Qatar Trip - Part 2

Part of the fun of going to Qatar is that they have excursions you can take off the base and into the city of Doha. Brad and I went out on what they call the cultural tour, which is an all day tour through the different parts of the city.

First stop was one of the local malls. It reminded me of a cross between the Venetian and Ceasers Palace in Vegas. You could ride the gondola through the inside of the mall and there was a painted sky overhead. Lots of good shops and interesting people walking around. We even grabbed a hamburger and coke at McDonald's before heading out.

Doha hosted the 2006 Asian Games last year. I guess this was a big deal and they built a lot of stuff for it. This is a tower of some sort, I think our guide said that this was being made into a hotel with 500 rooms.

Outdoor venue where the Asian Games were held.

We stopped at the local camel market and took some photos. The camels made a crazy noise at us, kind of like Chewbacca when he was upset. I didn't get too close because I was frankly a little bit freaked out. Our guide said that a camel will remember your face if you hurt it for its entire life, and if it runs into you 20 years from now it will bite you and then sit on you until you die. Allrighty then. That is why the camel jockeys for the races are children, they won't remember them as their faces will change as the age. The camel market didn't smell all that great as you could probably guess.

We stopped at the veggie market as well, nothing too exciting there. Then we shopped for a couple of hours at the outdoor market. Lots of traditional stuff, they kept trying to sell us man dresses and burkas but we passed. I did buy a Rolex at what they call the gold market. I got a pretty sweet deal, I checked online and the model I got sells in the states for $13,500, I only paid 140 Qatari Dinars. Sweet. Next stop was lunch. We had a traditional lunch. Here is the restaurant.

After lunch, it is custom to smoke from the Hooka pipe. Brad and I shared one with apple flavored tobacco. Kids don't try this at home.

The Hooka was followed by coffee and tea. Hello, I ordered a large!!!

Cool building I saw. Can't really remember what it was though. They told us if we took pictures from the bus we'd be tarred and feathered so we had to do the tourist thing when we were stopped.

This is kind of a big deal. Giant oyster and pearl. I took a picture because everyone else was. The Persian Gulf is in the background and a couple of fellow 167 soldiers are on your right.

More to follow.