Last year over Nawruz (the shared Kurdish/Persian New Year) , a few colleagues and I traveled to Lebanon and had an absolutely fantastic time. Now when there is a week off approaching, we quickly start planning where the next trip will be. For Eid Qurban, 2009 (yes, I am posting VERY late), the decision was Doha, Qatar and/or Manama, Bahrain. I know that these may not strike everyone as the Middle Eastern destinations topping everyone's travel must-do list; however, with less than a week off, practicalities must come into play. In the case of Doha, the decision was largely decided by the fact that
Gulf Air had just starting offering DIRECT FLIGHT from ERBIL to BAHRAIN!
Having just come from land-locked Erbil, the first sight of Doha was rather refreshing... Even before reaching the bay, I could feel the ocean breeze and (here I must admit that I have an inexplicable fondness for palm trees) couldn't help myself from smiling just at the sight of the gently waving palms.
Doha was equipped with many modern amenities and for us, the first stop was to avail ourselves of the shopping facilities, restaurants and cinemas on offer in one of the many many bland, but convenient shopping centers. In fact, all three of our traveling trio had brought extra bags packed inside our bags to fill with those items as yet unavailable in Kurdistan - brown rice, exotic cereals (like flavored instant oatmeal), English Christmas sweets, puddings & preserves... English-language novels, non-pirated DVDs, and more (most of all this at Marks & Spencer's... although the picture above was taken of the staff at Lush).
We were then ready to explore the bay. The corniche was a little over 5km long and made me more than a little envious. Not only can expats enjoy relatively beautiful nice scenery while getting in a little exercise, but they (including expat women) can run in shorts and tank tops. I am stuck in full length sweats staring at the road along the inside of a drab wall in the complex I live in going around and around like a hamster in a cage.
Although kind of cheesy, we also went for a little ride in a kind of motorized dhow-ferry. (There wasn't much to do as many culture venues were closed for Eid). The water was lovely, but the music was loud and the other passengers confirmed that the shorts and tank-top outfits visible on the cornichewere NOT
de rigeur for all women in Doha (see below)!
Last year over Nawruz (the shared Kurdish/Persian New Year) , a few colleagues and I traveled to Lebanon and had an absolutely fantastic time. Now when there is a week off approaching, we quickly start planning where the next trip will be. For Eid Qurban, 2009 (yes, I am posting VERY late), the decision was Doha, Qatar and/or Manama, Bahrain. I know that these may not strike everyone as the Middle Eastern destinations topping everyone's travel must-do list; however, with less than a week off, practicalities must come into play. In the case of Doha, the decision was largely decided by the fact that Gulf Air had just starting offering DIRECT FLIGHT from ERBIL to BAHRAIN!
Having just come from land-locked Erbil, the first sight of Doha was rather refreshing... Even before reaching the bay, I could feel the ocean breeze and (here I must admit that I have an inexplicable fondness for palm trees) couldn't help myself from smiling just at the sight of the gently waving palms.
Doha was equipped with many modern amenities and for us, the first stop was to avail ourselves of the shopping facilities, restaurants and cinemas on offer in one of the many many bland, but convenient shopping centers. In fact, all three of our traveling trio had brought extra bags packed inside our bags to fill with those items as yet unavailable in Kurdistan - brown rice, exotic cereals (like flavored instant oatmeal), English Christmas sweets, puddings & preserves... English-language novels, non-pirated DVDs, and more (most of all this at Marks & Spencer's... although the picture above was taken of the staff at Lush).
We were then ready to explore the bay. The corniche was a little over 5km long and made me more than a little envious. Not only can expats enjoy relatively beautiful nice scenery while getting in a little exercise, but they (including expat women) can run in shorts and tank tops. I am stuck in full length sweats staring at the road along the inside of a drab wall in the complex I live in going around and around like a hamster in a cage.
Although kind of cheesy, we also went for a little ride in a kind of motorized dhow-ferry. (There wasn't much to do as many culture venues were closed for Eid). The water was lovely, but the music was loud and the other passengers confirmed that the shorts and tank-top outfits visible on the cornichewere NOT de rigeur for all women in Doha (see below)!
No comments:
Post a Comment