Travel and things

Friday night/Saturday

Left London 6 hours late; sandstorms in Dubai had damaged the plane, which had to be repaired. Once on board I enjoyed Emirates's good food and wine and fell asleep over Budapest. Arrived in Dubai at midday local time and caught the connection to Doha. No luggage in Doha; after an hour of calls and consternation I was told it had been left in London. Airport full of Japanese and Australians here to watch the final of the Asian Football Cup (Japan 1 - Australia 0).

My car was waiting for me and things began to improve once I arrived at my apartment: a beautiful 6th floor space fitted with all the gadgets. Fell asleep very quickly and woke up after a few hours to go out for some fried chicken. Bed.

Sunday

Woken at 5am by the call to prayer; good timing as working hours are from 6.30am - 2.30pm. Minibus drove us to the compound. Not much to do here yet except show our faces, so spent the whole day chatting and playing Scrabble with two fellow English exiles. Minibus drove us back. Went shopping for groceries in Carrefour.

Doha is an extraordinary place. Only 1/7 of the population are native Qataris; the others are expats from all over doing everything from working on rigs to cleaning houses. Some amazing architecture here; much of the city seems to be a building site. More tomorrow.

Comments

Unknown said…
Hi! Your blog's been tagged as "Our Blog of the Week" from 30 January to 6 February. Do keep your great posts coming!
Cheers - Dora
http://peacefrompieces.blogspot.com/
31 January 2011 at 15:20
Simon M Hunter said…
Cheers Dora, keep up the good work :)
1 February 2011 at 07:43
MeltonM said…
There was a story in the G about the Japan game - some late-arriving Japanese fans had been locked out of the stadium for security reasons. Members of the royal family were at the game, apparently. Could be a tricky World Cup.
1 February 2011 at 23:42
Simon M Hunter said…
Yes, some of the Japanese were locked out, and yes, the Heir Apparent was at the game: there was a photo of him sitting next to the FIFA president on the front page of Sunday's paper.
2 February 2011 at 08:57
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