Baskets

They smell of Arabia, and you can put things inside of them.

Souq Waqif or Souk Wakif or...

First of all, it is really hard to know how to spell things here. If you are spelling challenged, you should move to Arabia. Because they have a totally different alphabet, when they spell things in English, there is no consistency. I don't blame them, but it is hard to look for something when you don't know what the spelling is going to be.

Souq means something like store or market. There are several souq areas around Doha, and they are usually categorized by what types of wares they sell. Souq Waqif is located where the oldest marketplace area once was, which happens to be in the downtown area. They have recently (and are still in the process of) knocked down the old buildings and reconstructed new "old" buildings. They have tried to make it look like what it may have looked like many years ago and give the same feel. I have to say they have done a pretty good job of it.

I have been there several times already, but we took my parents a couple times while they were visiting as well. Here are some pictures to give you an idea of what it is like.

First Glimpse
notice the turqouise Karwa taxis and the traffic cop standing in his umbrella covered stand

Navigating through the maze of alleys
Bags of peanuts, seeds, and other dried grains, nuts, herbs, are stacked along the alleys

Travis checking out some of the local offerings including the sheesha (bottom right)
You can get lost in this place. I still don't know my way around.Mounds of spices
Spices are plentiful and quite inexpensive. There are many different types of curry as well as tumeric, cinnamon, and more. You can smell the spices along with the sent of incense burning through the alleys.

Woven linens of sheep's wool & camel hair

Enjoying some pistachio ice cream as the sun sets
Behind us you can see a tent set up. These are for special social gatherings, usually only men. Someone must have been planning a get together for that evening because the teapots were all set up and ready to start serving shortly.

The animal section

There are cages upon cages of small animals being sold as pets from rabbits to parakeets, kittens to fish. My favorite are the kittens and rabbits dressed up in little dresses. They look absolutely ridiculous.
Falcons
Not in the same class with the other animals, falcons are sold in a couple of stores here. They range in price from about $1500-$12,000

Wheelbarrows waiting to carry your purchases
The souq is swarming with older men with their wheelbarrows waiting to carry your purchases for you. In this culture, physical labor is looked down upon and the higher your status, the less you do for yourself. you hire people to do the "menial" tasks. It is difficult for me to hand over something seemingly light to someone else to carry it for me, but they can't stand watching me carrying something on my own. very different mindset.

Our wheelbarrow helping us get all our purchases out to the car
The baskets were NOT very heavy, but this guy wouldn't give up trying to carry our stuff for us although we were heading right for the car.

This is just a little of what you can experience at Souq Waqif. There are restaurants which serve a variety of "traditional" foods from different countries in Arabia as well as more Western fare such as Haagen Daaz and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. There are stores selling everything from fabric to huge cauldrons. [I say cauldron because they are something you can prepare food for hundreds in, so "pot" wouldn't exactly be the right word.] There are many many perfume shops (and strong scents emanating from them), jewelry stores, honey, and so much more.

Groceries

This is our bakery (Bateel's) and the place where we buy a lot of produce (Falcon). We do have a grocery store right by our house (Lulu, the disco grocery, which someday I will post the video), and though their produce is pretty good, their bread stinks. It is handy because it is all in the same place as where we often buy gas.

Difference in Taste

Some cultures' idea of tasty is different than mine.

P.S. I'll be working on blog posts this week to catch things up. Lots of new pictures to come.

Christmas in Doha

Glad that a Muslim country would be so kind as to sell Christmas trees for us Christians. Can you tell that these are in an Indian owned store?

National Day

On the 18th of December, Qatar celebrates its National Day in commemoration of the historic day in 1878 when Shaikh Jasim, the founder of the State of Qatar, succeeded his father, Shaikh Muhammad Bin Thani, as a ruler and led the country toward unity. The event is considered as an opportunity for all Qatari nationals and expatriates to recognize and celebrate what it means to live in modern day Qatar. Qatar National Day activities are organized by the State National Day Celebrations Organizing Committee (SNDCOC), whose vision is to Strengthen Solidarity, Loyalty and Pride in National Identity.
Courtesy of Qatar National Day website

You know when the news portrays Arabs waving their flags & mobbed together, which frightens many Americans? My guess is that they probably shot the footage on their National Day. In other words, picture the 4th of July in the USA, but with a different flag and different clothing, and there you would have Qatar's National Day. I enjoyed seeing the patriotism throughout the city during the week leading up to National Day.

Flags lining the roads.


Pictures of the Royal family on cars (sometimes even on the windshields)


Cars with Qatari flag hearts all over them.


Tents being set up along the roads for festivities

A few things I regrettable do not have pictures of:

1) Guys selling flags in almost every roundabout you drive by. (You can see a couple in the background of other pictures)
2) Women with abayas embroidered FOR National Day (Qatar flag colors along the edges and the word Qatar)
3) People wearing long, thick Qatar scarves in 80 degree weather because they are Qatar national colors
4) A huge gathering of men waving swords and dancing around across the street when we came out of church on National Day. (This one I tried to get a shot on the drive by, but the shot delay missed the moment).

We saw some of the rehearsal or the parade the day before, but since National Day fell on Friday (the Sabbath), we didn't attend the parade this year. A friend went and took 2300 pictures. She said it was great, and her pictures are fantastic, so we have something to look forward to next year.

Camels

December 18th is Qatar National Day (more on that in a later post). As part of the week leading up to National Day, there were a variety of events throughout the city. We took an afternoon to go out to see a camel dressage event.

We drove out into the desert, though not very far out of the city. For those who lived in/visited Las Vegas in earlier years, you can see why Qatar reminds us of Las Vegas sometimes.

Modern technology isn't stopped by the vast expanses of sand.

When we arrived, we found that there were a few other things in the same location including a poetry reading event, which took place later that day, though we were not able to stay for it.There was also a photography exhibit, and we had a chance to see some of the local traditional crafts/pastimes being displayed & demonstrated: fishing, embroidery, henna application, traditional foods, weaving, etc.

Falconing is a local sport. There were a few falcons on display, and a baby in training demonstrated catching a stuffed rodent. We also had a chance to "hold" the falcons, but with their hoods on.

Leoni even got up close with a baby falcon.

We then headed out to the stands to watch the camel events. We didn't know that the stands would have a Middle Eastern spin to them. You sat cross legged on cushions.Leoni got to play around on the cushions while we waited.

Things were definitely on "Qatar" time, so although the event was suppsed to start at 2pm, at 3pm, things were still not rolling, but we could see some camels lined up out in the distance.

look for the small silhouettes just above the red & white barricades

Finally, the camels started coming out. Nothing was announced, though it probably would have been in Arabic anyway, but it was fun to finally see some camels closer & watch them trot along.
We did not stay for the whole event, just long enough to get a feel for things. There were only a few other observers there as well. On our way out, we had no idea we would get to see camels even closer.

Leoni had practiced earlier, sitting on a camel saddle on display...

...And she was able to try out the real thing.

Travis & Lindsay each got a turn to actually ride one as well.

Preparing for dismount