To DOHA!

Camel trekking in Arrrrrabia

Dad and the sweet sunset

Arabian (not Persian over here) Gulf

Me and Elizabeth

A little bit of offroading

After spending nearly 6 months in India and 3 months in SE Asia, I left Delhi to head to Doha, Qatar, where my dad is teaching a summer course for the Georgetown campus here. I was warmly greeted by him at the Doha airport. It was wonderful seeing him, after not having seen my family since September. We arrived at the lovely Al Samrya Gardens, where my dad and much of the other Georgetown faculty resides. A gorgeous 3 bdrm, air conditioned apartment was an amazing change of pace from my life in India. We caught up for a few hours, I ate some cheese, drank some Coke, and went to sleep.

The next day we had arranged a trip to the sea with my dad's colleague Elizabeth, who coincidently went to high school with my mom, so we've been family friends for a number of years. She has lived here on and off for the last 4 years, so knows the place in and out. Anyways, we were picked up by our guide in the early afternoon and hit the desert (which is pretty much anywhere outside of Doha). I had no idea what I was in for. I thought we were just taking a quiet drive to the sea and swimming, watching the sunset, etc., but what we got was an off-road adventure. To get to the sea, you have to ride crazily up and down these incredible sand dunes, and driving like a maniac is part of the thrill. We went up and down at all kinds of speeds, sometimes sideways, sometimes hitting the dunes straight on, it was wild. After stopping several times and seeing the sunset, we headed to this bedouin camp area where we smoked hookah and watched a bunch of Qatari men do traditional dances, like one with this huge sword. Quite exciting for my first day in Arrrrabia!

The last few weeks haven't been as fast paced. I've basically been chilling at my dad's apartment, helping him write an article, working on the blog, and editing videos that I should have started editing months ago! However, somehow two weeks have gone by extremely fast. There's not a whole lot to do in Doha, but we've gotten out a bit. We went to the impressive Islamic Arts Museum, the Corniche, which is path along the Gulf in downtown Doha, the Souq, which is a giant tourist market, and this crazy museum owned by one of the Sheik's. We've also been to a few concerts at the National Theater, and are going to a few more this week.

And Saturday, I end this amazing 9-month Asian invasion and head back to the US of A.