Doha Skyscrapers

The 300m Aspire Tower, built for the Asian games in 2006. Very close to where we live, its the landmark that we use when we get lost in Doha, you can see it from just about anywhere in town.

Doha has a beautiful skyline and once everything is finally complete and all the cranes have been dismantled it will look even more impressive. Over the course of a few weeks I have gone downtown and taken pictures of some of the more impressive structures and then done my best to find their names. Most are office buildings housing a variety of companies and government ministries..

I guess when we first arrived and I we took our first walk downtown I was stunned at how new all the architecture was and the cutting edge of the design. When we left for Qatar I was expecting there would be office buildings of course, but not like this. It is fascinating to strole downtown and study the various buildings. The only critism would be that its getting cluttered and sometimes its hard to see the individual beauty of each building.

The Tornado Tower (2008) has 52 floors and 200m.
Also known as the QIPCO Tower

Al Bidda tower 43 floors and 215 m
is wider at the top than at he base and appears to twist as you move your eyes upwards

The Woqood Tower (2011) 30 floors

Salam Tower (2010) 19 floors

Al Jazi tower 18 floors

Al Noor Tower above and below, 24 floors

The tower on the right that looks like a giant, a giant, gimmee a second, it will come to me, oh yeah, narwal! The Burj Tower is 44 floors or 232 m

The Golden Bay Tower (2010) 72 m and 16 floors

the twin towers are called the Palm Towers (2010)
57 floors or 246m

The Navigation Tower(2008) is 50 floors high and 220 m

I don't know which view I enjoy more, profile above or straight on below.

The Waqf Tower (2002) Home of the Ministry of the Environment, 22 floors

Al Alawi tower - Qatar Financial center 20 floors

Al Fardan Tower

Al Dana or Rasgas Tower has 20 floors and has a very unique and beautiful design, gorgeous at night

The Dolphin Energy tower(2006) 22 floors

nice view

The front of the ??? building, couldnt find the name but I liked the fact that you can see through it.

and the back

I believe these buildings belong to the ministry of tourism, these seem to defy the laws of physics.

The Barzan tower ( 2000) 22 floors. The structure at the base is not a seperate building but part of the facade of the tower. A cool optical illusion
The following pictures were taken by a colleague of mine Tim Dorn. They capture the beauty of Doha from the water. Gorgeous shots!
A very futuristic look, like you stepped into a Flash Gordon movie and then a dhow (boat) reminds you exactly of where you are.

Doha Musings - Growing stuff

Here are a collection of thoughts and refelctions of late in Doha ...

In Qatar in November and December comes the irrestible urge to .... plant stuff!! The heat has boken and you can put around the courtyard and not pass out from heat exhuastion. The temperature is a perfect 25 C, and everything is in bloom. When everyone back home is batting down the hatches in preparation for winter blizzards, our windows are opening, we are turning off the AC and finally moving outside. Our spring planting happens now...
When we arrived here, a year and a half ago ( hard to believe ), our little condo was collection of concrete and brick. But its amazing what a little potting soil, a little water and constant sunlight can accomplish...

Our courtyard looked like this last year
Conor tearing up rocks to plant trees
Breana and Lenore getting their hands dirty!
There's one ....
And this is what it looks like now!
My favorite plant is the Bouganvillea. It's indigenous to Brazil but grows well in all warm climates. They are a woody vine that has hooked thorns and so they grab onto anything, great climbers! They bloom like crazy and come in a varieyty of colors. The plant is named after a famous French Explorer named Louis-Antoine, Comte de Bougainville, who circumnavigated the globe in 1766.
More of them..

Our front entrance before
and now
Every weekend it seems we pick up a new plant or some gardenning paraphenalia. It starts feeling more and more like a home.

And outside our gate ....
Before
After
In the back we have "the temple flower" tree or plumeria or frangipani
Conor is planting the tree in the back, to give us something to look at and smell while we do the dishes.
The blossoms are a beautiful white and are quite fragrant.

You're in a desert and the dust and the constant heat can get to you but being able to make things grow. Taking a blank slate and splashing it with color makes it bearable.

Today December 18th is national day! Qatar's day of Independence... And as with last year, a day off work was granted the week before by our Emir. We had been waiting for the announcement of when the day off would fall as it impacts our school with end of term exams. Would it be Thursday December 16th? or Sunday December 19th? We waited with baited breath to find out... On the wednesday it was finally leaked that the holiday was definetly not Thursday..The student body collectively groaned. It would be Sunday, which is during our Christmas and therefore of no use..:( Poor kids ... a couple of chagrined teachers I might add.

For the last week the Qatari Air Force has been conducting exercises over the city.... I presume in order to show the populace the might of its French Dassault Mirage 2000-5DAs fighter jets ...
The planes make a phenomenal amount of noise as they fly around in formation above our school. Pretty cool to watch, but you always have that niggling feeling that there's always the chance of an error and one of those planes might land a little prematurely :(



The article below appeared in the Qatari news recently ... A big sting opperation shut down the creation of some dangerous contraband...

Arrests for ‘offensive’ cakes sale

The Preventive Security Department at the Ministry of Interior has arrested a number of persons of different nationalities for making cakes of “offensive and abrasive models” and selling them in one of the restaurants in Doha.
A spokesman for the ministry said the culprits were arrested on a tip-off. “The information from a source was passed on to the Preventive Security Department. Search and surveillance proved the information to be correct and the permission of the Public Prosecution was sought to conduct a raid at the site.
“A sting operation was carried out to trap the suspects,” the official said. “The Public Prosecution has ordered to detain them and to file a case and to refer them to the concerned court.”
The official said the operation was held as part of the efforts of the security agencies under the Ministry of Interior to maintain the safety and security of the community and to respect its values, characters and public norms.

Well there it is ... everyone can sleep soundly tonight

We took a big leap this year and put Christmas lights out to decorate our entrance from the street. We are the only family to take the adventurous leap... I feel like the Griswolds!

If you look real hard you can see my lights above the garage door ... they're the only ones in the neighboorhood.. And by the by, Lenore did a heck of a job on the christmas tree...

Happy Holidays !