tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-328238932011-06-08T09:14:21.504+03:00So it wasn't all a big con to get Gareth down the aisle. On Thursday 21st September 2006, just 4 months after accepting the offer from Eloise's work, we arrived in Qatar together. We'll be using this blog to keep anyone who's interested up to date with our new life here, from settling in and exploring the city of Doha, through understanding both the local and expat ways of life, to discovering the rest of Qatar and the Middle East. Plus anything else we think might be interesting.garethnoreply@blogger.comBlogger751100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-71520557596752360632008-09-12T10:25:00.002+03:002008-09-12T10:32:29.563+03:00

From the desert to skyscrapers in under 6 minutes - a brilliant summary of Qatar/Doha all shot on a Nokia N95 mobile phone for the Disposable Film Contest. Soundtrack created on a Mac.Essence from Omar Khalifa.

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-67195943622430309702008-07-03T10:35:00.002+03:002008-07-03T11:04:36.621+03:00

Hi there. Long time no blog. As usual.So it's summer again, which in Qatar means scorching 40 to 50 degC temperatures and stifling humidity. I talked a bit about the summers here last April.But so far this summer has been a bit different to last year's due to the presence of a few dust/sand storms over the region;June 18thJuly 1st(click the images to view the original reports on the NASA website,

garethnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-49935149043057862882008-05-02T17:16:00.002+03:002008-05-02T17:29:04.487+03:00

There's a nice video montage on YouTube of a few of the new buildings in Qatar. Some exist already, some are under construction, and others are still in the planning stage. The tower block we've moved out of makes a few appearances.Direct link; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXEmB9ao12A

garethnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-3511497568705387992008-04-10T15:37:00.010+03:002008-04-22T11:48:10.504+03:00

!!!WARNING!!! This is going to be quite a long post covering several changes to our life out here that have either happened this year or are going to happen soon. I'll try to seamlessly link them all together for your reading enjoyment.So, it all starts with a change of status. Eloise's company classifies each employee working overseas as either Single status or Married status, each of which has

garethnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-17135053404973850332008-02-17T16:09:00.003+03:002008-04-22T10:37:08.924+03:00

Hi, my name is Daz. I've hijacked the tall & ginger blog to appeal to the generous nature of its hundreds(!) of readers.I'm from Qatar Pets, which was setup to help homeless animals in Qatar, and Gareth has kindly offered to be my walker at the Sponsored Doggie Walk next Saturday. Qatar Pets isn't a charity (yet), but it does rely on donations of time, money and pet related products from

garethnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-42731820465689350042008-02-11T16:17:00.000+03:002008-02-11T18:27:26.501+03:00

At the end of January we were honoured by a visit from our wonderful brother/brother-in-law Jack. It was lovely to think he'd come all that way just to see us, and I'm sure the fact that his stay here coincided with the PGA European Tour golf at Doha Golf Club was merely a coincidence ;-)So most of the week was spent at the golf club. Jack managed to drag his arse out of bed earlier enough on the

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-40637176512814566182008-01-30T10:43:00.000+03:002008-01-30T21:52:35.144+03:00

Well, it was 18 days ago, but as usual I've only just got round to blogging it!I couldn't think of anything I really wanted to do to celebrate, due to several factors; 1) there aren't that many exciting things to do in Qatar, 2) we'd only recently returned from holiday, 3) we went out drinking the night before for someone's leaving do and 4) I lack any imagination. So Eloise made an executive

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-53831219682700299372008-01-28T16:24:00.000+03:002008-01-28T17:49:23.902+03:00

Just before Christmas Gareth was luckily enough to be invited to join all the other company "house-wives" on a trip to my work. Gareth isn't the only "house-husband" here, but was the only one who could make the trip. So he made the 1 and a quarter hour bus ride from our apartment to my work with 20 or so ladies. He didn't stand out at all!After I'd introduced him to all the people I work

eloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07160880269698155130noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-89745051669807384732008-01-17T08:06:00.000+03:002008-01-17T08:43:46.260+03:00

Having finally got over the shock of being back at work after a long festive break it's time to start blogging again. My new year's resolution is to be far more active on here, though like all new year's resolutions it'll probably be broken by Easter!We arrived back in Qatar from the festive break just in time to catch the last two days of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open men's tennis tournament - the

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-90038777431933695732007-12-25T13:58:00.000+03:002007-12-25T14:11:37.322+03:00

Just a very quick post to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. We're currently sat in an internet cafe in Chiang Mai, and are half way through our holiday in Thailand which has been fabulous so far.Hope you all have a good festive period,love Gareth & El

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-79008313975659410292007-12-09T09:00:00.000+03:002007-12-09T09:27:12.578+03:00

You can tell the weather has become more pleasant over the last month or so (30ish degrees during the day, 20ish at night) because more and more things have been happening out and about in Doha. A couple of weeks after the French planes (see the last post) we were treated to the Red Arrows doing pretty much the same thing;and in between these two air displays was the Doha leg of the Class 1

garethnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-62683486128950916542007-11-10T21:38:00.000+03:002007-11-11T08:40:33.769+03:00

While sat at my desk working in the apartment the other day I was some what surprised to see a group of aeroplanes whizz passed the window in a diamond formation. So I grabbed my camera and went out onto the balcony and managed to snap a few shots of their acrobatics. Doing a bit of research afterwards I managed to discover that they were La Patrouille Acrobatique de France (i.e. the French Red

garethnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-89959321660525475872007-10-29T14:14:00.000+03:002007-10-29T15:02:45.245+03:00

(And so, like an bird with an injured wing, flapping around on the ground while a cat playfully bats it around before the inevitable end, this blog splutters on.)Last Thursday night saw the official launch of Doha's bid to host the 2016 Olympics. Having been urged all week via text message and newspaper articles we decided to check it out. Held on the Corniche, they promised a spectacular evening

garethnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-61348944982536952222007-08-26T11:00:00.000+03:002007-08-30T13:24:40.175+03:00

That fact that it's been so long since anything appeared on this blog is probably a good indication of how little there is going on here during the hot, humid summer months. It could also be a good indication of how unimaginative and lazy I am, but there really hasn't been anything worth reporting recently. We've just been up to the usual; working, sleeping, eating, going to the gym, watching tv

garethnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-57103377339019209022007-08-02T14:44:00.000+03:002007-08-02T14:55:38.375+03:00

A year ago today Eloise landed in Qatar for the first time and began her ex-pat adventure. To mark this prestigious event she took part in an high-brow, in-depth, probing interview. Here's the transcript;Congratulations on making it through your first year in Qatar, you're now a third of the way through your planned time here. Has it gone quickly?Very quickly, but then I suppose that is because

garethnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-44095983317436497822007-07-23T16:38:00.000+03:002007-07-23T16:51:18.731+03:00

We were somewhat surprised to come across a picture of our apartment block while browsing the Money section of Saturday's Telegraph. Luckily the picture is also in the online article here so I can share it with you. It's the forth tallest building in the picture, to the left of the taller half black, half white one. It must be quite an old picture as they appear to still be building it, hence the

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-40687668454973313972007-07-08T17:43:00.000+03:002007-07-08T17:47:03.668+03:00

As you can probably guess from the lack of action on here nothing much worth reporting has been going on. We did have El's Mum and sister to visit for a week, staying a few days with us and a few at The Four Seasons. It was lovely to see them but we didn't do anything different from when we've had other visitors so it didn't really warrant a blog entry.I figured that our wedding anniversary was

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-219948338355208702007-06-13T09:13:00.000+03:002007-06-13T09:36:24.009+03:00

An update to the final note in the last post;The Bush Administration yesterday announced it's latest human trafficking blacklist and Qatar, a key ally of the US, has been demoted to Tier 3. Yesterdays Guardian newspaper carried this article, which says that;"Qatar, long accused by the United States of ignoring the plight of child camel jockeys, was demoted to ``Tier 3'' for not enacting

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-54274887995228894952007-06-11T10:05:00.000+03:002007-06-11T10:08:44.994+03:00

Qatar must be one of only a few countries in the world that have recently gone from having very little to very large amounts of money and are now undergoing massive and rapid development, and we have found that this situation makes living here slightly strange – somewhat like being in a bubble. The normal day is pretty much the same as back in the UK; get up, go to work, come home, have dinner,

eloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07160880269698155130noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-86709123077937911712007-05-31T07:16:00.000+03:002007-05-31T09:16:35.673+03:00

It's quite common in Qatar to be driving down a road you use everyday and suddenly come across some road works that have appeared overnight with no warning. The following article from yesterday's Gulf Times illustrates this perfectly (original version here);Lucky escape for family as car falls into deep pitPublished: Wednesday, 30 May, 2007, 08:26 AM Doha TimeStaff ReporterFOUR members of an

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-85872357689436406272007-05-28T21:06:00.000+03:002007-05-29T21:49:45.451+03:00

Our recent trip to Egypt was essentially two separate holidays; 1) sightseeing and exploring Cairo and Luxor, and 2) a stop-off between the two at the Red Sea to learn to scuba dive.The sights of Cairo lived up to their reputations; The Pyramids and Sphinx on the Giza Plateau were awe inspiring;We went inside one of the pyramids by practically crawling through a long, deep, hot passage, which was

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-5927254015040465792007-05-17T23:00:00.000+03:002007-05-17T23:01:26.660+03:00

Hello, we're back from our holiday, but before we blog about that we asked my Mum and Martin to guest edit an entry detailing their visit to Qatar the week before we went away, so here it is (apologies for the length, but we did cram in quite a lot while they were here!)Marg: What a responsibility being asked to contribute to the tall-and-ginger blog!We're writing this having just returned from

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-30744626119162893832007-05-02T10:21:00.000+03:002007-05-05T10:25:12.050+03:00

We will be out of the office until Monday 14th May. We will reply to any comments on our return.

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-55252932282551829692007-04-25T19:55:00.000+03:002007-04-25T20:23:24.780+03:00

It's been slowly heating up over here in Qatar. Temperatures have starting hitting the mid to high 30s on a regular basis, which isn't too uncomfortable as long as you're not out in it for too long. The nights are in the pleasant low 20s, making it ideal for evening walks along the Corniche or trips to the golf club.Even if, like me, you don't leave your air-conditioned apartment for days on end,

garethnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-50507687648140350212007-04-19T17:29:00.000+03:002007-04-19T17:34:23.077+03:00

As Gareth mentioned previously Annabel and Jack were out here for a few days the weekend before last and I think we just about managed to keep them entertained for the duration, taking in the usual touristy stuff and some new things;- Dune riding in the desert- Shopping! The numerous shopping centres are worth visiting as some are quite special - one even has it's own canals complete with

eloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07160880269698155130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-418792351339574412007-04-05T07:16:00.000+03:002007-04-05T11:14:57.139+03:00

We have two sets of guests visiting us this month (Annabel & Jack and Marg & Martin) so we've decided to hire a car for the duration so we have transport available all the time (since El has to share the company car with two other people). As I can't be insured on the company car I've never bothered getting my Qatar driving license, but now I've got a reason to join the masses clogging up the

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-1676356917664672072007-04-02T21:11:00.000+03:002007-04-02T22:00:09.249+03:00

As we said here, if something a bit different happens around here it's worth making the effort to go as you don't know when the next will come along.Hence when we found out about this (at the last minute as usual, due to the lack of advertising);we were well up for it!So on Thursday night we headed down to the Intercontinental (which is just round the bay from us) and sneakily jumped the queue

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-25905190087549816202007-03-26T06:42:00.000+03:002007-03-26T08:00:41.197+03:00

A couple of weeks ago we moved across town to a new apartment in the impressively named Beverly Hills Towers;located here, at one end of The Corniche in the West Bay area of Doha.The apartment has several advantages over the last one;- more space- a sea view- better finishes- better management; 24hr on-site reception, security and maintenance- the facilities; better gym, bigger pool, jacuzzi, hot

garethnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-578526387383097852007-03-13T12:19:00.000+03:002007-03-26T07:54:06.523+03:00

Last weekend was Dunestock here in Qatar. Dunestock is an open air music festival held annually at the singing dunes of Qatar, featuring local expatriate bands and musicians - so not quite the same line up as Glastonbury but almost guaranteed to be sunny!As Qatar is not the most happening place on earth Gareth and I try to go to most things that are on in and around Doha (we even attended a Jazz

eloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07160880269698155130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-85659243062899796692007-03-09T11:04:00.000+03:002007-03-09T11:05:55.284+03:00

As I mentioned in my post last Friday, we had a short break in Jordan a couple of weeks ago. We arranged to stay with my cousin Cathy and her family (husband Peter and little'en Aiden) in the capital Amman, and were looking forward to experiencing another country in the Middle East and another ex-pat way of life.Jordan is a 3 hour flight from Qatar, which passed with no notable excitement other

garethnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-66015038452318730842007-03-03T21:10:00.000+03:002007-03-03T21:26:24.890+03:00

A good indication of the lack of interesting things to do in Doha is how excited we were last night in the brand spanking new Virgin Megastore that's just opened here.There are other music and book shops in Doha, but to be honest they're all a bit pants, particularly when compared to this new Virgin. We spent ages walking up and down the many aisles of shiny CDs, DVDs, video games and books,

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-67736941389451758332007-03-02T20:48:00.000+03:002007-03-03T10:02:40.356+03:00

Hello all. Apologies for the lack of action round here over the last couple of weeks. This was due to a couple of things (other than the usual laziness);- We've been on a short holiday to Jordan. More on that in a future post.- Our blog was locked by Blogger's over zealous spam prevention robots and it took them a couple of days to unlock it. Apparently they have automated spam classifying

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-78247599291307070252007-02-13T10:55:00.000+03:002007-02-13T10:56:57.627+03:00

Following several requests we have uploaded a selection of our wedding photos to flickr.So if you haven't already been bored to death by the 1000+ photos on our laptop or the 100+ in our Mums' albums then click on the picture above to view them.The photos are a combination of the official ones and ones taken by various guests, so a big thanks to everyone who sent us the photos they took. I hope

eloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07160880269698155130noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-34538015845501550282007-02-08T17:06:00.000+03:002007-02-08T17:15:31.780+03:00

Sign spotted in a shop window on Al Sadd Street, just round the corner from our apartment;It's always nice to know you're going to get a pair, isn't it?

eloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07160880269698155130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-30910164452038095662007-02-05T09:39:00.000+03:002007-02-05T10:16:48.157+03:00

The weekend before last Doha Golf Club hosted the Qatar Masters, part of the European PGA Tour. We went up on the Friday for the 2nd round and had a very pleasant time wondering round the course in the lovely sunshine watching men hit balls with sticks;admiring the golfing fashions;spotting wildlife;and sometimes all 3 at once;There was a large crowd there (despite lack of advertising again,

garethnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-16918248789346492512007-01-31T11:56:00.000+03:002007-11-03T11:03:49.497+03:00

As you're probably aware Qatar is a Islamic country, and Muslims believe that pigs are unclean. Hence we don't have any pigs out here - living or dead. So no bacon, pork chops, pork scratchings etc etc. However, I think this is taking things a bit too far...click image for full articleIndeed, the article points out that although Muslims consider the pig to be unclean it is still "a creature of

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-11384417913688630472007-01-28T16:45:00.000+03:002007-01-28T17:28:14.700+03:00

Last weekend saw Qatar host the first round of the Formula 2000 President's Cup Powerboat Championship. 17 boats from 10 countries battled it out round the course in Doha Bay, with the American Jay Price eventually winning it for Team Qatar.It was quite a spectacle watching these deafeningly loud boats bomb it round the usually quiet and tranquil bay at speeds of up to ~150mph, and a reasonably

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-84569000715745559962007-01-25T14:53:00.000+03:002007-01-25T19:42:43.255+03:00

After uploading our festive holiday photos to flickr (see yesterday's post), I added the ones taken in London to the 'londonist' flickr group. (londonist is a web log about London and everything that happens in it. I read it daily and can highly recommend it to anyone with any interest in London.)Anyway, low and behold, when I visited the site this morning there was one of my photos staring back

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-26227841771170965622007-01-24T09:09:00.000+03:002007-01-24T14:44:04.302+03:00

As the last post predicted we arrived back in Qatar the evening of 14th January, but the shock of getting back to the reality of normal life after 3 weeks off means I've only just got round to writing this. Apologies for those who've been eagerly awaiting the next exciting installment.We had an excellent time back in the UK, spending it travelling around trying to see as many people as possible.

garethnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-56908528726183745062006-12-21T17:06:00.000+03:002006-12-21T19:23:41.222+03:00

tall & ginger will be out of the office until January 14th 2007. If you wish to leave a message we will reply to you on our return.

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-89282461403421577962006-12-21T16:49:00.000+03:002006-12-21T16:59:02.890+03:00

A couple of days ago I final got my Qatar Residence Permit (RP). You have to have one of these to stay in Qatar for a long period of time, and there are two ways of getting one - through sponsorship by the Qatari company you are working for (how Eloise got hers) or through sponsorship by a family member who already has a permit.Now, as I don't have a job out here we went for the option of Eloise

garethnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-35490700306109693262006-12-18T10:16:00.000+03:002006-12-18T11:08:21.235+03:00

So the Asian games have passed off without too much fuss. The mass chaos that was predicted to descend on the city and the roads never really materialised, and in fact if you weren't looking for it the only signs of anything going on were the flags and banners along each road (which have been there for months) and the volunteers wondering around in their garish outfits.China won a gazillion more

garethnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-22297275577053135042006-12-11T09:42:00.000+03:002006-12-11T09:53:41.000+03:00

In the Williams family, Christmas decorations are not allowed up until Jack has celebrated his birthday on the 15th December, so this year I am taking advantage of not living in the same country as my dear brother and we have already put up our decorations!Much to Gareth's disgust I invested in a rather lovely fake plastic tree at Carrefour last weekend and all the decorations we carefully

eloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07160880269698155130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-2657863913217064382006-12-08T16:00:00.000+03:002006-12-08T16:21:38.912+03:00

When organising how we'd get to and from the Asian Games opening ceremony we made two assumptions the ultimately proved to be wrong and resulted in us almost drowning!Assumption #1: There would be huge traffic jams leading to/from the stadiumIn the run up to the games the whole of Doha had been panicking about how much extra traffic there would be and how roads were going to be randomly shut to

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-30064367336364592006-12-05T14:44:00.000+03:002006-12-07T10:03:40.669+03:00

As I've mentioned previously Doha is hosting the 15th Asian Games from the 1st to the 15th December, and last Friday we went to nearby Khalifa Stadium for the opening ceremony. With the games being the second biggest sporting event in the world after the Olympics and Qatar throwing more money at an opening ceremony than anyone has done previously we were hoping for something spectacular.And we

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-29390418456217591792006-11-26T08:31:00.000+03:002006-11-26T08:47:47.084+03:00

This was broadcast on BBC2 in the UK on the 16th November and we've been trying to find a way to view it out here ever since. The BBC archive link didn't work but thankfully good old YouTube has the goods. Do you recognise the chap sat behind Catherine Tate in this sketch?

eloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07160880269698155130noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-10206262639229738522006-11-21T20:03:00.000+03:002006-11-21T20:55:13.580+03:00

Evening all, just a quickie;As I mentioned previously, now we have t'interweb at home we'll be on Skype most evenings. For the luddites among you, Skype is one of these new-fangled internet telephone thing-a-ma-jigs that allows people to communicate using their computers through the mediums of text, audio and video.It's free to download and install and free to use for computer-to-computer calls.

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-36199208680853226112006-11-21T12:44:00.000+03:002006-11-21T20:47:11.464+03:00

Recently we've been having a little chuckle to ourselves over here whenever we catch the UK weather on Sky News. We certainly don't miss waking up to a cold, wet morning and having to scrape the ice off the car before driving to work!But then yesterday we had our own bad weather - it actually rained here! We knew that Qatar received a few millimeters a year but it still takes you by surprise when

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-10610871728864088312006-11-20T21:10:00.000+03:002006-11-20T21:38:35.095+03:00

We have bought our tickets for the Asian Games opening ceremony, which is on the 1st December. I'm not really a big fan of opening ceremonies, but we figured that it isn't often you're in a country when a major sporting event is on so we should make the effort.The Games are bigger than the Commonwealth Games in terms of number of competitors and the opening ceremony is being organised by the same

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-75757574606005542852006-11-13T17:28:00.000+03:002006-11-15T11:27:12.733+03:00

Good newsFinally, only two and a half months after Eloise moved into the flat, we have an internet connection. This amazing display of laziness and general incompetence from both the landlord and the telecoms company seems to be about the norm out here.Anyway, we now have the means to engage you all in scintillating conversation on Skype, upload hundreds of photos and write streams and streams of

garethnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-20289542188620813712006-11-09T12:19:00.000+03:002006-11-09T12:39:38.906+03:00

In response to a recent newspaper article I posted a poll last Tuesday asking if people would prefer a month in jail or 40 lashes.Well people have been voting in their 10s (almost) and the time has come to reveal the outcome;So it's pretty much 2 to 1 in favour of lashes - you bunch of masochists. Feel free to pop over to Qatar and commit some minor misdemeanors if you fancy a flogging!Look out

garethnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-3523508670009192152006-11-06T09:29:00.000+03:002006-11-06T10:31:50.278+03:00

As promised, here are some photos of the recreational facilities at the apartments;

eloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07160880269698155130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-30226674078352976052006-11-05T16:03:00.000+03:002006-11-05T16:30:30.445+03:00

Thought people might like to see a few pictures of our home here in Doha. We have a brand new 3 bed flat in a complex of about 70 apartments, with an under ground car park and a communal area which includes a swimming pool, gym, and games room (pictures to follow).Living room/dining areaCurrently the flats are not full so the facilities are hardly ever used. We have used the pool a few times but

eloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07160880269698155130noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-22017574238270757632006-11-01T08:23:00.000+03:002006-11-01T10:09:04.631+03:00

The final part of our Desert Safari was the overnight stay at a desert camp, and we raced across the sand dunes to make sure we got there before it was totally dark. Camp was quite basic; a couple of Bedouin tents, plastic white chairs and tables, oil lamps, a BBQ and 2 portaloos.The location was fab if you looked towards the south but to the north you had a view of a refinery, which depending on

eloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07160880269698155130noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-86692428042364884022006-10-31T12:27:00.000+03:002006-10-31T15:11:28.367+03:00

Interesting article in today's Peninsular about a guy sentenced to one month in jail and fined QR1,000 (~£150) for drink driving. Fair enough - drink driving is dangerous and drinking or being drunk anywhere but your home or hotel is illegal here - but the interesting bit is that when he objected to the sentence the one month in jail was changed to 40 lashes.The article doesn't make it clear

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-16398406849292876462006-10-29T08:52:00.000+03:002006-10-29T09:16:59.779+03:00

I had been planning to post an entry about how things are different here during the month of Ramadam, but instead I'm going to direct you to a fellow ex-pat's blog entry which I happened upon the other day. There are three reasons for this;I'm not really qualified to write about these differences as I only arrived here the day before Ramadam started and it only ended last week.His observations

garethnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-33980375081964618372006-10-27T13:17:00.000+03:002006-10-27T14:26:37.558+03:00

Regular stops were required while driving through the desert to allow our stomachs to settle prior to the next onslaught of dunes. The first stop was at a conveniently located tent housing a bloke and his 2 Arabian (or dromedary) camels, who was willing to let us photograph his humped pets for a mere 10 riyals, and ride on them for 15. How lucky we were to stumble across this welcoming chap in

garethnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-6516084526253704272006-10-27T08:22:00.000+03:002006-10-27T09:55:08.499+03:00

After a fairly relaxed first day with Pete & Maggie, the real adventurous stuff started on Saturday - our Desert Safari.We met our guide in Doha, piled into his massive 4x4 and headed down the coast of Qatar. After 45min or so the road ended (literally) and we were in the desert. As the sand became softer we pulled over to let some air out of the tyres in preparation for some dune riding.And then

garethnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-1157102893923192842006-10-24T14:15:00.000+03:002006-10-24T15:01:36.774+03:00

Apologies for the lack of activity on here over the last week or so. It's been due to a combination of El's parents visiting and the 3 day Eid-al-fitr holiday, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadam.Pete & Maggie flew in Thursday evening and leave tonight, and we've been out and about doing lots while they've been here. We'll endeavour to fill you in on it all over the next few days,

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-23658848480949038482006-10-16T17:30:00.000+03:002006-10-16T17:51:32.516+03:00

We stuffed ourselves silly at the Ritz-Carlton Ramadam tent again last Wednesday night as El organised a company social there, and this time we managed to get a snap of the Qatari man who wonders round the tent all evening with his falcon.Pretty cool, eh? Falconry is big in Qatar, and the Arabian Gulf in general. Some more info here.

garethnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-26768057725863912172006-10-15T17:40:00.000+03:002006-10-15T17:59:17.032+03:00

Quick picture of Orry the Oryx for ya.You've probably never heard of him before, as I'm guessing the the Asian Games wont get a huge amount of coverage back in Blighty while it's going on, let alone two months before it starts (though the BBC may cover it what with having naff all else sports-wise).He's the official mascot of the 15th Asian Games, which will be held here in Doha from the 1st-

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-47974650771970572612006-10-11T16:48:00.000+03:002006-10-11T17:29:59.836+03:00

Interesting article in The Peninsula yesterday, which may affect our future recreational activities out here (see previous post)! The crux of the article is summarised in these two paragraphs;"Those who partake of the seesha thinking it is a safer option to cigarettes or other tobacco products, are simply deluding themselves.""Mohammad Ghaith stated that studies have shown that a bowl of seesha

garethnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-42451341291955761722006-10-10T16:13:00.000+03:002006-10-10T16:27:46.377+03:00

Eloise told me about the Lagoon Plaza before I arrived here, and having seen it a few times now I have to agree with her that it's pretty special so I thought I'd blog it.It's basically going to be two residential tower blocks (with cinemas, malls, parks etc scattered around them) but what makes them different from all the atrocious looking high-rises that blot numerous residential landscapes is

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-399436224205880892006-10-10T13:38:00.001+03:002006-10-10T13:56:10.792+03:00

I've added the ability to subscribe to this blog, for both posts and comments. This will save you having to keep coming to the web page to see if it's been updated. The links are in the sidebar on the right.If you have a newsreader than you can use the RSS feeds, otherwise you can sign-up to receive an email whenever a post and/or comment is added.It's all powered by FeedBurner, so the links take

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-20079999419160607952006-10-05T16:25:00.000+03:002006-10-05T16:41:01.566+03:00

Gareth and I have decided that now is a good time to learn to play golf (Jack will be so proud of us!) so we went to investigate Doha Golf Club, home of the Qatar Masters which is part of the European PGA Tour. We have signed up for a set of group beginners lessons starting in November, but in the mean time we had a go on the driving range. It turns out I was way better than Gareth and now the

eloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07160880269698155130noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-22096530922817508522006-10-04T17:12:00.000+03:002006-10-04T17:28:28.256+03:00

While we were at the Ritz-Carlton we also visited The Pearl-Qatar exhibition.The Pearl-Qatar is a man made island complex that is currently under construction off the coast of Doha, similar to The Palm and The World in Dubai. The name was chosen because pearl diving was Qatar's main industry before they stumbled upon massive oil and gas reserves (couldn't believe their luck, I bet!).Prices start

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-31794085291944875902006-10-04T13:41:00.000+03:002006-10-04T15:38:15.930+03:00

We are currently about half way through the holy month of Ramadam, which started on the 23rd September here in Doha (it starts with the sighting of the new moon and will finish 1 moon month later with a festival called Eid al-Fitr, a 3 day public holiday here).Muslims fast during the month and may not eat or drink anything including water while the sun is shining. It is actually illegal here for

eloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07160880269698155130noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-52166332426583359042006-10-04T09:24:00.000+03:002006-10-04T09:48:16.337+03:00

Hi. You may have noticed we've started adding some links into the posts (the orange words) to try and provide some more information for those of you who are interested. We've also updated some of the older posts with links so you may want to go back and re-read them.We also discovered that Google Earth has recently updated it's satellite imagery for Qatar, so we can now start adding links to maps

garethnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-20654728111179175562006-10-03T17:03:00.000+03:002006-10-03T17:12:25.157+03:00

As it was a particularly clear day on Saturday (it's often quite hazy) we decided to head down to The Corniche (map), which is one of the most beautiful areas of Doha. It follows the semi-circular curve of Doha Bay and is 7km long, and you can walk the length of it on foot paths. What amazes me every time I go there is the colour of water - it is such a bright blue/green and makes up for the not

eloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07160880269698155130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-37385190142559962812006-10-02T12:30:00.000+03:002006-10-11T17:23:08.779+03:00

Last Thursday night (our Friday night here) we went to the main souqs (markets), commonly called Souq Waqif. They are so enchanting and have a really special feel to them, somewhat magic. The pavements are all sand and the buildings, although they have been renovated, have all been done so using traditional building methods. The whole souq is split into different areas; fabric, perfumes, spices,

eloisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07160880269698155130noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-22342282243731334452006-09-24T15:11:00.000+03:002006-09-27T10:31:02.270+03:00

I had thought that it would be hard to stop feeling like I was on holiday here, but getting up this morning at 6am soon solved that. As we don't have t'interweb at the apartment yet (due to an incompetent landlord, the slow pace of life out here and all the resources being put into getting ready for the Asian Games) I'm working from Eloise's offices. Unfortunately this means fitting in with her

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-53363828163925587382006-09-23T21:35:00.000+03:002006-09-28T07:47:13.452+03:00

One of the joys of not living in the UK - Premiership football on the TV, including the 3pm Saturday matches! Spent the afternoon watching the midday match, then flicked between the choice of four 3pm matches, followed by the evening match. Plus there's more tomorrow, and all the Champions League during the week (though they wont finish til quarter to midnight, or quarter to 1 once the UK clocks

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-64409910032980107222006-09-23T21:31:00.000+03:002006-09-27T08:39:20.162+03:00

Over the last couple of days Eloise has been driving me around the city pointing out the sites, and we went to a couple of shopping malls and supermarkets. She seems to have got the measure of the mental driving conditions. It's basically a case of if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, and bite your tongue when they cut you up (beeping, swearing and gesturing is a big no-no, particularly if you're not

garethnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-78847992980889358572006-09-23T16:50:00.000+03:002006-09-27T08:47:32.724+03:00

My UK Orange sim card doesn't work out here because it's pay-as-you-go, so don't try calling or texting me on it. I got myself a Qatar Q-tel sim today but can't use it in my phone cos it's still locked to Orange. As soon as I unlock it I'll email the number out.

garethnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32823893.post-23803947311801375372006-09-22T10:03:00.000+03:002006-09-25T17:52:01.532+03:00

6 weeks after Eloise arrived here she returned to get me, and after a rather uneventful flight I'm finally in Qatar. The flat's been sold, a brand new house purchased to rent out, the Punto and 106 gone and our belongings shipped to Qatar, put in storage, given a good home or taken to Greenford Recycling & Reuse Centre. We have definitely emigrated.(I'd like it noted that I could have got here by

garethnoreply@blogger.com0