Saturday, June 23, 2007

Sand Dunes

The entire country of Qatar is about 100 miles across. So today we decided to drive around part of it and just find things. We headed south of Doha. We found a few beaches. The water is very shallow for a long distance out...you could walk two-three blocks and only be waste deep in the water. Because of this the water was warm and not as refreshing as we hoped for in 110 degree heat. So we kept driving south. We saw many sheep, goats and camels walking around and of course got a few pictures. We also found the USA military base-the one thats in the new movie "Transformers". It is illegal to take pictures of military places here so I didn't get any of there. While we kept driving we found the "singing sand dunes". We decided to hike up one. For anyone who has not done this yet...don't just jump out of the car and start walking (as we did). First of all the sand is so hot that i burned the bottom of my feet and i had the thick Teva sandals on! Plus in with the temperature being what it was the "short" little hike took about an hour. In the pictures you can't tell how big the dune is because there is no focal point to show the distance. But i couldn't even see the car from the top of this thing. It is difficult to climb also because its a steep edge and the sand just moves so fast under your feet. Picture the cartoon animals running as hard as they can and not moving! That was us. So you had to go slow to get anywhere. The view on the top was just like in all the desert movies you see, and my photos don't do it any justice.
Once we got back down the dune we did some more driving around the country side. It is the desert so not much else to see but sand.
Once we were done driving around we wanted to do a more local experience. So we went down to the Old Souqs. Souqs is just another name for a bunch of little shops clumped together. Once we finally found a parking spot we did alot of walking around in this area. The trick to shopping here is haggling! I am ok at it however my husband doesn't even bother trying. He just pays full price. Which we learned is considered rude. We got an Arabian Pot, decorative Koran to display and a Shisha (tabacco pipe). Hoping to get a Persian Rug while we are in Qatar also.

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