Evening fish market on the corniche

Fishermen were on the corniche by the museum at night selling fish, crabs, and other creatures caught just hours before. Used to be Arab fishermen selling here but now they are all Indian?

They did have quite a large selection including sharks, rays, crabs....

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Doha Tribeca Film Festival - Toll Booth & Omar Killed Me

On Thursday I saw Toll Booth (Gişe Memuru), and on Friday I saw Omar Killed Me (Omar m'a tuer).  They were both okay but my favorite was by far Black Gold.

The arts & crafts was happening since it was the weekend at Katara and there were a lot of artists and crafters all around.

We stopped in Khan Farouk Tarab Café for just a drink but of course they wouldn't let us sit for just a drink since there is a 100QR minimum per person. So ridiculous. Anyway, this woman was making the bread and it was cool to watch while we waited for some drinks to go.

Mango Tree at the Pearl

Had a lovely several hour lunch with R at Mango Tree at the Pearl.  I tried the papaya salad and the pad thai.  It wasn't bad but probably Thai Snack is better but the presentation here was cool.  I also got a prickled pear cocktail (no alcohol in it although they do serve alcohol) which was amazing.  So good that we had to get a few of them....  We sat outside next to the water from mid-afternoon all the way to dark and enjoyed the sunset and moon and stars coming out.

Doha Tribeca Film Festival - Crayons of Askalan

Crayons of Askalan director and actors

The next evening we saw Crayons of Askalan.

A creative documentary based on the powerful story of Palestinian artist Zuhdi Al Adawi. In 1975, at the age of fifteen Zuhdi is imprisoned in the high security Israeli jail, Askalan. With the help of his fellow prisoners and their families, he keeps his spirit alive through artistic expression, smuggling in color crayons and smuggling out his artwork, with a pillowcase as his canvas.

It was okay but very artsy.

Katara lit up

Doha Tribeca Film Festival - Black Gold

I was lucky to get tickets to see Black Gold at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival in Katara. We went to the world premier at opening night and everyone was excited.

It was shown in the Opera House which was all lit up.

Everyone was waiting and anxious for it to begin.

Black Gold, which was filmed in Qatar and Tunisia, stars big names like Antonio Banderas, Freida Pinto and Mark Strong. The actual main character, though, is played by lesser known French Algerian actor Tahar Rahim. Set in the 1930s and based on the book “The Great Thirst,” Black Gold centers on two Arab tribes fighting over a patch of desert - one is ruled by Banderas’ cunning character Emir Nesib, while the other by Strong’s hard and principled Sultan Amar. The conflict really comes to a head though, when a Texas oil man shows up to shower one of the rulers with all the petro-dollars he can dream of. And in the balance lie their children, and the peoples of Arabia (or whichever country they are in).  http://dohanews.co/post/11919613122

It turned out to be really amazing and I loved it.  Some of the parts filmed in Qatar were very clear and I had even been to some of the locations including some steep slopes at the Inland Sea!  The movie will be in theatres worldwide in the following months I believe.  Certainly worth seeing!

Deja Blues at the Jazz Club

Went to the Jazz Club at the Oryx Rotana Hotel and Deja Blues were performing.  Raelene was singing and she was amazing!

Fuwairit Beach

Finally made it to Fuwairit Beach which is really only accessible by 4x4 although there were a lot of brave little cars.  It was a really windy day, lucky for all the kite surfers.

This beach had a lot of coral all over the place.

The big Qatari sun loomed above us but the water was actually pretty cold and we were all shivering.  However, it was a great day at the beach and after the sun set we could see so many stars sparkling.

Pumpkins at Megamart

After seeing the crazy prices for pumpkins at Carrefour (see Sybil's Pass the Pumpkin), 1576 Qr ($433) for one pumpkin, I thought I would just try at Megamart just in case. I was in luck and little baby pumpkins were only 21Qr per pound! Three little pumpkins only cost me 12Qr!

This was the extent of Halloween at Megamart but better than nothing!

They are super cute and make me so happy!

Squash Semi-Finals

Went to see the squash semi-finals and just when I got there the power went out right in the middle of a game!  They got it back on though and resumed the game right at 8-8.

There is such a huge contrast between the girls playing and the guys playing.  Of course both are amazing.

 They move so quickly and have perfect feet positioning.  Incredible.

View from West Bay