Day 232 – Doha
Desert Adventures
Today we drove 100km south of Doha towards the Inland Sea Beach, which is a popular destination for tourists and locals alike. As we left the city, we could see the landscape changing, with sand replacing buildings the further we drove.
We stopped to go on a short camel ride. When I mean short, it was less than 100 meters return. The ride only cost us 20 QAR / $7.84 AUD per person. If we paid more, we could go for longer and further. The ride was fun, especially the camel standing up and coming back down, but you do feel sorry for the camels.
We then continued to Mesaieed Beach. This is a beach very popular with locals and is a nice place to chill and take a dip. There are many resorts popping up in the area, which are closing off sections of the beach. The days may be limited for free access to this popular beach.
And then, we made the most of our Toyota Landcruiser’s 4×4 capability as we left the road and ventured into the sand in the general direction of the Inland Sea. This was my first real experience driving off road, and it was fun. There is basically no road, but a lot of traffic goes to the Inland Sea, so you can follow the tracks.
We stopped a little way in, to let the air out of the tires, so we would have better traction. Its really easy to lose your sense of direction in the desert, so we had to open up Google Maps (luckily I had downloaded an offline map of Qatar) and use it to guide us towards the Inland Sea Beach. It was a nice beach, with plenty of room to do your own thing. A few people were snorkelling or just having BBQs. You can actually faintly see Saudi Arabia from the beach.
We just had some lunch (which we had purchased from Doha) and then left. The entire drive from Doha took around 2 hours to arrive at the Beach. There are plenty of shops, back on the main road that refill tyres with air.
Once back in Doha we decided to head to the Souq Waqif Market. This is an ancient market that sells pets, food, souvenirs and clothing. It has a very unique vibe, probably as this was my first Arabian market. It was also very busy, which added to the cool atmosphere. After buying some small souvenirs we tried various local foods and drinks. When we were leaving there was a local band playing traditional music.
Qatar Islamic Centre at night time
After the market, we headed back to the apartment and got ready, as we had been invited to a dinner at the family friend’s friends place. It was very cool to meet new people and enjoy our time at a normal friendly gathering, which we don’t normally find in during our travels.