Sealine Resort

Unable to escape, because we still do not have exit visas, we spent the Eid holiday in Qatar & began to find our way around & get to know the place better. Our exit visas will only come when we have our residency permits. The residency permits depend on completion of medical examinations & tests. The medical tests are not available during Ramadan & Eid. So … we may get our visas in November. The other consequence of all this is that we cannot obtain our permit to buy alcohol (which depends on having residency status). We have been told we will eventually be able to buy a “family” permit (about $300, refundable) but it really depends on Pat as the salary earner. Every purchase of alcohol is logged on a government computer & nobody is allowed to spend more than 10% of their salary in any one year. Meanwhile, we have almost lost our taste for beer & wine.

We decided to treat ourselves to two days at the Sealine Resort about one hour south of Doha (http://www.qnhc.com/sealine.html).

Because we went before the end of Ramadan we were able to get a very good rate (350 Rihals or around $100 per night). Two days later the price had gone up to 1600 Rihals a night. Never worth it! We did have two great days, partly because we were just about the only ones staying there. A few others (mostly ex-pat teachers without exit visas) drove down for the day. Because it was still Ramadan, we had to eat in an inside room surrounded by curtains (so as not to offend the Muslims). The sea was unpleasantly warm & the odd small jellyfish was an added deterrent. The resort pool was fine & we spent a lot of time just lounging, swimming, & generally having a relaxing holiday. We did drive out to the sand dunes & did a little walking but were happy to be back in our air-conditioned car. During holidays (particularly Fridays), young Qataris come out to the dunes with their SUVs & drive crazily everywhere, challenging each other to “chicken & rooster”. Inevitably, there are some horrendous crashes & occasional deaths. Check out “YouTube” for “dunes, Qatar, crashes” & you’ll get a feeling for it. Luckily, our visit was during the quiet season.

To reach Sealine, we had to drive through the industrial area called Mesaaieed. This is a huge industrial area with oil, gas, chemicals, cement factories, & many, many trucks. Such is the price of the wealth of Qatar.