We sprang out of bed (reluctantly) at 5.45am, and managed to get ourselves to Changi airport by 8.30am on the wonderful MRT for the princely sum of $1.80 Singapore each, less in Aus$. The flight to Dubai took about seven hours, then we boarded a flight for Doha, which took about one hour. Although we arrived in Doha at 2.15pm local time, it was like 7.15pm for us (Singapore time).
Dan was there to meet us (how wonderful!) in a car he shares with some other Australian teachers, and off we set, driving on the wrong side of the road (how scary).
Dan's apartment is very spacious and comfortable, quite close to a mosque, as we were to discover at 3.20am on Saturday. But then most places in Doha are quite close to mosques, as Dan told us the rule is that no Muslim should have to walk more than 900 metres to go to prayer.
It was of course quite hot when we arrived (high 30s?), an arid desert heat compared with the pungent humidity of Singapore's heat.
Dan walks a lot for exercise (quite an unusual activity in Doha, understandably), so at about 5pm (still quite hot), we walked for about 30 minutes to an Indian restaurant where we had an absolutely delicious dinner (thank you Dan). The meal began with an exquisitely arranged simple salad of very fresh cucumber, carrot and tomato, and concluded with a dish of fennel seeds and very large sugar crystals, to cleanse the palate.
By the time we walked home and went to bed, it was about 10pm (3am for us) so we slept very soundly (until 3.20am local time, when we were woken by the call to prayer). No trouble going back to sleep again!
Pat had heard that the construction of this terminal at Dubai airport required breakthrough techniques to achieve the curved, open, shell-like structure the architects desired.
Curved glass walls of Dubai airport.
Looking through the curved glass walls at Dubai airport.
Leaving Dubai.
Arriving in Doha.
No comments:
Post a Comment