Qatar National Day Fireworks Spectacular
The problem is, even with the most amazing situation in the world, my wonderful little hand held Lumix can’t begin to capture the awe-inspiring grandeur of the 20 minute Qatar National Day Fireworks spectacular.
Another amazing thing – the fireworks started ON TIME. Suddenly the entire length of the Corniche erupted in white waterfalls. The fireworks were kept relatively close to the ground, and compact, but spread along a couple miles – it was an amazing feat, and the timing was to the second.
Caught in traffic, we decided to try something different. Like the Robert Frost poem, we took a road less travelled by, and it made all the difference. We lucked into a fantastic vantage point.
I have to add a special thanks here to AdventureMan. He knows how much I love fireworks, and I knew he has to work tomorrow, and still, he took me to see the fireworks. We were stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic until we took a chance, and by a miracle, found this fantastic, uncrowded vantage point. He love the fireworks as much as I did, but he did it for me, and my heart is full of gratitude. 🙂
Beautiful Day for a Parade
Friday morning, the sleep-in morning, but not today. It is a sweet, beautiful, morning and a perfect day for a parade:
I have my Qatar flags displayed in front of my house for Qatar National Day:
I used to fly Kuwait flags on Kuwait National Day, but the wind was so strong, they sometimes blew away!
There is a lot going on today – the parade, children’s activities, displays of all the military equipment, heritage sites – it’s a grand day to be in Qatar, especially – the fireworks tonight!
It’s Good To Be The Amir :-)
One of the first things visitors say when I take them around Doha is “It’s so clean!” said in a voice of total wonder. Doha IS clean, noticeably clean. Along the Corniche, everything is clean – and manicured. Doha is beautiful. The roads are beautiful, and getting beautifuller – er . . . more beautiful.
Qatar is not a democracy. It has a monarch, the Amir. The Amir has huge resources, and he channels much of his resources into infrastructure – highways, water treatment, electricity, parks (along the Corniche, wireless internet is provided to the community, totally FREE, miles of free internet), education – and serious work is being done to raise the level of education and educational possibilities continually – planning for future food and water, trying to insure that if and when the gas runs out, Qatar will have a sustainable economy.
It’s not a job I would want. It’s a lot of hard work, and who do you trust to share your vision and help you get the job done? Every day must have its frustrations, and the triumphs take a lot of work and perseverance. Building a country’s infrastructure is not for the faint-hearted.
But the job has its perks, and one of them is that you can create your own viewing stand for the 0800 Friday morning military review parade. This reviewing stand makes me grin. This Amir has some Events people with a flair for the dramatic and a tip of the hat to the traditional at the same time. While some complain that the new souks are like Disney Does Doha, anyone who used to go there and goes there now will tell you that there is new life in the souks. They are clean and safe and light and well cared for.
Anyway, I digress.
Here is where the Amir gets to sit to review his military at the parade tomorrow morning at 0800:
I was afraid to go any closer, as people were practicing for the parade, security might not like me taking photos, but how cool is this? They used original beit as-shar (house of hair, i.e. wool) fabric for the inner lining of the review tent. I totally love it. This fabric was originally made mostly from goat hair, but also stripes of sheep and camel hair. I have some. It’s tough and strong, and in panels, woven by the women. I don’t think they make tent bodies like this any more.
Doha: The Best Time of the Year
We have the windows open and the A/C off, well, most of the time. Some times it gets humid, and we have to turn the AC on to keep our carpets and textiles from molding. Aarrgh!
Yesterday dawned a crisp 60+°F, clear, sunny, the birds are singing and I have errands to do but . . . it’s also a great day for taking photos. I decide maybe I can do both, but I give the photos a priority and get myself down to the Corniche.
There is also a part of me that wanted to see if I COULD drive on the Corniche; it has been on-again-off-again as people prepare for the grand parade at – oh yes, 0800 Friday morning.
0800 Friday morning? No one in Qatar is up at 0800 on Friday morning. You are going to START a parade at 0800 on Friday morning? Like soldiers will have to be up early? Pilots flying those cool fast little planes – up before dawn? This is Qatar – no one is up at 0800 on a Friday morning!
The weather is gorgeous and the photos take themselves. There has been so much building on the Corniche and over in the West Bay Business district:
Off in the distance, glimmering like Shangri-La, are the buildings going up on The Pearl:
And look at the minaret on the new National Mosque! It’s as tall as many of the taller buildings! Do you think they will have an elevator? Will the muezzins be able to call out the call to prayer after climbing 37 stories?
Ya Gotta Love the Qatar Press
OK, bear with me. I am picky about language. I dance with joy to see that the Qatar press no longer uses “flay” on a daily basis; it is a strong word, a word that literally means ‘to skin’, and it was often used when one team triumphed over another, like Arsenal Flays Manchester, or some such, even if the victory was just points.
“No! No!” I would shake my head in horror, “please stop! Use some restraint! Choose the right word!”
But when it comes to rain, the press vocabulary seems stunted, and once again, predictably, we were treated to a ‘lashing’.
Think about it. It’s a strong word. What does lashing rain look like?
A lashing rain is blowing in bursts, coming at you sometimes at almost a 90° angle, an umbrella is useless. A lashing rain can hurt your face, it hits so hard, a lashing rain is heavily wind blown. A lashing rain has FORCE behind it.
What we had in Doha was a steady, drenching rain. At no time did it exceed an angle of maybe 15%; almost 100% of the time the rain came steadily down. Maybe it streamed. Maybe it soaked. Maybe it even flooded. But lashing? No. No. It was never lashing. There was no great wind behind it, no great force. It gently, steadily dripped. It accumulated. It never never lashed.
Qatar National Day Fireworks Finale
One year, for my birthday, we were having dinner at Le Mer, at the Ritz Carleton, when all of a sudden, the best fireworks display I have ever seen took place on the Corniche. Qatar spares no expense when it comes to fireworks, and this upcoming display sounds like it is not to be missed. 🙂
I am such a kid when it comes to fireworks. We’ll buy some felafel sandwiches and head for a good viewing spot, us and thousands like us, on Friday night. See you there. 🙂
From today’s Gulf Times
Fireworks: a fitting finale to festivities
By Sarmad Qazi
The Corniche will be turned into a grand open theatre with spectators looking heavenwards as spectacular fireworks, a fitting finale to Qatar’s National Day celebrations, will take on a journey through the desert for about 17 minutes.
“This is arguably one of the best fireworks site in the world. From the Museum (of Islamic Arts) to Sheraton, you’ve got a naturally-arched theatre to show a story to crowds of thousands,” said a spokesman for Howard & Sons Pyrotechnics, the company behind the grand finale that caps festivities across the country.
Speaking to Gulf Times from the base camp in the Palm Tree Island, Andrew Howard said the “extremely choreographed” show would begin with scenes of desert, gradually transforming the sky over the Corniche into a colourful canvas, and ending with maroon and white, the Qatari national colours.
“The pyrotechnics will go off from over 18 different points across the bay. People will be able to see the show from all directions,” Howard said aboard a motorboat as his crew started taking out the pontoons to the sea.
According to him, there will be shooting stars, where as they are called in the industry “UFOs”, spin, cascade down, and then shoot back up again, giant pearls; this is where the sky turns silver, and rainbow colours that trail each other from one end of the Corniche to another.
“The whole show will perfectly synchronise with a specially-produced music soundtrack for the National Day,” Howard said.
The Australian company also conducted fireworks for last year’s National Day show as well as the Doha Tribeca Film Festival in November. According to Howard, Friday’s show will be “by far the biggest in Qatar.”
Since the beginning of December, a crew of 24 has been fixing mortar tubes, handling thousands of shells, and sorting out other logistics at the firing site at Palm Island.
The mortar tube is where the firework shells are loaded inside a cylinder with a black powder lifting charge at the base; the largest shells are the size of a basketball while the smallest ones are about a tennis ball. Inside the shells are various pyrotechnic compositions to produce different colours.
“The shells came from Australia, China and Spain. A good 20% of the budget goes towards marine resources,” he said.
Peppermint Meringues
Last week, at the MegaMart, I saw some boxes of true peppermint candy canes. I grabbed three, did not even look at the price. There have been candy canes around, but weird – fruit flavored, even chocolate flavored. At Christmas, I am a purist when it comes to a candy cane. It has to be peppermint!
And then I look for recipes to make a little peppermint candy cane go a long way. This is one of them, from allrecipes.com:
Peppermint Meringues
Ingredients
• 2 egg whites
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 peppermint candy canes, crushed
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 225 degrees F (110 degrees C). Line 2 cookie sheets with foil.
2. In a large glass or metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar to soft peaks. Gradually add sugar, continuing to beat until whites form stiff peaks. Drop by spoonfuls 1 inch apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Sprinkle crushed peppermint candy over the cookies.
3. Bake for 1 1/2 hours in preheated oven. Meringues should be completely dry on the inside. Do not allow them to brown. Turn off oven. Keep oven door ajar, and let meringues sit in the oven until completely cool. Loosen from foil with metal spatula. Store loosely covered in cool dry place for up to 2 months.
A warning – meringues work a whole lot better if you DO NOT make them on a rainy day. The humidity in the air interferes with making a good dry meringue. You can make these and keep them a short while in an airtight container, but in humidity, they lose their crispness.
We are having our third full day of intermittent, drenching rain in Doha. Thanks be to God.
Most Complete Information on Qatar National Day 2009
Khalifa, a commenter on a recent post, has his own website, iloveqatar.net where he blogs as Mr. Q.
He has also created the hands-down all-time BEST website for the upcoming week celebrating National Day, photos, explanations and all at NationalDay2009. You will find anything and everything you want to attend there – and more!
Great work, Khalifa!
Qatar National Day (Week) Schedules!
Found this in today’s Peninsula. Could not find a copy online, nor on the official website, so pardon the poor quality of the photograph of the schedule directly from today’s Peninsula:
Doha Gets a Drenching
A wonderful day, a day that started with a downpour, and never cleared up the whole day, with intermittent showers continuing to give the soil the moisture it so desperately needs. I love the thought of Doha getting a good wash with Qatar National Day being celebrated this entire week. 🙂
Some Rainy Day photos from Doha:
For my Kuwait friends – you are WELCOME, see! There is even an Al Kout coffee shop!
Snug and warm having breakfast at Tagine:
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