The Mulvaney Neighborhood

I thought that it would be fun to walk you around our neighborhood and show you where everything is! Before I start, yes it is still hot 39C today and no, it hasn't rained yet, infact I am starting to forget what clouds look like.

Anyway, when you step outside our villa there is a small courtyard. Breana would like to plant a tree or two, maybe some flowers
The maid's quarters are beyond the jeep.
Looking back,there's the front entrance and my lovely wife keeping everything spic and span.
Through the not so golden arch ...
I think our place is nicer but you know 90% of all the places in Doha look like this, very boxlike with flat roofs.
Now we look right down the street...
and then left..
Our street has no name, infact we don't really have an address. When asked, the address we give is the school address. If there is a delivery our answer is... "Big Orange Villa # 9 behind the Al-Waab petrol station."
So if we head to the left and we walk to those trees in the distance you will see...
The Al-Waab Petrol Station complete with gas, market, cafeteria, pharmacy, Turkish Barber and car wash. It costs me about 18 $ to fill the jeep and 8$ for a haircut.... not bad.
Turkish barber aka The Istanbul Saloon.

The carwash is actually a jackwash meaning they jack your vehicle up and wash the underneath, which is a must after a day of "Duning". They will also detail the interior at the same time... total cost 50 QR or $ 16.50 again ... not bad.

Down the road a bit is another stripmall with our favorite take out ....
The Al-Ennabi makes humus, baba gnoush, kabobs and shwarmas (yummy chicken wrap - like a donair). There is a juice stall that makes awesome juice mixes, our favorite is avocado and strawberry, delicious! Its better than a milkshake. They don't drink alcohol here but they are very creative with what they do drink.

Back to our place... If you turn right

then walk towards the fence in the distance you will see some nice villas to your right

If you walk another 100 m you come to the Al-Saad sports complex

the soccer taining field,

The pool
And the stadium

Inside the stadium..
Just around the corner from the stadium is our local mosque
There is very limited parking and people worship every day, so if you drive by at dusk there are cars parked on the dividing line in the middle of the street, every day.

Trip to the Inland Sea

Welcome to the Inland Sea.

Well believe it or not we are now on vacation for a week! Geez, those teachers eh! We used our first day to explore southern Qatar and the inland sea, which looks more like a big salty lake.
We left Doha at 2pm and headed south (click for map), 20 SUVs in a convoy.
Once we arrived at the end of the road we had to deflate our tires to 18 psi inorder to drive in the sand. The flat tires get better traction and tend not to sink in the soft sand.
"I think it's flat enough!

Our first camel sighting! In Umm Said

And there off! All tires properly flattened, we leave the highway.


There are no landmarks on this road, thank Allah for GPS.

You know how they say " half the fun is getting there! Well this time it was true! The off road was a combination of hard pack, highway texture road mixed with "bone jarring" broken pavement, licks of sanspits and then the occasional sand dune to climb. The sand dune ascents were a hoot, you 50m between one vehicle and the next, just in case the guy ahead gets stuck, which many did!


The beauty of where we ended up is not really captured in these pictures unfortunately. The vistas were absolutely panoramic, with terrain that I had never seen before, first hand.


We settled in and swam, with lots of horseshoe crabs crawling over toes and thousands of other creatures that we wouldn't notice until later. We started our BBQ, I bought a little hibachi style grill and fired up some briquettes ( first time in 30 years). While the coals were getting ready we failed to notice the rising tide. By the time the hot dogs were on the grill the first streamers of sea water began to infiltrate our tail gate picnic. We ended up marching the BBQ to higher ground and relocating the jeep. Within ten minutes we had to move again. It didn't help that the sun had set, which made it hard to judge where the water was.... it was fun.
Rolling down the dunes..

Once the sun had truly set we were treated to an incredible star display. The Milky way was beautiful as were the shooting stars we saw. It was another magical evening!That is Saudi across the water.

This is obviously not my photo, but after sunset if you walked through the water it would light up with what looked like little fire flies. If you swished the water with your hands hundreds of little flecks of light would dance around your hands... It was incredibly cool. They are little one celled creatures called dinoflagellates.


The drive home was challenging. There was no moon, no lights of any kind. You just crossed your fingers that the guy leading the convoy knew where he was going. Going over and around dunes in the dark was ..... a thrill. It really felt good to get home, next time we camp!

A day at the beach

We went to a little spot called Faurwit Beach(click to see), about 80km north of Doha. We went with two other families from the school. The water was clear and very salty. Water temperature was slightly above body temperature. I snorkeled and burnt my back nicely. Breana and Conor were happy because they were able to use their skim boards. Beatys have the young kids and they live next door to us. David is head of Tech at the school His wife Libby has been great, she has dropped off many baked goods our way. DK is the guy with the beard, he teaches computers at the school. His wife works in the library. here are some photos (double click on the photo to blow them up)

The drive took an hour. The road was good, but there is construction every where, half built overpasses, mounds of dirt and rock as far as the eye can see. You really get the sense around here that the country is booming, I was thinking to myself that this is what North America must have been like just after the second world war or maybe Dubai 20 years ago. There's a running joke that the construction crane is Qatar's national bird, because they are everywhere...

Cool building eh? That is real! I'm pretty sure they did it on purpose.

Meanwhile, back at the beach, we were getting to leave we notice our AC was not blowing in the front of the vehicle. It was blowing fine in the back. Fortunately it kicked in. The idea of driving back with the windows down and 42C was less than appealing. It was kind of scary in this heat