We made the most of our flights with Qatar Airways out of Windhoek and included a short 2-night stop over in the city of Doha.
Our visit got off to a bad start. Our flight arrived late in the evening, and we were confronted with unfriendly immigration officials who informed us that we had to pay $25USD each for the privilege of a 48 hour stopover, contrary to what we believed to be the case. After that, we were stopped and taken to a customs office because we had brought a bottle of wine with us as a give for our friends in Delhi. Since it is prohibited to bring alcohol into the country, we had to leave it at the airport and collect it upon leaving (but it took a while to figure out what was going on). They scan your bags upon arrival, and alarms go off if bottles are detected, so be warned! When we finally got through customs, we went to find the hotel shuttle bus, but it was nowhere to be found. We then had to go back inside the airport, find an ATM (taxis don’t accept cards), and get a cab to the hotel. It was well past midnight when we got to bed.
Our first impression of Qatar was not too good. But fortunately our hotel was roomy and comfortable, and after nearly 3 weeks in a motorhome, it seemed palatial in comparison. We made the most of it, and after a lazy Saturday morning in the hotel, we finally made it out to do some exploring. Doha is hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup Soccer tournament, and in preparation for this, the whole city is a building site. Tourist areas are kept spotless, and a sense of calm reigns (if you exclude the dense traffic).
We walked along the waterfront promenade until we reached the
impressive Islamic Museum of Art. This free museum is well worth a visit, if only for the architecture. We then went to the Souq Waqif, the 
market area, where we wandered aimlessly down alleys. At that time of day, it was very quiet. Preparations were underway for the Spring Festival, which was about to kick off that weekend. We ate dinner in a small Indian restaurant, much more affordable (and just as good) as the chic Arab restaurants…
The next day, after checking out we took a cab to visit the Pearl District to the north of the city. An entirely new suburb was being built on newly reclaimed land, on an artificial island. This new development of high-rise apartments, shops and restaurants was being built at a frenzied pace at an estimated cost of 15 billion USD…
Very chic, very clean, and very faux! This would be one way to describe The Pearl. It’s a bit like Las Vegas, but without the alcohol, gambling or the shows, and every bit of potential sexiness purged entirely. A bit boring, you might say? Not much to do here really, unless you are a rich Arab and like driving your shiny new Bentley or Ferrari around and around the island (we saw plenty of these).
We tried to walk our way back to south Doha, 
where our cheap hotel was located. We ended up doing about 15 km of walking, but were unable to get out of The Pearl district on foot. We skirted around some construction by walking along the beach, but eventually we were blocked by a wall and a huge highway, wi
th nowhere else to go but the rather posh Diplomatic Club to ask for help. They very kindly called us a cab and allowed us to wait in the lobby. The chandelier was gigantic. We had free wi-fi and they even offered us tea. Our taxi eventually arrived after 30 minutes wait, and we hit the road, only to find ourselves stuck in Doha’s impressive rush-hour traffic. Over half an hour later we were dropped back near Souq Waqif, totally exhausted!
We found ourselves in the middle of the Spring Festival activities, with various singing and dancing shows in full swing, blasting music at high volume. Nina begged us to go into a museum to get away from the noise and chaos outside. And to top it all off, it rained. It rains on average 4 days a year here. Just our luck! We ended up in a mosque / cultural center, where a nice man gave us a brief explanation of Islam, and showed us around the mosque, including a visit to the prayer rooms (separate for men and women). It was very interesting and we all learnt a lot about the predominant religion in the Middle East.
We are now back at the airport, waiting to board our 2 am (!) flight to India. All in all, we are glad we stopped over in Doha, which is a complete contrast to any of the places we have visited so far but it’s not a place I would come back to visit. If you ever transit in Doha, a few hours to walk along the waterfront and visit the Islamic Art Museum would be sufficient. You could go on tours into the desert as well, but after spending 3 weeks in Namibia, that’s not of any interest to us! We did, however, appreciate our comfortable beds and fast wi-fi!
A Light Year Family 
