Gabungan tradisional dan moden di Souq Waqif

Souq Waqif (سوق واقف) is literally translated to "the standing market", a very popular place among locals and expatriates. This place dates back at least a hundred years and has been recently restored back to its original glory. As for me, it's kind of a unique 'souq' (market) as we can see a mix of traditional and modern character in it. We love to go there, sometimes just for dining. We enjoy strolling along the shops and dining in an open air during winter when the weather is cooler. There are dozens of good restaurants serving cuisines from all over the world and it is also famous for shisha lounges.

In Souq Waqif, we can find almost everything from clothes, handicraft items, spices, pets, jewellery, perfumes and souvenirs.  There are also shops selling 'ihram' clothing and other  essential materials for those who wish to perform Hajj / umrah. We like to buy dried nuts (I mean pistachios, almond, walnuts, etc). There's also a money changer which offer reasonable rates for those who'd like to exchange the currencies.

During holiday seasons, it sometimes hosts mini concerts and also some other art events at night. It's indeed very cheerful and lively nights. It's a 'must-visit' place for tourist while in Doha!! I'll definitely take my family and friends to Souq Waqif when they come to Doha :)

Let's scroll some of the pics taken in Souq Waqif...

a shop selling shisha pipes

@one of the pet shops

along the handicraft shops

Restaurants 

Yummy Haagen Dazs is here too!

Malaysian cuisine - famous nasi lemak, nasi goreng and satay 

rows of clothes shops

Officers on horses

Street show - Avatar theme

one of the art shows 

art show @ night

shop selling traditional rugs

Menyelusuri seni Islam silam

Going to museum? Yawn! Well, it might be boring to some people but not us, I mean me. When we were about to leave the house to the Museum of Islamic Art, my son asked me: "Why museum??" Sigh.

When I entered the building, my first impression was Wow! 

I love its masterpiece architectural and peaceful ambiance. 

~Among the displayed items~

This pen box from Spain was beautifully crafted from Ivory and brass, dated 1003-1004 AD.

 i.e. more than 1000 years ago and it's still in an excellent condition!!

Impressive!

These are quadrants from 13-14th Century.

Compass and ruler from 19th century

Gold coins of no particular order:

Muayyad dinar, Tremissis (third dinar), Abbasid dinar, Fatimid dinar and Ottoman findiq.

It was ancient ago!!

Hunting horn from Italy dated 11-12th century.

Ramayana text from India since 16th century.

Steel armour for the rider and horse from Turkey dated late 15 century.

And actually lots more of magnificent artworks collection from the different regions of the world (Turkey, North Africa, Middle east, Iran, Iraq, Europe, Far east, China, India, etc.) dating as early as 7th century. The (studied) physical evidence somehow provides useful information to the modern generation of the early Islamic civilisation, the Islamic world history, their inventions, technology, the diversify culture and creativity. 

For more information, please visit this website:

http://www.mia.org.qa

Singing Dune

Dune Adventure ~ 17 Feb 2012

Last Friday, my family and I went for dune adventures in Al-Kharrara. The place is called Singing Dunes as ones can hear the natural sound phenomenon produced by the movement of the sand, triggered by wind passing over the dune. 

That was the first time we went there, being lone ranger and just guided by the gps. It was like a 'redah' trip. Approaching Al-Kharrara, we saw the dunes from a far but we didn't really know how to get there. Luckily, there was this one 4WD vehicle coming from there. So we followed the same trail towards the dunes. It was an open rocky area with the trail of the vehicle tyres. We went around the nearest and biggest dune and found out quite a number of cars parking with some of family members were having picnic and barbecue. The children were having fun, going up and sliding down the dune. There were also few vehicles coming from the other direction, arrived the spot about the same time as us. The weather was just nice with bright sunshine. It was not too hot and not too cold even it was windy. 

Excitedly, we parked our car along and began to climb the dune. The other new arrivals joined the climbing, including a couple of middle age folks. At first I thought it was easy but it took a lot of energy and it needs a good stamina to climb the sand dune. I was panting huhu... Being on top of it was priceless! Going down the dune was relatively easy. Being down, we were watching this one 4WD going up and down the dune. Wow, it was impressive! It was then we heard a loud, eerie 'humming' sound from the dune. It was surprisingly loud which at first I thought it was coming from the aircraft engine or something and it lasted for only few minutes. Well it was actually the 'Singing Dune' :)

My son was so eager running up the dune

Bergolek-golek siap

The boys were on top of dune

We relaxed a while, feeling so good and captured the pics around.
Pic of the middle age couples were relaxing on top of dune.

Magnificent view from the top

The view of parked cars from the top. 

The children were having fun sliding down the dune

4WD dune adventure

Sepetang di tepian pantai

Yesterday, we joined a group of families from Doha to Dukhan Beach Club and the main agenda was to get together and makan-makan. The boys were enjoying themselves playing football. The weather was cold, so no water activities. Alhamdulillah, it was so relaxing, the food was great and the weather was nice even a bit cold. We wish to go there again when the weather is a bit warm so that we can go on boat and watch the dolphins in the middle of the sea :)

Around Qatar: Al-Wakra beach

Beautiful kids @ Al-Wakra beach

11.11.11 - We went down to Al-Wakra, another suburb town of southern Doha. It's just 8-10km away  and it took us only 10mins driving to the town. Previously, Al-Wakra was a tiny fishing and pearling village which is now evolved into a small town with modern planning and infrastructures. There are major undergoing development of its city centre, the beach and the sports city in Al Wakra and even today it's one of the famous tourist spots in the region. 

Al Wakra is also famous for its historical heritages and museums, but we just headed ourselves to the beach, sitting back and feeling the cool sea breeze ;) 

~Pix of us @ Al Wakra beach~

Yeah, picnic?? Looks like they are more interested with the games ;p

~ Quite a number of families were there too. It was Friday, ok! ~

~The residents' houses and mosque nearby the beach~

Qatar Academy in Al Wakra

~fishing boats, nearby the fishing village in Al Wakra~