A Beduoin Wedding

I was lucky enough to be invited to a Bedouin wedding on Saturday night. What an amazing experience. The NZ teachers from one of the Cognition schools were invited and I was asked to join them – 2 sisters of the school librarian were getting married (to 2 brothers!?) I have no photos to post as photos are strictly forbidden – in fact we had our bags searched on entry and cell phones with cameras had to be left at the door with the security guards!

The wedding party is for women only, no alcohol and lots of dancing to loud singing in Arabic and an all women Bedouin drumming band. The women were all dressed in very colourful, amazingly decorated ball gowns – I’ve never seen anything like them. They looked like they had been at the hairdressers all day and the beauty salon. I have never seen so much make up - like beautiful dolls. Some were still wearing the full abaya – so we didn’t get to see them even when they were up on the cat walk dancing. The food was constantly being brought around – little nibbles and sweet things, as well as endless cups of sweet tea, yellow cardamom coffee and water.

The bride came out from behind a sliding wall up on the stage. She looked beautiful in her white traditional wedding gown, but she didn’t smile, apparently you aren’t supposed to smile. The family showered her with money and she stood there for a long while for all to admire. The dancing started again - this time we were all invited up onto the catwalk for a dance – what a hoot. They all had a good laugh and we got the thumbs up.

At about 11.00 we ate the main meal – which was yummy local food. No men were present for the whole event - they had their own party somewhere. We were home by 12.00 – up again the next day at 5.00 to get ready to be at school by 6.45, on a Sunday! An experience not to be missed.

Up Zikrit ( Without a Paddle )

Two fridays ago three 4 wheel drives full of intrepid adventurers armed with picnics headed up to the top of the Zikrit ( pronounced Zeekreet )Peninsula, on the west coast, in search of Flamingos, Ostriches, Fish and Fun( and camels but they are easy to find ). On our way up ( very much off road ) we discovered two amazing old film sets. The first was a stunning cluster of tradition type buildings that are now lived in. The second set was a bit more unusual - very much as if on another planet...Hidden in a kind of secret valley. We are told that the round stone structures were filmed in the evening with fires lit in them - they would have looked really other worldy. In any event one of them made a very useful toilet stop.
On the way we saw a couple of Ostriches - keeping our distance as they can easily outrun humans and are mostly not harmless. Some poor chap nearly got kicked to death by one recently. They sure can keep up a cracking pace.
Once at the top, at a really stunning beach looking out to Bahrain, out came the fishing rods and swimming attire. Unfortunately although a couple of big fish were hooked up none were landed. Not so different from NZ fishing eh. But hey just so very relaxing. They have really huge irridescant blue Piper here that follow your lures in which are really impressive to see.
The water temperature has cooled rather rapidly in the last weeks from the early 30'S to probably the early 20's but still absolutely lovely swimming and being very salty you are so much more bouyant.
Many locals ( and Ex Pats ) go camping at this time of the year and it is common to see large groups of tents complete with satellite dishes, outdoor Majlis ( Man Caves - see earlier blog ), Volleyball nets - all very well set up. We have even been looking at getting some camping gear ourselves and heading out with a few others.
On the way back we saw a couple of lonely Flamingos so all in all it was a very successful outing ( except for the fish ).
Also on the way back we stopped in at Al Shahhaniah where they do all the camel racing, as some of the crew had not been there, and watched while they were training the camels.
These expeditions are great fun and many more are planned - next maybe the Inland Sea in the far south which is highly recommended - another 4 wheel drive only trip.

Raymond

This ones for you Raymond - we captured this photo at the local tailor - to add to your collection. The Complete Man (unfortunately the camera wouldn't stop flashing)
You're a lot older than we thought you were!

Crane lovers....

Gerard we thought you would enjoy these.

BubbleShare: Share photos - Find great Clip Art Images.


Followers of this blog will already be aware that Doha is a city of construction, and also, sadly, a lot of destruction.
The old parts of the city are being torn down at an alarming rate to make way for the new and big at an even more alarming rate. And yes there are cranes...
Big cranes, little cranes, old cranes, new cranes, red cranes, blue cranes ( Thanks Dr S )...They have them all here and everywhere you look, there they are, in all their majestic glory...( they do bring back my distant boyhood meccano memories )....In a couple of the photos there aren't any cranes and these couple slipped through, but are however of the site that I am working on. And yes we do have a small crane on the roof but it's days are numbered as the site nears ( I use this term loosely ) completion. I guess it will be dismantled and bought back down to earth via the lifts - when they are going. I get to walk lots of flights of stairs much to the displeasure of my poor legs.
It will one day be fascinating to come back here when all the construction has finished. We still havent quite worked out what the focus of all the re-building of this city is all about and what the plan is - if indeed there is one. It all seems a bit haphazard and much of the architecure, to my mind, is not pretty. You do however appreciate the few buildings that do look good. It certainly keeps ( I'm sure )over half the population employed, including me, so I dont want to be seen to complain too much....If only they would do something about the roads which seem dreadfully inadequate for the amount of vehicles using them....There is that planning issue again. Somebody just didn't get that part right at all....On a good day it takes me 10 minutes to get to work...That can more often become 40 minutes on other days, and I'm sure that that time will get beaten very soon. It is very frustrating when you can see where you want to go, but just can't quite seem to make it.....If Tarzan were here he would probably just swing from crane to crane....which all goes on to say that it really is a jungle out there. A concrete jungle. ( Thanks Bob M ).

Week 8

It's hard to believe but we've been here for nearly 8 weeks. In some ways time has gone fast - 8 weeks doesn't seem that long but then again it seems like a long time ago that we last enjoyed your company. We do miss those catch ups for meals, chats, shopping, a glass or 2 of tea, coffee, wine, beer, music......

As always we enjoy the weekends as it is a great chance to get out and about exploring this place.

There is a large development going on, on the outskirts of Doha. It is a large artificial island/s called 'The Pearl' - around 32km of new coastline. When it's finished it will be the first land in Qatar which will be available for freehold ownership by foreign nationals - not that we'll be able to afford it!. The island is built on one of Qatar's previous major pearl diving sites. Qatar was one of the major pearl traders of Asia before the Japanese introuced cheaper pearls just before Qatar's oil boom. They are copying the Abu Dhabi one that looks like the world I think. On Fridays you are able to take a wonder around it - the only day the workers have off. As with all of Doha it is very much still under construction BUT it is impressive - sort of Auckland viaduct with a middle eastern flavour and Arab money.

Last night I had the opportunity to go to the semi finals of the Womens Interneational Tennis Tournament at the Doha tennis stadium - an impressive place. I watched Venus Williams play Jankovic - the world no.1. It was an exciting game which see sawed back and forth - deuce, advantage etc. We'd also watched another semi final between 2 top Russian women players earlier in the evening. Here is Venus preparing to play.
Note the VIP seats for the Qatari royal family.
Tonight are the finals.