Doha, Qatar top 5 places to visit when you are on transit

Recently, my parents came for a visit. Not until then that I realized 'Man how I have missed out a lot in Qatar's development'. She's a true beauty now, with lots and more attraction, building each days. Well that's what people always say right, the grass will always look greener from the other side of the hill. We often admire other places, on how beautiful and how nice they look like, but not really bother to appreciate our surrounding. Well, I am guilty of that too, until I took on the tourist hat - seeing Qatar, Doha in particular, blooming to something amazing, comparing how I started here, back in 2006.

For that reason, I wanted to share my personal favourite of top 5 places and things to do in Doha, Qatar for those considering a transit or even a day or two stay over here, but know this, half-a-day transit will no longer works for Doha, because there are too many in the bucket list! But, if you are really short on time, for half-a-day, you can do below top 3 or 4 comfortably as they are quite near to the airport and to each other. Here goes;

1. Souk Wakif 

Yes, this is a must-visit. A souk is actually kinda like a market where you can get almost anything you could think of, from bedak arab, shawl, perfume, all sort of souvenirs to even tools and hardware. Here, you can either enjoy a stroll along the souk eyeing for stuff or chillax by the many choice of restaurant and cafes that serves traditional to modern food, from all over the world.

The must take photo-opportunity is of course at the entrance, where you'll be welcomed by friendly doves and the spiral Al-Fanar as a background. If you are lucky, you'll pass by donkey ride, and sometime camel-back policemen on guard. Souk Wakif is only 20 minutes from the airport, so if you have plenty of time to spare, might want to make it as the last place to visit just before heading back to the airport.

And oh, the opening hours is a bit weird, most shop open from 8 or 9am then close from 12-4pm, then open back till 10pm or so. I suggest a couple of hours as a minimum visit here. And don't forget to try the magnificent crepe! But it usually starts late after 4pm. Try it with the cheese spread, yummy!

Recent transit visit to Souk Wakif from x-uni friends - trying out the Arab's crepe :)

2. Corniche 

I love the corniche in Doha, I have been to few of corniche around gulf countries, and I must say, I love Doha's the most. The background was sculptured for a picturesque opportunity from all angle. You can also go for a short Dhow ride for a traditional experience :)

The corniche here are mostly used for recreational activities, where you can see people walk, jog or run from one end to another. And when there's a slight green, you will definitely find people gathering for a nice family picnic.

During recent farewell dinner of a friend in Al-Mourjan restaurant

If you have spare budget to spend, try Al-Mourjan restaurant, it's perfectly located in the middle of Corniche, which have the most spectacular view of Doha city center skyline, and not forgetting a giant sculpture of Oryx the Qatar's mascot. You can also chill with many flavours of shishas. But I have to warn you, the restaurant recently put on a QR100 minimum order per head! So it's a nice experience for a price :P

3. Museum of Islamic Art and MIA park

Seriously, I can't remember when was my last visit to MIA park or the museum of islamic art. I think it was few years back when I just had my third child and became a temporary stay-at-home mom. It was then I discovered the MIA park bazaar or weekend market, where anybody can come and sell stuff for free, but with a free pre-registration. I used to have so much fun selling a homemade baby headband-lace back then. But then the bazaar got famous, and more people are interested to sell, so they became very picky of their sellers, so that's the end of it.

Now, when I went back to MIA park, it has opened up another section, kinda like another mini corniche. If you walk along till the end, you will end up to a beautiful setup of cafe and another magnificent view of Doha city center skyline. We went at night, to a very romantic ambience, to the point even my parents felt the urge to hug each other in the photo.. sweet ;)

Romantic background of Doha city center

Museum of Islamic Art

Museum of Islamic Art open daily from 10am-5pm except on Tuesday. If the museum close, so is the parking area, so avoid the place that day to avoid disappointment. 

4. Katara 

Katara is a cultural center that organized festivals, exhibitions and seminars. It also has many unique sculptures and building waiting for appreciation. If you are short for time, just go for a 1-2 hour stroll and back to Karak & Chapati for a nice break.

On the way from the corniche to Katara, make sure to pass by City Center route, where you can admire the beautiful streaks of modern architecture. Picture below is taken from Qatar grand Masjid.

5. The Pearl

The Pearl Qatar is is the luxurious man-made island spanning nearly four million square metres. When you are there, especially in winter, you'll feel that as if you are somewhere in Europe. I love it there, especially for my occasional long bike ride. 

The beautiful surroundings somehow keeps my mind off the meter on my Garmin watch and let my tired legs moves further in peace. 

Last time when Mak and Abah came to Qatar, only some part of the Pearl is ready for visitors. Now they have opened up more section, making it more beautiful and just so nice for a visit. The pearl has many restaurants to suits your taste and enjoy the serene beauty. Especially the part that is facing the Marina with their luxurious yacht, which reminds me a lot of Monaco.

Mak posing near Medina Centrale

But I got to warn you if you are dining around Medina Centrale, be ready to have a slight headache from looking at luxurious cars roaming around the area (the same cars will roam like hundreds of time with their don't-really-care-attitude-as-long-as-people-are-impress-with-their-ride) which usually starts from after dusk till late. Well, that's some of my favourite spots in Doha that I think is suitable for a quick 4-6 hours transit visit. I will share more spots for a longer transit or stop over inside and outside of Doha, Qatar soon.

The Pearl

Pasir Berdengung

Last weekend was packed with instant activities. No plan was really made, but luckily everything fall into places; we managed to go for Singing Dune (yeah.. after that many years of kene-tinggal-sebab-keje) finally dapat jugak gi main pasir berdengung ni.

Funny thing is, the sound resembles bunyi kentut sikit-sikit.. hehehehe
And just imagine that number of 'behinds' sliding simultaneously down the dunes.. it was like a fart-fiesta.. hiks and yucks!! :P

Well.. here's some of the shots during our last minute trip (pics courtesy of others-kami lupe bawak kamera! seb baek videocam ade), will upload the video later on.. (malas nak transfer hehe)

After the brief fun, everybody agreed to an instant BBQ session at Zahed's, which turn out to be brilliantly filled with lotsa food that i can't stomach anymore! huk huk..

Then, the next day, same crowds agreed to play futsal at our place. it was nice to finally get to use one of the court .. kalau tak, slalunye penuh ngan kekanak riang jek.. main beskal la.. apela.. hmmm.. i do miss playing futsal.. can't really recall the last time I had fun sweating out kicking anymore.. i guess it's true what my mom and MIL said.. once you are a mother.. all those activities will be part of history.. sob sob :(

Well, enuff talk about the what if and the what was.. let see some 'jumping-sekerat-acts' hehe


Oh.. btw, here's the coordinate to go there: N250 02.466' E510 24.540'
Someone told me, there's only one particular hill that'll sing as you rub down the dunes.. others.. will only be a pain in the 4$$.. hiks.

Tok Mi in Doha!

It was already late, but yet Mommy and Daddy didn't try to rush me to bed like they always did. Hurmm.. something seems wrong. I wonder what is up with them? Instead, they took me out for a ride, still.. nobody is telling me anything, are they taking me to the Zoo? I wonder.

I was tired, but the twinkling lights along the slow and relaxing journey makes it harder for me to shut my eyes, so i rather stay up and stay fresh.

Oooo.. airplane!! Are we going for holiday? Are we flying to Disneyland? oh.. i wish.

After some time, I started to yawn, and my cranky nerve has got to me, I then started to behave abnormal. After sometime in the airport, I then saw a very familiar face, i know her from somewhere.. I felt a sudden rush of warm love... So I ran to hug her. Yes.. it's her! My Tok Mi is here!

Upon Ibu's arrival at the airport, I didn't aspect Myra to act the way she did, gosh.. budak kecik ni memory die kuat dari yang kite jangke. We tot they are just too little to remember, yet, they know just what is happening and who's who. Or maybe we should thank Skype?! Zaman teknologi.. the world became smaller than it used to be. Ingat lagi rupenye die kat Tok Mi.. siap berlari peluk.. memang terharu.

We made a sudden decision to bring Ibu to Doha. Sebab ade rezeki lebih, so dapatla ajak Ibu jejak kaki ke Doha lagi, and insyaallah to join our umrah trip at the end of the month too (I am praying to Allah so everything went as planned). 2 days after Ibu's arrival, we joined MAQ's camping program in the desert, on the way, few cars terstuck, sebab pasir terlalu lembut, so bergotong-royongla kaum bapa untuk menarik kereta.. Sampai-sampai the camp site, wow... ini jauh panggang dari api from our desert-camp experience, the place is like a resort, the only thing missing is a comfy bed and our own room. Lain-lain facilities memang tip-top. Siap ade surau, proper toilet and shower. Cantik.. untung Ibu dapat merase..

After sendiri-sendiri lunch and prayer, we enjoy a camel ride and some sukaneka for kids (yes.. si budak kecik myra participated! Rupenye dah pandai!! hehehe) Kiut sangat tengok Myra lari bawak air dalam sudu.. even die tak tunggu turn die, tapi what matters is she knew the concept of taking one spoonful of water from point A to point B (again silap point, instead of isi cawan team sendiri, die gi isi cawan team sebelah.. hehehe nasibla sape dpt Myra in their team! hiks)

Habis sukaneka, Myra trus main lompat dalam blown up castle.. I tried lompating too.. best!!! hehehe. Then I heard an announcement about a volleyball game to whoever interested. Aizal was nowhere to be found, so I went on and play with others, best.. lame tak enjoy a game like that ;)

After dinner, they started the fire and organize some congkak game, but I was already in the tent putting the cranky Myra to bed. Thank god it went easy. I then snugged out to meet with other ladies, borak-borak for a bit then forced to went back to our tent bile dengar Myra melalak. Our night was chilled but cozy enough, we slept on our own sleeping bag, sharing the tent with another sister while the rest of the bapak-bapak budak shared their sleep in a big tent opposite us.

After breakfast, all of us had to rush to leave, as the camp is booked by another group of people at 9. So, the journey home begins.. yang kusangke sekejap dan senang, rupenya sangkut ditengah jalan.. dieorang ajak main turun-turun bukit pulak! So, nak dijadikan cerita, sangkutla satu kereta ni at the tip of the hill, sebab the car is quite heavy and the bottom dah touch the sand, so tak bergerak-gerak.. Mr. Super Ai konon nak tolak sorang2.. haha memang tak jadi ape! Even tolak ramai-ramai pun tak gerak2, akhirnye kene tarik dari belakang jugak.. After almost half an hour, berjaye jugak kereta tu di-unstuck kan, then he went on to slide down the sandy hill, followed by Aizal. Me, Ibu and Myra tak berani nak naik kereta, so we slide down on our own, best.. main gelungsur pasir~

We reached home at noon, getting some rest for more activities to come..

P.S from Myra: Tok Di.. there's more story of Tok Mi.. that Mommy will update soon~

Enjoy the pic for now ;)

Doha Transit visit

Farah and Ekmal is going back to Malaysia for good. At their last minute impulse, decided to take Qatar Airways from London to KL, which means a transit stop in Doha.. and luckily, their stop were made longer, sebab there's no flight from Doha to KL on thursday, so they had to leave on Friday nite.. a comfortable 2 days 1 nite stop in Doha, sufficient enough to experience Doha (with of coz, a cekap tour-guide from us hehe).

At 6am Thursday morning, their flight landed.. I was busy preparing the welcoming dish, while Aizal out to pick them up. Bile sampai je rumah, macam tak sangke.. our short perkenalan kat London dah bersambung kat Doha.. it was so kind of them to even think about visiting us here.. ;)

The four of us, seated and enjoyed the nasik lemak Doha, sambil borak-borak..sampaila Myra bangun. Then at 11am we started with our trasit-visit-itinerary; first stop Doha Museum of Islamic Art.

A good excuse to go for us Doharian, yang tak penah pegi jugak. The entrance to the Museum is free.. (Except for the special exhibition, this time is on Pearls) with magnificent collection of arts, ceramics and all sorts.. And the best part, boleh ambik gambar sesuke hati.

After the 3 floors tour of the museum, we went out to the corniche for a relaxing Dhow cruise. A good way to experience Doha- naik boat sambil tengok the beautiful scenery of the modern and old buildings collision. And best thing about their visit, it's tengahhari bute, yet the wind is so cool.. so tak terase keterikan matahari at all. After the cruise we went off to Al-Rumailah park, having lunch in Thai Smile sampai kembung perut. Our last minute plan seems to agree with the time, that dalam tak sedar, it's already 4pm, just nice for a quick visit to Souq Wakif as it's already opened. Yeah, yang tak brape best, all souqs kat sini mostly open morning til 1, then close up till 4 baru bukak balik sampai malam.

Souq Wakif has got all of the typical tourist attractions. And now there are plenty of choices for souvenirs too. A must visit, not just to shop, but to also appreciate the arab's traditional building, architecture, surroundings and even food.

After the quick tour, we then head off home to freshen up and carry on with our next stop; The Pearl. Surprisingly, the pearl now has got more shop opened, and many street performances, including the scary guy with his flaming act. Takut terlepas, masuk lam kedai..hancus terbakar.. hehehehe. The luxurious Pearl is not just a place to shop, but also a good place to hang and stroll along. Ade ala-ala Mont Kiara kate Farah. Yang bestnye, you park your car at the designated area, then the tuk-tuk will pick you up and send you off to the shopping area. Yes, for free! Both Farah and Ekmal were so tak biase with the fact that most of the things in Doha doesn't cost a penny. No parking fee, free buggy ride, no VAT, etc2.... yela, kat London, almost everything cost money, so memang culture shock skit la for them (but in a good way) hehehe.

So that ends our first day of touring Doha. That nite all five of us pengsan tak ingat.. penat jugak jalan-jalan ni. ;)

Next day, Farah and Ekmal woke up a lil late, dah due malam tak tido, kesian. Bangun-bangun, Ekmal sempat lagi pegi Friday prayer. Aizal is at work, so we decided why not take them into 4ljaz33ra for a quick peek. Lucky them, the gate pass were approved, so they got in to see how the news work and all. After almost an hour, we then head off to singgah beli arabs chocolate dates nearby Markhia Roundabout. The shop has got many types of sweets made of variety types of nuts, chocolate and perhaps dates too. Yang bestnye boleh taste satu2, makan je sampai puas. You can choose to fit the sweets into all sort of container or box, memang sangat cantik for souvenirs. Harge pun tak mahal, berpatutan dengan bekas n sweets. Then it's time for them to go home. With a berat hati, we bids farewell..

Farah and Ekmal, thank you for visiting, I hope your life in Malaysia will turn out fine like your plan ;) Come back anytime!

Deserted camp

One of my must-do-thingy while living ere. Finally we manage to find a way to join a group of friends camping in the middle of the desert. The itinerary said meeting @6pm - Sealine. First thing first is to get the air out of the 4-wheels tyres as to get the just-nice-a-pressure to drive through the desert. It was our first time to off road wheeling deep into the desert. I was a bit nervous, dunno what to expect, and further more, it was already dark.. but I somehow convince my little heart to believe in my husband's driving skill.. There we go, a +- one hour of a slow and steady journey of a line of ten 4-wheelers, hardly no obvious bounce at all. Everybody was equipped with a set of walkie-talkie, we are number 3 on the line. Myra was a bit scared, tightly holding up my hand and kept quiet along the journey.. seeing many other 4wheelers pecutings to cut our snail-line.. must be arabs yang dah expert.. ;)

and Alhamdulillah, we manage to safely reach the camp site at 8-ish. A complete site, with seat-toilet, dapur serba lengkap, BBQ pit, table and few ready tent of the regulars. Huhu.. camping zaman moden~

The first thing we did was to set up our tent.. there we went, opening up our freshly-bought tent for the first time. Yeah... we only went for the camping-things-to-bring shop few hours before departure.. hehe. Ape yang unsangkerable was, our tent dah terlebih over dari orang lain! Canggih tak canggih, siap ade 2 separate 'room', that we then decided to convert one for walk-in-closet. AND a living room kat tengah-tengah.. hahaha.. kalau ade competition tent-paling-cantik memang kompem dah menang!

After we've settled with the tent, kaum-kaum ibu terus bergotong-royong masak dinner, feeding all the rumbling tummies. They've got BBQ, segala macam nasik and bihun gorengs, yeah.. macam biase.. melayu dan konsep hidup-untuk-makan.. hiks. After the burps, we then went for some fun games. The most memorable was the first game, which was a bit exotic.. acare makan epal berkapel. I held up the apple with my teeth while Mr.Ai eat-it-all-up, with Myra giggling for his every bites! Lawak.. tapi kami berjaye jugak menang tempat kedue.. hehe (sorry, no picture due to censorship). Tup tup, lebih kurang 12-ish jugak baru semua games habis.. pastu tidoooo. I was thinking the temperature would drop drastically that I couldn't sleep.. but I was wrong, or maybe the fact that I snugged into the cozy sleeping-bag helps to ignore the cold-breeze. Anyho.. I had a great and undisturbed sleep.. and so was Myra.

See the result.. pengsan tanpe kompromi!

Paginye.. i went out to see the beauty of the nearby sea,, tenang.. dah lame tak tengok nature at its best. ;) After the quick breakfast of kaya toast and teh tarik, they got some more acare sukaneka.. but mostly involves the kids. It was already boiling hot.. so I mostly settling in the tent, overlooking the ongoing games, until they call for the last game- Pak Andaman.. yup, I was the model, and Mr.Ai was the Pak Andam.. hancur muke ku.. ade sedikit berupe bapuk.. hahahaha, and as expected, memang tak menang.. (takpe sayang, this just mean you are a real man.. taktau make up make up ni ;P)

After lunch, we pack and get ready to leave. Little that I know, the journey home is far worst than coming. The location of the campsite is actually surrounded by water. Berpusing-pusing carik jalan keluar, avoiding the water, tapi tak berjaye-berjaye, sampai sangkut kat tanah lembut. Luckily the other 7 wheelers are expert in menarik kete-sangkut. So off we went again.. looking for the best possible way home, when we met with the police-truck yang selambe badak melintas air. With the police assurance, we then slowly make our way out of the 'island' through the cetek sea.

The excited Mr. Ai sudah naik syekh.. makin terer controlling the wheels doing some sand duning, nothing major.. main sikit-sikit je (as per Ifw4n). Huhu.. kecut jugak tau perut ni :P

Anyway, once we reach our previous meeting point (by the entrance of sealine beach), they start pumping in air again, as to allow our normal driving on the road. So that ends our 2 days 1 nite camping trip in the desert.. best! boleh buat lagi.. ;)

Our quad-end with the visitors

Rizal's family are here in Doha. As a man with lots of activities in mind, he organized some to include anybody else whose interested. So, along came us.. memeriahkan event-event for his family trip here.
First activity, is the BBQ by the beach, overlooking the road of Doha's skyscrappers. Yeah.. janganla ingat Doha takde modern buildings.. hehe ;)
The location is just nearby the Intercontinental hotel, yup, takde orang akan terpikir nak buat kat situ, melainkan Rizal.. rajin aje bab-bab pikir aktiviti baru ni. (and I thank him for that ;)

Anyway, it is not an unknown place to hang. When we came, there was already few other smaller groups of people hanging out; either BBQing or just lepaking. So memang dibenarkan.. ;)
Mule-mule sampai, angin was just sepoi-sepoi bahase, tapi makin lame, makin sejuk beku.. huhu global warming is getting more and more serious I guess. The weather is so tak stabil, by experiencing the winter this year alone, I could tell. Sekejap sejuk, then panas tak terkate, then you tot, oh.. what a short winter, so, simpan jela balik all the heaters & sweaters. Then unexpectedly, the cold-icy breeze came by.. Mannnn.. susah nak agak dah. The world is really nearing to its end. :X

Anyway, back to the topic..


So, then, we just lepak by the beach, watching the kids seronot2 baling2 batu masuk air, jerit-jerit lumbe lari dalam kegelapan.. then kejap-kejap lari carik mak bapak masing2, screaming for food.. lapar.. Then sambung balik aktiviti.. The parents lak, like always.. borak sambil makan.. hmmm.. there goes the 4kg that I've lost last month!!! Grrr..

The BBQ was potluck based, so everyone brought a lil something to be 'burn'.. and the best is the chai's cerek.. hehehe memang layan minum teh tarik tengah2 sejuk..Although at heart i'm a bit terkilan sebab Mr.Ai tak dapat join sebab on duty :(
It's ok, next time kite buat lagi k?



**All pictures courtesy of Kimie n Fairul's FB.. mekaseh aaa.. saye cilok ;P**

Then come Friday, we joined for a quadbike in the sand. It's our first time to drive that thing.. rupenye letih jugak bawak menatang tu.. Mr.Ai was the most excited, asek merempit naik turun bukit. As for me and Myra, we just take a more relaxing cruise around the desert. For the newbies like us, yang teringin nak rase merempit bendealah ni sambil sand duning.. come by the Inland Sea, you'll see along the road, banyak port2 quadbike for rent, price ranging from QR80-200. Have a go! ;)

Visit to Doha Zoo

It has been two days since our 'Moms&Kids' visit to Doha Zoo when Myra kept putting on her school bag and ask me 'Mommy, ankie! (Monkey!)', or 'Mommy nak wiwaf! (girrafe)', or 'Mommy nak Ephen! (Elephant)' or 'Mommy nakes (Snake)'; showing how eager and excited she is to go back to the Zoo and visit all of her favourite animals. Never tot a two years old could be so attach, so soon. ;)

I used to have a very low expectation of the Doha Zoo, having seen some picture from my friend's visit, last I could remember there were only farm animals there; like the ducks and the chicks.. and I was proved wrong. It was not that bad at all, they have almost all of those zoo-must-have animals; the lion, tiger, leopard, cheetah, ostrich, zebra, elephant, girrafe, monkey, snake, crocodile, raindeers and not forgetting their very own oryx (the mascot). The kids had so much fun, posing here and there, jumping with joy to see cute animals in person.

The Zoo also have a big playground area, (which you could easily escape if you don't feel like freeing your kids to join the other super-hyper kids on slides!). And, since it's school holidays, expect to see more groups of kids around, which could be pretty fragile to the smaller kids (like mine!) as the arab kids could be a bit rough sometime.

The zoo entrance fee is QR5 for adults and QR2 for kids, below 4 goes free. It is located not far from Hyatt Plaza and Villagio, a very convenient location for the after-zoo-visit trip. As you can then take the kids for their meals, and perhaps let them have fun in Jungle Zone or the new Villagio's theme park- complete with roller coaster and all. (Yess.. that's what we did! )

Oh well, I guess I hafta make more frequent visit to the Zoo, with Myra's cute begging and all.

Friday without a date

Actually we do have a date, but we missed it by 2 hours! haha.. I hope the host won't get mad. We were s'pose to go to a Kenduri Doa Selamat early this morning..(truly sorry guys!) semoga mereka2 yang bakal mengerjakan haji in these few days akan diberkati olehNYA dan dirahmatkan dengan haji Mabrur.. insyaallah.

But since we were up and dressed, we tot why not just swing to a nearby restaurant for a relaxing friday breakfast-out; where the road is still as smooth as a silk (ye ke valid such perumpamaan? hiks). Tot of going for a mamak breakfast, but some says all the good food must have gone by now, so we went to Johnny Rockets for an all american dish instead.

Makanan die, sedap hingge menjilat pinggan.. nice clean environment with lots of matsalleh, so memang ade rase cam kat New york sketla.. hehe. But what insterest us the most, is their own retro-style diner, and..

the friendly waitress

The typical (but totful) goodies for kidsAnd of course, the food (wait, did i mention it already?)

Menarikla untuk melepak2 bersame family or friends. So, there.. another place to add for an ideal weekend hangouts in Doha.