ANZBIQ Australia and Waitangi Day: Queensland Flood Relief BBQ

This has been sent in by a reader:

I have been asked to let Doha know about this event to raise funds for the Australia flood appeal.

This year’s ANZBIQ Australia and Waitangi Day BBQ will be a benefit relief for the victims of the recent Queensland floods.

The benefit will take place at the Grand Hyatt – Hotel Garden on 3rd Feb 2011 from 7pm to 12pm. Tickets will be QR 220 for adults and QR 110 for children (under 6 are free) which will include a Grand Buffet dinner with live cooking stations with an Australian and New Zealand theme, drinks and a live jazz band.

Grand Hyatt, Qatar Airways and Vodafone will be sponsoring the events and have donated some great items for our silent auction including return flights to Melbourne, Iphones, blackberries, a weekend stay at the Grand Hyatt, dinner vouchers and more.

It’s a great way to give something back to those affected by the floods.

This event is open to all so please spread the word to the community at large.

It will be a great event.

Please book your place directly with the restaurant at Grand Hyatt on 448 1240


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Crashed Ice Comes to Qatar

Red Bull are planning to break the ice with the Qatar people by holding a spectacular ice-skating event in Villagio on February 12th from 7-10 in the evening.



Forbes-Associates, who are assistanting with Red Bull's PR in Qatar, told us that the company liked the irony of holding a winter event in a desert country where temperatures can reach 50 degrees! (Although it's not actually very hot at the moment.)

According to Joshua Hooper-Kay, of Forbes-Associates, pairs of ice-skaters race round an ice-rink filled with bumps, jumps, rollers and obstacles two-at-a-time - reaching, at times, speeds of up to 70 miles per hour.

In Qatar the event will have an added twist with a jump being made over a Chevrolet truck, as well as a belly slide underneath an object.

You can see the full course below, although this is still subject to change:


We immediately jumped to YouTube to check it out, where the event looks rather different, being a specially designed out door course with a downhill section, too difficult to do here in hot Qatar.

Currently it looks as if the event is going to be free, but if that changes we'll let you know!

German Festival

The German embassy is holding a five week long German-Arab culture festival.

The festival actually started a couple of days ago, but we have only just heard about it now!

The festival features music, architectural exhibitions, photography and much more.

For more information on the festival check out their website, Hiwaruna.

Indonesian Breakfast

Those Indonesian ladies are at it again!

Classy are holding their famous Indonesian Breakfast again next month, where Qatar's Mums can indulge themselves in traditional Indonsian cookery and enjoy a collection of traditional batik garments and furnishings.

The event, which is for Mums and Kids only (blast!) will be held at Al Waab 2 Gardens on Thursday 12 November from 10.00 am to 12 noon. Tickets, which are limited, will cost QAR40 and to buy them you will need to ring Sisca on 5634649.

Enjoy, and don't forget to bring some leftovers for the poor husbands left behind at home...

New: What's On Guide

This month we are trialling a new feature for our newsletter - a round up of what's on next month. The round up has been very kindly provided by Qatar Happening. In our newsletter you can also find the latest updates on news, with a special emphasis on any jobs and visa news, links to the best of our new content and regular competitions (next one scheduled for the autumn!) If you want to join nearly three and a half thousand other readers, sign up using the form on the sidebar.

Qatar Natural History Group Celebratory Dinner

The Qatar Natural History Group will be marking its 30th anniversary this year, and in celebration will be having a fabulous buffet dinner at the Diplomatic Club on Friday 6th March. The event will also be open for non-members. For more information click on the image below to download their flyer (PDF).

National Day

On December 18th, Qataris celebrates its National Day, and many of its workers enjoy a day off.

The day is not, in fact, a celebration of Qatar's Independence Day but rather of the succession of Sheikh Jassim, regarded by many as the founder of the modern Qatari state.

Although his father was the first to participate in negotiations with Britain, it was Sheikh Jassim who defeated the Ottomans in a pitched battle (see the Rise of the Qatar Ruling Family for more information.)

Celebrations these year include massive fireworks and a re-enactment of The Way of the Messenger - the traditional route taken by messengers on camels. The day is being preceded with three days of camel training and dressage which will take place at the Al Rayyan club on Dukhan Road.

A full schedule of this year's events have been posted on Qatar Living here.

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Busy Qatar

At Souq Waqif at least, Qatar seems to be determined to avoid the usual criticism that Eid is not celebrated like it used to be - or that Christmas celebrations are better than Eid celebrations.


Like many other families, we have been taken advantage of a very pleasant winter weather to get down to the souq and enjoy all the shows and activities: these have included living statues, jugglers, dancers, caricature drawers, a tea pourer on a unicycle and comedians - all of which has been free.


Things look set to continue on 18th December, when Qatar gets ready to pull out all the stops to celebrate National Day. According to the Gulf Times, events planned include live music, parades and fireworks to equal those seen last month.

Also see: Qatar Holidays

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Full Moon Beach Party at the Intercontinental

The ever-busy Intercontinental Doha will be holding a beach party on 13th November 2008 - as usual, click on the image below to view the full size brocure.

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What's On

It's entering the time of year when there are lots of events on, and the Qatar Tennis Open will be starting on the 5th of this month before culminating in the finals on Sunday. As usual the event will be held in the Khalifa Tennis Stadium - click on the map at the bottom of this post to see exactly where.

There is also the AWA fair on Saturday at the Intercontinental (more details to follow shortly), as well as their General Meeting at the Interncontinental' s fish market on Monday - registration begins at 9.30, their will be a charge of QAR60 for members and QAR80 for non-members who can enjoy a light brunch and a talk from the Qatar Diabetes Association, after which you probably won't feel like desert! You will need to confirm your attendance first by emailing qatarawa (at) yahoo.com.

There is also the inaugral meeting of the Qatar Birds Club, which is being formed by the The Friends of the Environment under the sponsorship of Bird Life International. This will be held at 7.30 pm at the Friends of the Environment Center. If you want to join you will need to bring 2 passport photos and a QAR20 membership fee (QAR40 for families). You need to confirm this by emailing - we haven't received permission to put up the email address yet, but if you would like to attend you could email us and we will forward it on.

There are also two more rambles taking place. The first will be around the Camel Racing Track, and the second will be searching for winter birds near Al Khor. You will find more details here.

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Doha Concert

Doha Community Orchestra Director – Mark Seay
Doha Singers Director – Bob Krebs

In Concert

Works by Tchaikovsky, Handel, Schubert, Randall Thompson and Ralph Vaughan-Williams

Friday 14th November 2008 at 6.30pm

The American School of Doha Fine Arts Theatre
Tickets QR 50 / QR 25 (under 16)

Available from:
dohaorchestra@gmail.com tel 5212257
dohasingerstickets@gmail.com tel 5574671
The American School of Doha, High School office
Internation Centre for Music

Click on the poster below for a larger size

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Sports and Activities

There are a number of things coming up in the next couple of weeks, one of which is the cricket competition, - and if there are any girls who can play cricket and would like to be part of a team, please contact us! You could end up going to Abu Dhabi as we have good, if all male, team.

The Intercontinental also have a biathlon event coming up. The event, which is open to all, will open on 14th November at 9am. Ring the Intercontinental on 4844852 or check out the poster below.

On Sunday 25th October there will be a rather more gentle event, with the breast cancer awareness society holding their annual walk on the Corniche. At the walk, which will start at 5pm, participants can choose to walk as slowly or as quickly as they want. Check out Think Pink Qatar for more details.

Finally there is the Qatar Natural History Group's first ramble, which will take place this Friday. You have to be a member to take part in this, but you can sign up right away at QNHG's website.

Also see: Things to Do in Qatar

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Beach Cricket in Doha

As the temperatures in Qatar get down to what you would want on a pleasant beach holiday, the Intercontinental is holding a beach cricket competition in the Intercontinental. Qualifying will start on 25th October, from 10 am to 6 pm. For more information call 4844852 or click on the brochure below.





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Beach party!!!

The Intercontinental sent us through this flier, and I thought I had better add it for those of you who like to party! The beach party will be held on Thursday October 2nd - click on the image for a larger sixze and for more information.









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Qatar Events: War of the Djs

Indorachel has posted about upcoming event War of the DJ's. The event will be taking place on the 20th June 2008 from 8pm, with tickets available from today from Virgin in Villagio, Bombay Chowpatty on Airport Road, Music Land in Family Food Center on the same road, Tandoor Express in City Center, Maharaja Restaurant in Al Smakh and Gulf Cinema in C Ring Road.

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Euro 2008

The Intercontinental have sent us the flier below, stating that football enthusiasts will be able to watch the Euro 2008 from June 27th to June 29th at the Intercontinental pool.



Also see: Qatar Football






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Al Jazeera Film Festival starts today

The Al Jazeera international documentary film festival will start today at the Sheraton Hotel, with 90 different films being held over four days. For a schedule and for more information visit the film festival's website.


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Qatar Happening website up

The Qatar Happening website is finally up, and it looks pretty good. It's well designed, although they do need to learn to add alt tags for the pictures (and shoot whoever does their SEO). I was also glad to see they have cinema times and reviews - click on the drop down menu for times at different cinemas. Being a website rather than a monthly edition should mean that they managed to get more events in, and indeed they have added a "Happening this Weekend" section. There's quite a bit more, but you'll want to be getting over there and checking it your yourself - so here's the link:

Qatar Happening

Let us know what you think!

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Shore Based Skipper/Yacht Master course

A Coastal Skipper/Yacht Master Royal Yachting Association course will be held from the 20th April to the 25th July.

The RYA Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster Offshore shorebased course is an advanced course in navigation, seamanship and meteorology, suitable for those with a background of sailing or motor cruising and/or racing. An RYA certificate is awarded for successful completion. The course will consist of 20 lessons of 2 hours each, which will be held at the Aeronautical College on Sunday and Wednesday evenings starting at 7 PM.

If you are interested, please contact:

Vince Mee E-Mail: vincemee@hotmail.com

John Coubrough E-Mail: jmcoubrough@yahoo.co.uk

You can find more information at their website www.ryacourses-qatar.com from mid March.

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Common Plants of Qatar : Qatar Natural History Group

The Qatar Natural History Group will be holding its monthly talk on Wednesday this week with an introduction to the plants of Qatar. Dr Renee Richer, a biologist at Cornell University, will be giving the talk, and will be bringing along samples, as well as explaining how these plants survive in a harsh desert climate.

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