Desert bashing

We on Saturday Phil and I went on a day of geocaching. We took off at about 10:00 and went toward Dukcan. We went via a couple of easy caches. (The green and black line). Then we finally got to Dukcan (the other side of Qatar) at about 12:00. The only thing there was the golden arches. After a quick munch we headed off to the 3 main caches.(Between the blue dots) The off road ones, we headed off straight away. There was a one lane road with heaps of trucks going down it. So we went down the wrong way and just headed in the direction. Once the road ended we still had 14 km to go to the closest cache. So we just followed some tracks in the right direction. We were only traveling at about 25km/h because of the ruff terrain. It took a long time to get there, but we got there in the end. On the way we noticed that there all these random houses that the Qatari's lived in. We found the fist and where going well. Then when we went the next cache there was a tour group of 6 Nisan patrols. How random. We then did the last of the 3 and started out drive home only to be overtaken by a Qatari flying his land cruiser. Then after following his track for about 5 km he stopped and asked if we wanted to come and have some tea and see his camels. We had to decline his invitation as the sun was going to go down in under half an hour and we had no clue how long we were away from the road. We wished that we had taken it because that was the only time that a Qatari had ever done that for Phil and he has lived in Qatar for 4 years. We made out way back in the end and got there with 5 mins to spare. It was a great adventure.

Interesting road sign

We saw this sign just the other day and thought that it was rather funny. It is true that people do it. In quads and motorbikes. They don't get to do it for long but until the next set of lights in most cases.

Day Trip

In the weekend we went on another day trip within Qatar. It started by Mark buying the "necessary" items such as a GPS holder, Tyre Gauge and rope. We then met up with friends/neighbours and headed of down South.

The first stop we made was at the Quad bikes. We all hired bikes and went duning which was awesome! There were some funny instances where people got stuck in the sand and the men loved the chance to be the heroes and rescue the "damsels in distress", thankfully i was not one of those damsels! I managed to keep my bike running although had one close call which saw the bike struggle to get up one of the hills. Mark of course was the most daring, trying all the steepest drops and hills. We had races and had heaps of fun in the sun!

After half an hour of that (which was plenty of time) and with backsides soaking with sweat we headed off to the beach further south. We swam in ocean which was beautiful and the temperature was just right. Unfortunately i got stung by something which then proceeded to sting the whole day but it was enjoyable nevertheless.

The Ossmans provided a scrumptious lunch of hamburgers and corn chips which we all scoffed down before having another swim and heading home. Mark and I finished our day out with dinner at a friends house where we met some new people and had more great food!

Sea Line

Mark vs the dunes

Mark at play.

Dune biking

Geocahing and camel watching

Well today I went out geocaching as you would imagine. While caching I saw a my first lot of camels in the wild and not on the back of a trailer. There was also this really interesting man watching over them. Phil (my boss from school, fellow cacher) and I named this interesting man Charlie the camel man. He saw us and ran up to the car and was saying in arabic tip? How weird is that. He didn't do anything? So i gave him 2 rials to make him leave us alone. On the way back to Doha we were thinking and driving across the off road about him. We think that he probably never sees people so he was amazed to see some crazy non arabs out here. It was a good day though we found 5 nice caches.

Muskat and Eid

Well we have just returned from our first holiday where we spent just under a week in Oman.

It started off by a surprise day off as a man somewhere spotted the moon which meant that Eid started early. Yay an extra day off school! We got rung Monday night and had Tuesday to relax and unwind before heading to Oman on Wednesday.

We flew to Oman on Wednesday night and got a rental car and drove to our hotel, Crowne Plaza, Muscat. We were so excited to see mountains, it was pretty funny, i didnt realise how much i missed them until we saw them in Muscat. It was night when we arrived so we couldnt see much apart from shapes and lights. We did see the Grand Mosque all lit up and it was beautiful. The Crowne Plaza was very nice and our room overlooked the sea. You will be able to see pictures on my facebook or here.

The next day we decided to go and see things around Muscat so along with Rich and Stace (friends/neighbours/colleagues that came with us) we headed to the Muscat souqs. They were really similar to DOha so not as excited as we had anticipated but all good. Mark brought a framed picture of a sword and lamp that are everywhere in Muscat. I bought a funny picture of a camel which i will frame and put up, it makes me laugh. We then saw the Sultan's palace and Old Muscat which is the original town. It was a very scenic drive and the mountains were massive but not green! That day ended with a lounge around the hotel pool and an amazing seafood buffet dinner!

The next day we decided to spend the day at the hotel, making use of the facilities. We lounged around the pool, swam in the Arabian Gulf which was way to warm, and I even had a mud wrap which was a very interesting experience, one i am not sure i will do again in a hurry! Girls if you would like more details then let me know...... That night we went out to an Indian restaurant with live music which was Indian style. The food was amazing and the music was good too.

Day three saw us take a road trip to a town called Nizwa. It was about an hour and a half away. There we again visited the souq and i brought a Omani silver ring with a Yemeni stone in it (Oman is known for its silver and apparently you shouldn't go home with out it, so how could i resist!) We saw a goat market and other things in the souq, including pottery and frankincense! Oman is known for those also but we resisted taking any of that home to Doha. On the way home we had an ice-cream and saw camels in the back of trucks! Super exciting! That night we had Italian at one of the restaurants at the hotel, it was amazing, much better even than La Porchetta!

On the last day we decided to laze around the hotel again. I bought three paintings that were arab words in calligraphy, faith, hope, love (the words i have tatood on my wrist so that was exciting, i will frame and hang them somewhere too). The pool was beautiful and i even hit the fitness centre! We flew out that night and arrived back in Doha at midnight, ready for school that day!

The trip overall was amazing and it was so good to go toa different country and experience a different culture, it was a little different to Doha. In general the people were a little friendlier and their dress was cool, less formal. They wore a little hat instead of scarf. Also the weather was a tiny bit cooler which made a big difference.

Our first camel and Jen's new ring

Mark off caching

The grand Mosque

Oman here we come