Jenan Hotel Doha

Food… no matter where one is in the world, one must eat. I'm not sure I’ve found any particular dishes unique to Qatar but dining options abound. I think the closest things I’ve found to a regional dish are Arabic sweets. Usually containing nuts or a nut paste, they are most often wrapped in a straw like (in look not taste) ingredient and coated in a syrupy, sugary goo. They don’t satisfy my sweet tooth but ...

... the knees and t-shirts or long sleeves when out in public. Despite that, one can see people not abiding by those courtesies on any given day so it’s not strictly enforced. I went to yoga today and one girl was wearing shorts so short that when she did a particular pose I saw way more than I should have and she surely would have been arrested or deported had I been a Muslim! Of course, this was behind closed doors and in a class full of ex-pats so the ...

... was quite glad - although it was cool to see all the Sheiks (not sure if that's right?)as they all seemed to come in different styles, despite all being in white. There were the traditional ones, and then the younger ones who walked with a strut, with sunglasses adorning their traditional headwear - it amused me no end.

Oh, I got here at around 6:30pm Qatar time, and it was 39 degrees centigrade!

... I got a whiskey and coke. A few minutes later I had white wine all over my lap thanks to one of the czech spilling her glass of wine all over me and my table. It certainly broke the ice. Luckily, I had packed a spare pair of shorts and boxers in my hand luggage, so a quick change and a few apologies later, we started talking about Thailand and what our travel plans were. We decided to share a taxi from the airport, as my accommodation was roughly on the way to theirs.

... watching (cafes, restaurants, patios) might be closed. 3. It's best to avoid dealing with government institutions, if possible (we haven't even told you the adventures we had to go through in order to send some postcards; maybe some other time). 4. Qatar is not an unexpensive country by a long shot. Be prepared to pay the same prices like in the US (and even more at times). We hope you enjoyed our entry and now we're off to more adventures! Singapore, here we come!

... leg, so I was sent to the lounge. The lounge was nicely furnished but it was full of people, so lot of noise. I tried to get a nap on the chairs, but was unsuccessful in doing so. The next to hours I tried to get asleep, but at one point I gave up. In the morning, the bus came for us and I was finally on board of the Dhaka bound plane. Fortunately for me, the seat was a flat bed, so I felt asleep as soon as the plane took off and finally wake-up after four hours. Home Sweet Home..

... to Doha for work. One of the big downsides from his perspectives was that there is a very limited entertainment scene in the city and also being an unmarried man he wouldn't be able to entertain or date any ladies. The city guide only has restaurants and places to shop, not even movie theaters are listed! We went to the "hippest" club in the city, at one of the other hotels with him, and that was quite an experience. It certainly wouldn't last very long in the ...

... t be so bad after all. The next morning, I got on the plane for the long flight. A brand new 777 (they had only been running the DC-Doha route for a month) with 13" TVs on every seat with 150 different movies, and 500 other channels. There was nobody next to me either, and the 14 hours went by like a breeze. I watched 5 movies, looked out the window as we flew over the mountains of Iran and Afganistan, and ate like 4 meals. Had to ...

... re flying into the Arab peninsula. The adrenaline provoked by these thoughts in combination with an entertainment selection of 50+ films, TV-series and computergames has me on the edge of my seat until we reach Doha 7 hours later. Doha airport is spectacularly dull. There is nothing hinting at local culture beside the obvious willingness to consider the trade-off between cultural authenticity and american dollars and the absence of alcoholic drinks on the menus of the ...

... a productive flight. Got to Frankfurt, Germany at 10 A.M. and headed for the business lounge. The lounge was huge but the snacks were on the skimpy side and you had to pay for drinks. Luckily our next flight was on time. The second part of our flight was on Lufthansa. This so far is my favorite business section. The sets lay down to almost a perfect flat bed, food is good, and staff is super friendly. On that flight I was not ...