Long Weekend in Qatar

Last weekend was the end of Ramadan which is celebrated with Eid ul-Fitr, an occasion with important religious significance, celebrating the achievement of enhanced piety. It is a day of forgiveness, moral victory, peace of congregation, fellowship, brotherhood and unity.

It is also a long weekend. David had three days off work and we decided to stay in Qatar for the weekend, as it is getting cooler there is now opportunity to get out and about.

At the start of the weekend, David and Johnathan went on a trip across the desert to the Inland Sea which is in southern Qatar and forms part of the border with Saudi Arabia. The girls stayed at home as we were not sure if it might be a bit rough for Susannah with the 4WD-ing over the dunes. In hindsight, it would have been ok. Johnathan was not actually impressed by the 4WD-ing but his dad had a lot of fun. A few hours were spent at the beach (which we called Johnathan's beach), the water was crystal clear and the temperature perfect. There was virtually no-one else about so it was also very peaceful. The return journey home took a bit longer than anticipated as a couple of people needed help to get there cars unstuck so we took in a desert sunset and also got to see all the locals come out to play in the desert after their Eid celebrations. Crazy 4WD-ing, quad biking, and motorcross riding with no apparent regard for their own safety or that of others. We are told that people are regularly carted out of the desert in an ambulance!

Then at the end of the long weekend we went on a camping trip, this time with the whole family. We went to Zekreet, a small peninsula on the west coast of Qatar (only 1.5 hours drive from Doha). It was a very quiet spot with no-one else around apart from the seven other families we were camping with! There were lots of kids and lots of fun around the camp fire. Johnathan and Susannah had a ball and slept really well. Their mum and dad did not sleep so well but still enjoyed the trip - we are all looking forward to more camping trips in the future.