Walking in Al Bida Park, Doha – Desert Roses, Palm Trees, and "All You Can Eat"

 I hadn't been to Al Bida Park for a while – it was so nice to greet the trees and the blooms again. It's hot already, though bearable around sunset.

This is the desert rose – a drought-resistant flower. It's popular and beautiful – but be careful: it's poisonous. Keep your pets and kids far away from it.

It was wonderful to greet my favorite trees – the date palms and a few other species. The sky wasn't particularly blue that day, so I gave the photo a little edit to turn it into a postcard-worthy shot.

You wouldn't expect to find an 'all you can eat' spot inside a peaceful park – but there it was. 35 riyals. Small, simple, and packed with lexpats from Asia who know the deal. A group of young Filipino women were carefully stacking skewers on their plates. I asked what they were doing. 'Raw meat with different spices,' they explained. 'We pack them on our plate, and they grill it for us. We can come back for more – but waste is not allowed.' Honestly? That last rule made me love the place even more.

The large, open spaces of Al Bida are what keep me coming back. No skyscrapers looming over you. No traffic noise. Just sky, palms, and room to breathe. A perfect escape from the concrete jungle

  

Visiting family only park in Doha - 2 pm too early ?

 The weather is getting nicer  - let us go to a park with shaded playground  !Arrived there at 2  pm . It  was full of sleeping workers .It is a family only park  - it means  men allowed only if they come with families . In this country there is very big disproportion between the genders . Men outnumber women  fourfold . To protect families there are places reserved only for them . But  it seems that those workers taking their afternoon nap on the playground did not expect visitors at 2 pm ...  Some of the workers were actually working in the garden - they were watching  us and they looked embarrassed and annoyed  . . .

 We felt quite uncomfortable . We come to relax and find ourselves among 20 unsupervised  labourers ! In the centre of the city in a touristy area ! No boss or foreman or supervisor nearby !

 Luckily in the coming 30 minutes the  small playground filled with  families .  It was not possible to sleep anymore in that noise .Kids are running and jumping and swinging and giving out every kind of noise !

 But next time I will consider the nap time of those men when choosing our outing to a park .It happens in  Doha   that you have to consider the presence of workers in a park reserved for families only . Some years ago we  decided to get an early breakfast in a park  where two   men sweeping the park started to shout more and more violently to each other then finally they were fighting  not only verbally . That really spoiled our picnic .

 I took pictures of the playground but I am reluctant to share it with my readers . Just today I read the warning message in the facebook  from the side of the interior ministry . It is about Qatar's strong privacy law .You can get jail if you share a video or photo about an accident . What about sleeping workers ? I do not really know ...