Doha, Qatar- February 2008

As many readers know, the main reason I returned home from Thailand in December 2007 was to help my family. My parents moved to Doha and I needed to take over the care and feeding of the cats I left with them in May 2006. So a few weeks ago, I was able to take a quick week off from job searching and kitty watching to visit them in their new home.

That main thing I have to say about Doha is that I think it will be a fascinating place to visit once they’re done with all the construction. There are several great museums (including the Museum of Islamic Art-shown above) that should house great collections and are themselves fascinating buildings. For the moment, however, all of those museums are being renovated and all that’s really left to do is shop. The markets (souqs) are a fun place to shop. Although they too were recently renovated, they did it in a way that looks old so you feel like you’re in an old Arabian market browsing carpets and smelling spices but this experience is more climate controlled than what it once was. They did their work well and it didn’t feel like an Epcot version of an Arabian market. We did go to the zoo which was sort of like visiting any other zoo except for the complete disregard for the “Please don’t feed the animals!” signs.

I also spent some time at the local shopping malls where I was surprised to see so many people dressed in traditional dress. Qataris are outnumbered about four-to-one by expatriates in their own country, but they’re easy to spot when you do see them. The women are dressed head to toe in abayas and the men wear white kaftans with pants and sandals. Although they may speed by you in a Land Rover breaking more traffic laws than I ever thought possible, the only modern thing about their dress are the ludicrously expensive sun glasses the men wear. I’ve never traveled to a place where traditional dress was so prevalent!

I hope to go back when the bulk of the construction is finished and I can see a bit more of the country. I watched a Globetrekker on the Arab Gulf States during my fantastic ride over on Qatar Airways (in Business Class...wahoo!) and I think I would add a trip to Oman to the list as well as the ocean looked fascinating. I would also like to do one of the desert safaris to see more of the landscape but that will have to wait. I read in one in-flight magazine that a “seasoned traveler” always leaves at least one thing undone in every place they visit as an incentive to return.