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More on Qatar

I have published some of the photos I took whilst in Qatar and you can view them by clicking here.

This very short trip probably gave a false impression of Qatar as a whole. The city of Doha was very well developed with a very westernised lifestyle. However, when you leave by air it is clear that when the city boundary is crossed – the country reverts to pure desert. Unfortunately, I was not able to venture that far from the hotel on this occasion.

Turkey – March 2008

Arrived in Ankara (Turkey) at about 7pm local time – it was dark so I have not formed am impression of the place as yet. It took about 40 minutes by taxi to travel from the airport to the hotel and we seemed to bypass a constant string of residential areas. All the accommodation I saw took the form of multi-story blocks – all looking fairly similar.

I provide below a couple of photos of the hotel room where I am staying.

The people seem to be very friendly so far.

On entry to Turkey I needed to purchase a visa for my visit. As it transpired this is a three month multiple entry visa which costs £10 (UK). So I reached into my wallet and took out a ten pound note which I handed the visa clerk! He proceeded to look at it disconcertingly. What could be wrong – it was a crisp Clydesdale bank not which I had obtained straight from the Clydesdale ATM in my home town.

That was it!!!!!

He looked at me and said – ‘this is no good” I thought that he perhaps could not take payment in UK pounds – but no!!! The problem was that he would only accept English notes!!!! I have to confess my natural inclination to complain, stand my ground and insist my Scottish note was “legal currency” and every bit as good as its English counterpart – but I was tired and thought better of that. So I paid in American dollars!!!!

Qibla ?????


On the roof of the hotel room I currently occupy is the object on the right.

The word is ‘Qibla’ a term I had not come across before. A quick search on the web reveals that Qibla is the direction to Mecca which is important for people from the Muslim faith. This can be calculated from any point on the globe and the following web page provides an interesting account about how this works.

Fascinating!

Doha by day

I was able to get outside for a few minutes between meetings today – here I am with the beautiful backdrop of the Persian Gulf.
And two images to compare with the night photos I took on my arrival here – more or less same views from my hotel room but the amount of new build construction is more obvious in daylight!

Another city another hotel room

This weeks city is Doha – Qatar. I arrived at 7pm local time this evening to be greeted by 24 degrees temperature – very nice I must say!

However this first photo was taken in Scotland at Aberdeen airport before departure about 6am.

Hotel room in Doha,
View from the room window at 12 midnight – Sitting in room with window open – very nice 😉

Both are a bit blurry – but I thought the scene was worth capturing.


First impression is that there is lot of development going on here! A number of the buildings in the views above are under construction – spot the high cranes! I am told that my hotel ( figure of speech – the one I am staying in to be more correct) is built on reclaimed land – its right on the sea front. I will definitely try to capture some more photos tomorrow when it is daylight.