But what was better than the overabundance of Christmas gifts? Better than the fact that the average temperature was 70 degrees and I didn't have any windshields to scrape? Better than not having to battle insane crowds too late at night for just that one perfect gift? What was better than all of that? Visitors! Not just any visitors, but my Dad and Beth - faces from home. Two of the many faces we all miss so very much.
It was an action packed two weeks with our first ever Doha visitors. We were so excited to not only share the city we call home, but have a really great excuse to dig a little deeper and do some exploring ourselves. This is a pretty fun little (not so little) place to live, we discovered.
Sea. Sand. And Sun.
(Note: for some reason these images are loading smaller than the ones I've posted in the past. Just click on them if you want to see them larger. I'll figure out how to fix it for the next post.)
In no particular order, here is a brief recap of our Doha adventures:
The camel races: this was something to behold. I don't even know if I can put into words what this was really like. I'll try. The first thing you should know is that the camel race track is a man's world. The majority of our group was not comprised of men. Also. We're white. White as the desert sand is over here. All this to say, we sort of stood out. It didn't matter. This was a once in a lifetime experience for my dad and Beth! There were camels everywhere. Their trainers were walking them, testing their robot jockeys, and impatiently waiting for their next chance at camel race stardom. As an interesting side note, camel jockeys used to be small boys. Strange and sad. But, Qatar was the first Arab country to do away with that practice. Go Qatar! A link to an interesting article on robot jockeys, for inquiring minds.
Here is how it works - they blow the horn, the camels fly out of the shoot and go tearing around a track. Next to the track, a sea of white Landcruisers speeds along next to the camels. Inside those Landcruisers? Well, the owners of the camels and a handful of spectators. The owners have a remote control that they use to communicate to the robot jockey, who whips the camel, and can also somehow make a hissing sound to urge the poor camel along. It's a frenetic scene, also highly entertaining. At more than one point I couldn't decide if I should be watching the camels or the sea of speeding Landcruisers.
So, there we were...watching the camels race and the Landcruisers zip after them, when all of a sudden we hear a honk. My first instinct was to move out of the way. But, no - it was a Landcruiser with two men who were waving Steve, my dad, and me over toward his car. Steve ran over. "You want to ride along?", the driver asked? "Of course!" Steve exclaimed! "Can my wife come, too?" (What a guy...) So in the three of us hopped. Beth was over at our car hanging out with the kids. All of them were stunned to see us disappear in a cloud of dust in a strange man's car. No problem. This isn't America. It's totally safe to hop into random cars here. Ha! Needless to say, we got a behind the scenes look at the races and it was something to behold!
And then there was the dhow cruise and moonlight fishing trip. Between the 21 people on that cursed dhow, only one tiny fish was caught. Whatever. Arabian Gulf. Psha! I thought there were supposed to be some impressive fish in there. Of course the fact that over half of us were battling the urge to hurl over the side of the boat, probably didn't make us very hearty fisher people.
Dune bashing was probably my favorite of all. Think simulated car crash - only everyone survives and no one is injured. How can that not be fun? We bashed our way through a sea of dunes until we arrived at our Bedouin camp where a delicious authentic dinner was served beneath the stars. Our driver even stopped to point out Saudi Arabia, which we could see just across the gulf from where we stopped. We all enjoyed a little puff or two of the shisha and lounged around on the majlis.
There was camel riding... I mean, really...what kind of hosts would we be if we didn't get our guests up on a camel in the Middle East? Although the kids had experienced life on the back of a camel (fortunately not as child jockeys), it was a first for Steve and me. I have to admit that the shot of Drew on a camel below is an older photo. He and Liv weren't wild about getting...um, back in the saddle (or lack thereof) after their first ride. It's a long way down... Livy did go with Steve, but Drew - one ride was good for that boy.
And how could we forget the grandiose Museum of Islamic Art. A place of architectural beauty, and camel Bolognese. Yes, my dad did order and eat that for lunch. Ew.
While the museum did hold the attention of the adult set, it didn't so much for the kids. Zoey got a little zoney, Livy got a little loopy, and Drew got a little droopy.
There was much more to share, but you don't want to see or hear about all of it! There were a few days that poor Beth was under the weather. She didn't make it on our dhow cruise - and it was actually a good thing. Those of us in perfect health were doubled over a time or two on that little cruise. Drew hurled on the cobblestone streets of the souk. Good times. We hung out at the Pearl and pretended we had every right to be strolling through the Ferrari and Rolls-Royce dealerships. We had bracelets handmade right in front of us. We strolled through the falcon souq, ate plenty of delicious cuisine, and my dad and Beth got to experience true Doha dining when our dinner that we ordered for delivery never showed up.
Best of all though, we got to spend some really great time with our family! And that, that is what made it a very merry Christmas! Then we had to say goodbye - which is never fun. I'm debating not coming home for summer just because I'm dreading saying goodbye to everyone again. Half kidding.
Now that we've practiced our tour guiding skills, come on over! We have plenty of room and lots of adventures to share!
