Le Park Hotel Doha

... out ok, my question was answered, and if the men were shaking their heads at the brazenness of a stranger, it was after I left and I'll never know. But it did show me that I am much more hesitant than I thought and much more cautious than I like. A foreigner can usually get away with a lot more than a local can but it's possible also to be a bit too "foreign" and I do want to avoid that. Somewhere is a happy medium and I'm still looking for it.

... br>I debated for a couple of weeks whether or not to go away and a few days ago i booked a flight to Sri Lanka. I've done very little research and haven't booked any accommodations or made any firm plans. I've contacted a local couchsurfer in the hill country so I'll probably spend most of my time there. Will update upon my return.<br><br><br>

On the way back, I landed at Doha airport in the daytime - it was so surreal - sand everywhere! I know that sounds naive, but I've never been in the Middle East before, so to see an airport covered in sand was strange, but cool.<br><br>I had about a 4 hour wait in the airport this time, and was mind-numbingly bored...there really is nothing to do. You can't even have a ...

... over for the University. Too tired to put up a fight and, frankly, past the point of caring, I take the receipt and proceed to the car waiting to take me to the hotel. They&#8217;ve heard of my lost luggage dilemma, informed the concierge and when I check in I am told that my room has been stocked with a few extra amenities like toothbrush, etc. That&#8217;s more like it.<br><br>It&#8217;s around 1 am by the time I get to my room. Not really hungry, but not ...

... m not sure if Royal Mt. Travel is owned by the Nepalese, but it's likely that less money will be funnelled out if you book with them. Our group though, was full of gems, and I had such a good time with the people on the trip. It is really hard for 14 people to get along, and in fact that's probably partially why our group whittled to 13 by the end... 14 people is in so many ways way too many people for the trek and if GAP were ...

... I went to the big shopping center the next day and saw a little bit of the city. There is not much to see there. A large portion of the city is under construction. It is one of the wealthiest countires in the middle east, you can tell by the buildings and the cars that people drive. I was happy to leave and be on my way to meet Amanda in Bangkok.

... on their heads. The stench on the plane was unbelievable. Picture the lav on the ATR after two roundtrips to Panama City on a hot day after it had already been fermenting overnight. Now you have a feel for my 20 minutes in the air. No one listened to the instructions to buckle up, turn off cellphones, etc. It was just chaos. People pushed and shoved to get on and off the plane and it was like I was just pushed down the aisle to board ...

... when we walked out to our waiting hotel van (which in Doha is a very expensive BMW sedan), every Muslim man turned away from Francis for fear of harming their immortal souls! When we were sweating by the pool - I would say chilling, but it was over 40 degrees celsiu - the waiter wouldn't take a food order from Francis, so she had to come get Matt so he could order for her. We ate a delicious Indian food dinner at the restaurant in the hotel, and the waiter even ...

... an hour while checking pretty much every decent hotel or hostel i could see. They were all apparently full. How is that even friggin possible! Forget it, I'm not bitter... The hostel I ended up in after touring Little India happened to be across the road from the first one. At this point I was ready to take the room without air con but this one saved me the possible interesting experience. I had a place to stay, woo!

... sits were separate and in the plane I found myself sitting with two elderly ladies. The one next to me was tensed and it came out that this is her first oversease trip. She is a tipycal middle class housewife with almost no English communication skill. She has children working in UAE who will pick her at Dubai Airport. Well, it should not be a problem at my end but she started to request my assistanceto find her children at Dubai. My flight schedule was a ...