Fresh Dates

Fresh dates from H from the farm.  Wow these just melted in my mouth.  The best dates I've ever tasted!

Monte Carlo Circus

My first time to see a traditional circus.  The acts with just people were amazing and included rope acrobatics!

Ikea!

Ikea in Qatar

Finally visited the new Ikea with M.  It was awesome!  Such a great place to get furniture and home supplies for great prices.

Sahour at the W

Lovely displays.  I frequented the sushi section!  So good!

Iftar at Bandar Aden (again!)

dates and samosa

lamb mandi, ogda, and samosa

chicken ogda

So good as always!

Teppanyaki at Oishi Sushi

salmon & avocado maki and salmon nigiri

teppanyaki: beer, chicken, veggies, and fried rice

Another dinner at Oishi Sushi!  Last time we saw the teppanyaki and O thought it was amazing as he had never seen teppanyaki before... I still remember every birthday at Benihana when I was 13...ha... So anyway, this time we tried it and it was fantastic!  Wow!  The chicken and fried rice were the best.  Really, really good!

Mystery Village

So what is this place...?

Map of Mystery Village

View Mystery Village in a larger map

A Quick Stop in Film City

Musfur Sinkhole

Musfer Sinkhole is the official name of a karst cave in Umm Al Shabrum, central Qatar. This sinkhole is one of the karst features. Other karst features include depressions, caves, and solution hollows.  Karst is a distinctive environment characterized by landforms that are the product of dissolution of surface and subsurface rock by natural water to a greater extent than in other landscapes. It occurs both as surface and underground features. Several substantial caves are known in Qatar, but many have probably been filled with blown sand, or have collapsed to produce some of the thousands of depressions or dolines.
Source: http://wahyuinqatar.com/2009/06/16/musfer-sinkhole-karst-cave/

It wasn't too difficult to find the cave.  The opening isn't that big but it's surrounded by a fence which made it clear.

Inside was mostly limestone as that's what Qatar is predominantly made up of.  We did find a bit of gypsum.

It goes quite deep!

 

Nearby we passed this old police station for Um Al-Shobrum.

Map of Musfur Sinkhole

View Musfur Sinkhole in a larger map

Sushi at Market at the W

salmon nigiri and soft shell crab maki at Market at the W

My favorite sushi in Doha!  It's the best!

entrance of the W

Souvenir Shopping at Al-Shaheen

Looking for traditional household items, like tea or coffee cups?  Al-Shaheen on C-Ring near TV R/A is the place to go!  I got some really cute tea and coffee cups here and the prices were great!  This is a great place for souvenirs.

It was so much fun walking around in here as well... :)

Iftar at Bandar Aden

Bandar Aden has special foods for Ramadan, including samosa, soup, and pudding.

Iftar samosa

The samosa have cheese or meat inside.

Iftar soup

I love this tomato based soup with lamb... :)

salta, ogda, and madfoun

Ramadan pudding

I really liked this light and simple pudding.  Yum!

Yemeni desserts

Ramadan Appetizers at K108

Dinner at K108 again with A.  The views are wonderful!

Ramadan appetizers

shrimp and filet mignon

Dubai: Jallab and Moroccan tea at the Courtyard of Al Manzil Hotel

We all met for Jallab (Ramadan date juice) and Moroccan tea at the Courtyard of Al Manzil hotel with live traditional Arabic music. A really nice atmosphere and not too hot even though it was outside.

Jallab (Ramadan date juice)

Dubai: The Palace

Ramadan Kareem!

A hotel that's a castle!  So cool!!!  It felt like we were back in history.

Dubai: Kinokuniya

Mamegoma

Still the only place with San-X that I've found so far in the gulf...  They had a good selection of Mamegoma, Sentimental Circus, and of course Rilakkuma.  I'm never able to walk out of here without something cute... heehee

Sentimental Circus