Qatar national day

We are almost homeward bound. Just one final morning and then an afternoon flight.

However, there is great excitement in Doha because it is their National Day, it is a public holiday and they are having a giant parade.

Looking out before dawn from our balcony I could see that the camels were already up and setting off to join the participants.

I could also see many thousands of people walking in the direction of the Corniche, with the public viewing stands opening at 5am, and the parade due to start at 9am.

We were a bit more casual and went for breakfast, then at 9 we were back on the balcony to hear cannons going off in the distance and then a fly by.

Being casually late, we walked down to the nearest part of the Corniche where there was almost no other spectators and saw the tanks and assorted vehicles go past.

I don't know what that last one was, but I think that I want one.

Then in the distance we saw soldiers marching and realised that they were going to turn off in our direction.

Then we quickly jogged to a corner just by the parliament building and were right next to all of the soldiers as they marched past.

Then it was all over and we caught the train to the airport.

Day out in Doha

Woke up this morning, the sun is shining and a full day out is planned.

First of all we catch one of the driverless underground trains. They have two great seats at the front where you can see the train whooshing through the tunnel, and pretend to drive it if you are about five years old.

We went to the Khalifa football stadium, a superb place that was built for the World Cup in 2022. At the moment here there is great excitement because the FIFA Arab cup finals and runners up games are being played tomorrow. Saudi Arabia and Jordan are in the play offs and Morocco and the UAE are in the final.

We are actually visiting the shiny blue bit of the building, and in it they have an Olympic museum. I asked why they didn't have a World Cup museum instead but no one knew. Perhaps they would like the Olympics here soon.

It was an enormous museum and we appeared to be the only people in it.

(The big football photo is from a different location but I squeezed it in to avoid talking about football again later.)

Once inside the first exhibit was a mock up of a commentary box complete with cameras and an autocue.

I don't think that Gary Lineker has anything to worry about as we definitely weren't naturals at it.

Overall it was a strange museum that had lots of interactive stuff and the original Jamaican bobsleigh.

Back onto the train and up to an area known as Little Venice, but was actually a very expensive ex pat type area. It had a modern take on the Rialto bridge and little boats coasting by.

Then came quite a long walk fortified by giant ice creams before we reached the Katari Cultural Village.

This looked more like an upmarket French boulevard and led to a large plaza by the sea.

There was loads going on here including traditional music and singing, a parade of huge fluffy creatures and a beautifully painted staircase.

Walking along the street I almost bumped into a man with a falcon, who kindly handed me it to hold.

Getting weary by now we went back to the old town and souk area where we are staying. It was just getting dark and the streets were getting busy.

Then for some inexplicable reason, we lost our hotel again and wandered around for ages trying to find it. 

Finally, a photo of the security guards who traditionally ride on white horses around the souq keeping law and order.

Rainy day in Doha

We woke up this morning in Doha and it's pouring with rain - the first rain in ten months we were told.

We waited to see if it was going to stop, and it didn't, so eventually we went out anyway.

Our first destination was the corniche along the seafront, and the countdown clock that was used for the World Cup that was held here in 2022.

There is a beautiful skyline somewhere in the distance and after a while we get to see a little bit more of it.

Then we moved just along the seafront to the Museum of Islamic Arts. It's a magnificent and enormous building that was designed specifically to house Islamic treasures.

We were very surprised to find that the museum was built first while Qatar was busily buying the treasures to put inside it.

They have some amazing items dating back many centuries, including lots of Korans and calligraphy, priceless jewellery and this brilliant armour.

Back to our hotel for a break and to say hello to the camels that are now almost under our balcony.

It gets dark very early here and by 5.30pm it was pitch black and the rain had stopped. 

Out we went again for some street food, roasted sweetcorn, cheese and zaatar flatbread and some ice cream to finish the meal off.

A quick stroll to the end of the Marina to look at the pearl sculpture 

and the lights across the bay.

KL to Doha

Epic travel day yesterday. We left our hotel before 7am and just missed the train to the airport. Not to worry, just less than half an hour to the next one.

Got to the airport and joined the biggest queue in the world to drop off our bags. With the exception of one other traveller, we were the only people dropping off one bag each, as everyone else had bought their kitchen sinks that all needed extra tags and took ages.

Safely onto the plane and it's loaded and on time (hurrah).

We are in row 42, and all across row 44 is a family of nine travelling together. All of a sudden the teenage girl decides that she feels sick and wants some specific medicine that her mum hasn't brought on board. She screams this at ear splitting volume again and again. The crew come over to ask what's wrong and she carries on ranting.

She was warned that if she didn't calm down they would all have to leave the plane. She carried on and then the police arrived. She then started yelling that she was fine now and that they should put her fxxxing luggage back on board.

Then all nine had to get up and leave the plane and we took off nearly an hour late.

Very nice flight with WiFi on board, and an easy trip through customs and then on to a beautiful modern train.

After one stop we changed trains, then caught a bus and then walked through a surprisingly down-market area to our hotel. Except that it wasn't our hotel. This one had three letters different to our hotel, and was miles in the wrong direction up the coast.

Completely retraced our steps and then caught the right train to our hotel. Except that when we arrived at that destination it wasn't our hotel either.

We wandered around and consulted our maps and then accidentally lost each other, and I didn't have WiFi so we couldn't get in touch. We both separately thought that the other one had been 'taken'.

Finding each other and by then at our wits end, a saviour suddenly appeared.

We actually were in the right place, but for reasons I don't understand, the actual hotel wasn't there but was in boutique buildings scattered around the old town, and this was the meeting place. He had seen us looking lost and guessed that we might be guests.

He took us about 50 metres in his little golf cart to a different hotel with the wrong name where we checked in, and then took us to our actual hotel around the corner past the falcon hospital.

It took a while to calm down and we have a view of the royal camel enclosure from our window.

More to follow soonish.

River of Life, Kuala Lumpur

Very weird outing today. Firstly a bit of background, at least seven years ago we visited KL and saw an exhibition showing that the city was going to spend many millions of ringgits to improve the waterfront of the river that flows through the centre of KL.

Today we trekked through a very run down area to reach the start of the improved area, and the only nice thing that we found to photograph along the way was a Hindu temple.

There was a modern bridge at the start of the alleged vibrant waterfront and a rather uneven walkway.

However, there was not another person in sight, and the river ran in a very tatty concrete funnel.

The only life that we saw were a few giant lizards lying along the concrete banks.

I did notice waste bins along the walk that were branded with a cheery River of Life logo, but nothing else that I could mention.

However, there was a few good views on show.

Once we reached the centre of town there are mist making machines in front of an ancient mosque that are very nice, although those were already there on our last visit.

Still, it was an interesting walk and we weren't paying for it so we can't complain.

I was very surprised though when I looked online at the official website and apparently the works are 97% completed.

Putrajaya revisited

Today we are back in Putrajaya with a sense of déjà vu because we are going to Presint 18 parkrun again.

This time we set off in the dark and we walked with our umbrellas to the start past this incredible mosque.

Arriving a few minutes early we had time to chat to other tourists and get our photo taken.

Right on cue the rain stopped, and then we were off. My running ability is going rapidly downhill on this trip and yet again I really struggled, but finished one place ahead of the last time that we were here. But that was only because the rain put a lot of people off and there was far fewer parkrunners to run with.

After a nice lie down back at the hotel I was ready to get out and about again, and we came across this excellent giant picture frame.

The view behind me is real, and fortunately Daz didn't record my efforts to scramble up on to the frame.

Just along the path was another source of joy on a hot sunny day - a shaded swing.

Ideally I wanted a shot of us both swinging, but we didn't see another person for the whole of our walk.

Another lovely afternoon tea kept us out of the heat of the afternoon.

Finally, an early evening stroll and back to our hotel just in time to avoid another massive thunderstorm.