Al Bustan Hotel Doha

On our way from Nairobi,Kenya.
Just a little stopover and our first delay..!!
Not much special to say, other than that we are finding out what the word RAMADAN will mean for us as we going to Dubaaaaii.

Furthermore...we apologize for sometimes the late stories and pics. But as we found out that ...

... in a bar as it's a Muslim country. I entertained myself by buying a new mobile phone (mine broke in Thailand) and tneaching myself how to use it. Some of the keys are in Arabic, for the craic.

When I got bored of that, I focused on the departure board, and worked out how it worked. In case you're interested, exactly 11 minutes after an on-time departure, a ...

First Impressions

I arrived in Doha, capital city of Qatar sometime around 10:30 or 11pm. Deplaned onto the tarmac and was somewhat underwhelmed by the heat. I had been informed of oppressive, high humidity heat and was mentally prepared for just that but what greeted me was a dry 35 degree heat. First challenge: the airline (KLM) lost one of my bags. Nothing to do but report it and hope for the best. Second challenge: customs confiscates the VoIP phones I ...

... out several times in the middle of the crowded streets. We were in a strange part of town, there were far fewer western tourists than in Thamel, but everyone still looked like a tourist. Maybe it was just the Indian tourist part of town, I'm not sure... We had one last big night out after the monkey temple, going to "Or2k" with the remaining group members, and Johnathan, Rich, Viggars, and Locki. Ken treated everyone in the ...

... me plan and never complained about my absence. I miss immensely and I look forward to coming back. I enjoyed many of your comments via notes, face book messages and emails. It was comforting to know people were following me on my trip. I didn't feel very isolated when I got those msgs. Anyway, lets get down to some travel details. The first part of my week since the return from Dubai was mellow. I went to my uncles studio, had a couple of ...

... and the long-awaited shower. And, with only a 15 minute drive, we should be there in no time, right? Wrong! One hour and a half later, after countless wrong turns, undecipherable (or missing altogether) road signs, closed roads due to construction and hectic traffic we were ready to give up and hire a taxi to lead us to the hotel. The only problem was that there were no taxis in sight in spite of the bustling night life (by the way, there is only one taxi ...

... oryx farm. Leave City Centre Doha at midday, being walking along the Corniche. Lunch at new restaurant in the Balhumbra building. Mezze, very nice. Keep walking to the Grand Mosque, get seriously dehydrated. Run out of water & all shops are closed. Finally manage to get a bus to Central Bus Station. Stagger into Al-Najada shopping centre and collapse on the floor in the air con. When feeling better take some time to appreciate the nice ...

... the heat and humidity. Out poofs my hair. Let's not get into that, let's just say it was hot. I figured I'd walk for a bit but then realised that it was probably a bit long to get from the airport to the hostel. I got a taxi soon enough and took a chilled ride to the hostel with a great guy as the taxi driver, he looked like one of my old school teachers in a lovably cracked way (good old Sabet). Eventually ...

... the small town where he lives, such stories are like fairy tales and I always thought to experience thouse moments. Now as the chance came, I have decided to accept it. We started from Dhaka on 30th September 2007. You may not believe that I received the visa and ticket just four hours before the flight.. thanks for the red tapes of the officials at Qatar. We (I had a company this time) got on board the emirates flight which took off at 09:30 PM. At the ...

... walking around and of course got a few pictures. We also found the USA military base-the one thats in the new movie "Transformers". It is illegal to take pictures of military places here so I didn't get any of there. While we kept driving we found the "singing sand dunes". We decided to hike up one. For anyone who has not done this yet...don't just jump out of the car and start walking (as we did). First of all the sand is so hot that i ...