Souk al Waqif: Men’s Souks
AdventureMan and I have a tradition, and that is we like to go shopping together before Christmas, helps him help Santa Clause with things to put in my Christmas stocking, and gives us precious time together in a relaxed setting.
So of course, we headed to our favorite place, the Souk al Waqif, where I discovered that the place I love the most to buy scarves – he always has things no one else has – was totally out of scarves! Well, he had six hanging up, but they were not special. I said “Where are the scarves??” and he laughed and said “Sold out!” and I said “Well that is good for you but not so good for me!” and we both laughed. He said he will be getting more early in January, but that is no help to Santa!
Then we wandered over into the older area of the souks, closest to Grand Hamad street. There is a new shop with beautiful misbah (worry beads) and unusual treasures. We wandered further, and came upon the falcon souk.
OK, I get it, the rest of you knew all about it, but I think because I usually go early in the morning, maybe this area isn’t open when I go – I have seen the seats outside, the majlis area, but I never saw the falcons before, not in the new souks. What fun! But aside from tourist women, there are no women in this area – the falcon souk, the camping souk, the hunting souk – these are very masculine domains, Guy Souks.
And they are equally lovely:
In this hallway, everything is giant. Hanging up above is a giant falcon glove, a giant falcon hood, and at the end of the hall, where the men with falcons are entering, are two gigantic falcon stands.
Look at this beautiful space! I think there are some offices around this space, as well as shops:
The camping and hunting souks have all kinds of tentings, bedrolls, washing up fixtures, etc, not so good for camping in the Pacific Northwest, but great for desert camping and hunting:
When the hardware souks and shoe repair souks were cleared out of the main street, I wondered where they had gone, and last night we found them. To my joy, I also found the scribes! I had been told they dispersed, went to various police stations to do their translations, fingerprints, etc. but last night I found them here! Right next to the police station! How have I missed them, all these evenings in the souks? I didn’t see them!
When first in Doha, where there is not one single modern hardware store, and before I had discovered my neighborhood hardware area, (remember, my secret vice is that I love hardware? and hardware stores?) I would go to the Souk al Waqif and start at one store saying “I need 3/4 inch masonry nails” and I would show them one. The man would leave his shop and take me to whichever of his buddies carried those nails. Or chains. Or bungee cords – they always had what I needed, or something close I could use. I’m glad to see the hardware shops are still there, along with the fishing and boating supply stores, and those huge pot and griddle stores.
Did you know Souk al Waqif had it’s own fire truck? Neither did we!
Christmas in the Doha LuLu
I think many of the shops were waiting to put out Christmas until after the revelry of National Day (Week). Suddenly, this week, things are showing up. There were a few things before, but now, it is the week for CHRISTMAS!
I was early to the LuLu to pick up a few things and ended up with a lot of things, including some wonderful fresh shrimp. The lines at the seafood vendor formed early, and I was glad I got there when I did – I wanted shrimp, bought a kilo, and while I was waiting for it to be cleaned, a couple bought almost all the rest of the shrimp, and also some crab, and I don’t know what else. I wondered if they owned a restaurant.
As I waited, I was able to watch how different people did business. The men setting out the fish do a beautiful job, and they do it with people yelling at them “Three kilos Shari!” “10 Kilos shrimp!” and they ignore everyone and go on with the setting up. They seem to be keeping track of who is waiting, and go for the person who has been there the longest, not the person who has been shouting most imperiously. I can see some people get really upset when their orders are not taken immediately, even though they have been yelling the loudest.
I can’t help but wonder what it is like to work in that environment every day? People all yelling at you and wanting to be first?
After I had taken these photos, a woman approached me and told me the manager had said no photos in the LuLu. Glad he waited until I had three to show you. 🙂
Shaking Things Up
First, you have to understand how quietly AdventureMan and I live. He works long hard hours. He gets home, we eat dinner. Most nights we watch some TV together, usually some season of a program we enjoy.
But after dinner last night, we decided to take a walk, instead. While our family in the states is braving out a variety of winter storms, the weather here has become – WONDERFUL! There is a hint of freshness in the morning and evening, and while days are warm, they are comfortable. We walked our compound, enjoying ourselves thoroughly, looking at all the Christmas decorations, and Eid decorations still up. It was a great walk.
Once we came home, we settled in – or so we thought. We were about 15 minutes into the newest season of Lost when our doorbell rang, and a group arrived to give us a very special caroling session. It was so much fun – and thank goodness, I had some cookies on hand to share with the people who came caroling! It was a delightful and moving evening.
We settled down once again, and once again the doorbell rang, neighbors coming to tell us some very good news, a miracle, really, something we had all prayed for, and that they were going home briefly, and would see us in a week or so. We had a wonderful visit with them, were able to send them off with joy.
We looked at each other and grinned. All this was so totally out of the ordinary for our usual week-day nights, but wonderfully out of the ordinary. We like it when things get shaken up a little bit. 🙂
Anglican Christmas Services in Doha, Qatar
Children’s Service:
Crib and Christingle Thursday, 24 December 5 pm DESS
Family Services:
Christmas Day Service Friday, 25 December 10:30 am DESS
Christmas Evening Service Friday, 25 December 7:30 pm DESS
If you need additional information, you can email:
epiphany@qatar.net.qa
The church website is:
http://www.epiphany-qatar.org
Ritz Carlton Doha Christmas Tree Disappearing Act
I love the Ritz at Christmas time. They decorate so beautifully, and I especially love the huge, tall Christmas tree in the main lobby as you enter – it’s always a great spot for photos with friends and family, before brunch or after afternoon tea.
But when we went to the Ritz for brunch on Friday, Qatar National Day, the tree had disappeared! I guess it was too incongruous to have a huge, gorgeous Christmas tree inserted in all the special activities of Qatar National Day.
Here is what the tree looked like, LLLOOOOLLLLL!
Defense: It’s The Cops Fault; He Was Chasing Me!
Court asks motorcycle rider to pay blood money
Web posted at: 12/19/2009 2:30:29
Source ::: THE PENINSULA
DOHA: A young man who rode a motorcycle and killed a pedestrian in a bizarre crash has been asked by the court to pay QR200,000 as blood money to the family of the deceased.
The court fined the convict QR10,000 for violating traffic law. But how the man was caught by the law-enforcement agencies is quite interesting.
It so happened that the Police Patrol saw two men riding motorbikes with tremendous speed. They gave the duo a chase but in vain. They vanished in think air. But soon the police was informed that a pedestrian was hit by a speeding motorbike.
When a police party reached the spot of the crash it saw a motorbike lying near the body of the victim.
The cops were quick to realize that this was one of the two motorbikes they had given a chase sometime ago.
With help from its registration plate they zeroed in on the culprit and referred the matter to the court after investigation.
The defense lawyer argued in the court that the crash occurred because they motorbike was chased by the cops. The court, however, did not buy the argument and convicted the man.
QR 200,000 sounds like a fortune, but it is $55,000 for taking a man’s life. For a young man who was running from the cops and then tries to claim their chasing him as a defense! This case sounds like a perfect opportunity to give a community service penalty in addition to the blood money; expose this young man to the consequences of motorcycle accidents, and accident victims, allow him to see with his own eyes, and serve, the victims. It could change his life, and change his callous attitude.
Qatar National Day Fireworks Video
So my friends, this is the very first video I have ever uploaded to YouTube, three minutes of the twenty minute spectacular fireworks display on the Corniche last night for Qatar National Day:
New Doha Details
Once I shot the skyline, that perfect morning last week, I had to drive down the Corniche and pick up some details. If Doha were more stop-friendly, there would be more. Sometimes, I am holding up the camera and shooting and not even able to see what exactly I am shooting because I am really focused on driving.
The good news is, for some reason, there isn’t a lot of traffic in the “business” section of Doha. Most buildings are still under construction, still unoccupied. But there are some spectacular buildings.
Some of the new buildings are breathtaking:
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. 🙂
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