Life on the Spot! Life and Leisure in Doha, Qatar

Yesterday, Saturday we got to spend the whole day with a visitor from the Philippines.  My Tita Perky arrived here in Doha Friday night.  She is here actually on a business trip along with her colleagues from Trumpets to bring “The Little Mermaid” play as one of the highlights of the Qatar Cultural Festival.  But since work hasn’t begun for them until 12 midnight, we took the chance to spend a day with her.  We were with her from 10 am until 6 pm.

Right after mass, we fetched her at Marriott Hotel where they checked in.  Her friends and colleagues were also going out for a stroll around the city but gladly, she joined us instead.

First we had to bring her to our flat.  We wanted her to see our crib even if it was a bit of a mess.  Then we took her to Mergab or Prince Nasser for a tasty, Middle Eastern treat at Turkey Central where we had mixed grill of lamb kebabs, shish tawooq and kofta; grilled chicken; humus; and their very own flat bread.  Tita Perky was telling us that she was already happy having eaten the humus.  She was happy that she got to taste authentic food from the Middle East.  Of course we left the place with a full belly.

Then we took her to Villagio Mall since she needed a belt.  She forgot to bring hers in her hurry to leave for the airport.  She was saying that Qatar didn’t have a lot of tall buildings so what better way to show her that there are high rising edifices in Doha than taking her to the West Bay Area, the Business Center of Qatar.  Surely, she was amused by the different designs of buildings that are being built there, left and right.  But she was more amused that a lot of buildings have the Middle Eastern culture incorporated in their very design and structure.

We had to drop by the Sheraton Hotel to see whether they already have the tickets for The Little Mermaid play.  Luckily they already did, so we got 3 tickets for us.  From Sheraton we passed by Corniche, Qatar’s version of Manila Bay.

Our final stop was the Souq.  We took her to the Filipino stores which she understandably is not interested in.  We showed her where to buy perfumes and got one for herself.  I was actually telling her that there is a store that sells perfumes for lower prices but she insisted that she’s happy with the price since it was much cheaper than the prices of perfumes in the Manila.  From the Souq Asiri, we took her to the Souq Waqif.  For us, the Souq Waqif is one of the best places to see here in Doha.  We’ve always loved it even if we don’t get to visit it as often as we’d like too.  True enough, Tita Perky loved the place.  She loved the feel of old Qatar, it was rustic and she compares it to the Intramuros or "Walled City”, a historical place and now one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Philippines.

We strolled at Souq Waqif and took photos.  We bought some nuts and sweets and spent sometime in one of the cafes where the 3 of us had coffee and shisha.  Tian suggested that she tries the Turkish coffee.  She had a sip, and then ordered iced tea afterwards.  I guess drinking the Turkish coffee is an acquired taste.  We had the apple and grape flavours for the shisha.  It was fun trying that.  While Xiane enjoyed the pizza all to herself, she kept asking “are you guys smoking?”  We told her it wasn’t exactly smoking.  We had such great fun during our stay there.  Unfortunately it was time to bring her back to the hotel as she still needed some sleep and we had to go home since today is the start of another week.

It is really great to have friends and relatives visit us here in Qatar.  It is always so nice to show hospitality to visitors, to give them a taste and glimpse of how life is here in Doha.  It was a great to spend time with Tita Perky again.  The last time we did, we were still both in college, Christian was just trying to woo me.  But now we already have a daughter who’s bonding with her and entertaining her with all her stories and games.  We hope that Tita Perky will enjoy the rest of her stay and that it will be a memorable one.