Laying Over in Qatar

Vacation started this morning really, really early.  We had to be at the airport before 2:00 am.  I said good-bye to South Asian soil for a good three weeks and began my journey to the west.  We had a long, long, long lay over in Doha, Qatar.   Since 19 hours was too long to just stay in the airport and twiddle our thumbs and the opportunity to be in Qatar might never present itself again, we decided to go out and do a little exploring.

We left the airport and got in a taxi to go to a suggested mall.  Our taxi driver was talking on the phone and all of the sudden my brain was understanding what he was saying...and he wasn't speaking English.  He was speaking Bengali!  He is from D-city in B-country where we studied language.  What are the chances?

One of the first views I saw of the city

This city is interesting.  Qatar is a small country on the east side of Saudi Arabia.  Doha is located on the coast and it seems most of it is surrounded by water.  Overall the city seems extremely rich (from all that oil I presume) which is quite a change from where I just came from.

First, we went to a mall.  This mall was nice and had some super high-end stores.  Parts of it definitely felt like a "hands in your pocket" place.  In the middle of the mall was an ice-skating rink...whoa!

There was a Starbucks!  This picture shows Starbucks written in Arabic.

This is me relaxing in a very comfy chair while drinking some much needed "go juice".  Check out the people behind me.  I don't see men  and women dressed like that every day.

Lunch of hummus (probably the best I've ever eaten), yogurt chicken, basamati saffron rice, cucumber salad.  Yum!

The architecture in this city is something else!  I've never seen anything like it.  Almost every building is a skyscraper and the designs of the buildings are unique.  Check out some of the buildings:

In the afternoon, we went to a Muslim art museum.  It had Islamic art from all over the Muslim world.  It was interesting to see the similarities and differences between the ancient art from different countries of the world.

The Art Museum

Outside the art museum.  We tried to get down to the actual Arabian Sea, but were unsuccessful.  I think this is the same water though...at least that is what I'm telling myself. :)

A Koran that was in the museum.  

There were several mosques in the city, but this one (the tall building in the distance) looked very interesting.  The Doha Port is what is in the foreground.

I'm back in the Doha airport now waiting a few more hours for my next flight to Rome.  It has been quite a cultural day seeing and learning about things I have never experienced before.  What a great opportunity the Father provided in this layover!