Qatar - Whirlwind Stopover in Doha

I seriously love me some Middle Eastern food.  There is nothing like tangy marinades on lots of fresh veggies and grilled meats, mixed with just the right balance of interesting spices.

So naturally I could not resist the opportunity to explore the culinary and visual treats of the Souq Waqif during our 7 hour layover in Doha on our way from Dallas to Cape Town, South Africa.  A souq is an Arabic marketplace, synonymous with a bazaar.  It's exactly what I envisioned visiting on a trip to the Middle East - likely due to the influence of the Disney film Aladdin and also my favorite computer game as a child, Madeleine's European Adventures, where you have to help Madeleine find her way through a Turkish bazaar, collecting treasures along the way.

The front entrance to Souq Waqif

Ever since that young age I've imagined that perfect picturesque bazaar with so much going on - so many textures and colors and noises, and let me tell you, Souq Waqif totally lived up to those expectations. 

Souq Waqif is noted for selling traditional spices, garments, textiles, crafts and souvenirs.  It's also home to lots of restaurants and shisha (aka "hookah") lounges.  These restaurants and lounges were mostly two-storied, with big open-air patios and decks.  The rest of the market is composed of a maze of alleyways in between the buildings, leading you down corridors past shops in every direction.  The architecture of the buildings was just as I had imagined as a kid - I felt like I had been just picked up and dropped into the live action version of Aladdin.

Walking down the streets was surreal, as 80% of the men and women around us were dressed in traditional Qatari garb.  It did not feel like real life - I certainly felt like I was on a movie set or something.  I think the fact that I was only intending to be in the country for a couple of hours only exacerbated the other-worldly, production-like atmosphere that I was experiencing.

We did make sure to be ultra-respectful of the culture and customs.  Qatar is a very traditional Muslim country, governed by Sharia law.  Sharia law has strict codes for living that must be followed, and can be harshly enforced.  I do not pretend to know even the slightest bit about the details and variations of application of Sharia law across various Muslim cultures, so I just assumed the most conservative, respectful stance to be safe.  I did know that women, particularly, must be extremely modest in this culture.  Knowing this, I wore a long sleeved button up, buttoned all the way to the top, and my work slacks that I was already travelling in (Qatar Airlines has a strict dress code requirement for non-rev travellers - they must be in formal business attire or greater).

Our business-approved attire we wore non-revving on Qatar.

In the city in Doha I did not feel the need to cover my hair, as there were enough tourists in the area that I wasn't sticking out too much.  Some tourists were dressed much less modestly than I - showing their arms and necks, and they didn't seem to be getting any negative feedback.  But to be honest, we were moving so quickly through the market and the streets that I didn't really take much time at all to observe.

All the native Qatari women we encountered in the streets where covered from head to toe in full black burkas, with just their faces showing, sometimes only their eyes.  They were always being led by a man, and they never would look up in front of them, they just would keep their eyes to the ground.  Knowing that we would stick out as Americans in this environment was a little worrisome to me, to be honest, and it almost stopped me from wanting to go out into the city on layover, especially when the Doha airport has so many other plush amenities to keep you occupied (more on that later).  But ultimately I decided that this could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I couldn't let fear deny me of, and I might never have another chance to see something like this in real life.  I also figured that only being on the ground for a couple of hours (about 4 total) would likely limit my exposure to potentially dangerous situations.  Furthermore, I was travelling in a group of 4, me plus one other woman and two men, so there was some power and protection in numbers and also being accompanied by males.

Qatar the country does have history of terrorist activity - enough so that many other countries have made it the subject of diplomatic and economic embargo due to the country's support of terrorism.  Interestingly enough, Saudia Arabia won't even let Qatar Airline planes fly into their airspace - because of this we had to travel about 45 mins further to get around Saudia Arabia airspace on our way to South Africa.

Our flight path, all the way around Saudi Arabia.

Despite all these potential dangers, we had ambitious plans for what we wanted to experience in the Middle East in just 4 hours, namely: (1) the Souq Waqif market (2) the food & shisha and (3) the iconic skyline on a traditional boat called a dhow.

Actually our very first stop was at the Corniche area of Doha.  This area refers to the waterfront promenade that stretches along Doha Bay and provides fantastic views of the city skyline.  It is a very popular tourist and leisure location, and as such, is generally known to be one of the safer places to visit in Qatar.  There are many upscale shopping places nearby here, and it's actually pretty close to the airport.

Our very first priority was the ride on a traditional dhow.  A dhow is an Arab sailing vessel that is characterized by lateen sails and is popular in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean. 

At the Corniche they offer cheap dhow tours of Doha Bay and the skyline, and this is what we were after.  We literally just asked the Uber driver to drop us at the Corniche and immediately upon arrival it was clear where you could pay to get on a dhow - you just walk out on the dock and people will solicit your business. 

Our dhow from the dock.

Easy to walk down the dock and straight onto the dhow.

It only cost us 120 Qatari riyals (~$32 USD = ~$8 per person) - but bring cash!  Most everything on the streets was cash only, including the dhow rides.  Rates are also semi-negotiable - but that's up to you!

The dhows were neat in that they had big Persian rugs covering the floors and the open-air sides allowed some warm breeze in - it was May when we went and the temperature at 8 pm at night was a warm 90 degrees F.

The dhow operators played music over the sound system and they took us on a 30 minute loop around Doha Bay, allowing us to get some pretty night shots of the Doha city skyline.

After our dhow ride we did a quick 15 min (maybe 0.5 mile) walk up the Corniche promenade to the Pearl Fountain.  Before the Qataris struck it rich with oil, pearling was major business for them, so this is a monument to those times.  It's also another great place for pictures.

After checking out the Corniche promenade we headed to Souq Waqif where priority #1 was to experience the food.  We first targeted a well-known Yemeni restaurant called Bandar Aden (casual, quick dining), but they were out of all the vegetarian options for my friend Mehartaaj, so we re-routed to a sit-down restaurant deeper in the bazaar called Al Bandar. 

Bandar Aden, the super popular Yemeni restaurant



Al Bandar, the restaurant we ended up at.

By this time it was about 9 pm, and most people were already on to shisha and so we were one of the few occupants on the rooftop of this restaurant eating.

I love me some rooftop dining.

It was a gorgeous night - so warm and breezy.

We ordered some of my favorite Middle Eastern staples - tabouleh, babaganoush, and rice with harissa sauce.  Everything was so fresh & flavorful.  I was not hungry at all (after having eaten so many meals on the plane), but I sure found room for these.

Tabouleh top left, half-eaten babaganoush top right, rice with harissa bottom.

After dinner we had a turkish coffee, which is basically akin to motor oil, largely because it is made from very finely ground coffee (essentially in powder form) that is left in the coffee when served.  It makes the coffee quite thick, especially as you make your way to the bottom, but that's all part of the experience.  No creamer or milk is used in turkish coffee, although sugar can be brewed with it, if desired.  Sometimes they also brew it with spices such as cardamom, mastic, salep or ambergis.  It was interesting - I wouldn't say it would be my first pick of coffee brew (hello french press), but it wasn't the worst thing ever.

 The container the coffee is made in and poured from.

The thick residue that settles to the bottom.

We also shared some lemon-mint shisha, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

The existence of shisha bars is allegedly as old as Qatar itself.  It is an accepted and encouraged custom to visit with friends and relatives over shisha.  Shisha is actually the tobacco that is smoked through a water pipe called a hookah.  The shisha tobacco is flavored in a wide variety of flavors that you can select.  The shisha is heated by coals and then purified and cooled through the water as it reaches the end of the pipe from which is it being sucked.

All along the streets of Souq Waqif were open-air shisha patios, and you could see many groups of men congregating, smoking shisha together at each one.

After we finished our shisha we made our way through the alleyways of the bazaar and back out into the open near the Corniche to catch our Uber back to the airport.

Non-revving on Qatar was quite the experience - from the business attire requirement to strict regulations on carry on bag size it was a learning adjustment, but Qatar, even in coach, is a plush experience.  We decided to fly non-rev on Qatar to South Africa because the availability of seats was so great - over half of the coach section of the plane was empty on each flight, so each of us got our own "coach suite" (aka a whole row to ourselves to stretch out and lay down).  Flying on Qatar also meant we got to fly on the A380, which was far more desirable to us.

The coach food on Qatar was actually impressively tasty and had some Middle-Eastern flair to it, which was nice.

You even get to select the food you want from a menu!  Unlike US airlines where you get asked, "Chicken or pasta?"

Also, in coach on Qatar you are served liquor, unlike all domestic US airlines in coach cabin.

Furthermore, you get actual silverware utensils (as opposed to sporks on US airlines) and a refreshing towelette - just a fun fact.

They also give you a simple amenity kit in coach, which does not happen at all on US airlines in coach.

So basically I would have to say that my coach experience on Qatar was equivalent to a domestic airline's Premium Economy service.  I can't imagine what the business service would be like!

We did get to experience the plush Qatar business lounge - our Priority Pass lounge in the Doha airport was too full, so they gave us free passes to the Qatar lounge, where we snacked some more and enjoyed a shower and cocktail before our next flight to Cape Town.

On our way to boarding we passed by the world's most famous teddy bear (previously the Guiness World Record Largest Teddy Bear), the giant $6.8 million Lamp Teddy bear statue that was purchased by a member of the Qatar royal family and placed on display in the airport.

And then we got to board our 787 Dreamliner from the tarmac!

Upon entering the plane there were even vases of fresh flowers to set the ambience!

What a cool experience it was to have this quick opportunity to experience Qatar the airline and the country.

For those interested on how expensive our adventure was, here's the financial breakdown.

All-in-all I'm glad we decided to take the risk and explore Doha a little on our layover.  Here's how it ranks: