We’re only a few days away from our trip to Sri Lanka (26 November to 4 December) & the weather in Qatar is mild & very pleasant (around 25 C during the day). Two events stand out during the past ten days (apart from Roger’s trip to London to chair a big Amnesty meeting).

The first was the England-Brazil “friendly” match (since both teams have qualified for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa) on Saturday (14 November). It turned out to be rather lack-lustre game, partly because most of the good England players were injured (or just not there). The remaining star player was Wayne Rooney who captained England. Brazil deserved the 1-0 win & it was fun to see players like Kaka & Fabiano. The game was largely an expensive show-piece for Qatar & a chance to show that this country will be capable of hosting the 2022 World Cup. If money & geo-political issues have anything to do with it (the World Cup has yet to be played in the Middle East), then Qatar stands a good chance.

The Khalifa Stadium is a wonderful venue & comfortably holds 60,000 spectators. With balloons, light sticks (which rained down on the perimeter before the game started), & an excited crowd, it was quite an occasion. There were even many attempts at the Mexican Wave which came crashing to a halt when it reached the VIP section. The white-thobed dignitaries stolidly remained sitting in their gilt armchairs, drawing hoots of derision from the rest of the stadium. After that, the Wave took on a new socio-cultural tone verging on revolution.

A week later, we had a chance to join a small group of Grade 12 students from Pat’s school on a visit to the Emir’s stables (now part of the Qatar Foundation). Known as “Al Shaqab”, it is one of the world’s leading stud farms for Arabian horses (in particular “Straight Egyptians”) & a wonderful facility which maintains purebreds in superb condition. It is also an educational facility & riding academy. There have been many world champions among the several hundred horses, including Marwan Al Shaqab which was world champion in 2001, 202, & 2008. This horse is a national hero. It even has its own site on Facebook! Check out the website: http://www.alshaqab.com & Youtube for some film of these elegant horses with their fine facial structure & long, almost swan-like necks. The lineage can be traced back over 3,000 years & there is great pride in the Gulf States for these horses that were part of the Bedouin way of life.

Amnesty International - Demand Dignity

Birding highlight

Just want to share my sighting (Tuesday, 3 November, at 07h.35) of several Cream-coloured Coursers (Cursorius cursor). This has been one of my "target" birds since arriving in Qatar. It is a semi-desert bird & migrates down this way from Iran, Iraq, Syria, & Jordan. It also happens to grace the front cover of my well-thumbed "Birds of the Middle East" & has eluded me for for the past 14 months.

More adventures

Last week (27 October), we took the one-hour flight ($130 return with FlyDubai) to Dubai where Pat & friend Betty were attending a Learning Disability Conference. Dubai used to be something of a role model for Doha & its buildings & society are a foretaste of what Qatar may look like in a few years time.
The global recession has badly hurt Dubai & most construction has slowed down or halted altogether. Property prices have plummeted & the future remains uncertain. Were it not for the continuing wealth of Abu Dhabi (which supplies 90% of the oil revenue), the United Arab Emirates & Dubai in particular would be in a very sorry state.

Meanwhile the Dubai metro has recently opened (September 2009) & the world’s tallest building (Burj Dubai) at 818 metres (compare the CN Tower at 553 m.) has just been completed.

The metro is a driverless system running at an average speed of over 40 km an hour. There will be 29 stations eventually but several are still under construction. Although there is a “Gold Class Cabin” (with “wide leather seats, exclusive lighting & design, & a panoramic view from the front of the train”) & a “Women & Children Cabin”, the metro is proving to be something of a class leveler, with Emirati in thobes or abayas rubbing shoulders with workers & ex-pats alike. It is cheap (less than $2 & as little as 60 cents) & extremely comfortable.

We travelled by metro on Wednesday evening to the Dubai Mall to eat (Italian) & watch the astonishing fountains & music display. It was quite breath-taking & certainly a sight not to be missed. Here is a short sample:

Roger managed a morning of birding with a local birder & drove out of Dubai through Al-Ain (near the Oman border) to Green Mubazzarah Park (near Jebel Hafeet).
It was a great opportunity to find some birds that never show up in Qatar & also to take a trip into the nearby dunes, looking for (& finding) the Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse. Just one of fifteen species to add to his “life list”.

On our second day, Pat found time to go skiing. The ski “resort”, inside the Mall of the Emirates, has real snow, manufactured each night & groomed every morning. Coats & skis are included in the two-hour package (about $40) & it was another memorable moment in this desert utopia.

We flew back to Doha on Thursday night, just in time to see three movies at the first Doha Tribeca International Film Festival on Friday. The festival was created by Robert De Niro & is intended to make Qatar the film capital of the Arabian Gulf (if not the Middle East). Each film was only $3 & we managed to survive until the evening but gave up on the fourth which didn’t start until 11h.15. The films we saw: “Road, Movie” (very good Indian film by director Dev Benegal who was in attendance), “London River” (outstanding movie brilliantly acted by Brenda Blethyn & Sotigui Kouyaté) & “The Greatest” (slightly unconvincing movie with Pierce Brosnan & Susan Sarandon).

We would have gone to more movies but Saturday was semi-final day of the Sony-Ericsson Women’s Tennis tournament, with Venus Williams playing (& beating) Jelena Jankovic & Serena Williams playing Caroline Wozniacki (who retired hurt). Some good tennis & a relaxing day at the end of a hectic week.