Man With Camel

Aside from enjoying the pool, and the summery weather, we didn’t do much during our layover in Qatar.  This was mainly for two reasons.  One, it’s Ramadan; Muslims fast during the day for a month.  Not an ideal time to be a western tourist.  It is illegal to eat or drink during the day in public—including water.  If you go for a long walk, and get dehydrated, too bad.  And second, it’s really hot; it’s the desert.  So if you go for a long walk, you will get dehydrated.  But if you’re not a Muslim you can eat in western hotels, in designated areas that remain open during limited daytime hours.  So during the day it was better to be in the vicinity of the hotel where we could steal away and, in private, drink water.  Can you believe I’m writing that?  And yet…

One evening we went to Souq Waqif, a traditional Arab souq (market) still thriving amongst all the modernity of the metropolis.  It was pretty nice to have dinner (Muslims break the Ramadan fast at dusk) outdoors in 24 degree weather with a light breeze.  And the city, population 2.4 mil, is deadsville during the day in Ramadan; then, magically, like a hip nightclub, it’s abuzz at dusk.  Except unfortunately for the man with a camel.  Kids were more interested in their devices than his camel rides.

Ramadan fun fact: They publish the “minute” it’s dusk day by day for the month; the minute at which time restaurants can open and start serving iftar, what they call the meal after sunset.  While we are here, dusk is 5:47 PM. At 5:50 there were a lot of people eating!

We wandered into a series of shops selling local art.  The art was what it was, but the lighting was fascinating.