Day 2 - Doha, Qatar
Day 2, Monday April 30th, 2018, Doha, Qatar
With a 10-hour layover in Doha, we decide to take a tour of the city sponsored by Qatar Airways, who promise to get us back in time for our final leg to Kathmandu. It’s an interesting place, full of both traditional buildings and some of the most contemporary and creative architecture in the world – but we’re out after dark and it’s a bit hard to see what this city is all about. What is immediately apparent is the cleanliness and quietness of Doha, as well as the ever present face of Qatar’s Emir, 37 year old Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, painted on sides of buildings and hanging in shop windows. We worry (only half-jokingly) that if our own President has reason to visit Doha, he might be inspired to start putting his face everywhere too. As our tour winds down I think how lovely the city appeared in the moonlight, but also that everything in Doha seemed just a smidge too clean to be real. Then again, like their Emir, most everything here is quite young. It will be fascinating to see how Doha matures.
