Week(s) in Review: The Doha Days are Over…

As soon as we got back from Sydney, John and I finalized a major decision.  As much as we’ve enjoyed our time here, we both feel ready to take on a new adventure, so….after some careful planning and research, the Hollers will no longer be in the ‘ha, as of January 30th!

There will be more details to come, but for now I’ll just wrap up the events of the past couple of weeks.

The jet-lag was pretty intense the days following our arrival, but once Sunday rolled around we had no choice but to buck up and get back into the routine, especially since I had an important work related event that first week back.  Luckily I was able to break it up by having a beer out with the ladies after work one day, and of course still make it to yoga and Bachelor night!

By the time the week was over, we were both exhausted, and just stayed in Thursday night and made tacos.

Friday we got up at a decent hour and cheered a friend on at her first marathon!  She did a great job, and we were all very proud of her!

We didn’t run at all, but needed to refuel from all of that stressful spectating afterwards at FatBurger.

Saturday we got lucky and scored some free tix to the ExxonMobil Tennis Tournament. This also gave us a good excuse to eat at Bukhara beforehand.  At the tournament we had a special treat- a surprise visit from David Beckham!

We had a lot to take care of that week, but I managed to cook something new- tofu curry.  It was actually pretty good!

John went out with some friends that week too to the International Handball Competition.  I’ve never heard of this sport before, but apparently its like water polo on land.  Qatar tried to draw a crowd to this not very popular sport by flying in both Pharrell and Gwen Stefani to play for the semi-finals.  Apparently there were still empty seats though…

Thursday night I went out with some gal pals to La Spiga, and then out to Wahm at the W.  We had fun!

Friday night we went to a party our friends in the compound threw- it was a combination goodbye to us, and welcome to our new friend’s upcoming delivery!  Our friends certainly are very clever and thoughtful!

After the party Friday night we checked out “Krossroads,” a super smokey bar known for their fabulous Filipino cover band.

Saturday we took care of some business, and pretty much spent the rest of the week doing the same, with the exception of yoga and Bachelor night on Tuesday.

Once Thursday came around, we were ready to party again!  We had people over, along with a specially delivered keg, and a whole lot of food.

Friday ended up being a pretty lazy day (probably had something to do with the fact that we went to bed at 4:15 AM…), but we had planned on going to a golf tournament, where UB40 would be performing at the end.  They are most famous for (the song they probably wouldn’t be allowed to play in Doha) “Red Red Wine.” Unfortunately with the passing of the Saudi King, Qatar decided to cancel the concert so that the country could mourn.

In hindsight that was probably a good thing though, since we had a lot to do!

In lieu then of the concert, we went with some friends to Issan at the Grand Hyatt.  It’s a Thai restaurant and very good!  We all did a tasting menu and had lots of yummy dishes.

Saturday was a big day- the packers came!  They worked very quickly and within a couple of hours our entire villa was in boxes.

John took some items out to donate, and we were happy to see that they were taken right away.  He also brought us back a snack from one of our faves-Paul.  Later on I took this bag of assorted currency and was able to exchange it all at the Travelex.  (for a rather large commission of course.)

Saturday night we went to dinner at a friend’s villa, and then afterwards had our last night in the compound.  The next day we moved into the Marriott for the week.  The hotel is very full- lots of the handball teams are staying here right now.  We had to compromise and get a room with 2 double beds because it was the last non-smoking room left!  Luckily though the hotel is very conveniently located, and they have a WONDERFUL breakfast included with our room.  Omellette station erryday.

Sunset view from our room

After a long day, we just had a quick dinner and then retired for the evening, although I didn’t get much sleep that evening because I was constantly checking my phone- my sister back in the US gave birth to my very first nephew!  I’m a proud new Auntie.

 

And that brings us to today!  Only 3 more days and then out of the ‘ha.  We’re both working up until the very last minute, so with that, TCB, and meeting up with friends, the time is flying. Sappy nostalgic post to follow, once we’re out!

Week(s) in Review: Happy Holler-days!

Over the past couple of weeks we’ve tried to get in the holiday spirit in Doha, which is actually pretty easy to do- despite the country’s Islamic identity, you see lots of “Christmas” related paraphernalia about town.

The big supermarkets sell fake trees, people in the compound decorate their villas with lights and Santas, and the international hotels have special “holiday” brunches.

…which we partook in! We went to La Varenne in the Tornado Tower. While not a hotel, it is one of the few licensed non-hotels in town (the others being the Rugby Club and Golf Club.) They had a special brunch modeled after Christmas “market stalls,” and brought everything to your table. This was my 4^th brunch in Doha, and I definitely prefer this kind. Less choices, but higher quality food and drinks.

 

 

It was also my turn to host for girls’ night, so I tried to make it festive. To add to the Christmas fun, we had a special visit from the ARV carolers!

Tree guac courtesy of Bev

 

Missing Budapest, I used my new paprika and made Goulash and Eggplant cream

---

 

Now for a change of pace, in the midst of all the Christmas spirit, we also celebrated Qatar’s National Day on December 18^th. This is a huge holiday here, and festivities start the week leading up to it.

I got to go to “Darb El Saai” cultural village, which is set up to showcase Qatar’s heritage.

 

I also wore an abaya to work…

…so I got some help.

I’m a noob and don’t know how to do the head scarf.

Serious Sheikha.

…and got Henna done, and held a falcon. You know, a normal day at the office.

 

…and we went to Barzan Olympic Park with some friends for a picnic.

ate some Qatari snacks

Later that night, John and I had a stay date and grilled out some lamb lollipops.

MMM Meat-pops!

 

 

Saturday we drove out to Al Khor, a small city on the Northern coast of Doha. We checked out the (only) hotel, drove around, and had lunch at “Pearl of Beirut,” which despite the name, seemed to largely consist of Filipino dishes.

 

Hmmm…would we say 5 stars?

So that about sums it up around here. Taking off in a couple of days to celebrate the New Year in Sydney- Happy “Holler-days” all around!

Oh and here’s a picture of the BRAND NEW TURKEY CENTRAL!!! Double the size, but half the charm of the old one.

 

 

…and some mixed nuts.

Week(s) in Review: Turkey Time & Family Fun

After getting back from South Africa, we had some fun things to keep us busy in Doha. It always helps me to get “readjusted” if I have events to look forward to!

Tuesday night I went with some gal pals to the Souk for dinner. We got there early to walk around, and checked out the Arabian horse stables. I’m not a big “horse person” but these were beautiful animals.

Note: We also discovered the “secret” underground parking garage located close by. It has a tunnel that pops you out right by the falcons!

We ate dinner at the Shebestan Palace- Irani food in a beautiful setting. We also had a really flirty waiter, which is very uncommon here!

 

Wednesday night we had yoga, and then Thursday night we stayed in and made tacos and watched the movie “Rush.”

 

Friday morning we met up with a friend who was flying through Doha on her way to Amman, Jordan. We checked out “La Varenne” in the Tornado Tower and had a great breakfast.

 

I was also very impressed with the art collection on the display.

 

Friday night we met up with some friends for dinner at Mykonos at the Intercontinental Hotel. The food was great, and I loved the atmosphere of the restaurant!

 

Saturday we were bums. The highlight of the day was setting up our hammock (which I’m currently typing away in) in the backyard.

 

We also tried out a new takeaway place- good hummus, pickles, bread, and rotisserie chickens, and I made a “reconstructed” eggplant parmesan for dinner.

 

Monday night we went to yoga, and then Tuesday I went out with some ladies for a friend’s birthday at Hakkasan in the St. Regis.

 

Wednesday night John and I had a special “date” night yoga as we were the only 2 people in class, haha. Made it difficult to get away with any bad form!

Thursday I had a half day at work so I went with a gal pal afterwards to lunch at Jones. Beforehand though I confiscated this weaponry at work-

 

Then Thursday evening we celebrated Thanksgiving in our compound at a potluck. I made a pumpkin cheesecake.

 

Friday, we celebrated Thanksgiving again with some friends. We brought mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and gravy, but we cheated a little…

 

On the way walking to and from our hosts’ villa we got trapped in a little sand storm:

Saturday we had a “family fun day” through John’s work at the Intercontinental. It was fun, but definitely geared towards kids.

 

W did leave with some fun, slightly non-PC souvenirs though.

 

Oddly enough, another company he is associated with had their “Family Fun Day” on the same day at the Golf Club, so we doubled up. I got another fun souvenir there:

I promise it was windy, and I wasn’t pulling a “Mary”

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Craving butter chicken for dinner, I attempted to make my own, along with paratha Saturday night. Not bad for a first try, but I know there’s room for improvement.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

That’s all for now. Can’t believe it’s December already.

Trip in Review: South Africa 2.0 Pt. 1

A few weeks ago we celebrated the wedding of a friend in one of our favorite travel destinations- South Africa! We flew in a couple of days early so that we could make the most of our trip, and enjoyed a few days in Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, and Cape Town.

First stop was Stellenbosch- a bigger wine valley of the Western Cape, and the one place we didn’t make it to on our previous trip. It’s a pretty cool spot with lots of wineries and a fairly large university in town, so it’s pretty developed. Overall, I thought the wine was better at the vineyards in Stellenbosch, but I prefer the food and overall “romance” of the smaller Franschhoek.

We flew overnight, so by the time we got in, we had most of the day at our leisure. Once we picked up the rental car, we easily navigated our way to the Solms-Delta wine farm for a picnic lunch.

They weren’t quite ready for us, so we checked out the museum on premise, which was actually pretty interesting and gave a rather brutal (but I imagine historically accurate) depiction of South Africa during it’s days of colonization and the wine farm itself.

Once we got our picnic basket, we walked down near the stream and had the whole valley to ourselves. Unfortunately it started raining, but we got some cover from a nearby tree.

The food in the basket was delish, and the bottle of white wine we got was great too!

---

 

After lunch, we drove over to Stellenbrau Brewing Company for a brewery tour, but on the way passed “Tokara” winery, which was recommended as a great stop. Unfortunately as soon as we pulled into the parking lot, it started POURING and we didn’t have an umbrella, so we decided to opt out and just head to the Brewery.

 

The entrance to the tasting room was a little tricky to find, so we walked around aimlessly for a few minutes before someone directed us to the upstairs of the brewery itself. Once there, we hung out for about 20 minutes before one of the owners met us and explained the brewery and the beer. By this point, more people had come in, so when we were enjoying our tastings we struck up a conversation with some Australians- one had just completed a backpacking trek from “Cairo to Capetown,”- crazy! We enjoyed talking with them, and were amused that they associated us Americans with Dr. Phil- whose talk show is apparently quite popular in South Africa.

From there we went to our accommodation for the next 2 nights which was….a HOSTEL! Yup- in an effort to save some cash and relive our youth I found a hostel online about a 20 minute walk from the city center (which felt long by the end of the trip, but it’s always good to get a little extra exercise, considering how much we tend to eat on vacation!) We got one of the two private rooms with an ensuite bathroom and it was fine for 2 nights since we were hardly in it. We felt safe, it was clean, and the staff were helpful in calling for cabs and pointing us in the right direction. For about $40/night, I considered it a win.

Banghoek Place

Once we checked in, we took a nap and then woke up unfortunately to more rain, so we took a cab into the city center and checked out “Craft”- a beer and tapas bar. We sat up at the bar and noticed the same thing that we noticed at Stellenbrau- the beer is served a bit too cold. Nonetheless, we still had a fun time trying different brews and had some tasty tapas!

We were craving pizza afterwards, so we found a little restaurant after and each had pizza- mine with plenty of pork on it.

We then trekked home and got in bed at a decent hour so we could spend the next day conquering some of the vineyards.

 

To be continued!

Dhowing around

The week after Halloween was a typical week of TCB around Doha. Nothing too exciting to report but we did…

Try some new falafel

So many falafels!

Falafel

Arabic Falafel

Saj Falafel

We ordered take away from the appropriately named “Take Away” and got not one, not two, but THREE different types of falafel sandwiches.  It was about $12 for everything pictured…I liked the saj the best, pita bread with Arabic pickles and garlic sauce. Yum!

---

 

Cook traditional Arroz con Pollo

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

---

 

Make chickpea/spinach curry

---

 

Have fancy gourmet macarons at girls’ night

---

 

Get a Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks

Tastes like fall! 

---

 

Indulge in a nice “stay date” at al fresco

---

 

Eat a picnic at MIA park

Salads courtesy of Monoprix!

---

 

Take a dhow* cruise around the harbor

A “dhow” is a traditional wooden sailing boat used originally by merchants.

---

 

Make blueberry pancakes

Surprisingly enough they actually had Driscoll’s blueberries in the little convenience store in our compound!

---

 

Eat Turkey Central takeout

---

 

Have a “German/Italian” international dinner at a friend’s villa

---

 

…and then we took off for South Africa for a few days! Post to come!

Hollerween

Halloween fell on a Friday this year, so of course we felt we had to take advantage of this serendipitous occurrence and celebrate in a big way- a #town pub crawl!

To prepare for our event, John and I spent pretty much all day on Friday making decorations and perfecting our costumes.

 

 

We didn’t head out until 7:30, and it starts getting dark around 5 now, so the kids were out in full force right at sundown. We were Scrooges and did not spend $200 on candy like most of our neighbors did for trick-or-treaters, and we would’ve been fine too if John hadn’t accidentally flicked the lights on our porch. Like moths to a flame we soon had a group of 10 kiddies at our door. Luckily they were satisfied with our offering of fresh homemade chocolate chip cookies.

Onto the pubs:

Stop 1: The Starting Line- Potato soup and Pimms Cup cocktails, hosted by 2 Sri Lankan elephants.

 

Oh I suppose I should explain my costume in case you didn’t know-

The inspiration was obviously from bleaching my hair, and while I like to say I dressed as Guy ironically….I do kinda like Triple D and some of his recipes!

Stop 2: Dugong Dungeon- scary witches fingers, champagne cocktails and la piece de la resistance- a dugong skeleton in the backyard!

Stop 3: Klingers’ Kauldron- MYO spider cocktails, popcorn balls, and a scary ferocious beast guarding the house.

Stop 4: The “Scairport”- Buffalo chicken pasta and the running of the Gauntlet

Stop 5: “Third Floor, Eh?”- Canadian techno, maple syrup drinks, Timbits, and “Yeehaw!”

Stop 6: “Flavortown” (duh)- Pumpkin spiced white Russians, BBQ pork and Italian shredded beef sliders

I promise we had people there, just too busy dancing to take pics!

…and then we all bombarded another party with a DJ set up in the backyard.

So, as you can clearly see, we all had a GREAT time, and I’m kind of concerned how much I actually look like Guy Fieri. In fact 3 of my friends that I see on a fairly regular basis actually thought I was a man.

Another Halloween in the books!

Doha Daze

Hard to believe we’ve been back in Doha almost 3 weeks now after returning from Japan! The first week was a bit rough adjusting back to the time change/work schedule/being far from friends and family/restrictions of Middle Eastern living (what?), but as usual, time has flown by and I think now we’re back in our old routine.

Looking back, most of our excitement since returning has centered around, of course, food! I made a couple of firsts, and we ate at some new, and some tried and true restaurants:

I made:

Dahl

Apple chips

 

Schnitzel 

 

Lentil Shepherd’s pie 

 

 

And we ate at:

Kebab King affiliate– set up in the backyard for a party

 

Elevation Burger– a “healthy” burger joint, but…come on.

Jones the Grocer 

Cold Stone

“Korean Garden”

Zaatar w Zeit

…and John had “KFC” in the work canteen

 

We also made the rounds with a couple of faves- getting delivery/take out from Caravan Bukhara, Mr Chippy, and Thai Corner, and enjoyed some meals with friends at their villas.

---

The weather is actually a fairly reasonable temperature now, and we’re able to spend some more time outside. I took a walk around the compound and snapped some pics the other day-

We also ate outside at Elevation Burger, located at the Pearl.  I love the people watching- a good combination of expats, stroll-ers, and tourists walking around looking confused.

“…and that’s the difference between jam and jelly!”

And we ventured out to the souk, where we had shisha and played chess. We forgot our own set, but a very nice shopkeeper let us borrow one fo’ free!

While we were there, we checked out the falcon souk, where apparently it is “new falcon” season. Each shop we went into had about 12-15 falcons. Never have I ever seen so many falcons.

 

Afterwards we went to “Party Kingdom” where we were met with a typical business hours snafu.

 

I then had a repeat later in the week.

9-1
4-10

 

On Sunday, I had the opportunity to attend the Al Jazeera film festival held at the Ritz Carlton. I got some interesting swag…

This…is a carpet.

…saw some interesting sponsors…

…and had the opportunity to see a film that totally blasted an industry close to the Holler home.

 

And then yesterday I took a 2 1/2 hour (round) trip to the grocery store.  I hate love Doha traffic! 

 

---

 

So that’s all the news that’s fit to blog about…gearing up now for the #town Halloween extravaganza. Here’s some hints for my costume:

Adios!

Dohtoberfest

As I said in my last post, John and I went Thursday night to the very exciting “Fatburger” restaurant. It’s a “fast casual” chain out of California and it was delicious! I even liked it better than Shake Shack, the other “fancy” burger chain around here. (Which is good because Shake Shack is in Villagio Mall and I’m boycotting that mall now because of the horrible way the whole fire situation has been handled.)

The traffic heading over to the restaurant was horrific, but one plus is that we saw a couple of bros in their Land Cruisers with their falcons.

Once at the restaurant, we each got a burger and split the chili cheese fries (which were CRAVEWORTHY). John got a milkshake and was generous enough to give me a couple sips.

Fatburger is located on the Pearl– a cool place with soooooo much potential. Due to an alcohol ban and general lack of interest though, it has become a ghost town. Hardly anything is ever busy and lots of restaurants have closed down. They put in an IMAX theater recently that we’ve heard is nice, but John and I aren’t big movie-goers and I’ve heard it’s expensive, like $25 a ticket. I guess we’ll have to keep going to Fatburger so it doesn’t suffer the same fate as the Algerian restaurant we liked. Darn!

John hung out with some friends on the ‘pound afterwards, but I was induced into a food coma from my burger so I just went to sleep.

The next morning, we just hung around and took care of some business around the house. I gave homemade Baba Gnoush a try in order to use up some eggplants I had in the ‘fridge, but I wasn’t too pleased with how it turned out. We also had the whole “everything closed on Friday morning” issue and it took John 3 attempts in order to get bread (mini mart closed, mega mart closed, bought a ciabatta loaf from a restaurant for $5).

Friday night we had a lot of fun. When we were in Munich we bought traditional dirndls and lederhosen, and we told each other that we wear them every opportunity we got to justify getting them in the first place. Well, believe it or not, “Champions” Sports Bar at the Marriott had an Oktoberfest celebration! We went with a group of friends, including another couple who also had German attire and were definitely the hit of the bar.

The manager of the bar is German and he had gone all out- putting in astroturf to simulate a “beer garden,” German recipes, blue and white Oktoberfest decorations and hats, and even a band flown in from Germany.

 

We’re Doha famous!

My poor Old Navy shoes I’ve had since college did not survive the evening.

Fun German band

astroturf

Saturday morning was rough as a result of the evening’s festivities, but we sucked it up and paid our favorite Lebanese breakfast restaurant a visit for eggs and cheese and Turkish coffee.

Saturday night I made a quick chickpea curry over rice and then Sunday it was back to work as usual. Since technically it’s “fall” (even though its still 100 degrees), I made butternut squash soup for dinner on Sunday to put us in the seasonal spirit.

 

Monday, I had yoga, and then Tuesday I hosted girls’ night at mine and made a family recipe for dinner- sausage, egg, and cheese casserole making a couple of minor adjustments since I didn’t have pork breakfast sausage, half and half, or grated cheddar cheese readily available. (I know I can find some of these things in other stores but I hate driving to 3 different grocery stores.)

 

“spiced” it up a little too

Wednesday was a half day at work, so I took advantage of getting out early and got a pedicure, then watched a documentary on Netflix (Sushi-Global Catch.) I liked this guy’s advice in regards to Blue Fin tuna-

And now it’s Thursday! I went to the gym, then picked up a little treat for myself, then ate lunch en solo at Jones the Grocer. After that I walked around this new dining/gourmet store concept called “Eatopia” which seems promising, (although I question some of their “gourmet” offerings.) Got my hair* touched up in a bit and then came home to start packing for Tokyo (we leave in the morning!)

 

Oh, and a note on the hair. One thing that is very different here than in the U.S. is the beauty aspect of being “pale.” When I died my hair blonde, multiple people told me that it made me look more “pale” or more “white,” which is such a strange compliment to me. But over here it’s considered less attractive to have a tan- while in many parts of the world I feel it’s the opposite! They even have a plethora of skin whitening type hand soaps, lotions, moisturizer, spa treatments, etc, to achieve this “paleness.”  I guess kind of the equivalent of self tanner and/or going to the tanning bed.

The more you know!

Anyways, for dinner tonight we checked out “Salsa” at the Doha Marriott for a friend’s going away dinner. It was pretty good, but I think the best Tex Mex in town is still at the Holler house. Couldn’t help but notice the HORRIBLY RACIST menus….pretty shocked, especially since this restaurant is in an American hotel chain! (Also every server had a stereotypical name like “Juan” or “Pepe.”)

Will be on a brief hiatus until returning back from Japan. Eid Mubarak errbody!

PS: This ad replaced the “Slaughter your animals in the slaughterhouse” PSA.  I like this one better 😉

CHEDDA BAY BISCUITS

The day after we got back from Dubai we had a sleepy day at work, and then a special treat- dinner at Red Lobster. I say this facetiously, but it’s pretty embarrassing how excited I was for unlimited Cheddar Bay biscuits and clam chowder.

We went with a big group in honor of a guy who just moved into the compound. The menu, interior, and food was, well, pretty much what you would expect at any Red Lobster! There was even a bar with “mocktails.”

The week proceeded as normal- yoga, girls’ night, yoga, and then the weekend! We got take out from a new restaurant, “The Chippy,” promising authentic British style fish and chips, and it was surprisingly good- crispy breading, yummy fries, and a great curry sauce. The mushy peas were mushy and bland, but I think that’s how the British like them. Best news is they also deliver and are open until 4 in the morning….I spy potential late night munchies.

newspaper wrapping

*The name of the restaurant is actually just “The Chippy,” but John and I have been calling it “Mr. Chippy” and it just stuck before we realized we were incorrect.  We suggested they change it to that because it flows better.

After dinner, we met up with some friends at the Qube (yes, that’s a Q) in the Radisson Blu Hotel. We had gone there once before (see previous post), but unfortunately my “membership” card had expired and I had to stand in line for about 20 minutes to renew it.

 

This is the line…

Cool shirt bro

Once inside, we had a great time dancing, people watching, and acting a fool. Thanks to Tristan for the paparazzi shots.

 

All that dancing made us work up an appetite, and conveniently enough there is a DQ in the same parking lot as the hotel. Crazy to think, but this was actually my first Doha drive thru experience- there is no intercom, and they hand you a menu at the window. I went with a burger, John got a blizzard, and we were nice and bought one for our driver too.

The next day, we had some people over for fajitas and margaritas, and then Saturday I did a little experimental cooking that turned out great!

 

Homemade Gnocci

Sunday was a routine day, and then Monday we got some sad news….we lost our maid. (I know, Doha problems.) She was having some unfortunate issues with her sponsorship (you have to be “sponsored” to get a visa to live here if you’re not Qatari…John is “sponsored” by his company, and I’m “sponsored” by John) and had to go back to her home country. (I won’t go into too much detail, since I’m paranoid now about what I say on here due to Qatar’s new “cybercrime” laws.) But anyways, John and I had to get our act together and do our own cleaning and laundry this week (Oh the horror!)  I also made butternut squash curry-

The rest of the week went by rather quickly- yoga, girls’ night…

signature chocolate lava cake at girls’ night

…yoga again, and then today! Now that it’s the weekend John and I are getting crazy and going to FatBurger at the Pearl tonight. Expect foodie pics in the future.

So to conclude, a couple of ‘ha pictures for your amusement. I know I certainly stay entertained around here!

I didn’t realize there were cliffs in Doha.

No, I did not make camel fajitas

I have a feeling Zac Efron did not endorse this men’s “saloon.”

Tall times in Dubai

Two weekends ago, we had a nice excuse to take a break from the ‘ha, and head to Dubai! My cousins were travelling through on their way to Africa, so we decided to make a weekend out of it.

Before we left, we had people over for a low key dinner, complete with Nando’s delivery.

The next morning, our car came bright and early at 6:15, and we got to the airport in plenty of time to check out a fun little shop- wish they actually had a shop like this here outside of the airport!

 

We were flying “Fly Dubai” which is a budget airline, but it was fine. Only downside is that we had to take a bus out to the plane- no jetbridge. I think my favorite part though was the in flight safety video.

After a quick 50 minute or so flight, we landed and then got lucky because a new line opened up in customs as soon as we entered immigration. We hopped in a cab and headed over to our hotel (Radisson Blu-Deira Creek) to drop our bags.

The hotel was in “old Dubai” which is very different from the newer parts. The only other time we’ve been to Dubai we stayed in the Atlantis resort, which is lovely, but rather isolated. This hotel was on the older end of the spectrum, but it was cool to see another side of town.

 

The Burj from our room

Once we dropped our bags, we ubered to the “Garden Center” to go to a coffee shop (Roseleaf) John read about. It’s a neat little spot. The “Garden Center” is kind of like an indoor little souk, with lots of little independent stands/shops. We both had flat whites and a homemade strawberry muffin. I was obsessed with this bench, but alas, they wouldn’t ship to Doha.

 

After breakfast, we then headed over to the Marina area and walked around a little bit. I imagine it’s more fun to do so when it is not so hot. I did like seeing the fancy yachts though, and checking out all the different restaurants and the lovely hotel.

 

From there, we took a cab to “Zero Gravity”- a fun bar located near the landing base of “Fly Dubai” skydiving company. They do a “late brunch” on Fridays from 3 to 7 (which we opted out of) but it was fun to people watch.

 

This guy walked all around playing along to house music

After that, we headed to the Jumeirah Zabeel Saray Hotel located on the Palm to meet up with some friends who had previously lived in Doha. We had a couple of drinks and enjoyed the fact that the cocktails were “2 for 1.”

 

We then headed back to the hotel, freshened up, and took a taxi to Souk al Bahar. (see previous post) We popped into the Spinneys grocery store just to see what they have (they sell pork a lot more openly in Dubai), and then had some sake and sashimi at a Japanese restaurant. We had such a nice time at the Tex Mex restaurant the first time we went to Dubai, we decided to go there again! Alas, our margaritas weren’t as good this time, but the fajitas were still stank.

 

All that activity caught up with us, so after dinner we just headed back to the hotel.

The next morning we got up at 8 to meet our family downstairs and then head out for some breakfast and a visit to the gold souk. Well, unfortunately the gold souk did not have any restaurant options, so a lot of our time wandering around turned into searching unsuccessfully for a place to eat. On top of that, vendors are rather aggressive, and the trip through the souk became affectionately known as “the gauntlet.” After 3 taxi rides, 2 water taxi rides, and multiple offerings of “handbag/pashmina/fake Rolex,” it was decided that we should just go back to the hotel to eat an early lunch.

After lunch, we changed and got ready for the highlight of the trip- afternoon tea at the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world! We got there a little early, so we first started with a cocktail in the very swanky Armani Hotel lounge.

We then went up the elevator all the way to the 122^nd floor and were seated at a great window table. It’s pretty surreal looking over at the tops of skyscrapers.

The tea was great- we all had a glass of champagne, lots of yummy finger sandwiches, gold flecked fruits and desserts, and scones. A great way to celebrate Clover’s birthday!

 

Once tea was finished, we went over to the Mall of the Emirates for people and extravagance watching.

It was time then for us to bid adieu and head out to the airport, where we ended our weekend with the very shameful KFC for dinner.*

(Correction: I ate the very shameful KFC, John ate the very healthy footlong meatball marinara from Subway.)

Once we landed back in Qatar it was a “welcome to Doha” moment when we saw a guy with his falcon getting off the plane.

 

A fun weekend with great people!