Aspire tower reaches into the sky

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Moto GP World Championships

The first leg of the Moto Gp World Championships took place in Qatar today. The race was a close run thing, with Valentino Rosso starting on pole position, having lapped fastest in qualifying. However, he was overtaken on the straight in front of the stadium of the first lap by Stoner (who rides for the Ducati Marlboro Team, not Rizla). Stoner obviously had the faster bike, able to outpace Valentino on the straights, with Valentino catching up and occasionally overtake on the corners. The faster bike won out, though, with Stoner coming first and Valentino second.



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Birds

Watch a long line of birds flying over Doha's Corniche on YouTube.



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Blogging in Sheraton Park

As I write this I am sitting in Sheraton Park, a public park located next to Doha's iconic Sheraton hotel. Sheraton Park is the first of what will eventually be three i-parks. (Al-Rumailah Park and Dahl-Alhamam Park will also be wired up.)

There is no charge for the connection, nor is there any need to register or use a Q-tel password. Despite this, I only noticed one other laptop user. The park, as usual, was dominated by families relaxing on their day off.

I initially had trouble connecting to the internet using my wireless connection and Firefox, but had more success with Microsoft Internet Explorer. After I connected, my browser took me to the Sheraton Park home page.

Signal strength started varied from weak to medium when I opened the connection. However, when I moved into the centre of the park the connection became strong. According to Internet Frog my connection, currently running at 647 kbps, is substantially faster than my home ADSL connection, which should run at 500 kbps but can run as slow as 40. (Just for comparison, British Telecom's standard broadband connection is now 8 Mbps - 16 times faster than Q-tel).

Never-the-less, the internet is still crawling – I'm writing this on word as I haven’t yet managed to log on to blogger, so my idea of blogging about blogging in Sheraton Park while in Sheraton Park may not work.

Still, Qtel’s internet service swings like a pendelum in terms of speed and at other times it may prove a real pleasure to saunter down in the pleasant spring weather and surf the internet (for free) for an hour or two on the pleasant green grasses of Sheraton Park.

Also See: Doha Guide

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Desert dunes

The start of a long run down a huge sand dune.

Also See: Qatar Sounds

Listen to the sound of the wind in the desert.

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Finding out what’s on in Qatar

Information always seem hard to get at in Qatar. Websites are rarely updated, phones go unanswered, ad when you do get and answer the person answering sometimes knows less than you. (Normally the panicking recipient of your call gives you another phone number which then goes unanswered.)

This lack of information extends to what's on. We try to mention major events on our blog, but we don't get everything. Luckily, there are a few good sources of information. So, if you want to keep up with what's going on, try those below.

Qatar Happening – small What’s On guide published monthly that lists events happening in Qatar that month. You can normally get hold of it at Mega Mart, Landmark, and at Qatar Distribution Centre (the alcohol shop!) They should shortly have a website (www.qatarhappening.com) although at the time of writing it’s not yet up and running.

Marhaba – more of a book than a magazine, it combines the features of a travel guide, magazine and what’s on guide. Updated copies are published every few months, which you can usually buy at the big supermarkets, the bookshops and at the Qatar Distribution Company.

Qatarliving – not specifically a what’s on guide, but a mine of local expat knowledge. If you want to know something specific, ask a question and you’ll probably get a flood of answers. They have recently added an events page which should be extra helpful.

Experience Qatar – official Qatar tourism website. Lists events in Qatar, although normally after they have happened. I’ve yet to work out the difference between coming and future events.

The local newspapers – sometimes contains adverts for upcoming events. There are three English language newspapers: The Gulf Times, The Peninsula and The Qatar Tribune.

You might also want to check out the following websites for specific details: Qatar racing and Equestrian club

Doha Golf Club – check out their calendar for tournaments

The Qatar Motor Grand prix

Qatar motor and motorcycle federation

What’s on when – not that great for Qatar, but some events are listed

Doha Sailing association

Qatar Olympic Committee

Also see: What to do in Qatar and our Doha Guide

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Desert greenery

After the wettest winter for nearly fifty years, the Qatar desert is unusually green. Indeed, a Bedouin friend told me that there he does not currently have to any provide fodder for his camels, as there is now sufficient grazing for them to survive on.


The green is especially concentrated in dips. We also spotted many examples of wild oats, such as those photographed below.


Also see: Qatar Image Library

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Qatar Show Jumping

The six day Qatar International Show Jumping event starts today at Equestrian and Racing Club in Al Rayyan. The event will see 250 participants competing. Entrance is free and the event will be open until 9.00 or 10.00 pm. For more information ring 480-6011 or see the Qatar National Olympic Committee website.


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Centrepoint

Centre point, also called Al Smakh mall, is another relatively recent though small addition to Doha’s ever growing shopping scene. As a family with young children, we appreciate the Baby Shop here, which has children toys for all ages, playhouses, cots, children’s beds and so on. Close by you'll find Splash, with very reasonably priced clothes, and Shoe Mart.

There’s some fast food places, but nothing like the range the big malls have. There’s also a few shops selling things for the house: clocks, fake flowers, miniature waterfalls, candles and so on. The best of these is Home Centre, which has a large range of furniture and takes up a large portion of the top floor.

Opposite Home Centre is a small children's play area, which actually looks quite good. You can also buy sunglasses, and there’s a small electronics shops selling big brand names. Frankly, though, with no supermarket and a small range of shops, there’s better places to spend your money.

Book flights,hotels or cars with Expedia.


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Dhow in the night

Colourful dhows light up the night on the Corniche.


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Dust storm

The sun shines weakly through the haze in the aftermath of the dust storm that hit Doha this Friday.



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The Singing Sand Dunes

This weekend, we visited the singing sand dunes, one of approximately 30 sites in the world where sound is produced from sand dunes naturally. The dunes themselves curve round in a semi circle, forming a natural desert amphitheatre.

They didn’t sing. Again. (This was our second trip). The first time their failure was blamed on recent rain, so we waited until a few weeks had gone by without rain, but to no effect.

Friends who have been previously have sworn blind that there was something to be heard. We tried to set the sound off by running, jumping and rolling down the dunes, but to no avail. Several times we thought we hear a low droning sound, only to look up and see aircraft.

The closest we came to success was not at the designated dunes, but several kilometres to the south-east of them. These were similar looking dunes, and as we ran down them we heard a deep zoom-zoom sound with each step. This was not a continuous sound, though, but a series of sounds, each individual sound caused by each individual footstep.

Noise from singing sand dunes, which have been reported in the Middle East for over 1500 years, have been described as “roaring, booming, squeaking, singing or musical” (Singing and booming sand dunes of California and Nevada). Qataris used to attribute these sounds to evil Djinns; similarly, Marco Polo, when he heard the sounds 700 years ago, blamed the sounds on evil spirits.

There is still some controversy over how exactly the sand dunes produce the sound (see The troubled song of the sand dunes) . However, it is certain that for the sound to be heard the sand needs to be put into motion. When the singing is heard, the sounds’ vibrations can sometimes be felt reverberating through your body.

For singing to take place, the sand must also be extremely dry – even the presence of 0.1% moisture will reduce the effectiveness of the singing. This could explain why we heard nothing, as there has been heavy rain this year, and truffles are still growing in the desert.

Whether or not you hear any singing, there’s great fun to be had running down the sand dunes. the sand. In addition, you can see small lizards scamper along the surface of the dunes. Move towards them, and they’ll dive below the surface of the dunes. When there are no lizards, you can see the trail left behind them – a line made by their tail with footprints to either side.

When it is windy, you can also observe sand blowing off the back of the sand dunes, creating what appeared to be a lip of blowing sand – with blue sky showing beneath. The sand grains will settle on the back, contributing to the growth of the dune.

On the way to the singing sand dunes you’ll see thorny desert trees – and, at the moment, wild oats growing to the side of the road. Around the dunes you’ll also find small desert plants with thorny leaves and small, bright yellow flowers.

The area is very photogenic, and a great place to add rolling sand dunes to your photo collection. It’s worth staying until sunset, when the sun descends down over the dunes. You’ll also hear and maybe see some desert birds. And you might even hear those bloody sand dunes...




Also see:

The Singing Sand Dunes: directions

City-swallowing Sand Dunes

Singing and booming Sand Dunes of California and Nevada

The troubled song of the sand dunes

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