pictures in august

It will be difficult at times to get pictures in Qatar. Technically it is illegal for people to take pictures of government buildings and some of the locals don't appreciate it if you take pictures of them (it can be a religious thing). But, we've been out and about, so here are some pictures. Alanna took most of the them out the window of at bus a high speed, so the quality of some might not be that good.


Here is a picture of what is technically the Emir's (King) house. It's now being used as the parliament building.




Here's a picture of the compound we live in as taken from Alanna's upstairs bedroom window.



Qatar is a massive construction site. Not far from our compound, I counted 17 high rise cranes in one small area. Here's a picture of one site, doesn't really do it justice 'cause you can't really see the cranes. Otherwise, it's just a neat picture of downtown.



One Saturday morning we set out early to go shopping. The past two weeks, the college has been providing a bus to go shopping, but it's gone to the same mall - The City Center Mall. We wanted a change, so we asked a driver to take us to the Villagio - a new mall that it's supposedly out of this world (it's got a river with a gondola ride down the middle). English was not his strongest gift - he asked you want to go the Villagio - the mall right? Well, he took us to the mall, which is called "The Mall" which was very small. However, lo and behold, there was a paint-your-own ceramics studio in it. So here is picture of the mug I made.

Qatar is a city of extremes - how about KFC





or - how about buying a camel for supper? you can pick your camel at the animal souq (market)and bring it next door to be slaughtered.




you can stay in the sheraton -





or, a traditional dhow (fishing boat) that has been redone as a boat you can rent and sleep overnight in





or our humble house!





ttfn