going on in Doha. There is international concern for their safety and for their living conditions, but the paper here reports that Qatar has the least construction injuries of any location.

The Souq Waqif is always a busy place. In this area women set up small grills and sell food they have prepared.

Another merchant at the Souq.  He was hammering and shaping the bracelets.His turban I think is more for tourists. I rarely see anyone wearing a turban on the streets

Another part of the Souq with a Mosque in the rear. 

At dinner last night with two of Stephen's co-workers - Leah, from Omaha, and Sandro, from Venice, Italy - I got to hear more about the challenges they face on the completion of the hospital they are working on. There is so much construction going on here that subcontractors can and do walk off jobs. With so much work going on in this town, it is a monumental challenge to coordinate all of the details in order to get the jobs done.

We leave tonight, but plan to return. 

The view from our apartment

Stephen's new neighborhood is more modern than the neighborhood where he lived at the Le Park Hotel. But in some ways it is less appealing to me. The traffic is very congested and it is difficult to cross some of the highways. There really is very little provision for pedestrians and drivers are aggressive and impatient. The road pictured here is an alley. The highway can be seen to the far right.

Katara Cultural Center

On Friday we visited the Katara Cultural Center again to see the art exhibits there and to have dinner at an Armenian and Lebanese restaurant. Katara is by the sea so it is very beautiful. The beach is interesting in its arrangement of out door furniture, but each time we have been there it has been on a Friday and the Sabbath, so the beach is empty of people.

It rains here so infrequently that this furniture can stay dry. There is not much of a tide here either.

Though there is no one on shore, the sailboats are numerous

And just like every space in Doha, there is more construction underway

Katara has a couple mosques on the site. This one is striking in all of its golden splendor

This is the formal entry to the amphitheater

The green panels are glass. The door is bronze.

A detail of the exterior of the amphitheater

Another mosque at Katara

The restaurant where we ate on a roof top deck. Mamig means something like Grandma.

Halloween In Doha

Stephen and I sort of celebrating Halloween by donning the authentic garb of this region

Stephen and co-worker Leah wanted to participate in the home office's Halloween festivities, so they both purchased items of dress common for men and women in this region. Leah lent me her veil and abaya for this picture. Stephen purchased his "white shirt" and head scarf at the souq. He let his beard grow for a few days but also enhanced it with a bit of charcoal. The sun glasses he already owned, a gift from Gabe at the time of the wedding.

Stephen continues his quest to wear his Pappy visor at every opportunity. He emailed this picture to Katherine and to Carrie, whose family produces the Van Winkle brand; Carrie got a big kick out of Stephen's support for their products.

This picture was taken in our apartment

The Museum of Islamic Art

The view of Doha's sky line taken from the MIA.

The next exhibit we were able to see was at the Museum of Islamic Art (the MIA). I have written about the beauty of the MIA building itself in an earlier post, but I took a  few more pictures of a portion of the building we had not visited previously. The design is such a beautiful work itself, that I am sure the building will continue to present surprises each time we visit.

I love this use of  reflection in the fountain. The building is surrounded by water too so the architect I M Pei has really shown his mastery of using reflection throughout his design.  

The exhibit we went to see at the MIA was "Hajj - The Journey Through Art"

This is the only picture I was able to take inside this exhibit. In this ornate, small tent, carried on the shoulders of four or more men, a prestigious person would be carried, but once they arrived at the destination of the Hajj, the Emir or Sheik would have to exit this carrier and walk along with other pilgrims because the belief is that all the pilgrims are equal. The pilgrims must also wear the same type of garment consisting of two white pieces of cloth to show equality. 

The pilgrimage to Mecca, I learned, was actually something that preceded Mohammed, but that it was he who purified it of false gods and icons of pagan belief. So many people today want to make the  journey, the participants have to be selected through a lottery. In earlier eras, some pilgrims would die trying to make it to Mecca due to the dry conditions in the deserts they had to cross.

As we left the MIA and walked toward the Souq, we could see again the dazzling light show of Doha's skyline 

Scenes from the Souq

Friday night we went to dinner at a Moroccan restaurant at the Souq. It was a pleasant evening so there were lots of people out. We sat on a rooftop deck for dinner and watched music videos and excerpts from Arab Idol along with the many people at the restaurant. The food was OK - not as spicy as I had expected.

The museum at night

Damien Hirst in Doha

On Friday, Stephen's one day off, we got to visit some of the art exhibits in Doha. The one that got a lot of press worldwide is the Damien Hirst exhibit. There was an article in the New York Times a few weeks ago about the art world's keen interest in the art scene in Doha. The Hirst exhibit was the focus of the buzz.

Hirst's ideas supporting his art are to me more interesting than the pieces themselves. 

One line from the literature about the exhibit - Hirst since the late 80's has "used a varied practice of installation, sculpture, painting, and drawing to explore the complex relationship between art, love, life and death."I was not allowed to take my camera into the exhibit, but what was maddening was that people were allowed to take pictures with their phones and iPads. This seemed totally unfair to me. So the pictures I have are of the reproductions decorating the lobby.

I liked the butterfly displays best, but hate to think he might have shortened a butterfly's life or reproductive capability by assembling so many for his very large works. Hirst has literally thousands of butterfly wings in the various arrangements, some like stained glass rose windows. 

Stephen wears his Pappy visor everywhere we go thinking he will create a series of  pictures asking, "Where's Pappy?" 

The installation enclosed in a glassed in area in the exhibit featuring a severed cow's head still oozing blood and swarming with real flies was repulsive, but I guess that is the idea. Just now it made me think of Emily Dickinson's poem, "I heard a fly buzz when I died." I think she uses the fly image in the same way - as a reminder that life goes on even in death, for surely the flies were feeding on the flesh of the cow's head. He also had an electronic insect zapper in the enclosure that, of course, would kill the flies that come in contact with it, so again a reminder of the interrelatedness of life and death. All of the displays of cigarettes and pharmaceuticals were also thought provoking.

One of his most iconic works is the series of dot paintings which are as he says a celebration of color and came from his "desire to overcome the infinite possibilities of a blank canvas."

This is the building erected for this exhibit, adorned with the iconic dots Hirst is known for. 

Museums, gardens and sunsets

Outside the museum

We did visit one museum in Old Muscat, one that was at one time a private home. We were not allowed to take pictures inside, but we saw lots of traditional daggers and sabers and old rifles  - all a reminder of how often this city was the site of armed conflict so that the winner could control the port. There were also lots pieces of jewelry - very heavy and ornately decorated silver worn by the women around their ankles and necks. Coral was a popular stone and it was believed that the red color kept evil spirits away. There were also examples of traditional clothing - different styles popular in different regions of Oman, but the styles were very colorful rather than the black that the women wear today. There were also household items - beautiful dishes and silver serving pieces.

We also visited one of the gardens in Muscat. This style of cupola adorned the corners of the garden walls.

We went to the garden partly because it was described as a good place to see birds. Oman is situated in the migratory path of many bird species  and was listed as a bird watcher's destination.  We saw this type of bird often, but have not identified him yet. 

At the garden, which is situated right in the city, we saw some interesting species, some familiar like the Great Blue Heron, but one blue bird that we saw we never have seen before, but I was not able to get a picture of one either.

The garden had some pretty areas, but unfortunately, there were many signs of neglect, especially around the pond. 

Trash - especially the discarded water bottle - is everywhere to be seen. The Middle East locations that we have visited need a "Don't be a litterbug campaign"- which was part of the Keep America Beautiful organization's effort to educate Americans to prevent litter along America's highways - it actually started in the late 40's. Visiting in the Middle East, where most people drink bottled water and where there are no recycling or anti-litter campaigns that we are aware of, makes us realize how successful the anti-litter campaigns have been in the US. The most disagreeable part of living here for me is that there is no recycling, so putting glass, and plastic in the trash along with fruit peels is very disconcerting. 

We enjoyed our visit in Muscat and were especially impressed by the enthusiasm for their country expressed by the Omani men we met. One cab driver was insistent that we come again and get out of the city to see some of the other beautiful spots in the country. Many people come here to dive and see the coral reefs off the coast.

We saw some beautiful sunsets from our hotel balcony.

Sightseeing in Muscat

Stephen, wearing his Pappy visor, at the Souq

We spent some time exploring the sights in Muscat, one of which was the Souq Muttrah. Shopping in the Souq is quite an experience. All of the shopkeepers call to you to take a look at their wares. Of course, the competition is fierce. There are many shops selling pashminas, so the bargaining is part of the process. There is also a lot of silver and another product they seem to specialize in is frankincense. Many have hookas - water pipes and decorated boxes, seen in the display behind Stephen.

This is the entrance to the Souq in Muscat. The Omani men wear full length white shirts and traditional hats instead of the traditional dress of the Qatari men which includes the gutra in white, or in white and red cloth and held in place by a black rope.

This is a picture I took at the Souq in Doha, so you can see the traditional dress of the men. I am amazed at how beautifully starched and white the gutras are. The laundering of these items would be no small chore. 

The juxtaposition of old and new is a common site in Muscat. 

I thought this mosque was really pretty. The fort behind it seems to be carved out of the rock.

This is the view along the corniche in Old Muscat. Sultan Qaboos' yacht and some traditional boats are moored in the harbor. 

This is as close as we could get to one of the forts. There are two forts on either end of Muscat Harbor. Here is some information from the Oman tourism site: Like the rest of Oman, Muscat’s buildings never rise more than ten stories - a longstanding decree by His Majesty the Sultan to ensure that the city’s magnificent mountain backdrop is never overshadowed by man-made structures. Rather than skyscrapers, pride of place on Muscat’s skyline are its twin forts of Al Mirani and Al Jilali which sit perched atop the headlands on either side of Muscat Harbour. They represent just two of the many forts and watchtowers from centuries past which can be seen on the mountains surrounding the city.

Along the corniche, men fish off the bridge.

I think the lack of sky scrapers is one of the most striking differences between Doha and Muscat. The buildings are almost all gleaming white and no taller than ten stories, so the city and the mountains behind create a beautiful site. 

We found one outdoor cafe along the corniche and had some hummus and Arabic bread and a Mango smoothy. There aren't a lot of outdoor cafes, at least at this time of year. Maybe more restaurants set up tables once the weather cools. Either that or it is a business opportunity waiting to happen.