MIA Park Bazaar on the 1st of February

The coming Saturday  it will be the time for the monthly Park Bazaar . You will find this time  tote bags and cushions made from recycled materials at the stall of the Orientalist Museum . It is part of a project called in Arabic Afrehom = make them happy .The income will be used for charity .

 The MIA park is a fun place anyway but with the stalls  /handicraft /art and ethnic it  is  even more exciting .Do not miss it .It will be on only twice before the hot season !

Spring festival in the Souq Waqif -2014

24 January to 6 February 

 daily shows and performances from 4:30

What to expect ?

 musical shows, parades, street performances, acrobatics, games and art activities

 Winter Wonderland Birds, Static Man, , Sparklers LED, Comedy Waiters, Rope Walkers and traditional bands

 Dino Park  from January 29

20 carnival games where children can play and win prizes by buying a ticket worth QR10 which is good for two games

 children can ride ponies and horses at QR10

Famous Arab singers perform  every night  starting around 8:30

  The weather is wonderful -it s really spring -like 22 C - 25 C - rain is likely on Thursday and Saturday.

However parking might cause a headache  .

All in all it was a nice event Some giant red ants were playing jazz in the streets of the souq ,on other streets traditional Arabic music could be heard -many free activities for kids for free . We missed only one thing from the Spring Festival -it was the Spring itself . Yeah it is cold in Qatar in the evenings at this time of the year .

Top rated Hotels in Doha

According to the site Tripadvisor ....it is an international site where people from all over the world rate hotels /restaurants and other catering services - this rank is based on customers' reviews 

Here is the TOP FIVE  HOTEL
# 1 Hotel Four Seasons
312 people found it excellent

#2 W Doha Hotel and Residences
rated excellent by 526 customers


# 3Liberty Suites Hotel -Doha

89 people found it excellent

#4  Oryx Rotana -Doha

338 people found it excellent

#5 Mariott Executive Apartments  Doha City Center

17 people  rated it as excellent

New Airport in Doha - what to expect and when

One of the most exciting thing to happen in Doha in 2014 is the opening of the New Airport which  is not just a new version of the old airport  where even the public clocks work well
( 6 years ago my mom was shocked to see a public clock not working properly at the airport when she arrived )

 but  it is a huge facility with futuristic /modern technology

  when ? within half year

 Some Facts

 driverless trains will carry 6 000 passangers per hour inside the airport

 making transfer will be fast -  30-minute minimum connect time expected

 Airport City spreads over 10 square kilometres

where estimated 200,000 people are expected to live and work

50 million passengers per year expected

1.4m tonnes of cargo  per year

7,600 parking stalls for vehicles

 69,000sqm Catering Facility  can serve over 90,000 meals per day

19,500 bags per hour will be handled by the baggage handling system

 luxurious facilities like spa, gym, squash courts and a swimming pool as well as a transit hotel 


source

Fencing course for women and children

 New  sport activity in Doha .
  There is a  training for fencing for children from age 7 and for adult women .

 Location :  Lycee Voltaire 
 Coach : maitre  Cristophe  Clement 
 Price : 750 QR / 8 session
 Timings : Monday , Wednesday ,Saturday   one and half an hour per session /week

  It is not very cheap . I have always wondered where one can  enroll his child for a fencing   course . Seeing the success of the Hungarians at the Olympics   I wished very much that one of my child tries himself/herself in this sport .  But I am not sure if I want to pay as much as that .  Remembering my childhood  - my brother used to fence at a small club though we were not  very wealthy .  He says that even in Hungary it is very expensive nowadays .What a pity !

 Doha Fencing Academy 

Good News about family buses

I got an sms from Mowasalat today . It was about a new bus service in the West Bay alone . It sounds super however ! It is for families only .It comes every 15 minutes . From 6 am to the end of the day .And what is unbelievable - it is free !

I hope that this is just the begining and this service will be expanded to other districts as well .It would decrease the traffic and give more comfortable feeling of living in Doha .Many expats like me got used to very high-standard public transport systems in their countries . Yes , Budapest got the first metro in 1896 !

 More info about the West Bay bus service

Bima sinkhole and Dahl Al -Hamam

Bima sinkhole, a photo by AdRikTa on Flickr.

some sinkholes can be found in the area of Arabian Gulf -the largest and the most famous one is perhaps in Oman -Qatar has some smaller ones
I was so much shocked to learn that in the park of Dahl el Hamam there is a sinkhole - now closed for visitors but some people managed to see it before - it is quite big -I am frightened !
Actually dahl in Arabic means  sinkhole  - they never wanted to keep it in secret ! Just we expats are ignorant !

In memory of Roundabouts of Qatar

Roundabouts in Qatar: An Overlooked heritage? from UCL-Q Students on Vimeo.

Roundabout used to be famous and typical in Qatar . Some of my friends were scared to drive because of that in this country . Those thigs are over - everywhere crosses and traffic lights now . This slide show is in the memory of those roundabouts .It is now the past the heritage of this country .

Winter in Qatar 2014

Nights are turning colder and colder .On the BBC weather I have read   values as low as 10 C .For the coming days we can expect rain ,storms , thunders etc .Today it was cloudy but the air was nice and fresh in the early afternoon on the Corniche .However lots of little birds were flying nervously from trees to trees .There were some rather small ones with black heads and black and white tails I have never seen
before .

It is time to get some warm clothes and try that heater !Count the blankets ,luckily caps and blankets are available at low prices at the supermarkets.I hope that nobody gets cold here .
My kids fall asleep easier than ever after  a two hours playground on the  seaside . The blessing of the fresh air !

which countries the millionaires live in highest density

where the millionaires live in highest density


1 .Singapore -  17.1 % millionaire households
2. Qatar         -    14.3% millionaire households
3 .Kuwait –         11.8% millionaire households
4. Switzerland
5. Hongkong
6. United Arab Emirates
7.United States
  see more here

after reading this statistics I feel like listening to some ABBA song

Fifth Qatar International Falcon and Hunting Festival 2014

Winter in Qatar 2014

Winter came back to Qatar .It is 15 C at night with chilly winds at times .It is the time when we seek the sun of the

noon and we are cold when the sun sets .It is the time when I turn my kitchen into bakery with pleasure . It is the

time when we make and drink karak .It is the time when it is nice sitting on the sofa -all of us covered by one blanket

and heated by each other .
I love winter .I always did .Even when I had to shovel the snow from the yard to be able to get out from my home in

the mornings . Even when I had to melt the ice on my roof to prevent the damage on it .Winter was such a fun when I

was child and a challenge later when I grew up.This memory lives strong in me . And all those memories and

feelings mixed in me in a way that it is hard to find the words .Then I listen to this piece of music and I feel that

Vivaldi told everything that is possible to tell about this season .

Numbers in Qatar - 55

VCUQ offers 55 different art /photography /film making /jewelry/painting /textile pattern etc . courses for those

residents of Doha who would like to learn and improve their artistic skills . Prices range between 300QR -1600 QR .

They offer 8 -16 lessons per course . To learn more visit their home page .

A bug on the tennis court - funny, real life humor from Qatar

Qatar ExxonMobil Open 2014 . A cricket or a locust was found on the floor of the tennis court . The first assistant was scared from it then came a brave man who picked it up with his own hands . The you can see that everyone was laughing .


The tournament kicked off on Monday, Dec. 30, and lasts through Sunday, Jan. 5.So this was the last day .

Numbers in Qatar - 33,000

33,000 was the number of estimated visitors from other GCC countries during the week of Qatar National Day celebrations .