africa blog: September 2016

THIS IS DOHA

THIS IS DOHA BLOG (par avion in flight to Dallas!)

THE JOURNEY

So why Doha? Well, as a committed COTW and a blogger that knows his readers demand adventure, it seemed like a good idea. Plus I hate flying backwards to Joburg with a 2-4 layover to catch a plane to Amsterdam or Zurich or London with another 2-4 layover to catch a plane to the States. This Qatar Airlines flight was non-stop cape town to Doha then Doha to Dallas. And to avoid the 8 hour layover I decided to stay a couple of nights and rest up for the 15 hour push to DFW. Plus year ago I saw a cutting edge nike video called Make it Count and Casey said he was in Doha. It pricked my interest!

So I flew into Doha Sunday night at 23:50 and sped through immigration and baggage claim and met my Ritz-Carlton shuttle in 30 minutes. By 2:00am I was in bed and drifting into lala land. Alarm set for 10:00 for brekky before 10:30. That was the plan. But at 8:00 the construction renovation at the Ritz kicked in and I was wide awake. Summer in Doha. The dead season. Cheap flights, cheap hotels, and oh yeah we forgot to tell you but there’s construction going on!

The irony is my Piazza building in Cape Town has been neck deep in construction renovation for the last 3 months! And I had had it! The Ritz was off season cheap-ish, meant to be 3 nights of some much needed R&R, but alas, not to be! So, as politely as a pissed off American can be, I whinged to the concierge about my plight with all this flipping construction noise! As I had bought my trip on Travelstart.co.za it was paid in full, no moving hotels. not an option. But Nadeem, the concierge, was very nice and offered me a junior suite and free hotel shuttle service everywhere during my stay. Not bad. Pretty decent upgrade. Nadeem did his job well and actually had me smiling again. And as the renovation was mostly upper floors, my little suite on the third floor was fairly quiet.

MY IMPRESSION OF QATAR

I had been one night in a hotel in Dubai in transit in 2012 and saw very little of the city, but it is huge. Doha is much smaller feeling. And posh! Many petro dollars has afforded them a very luxurious lifestyle. The city is full of cool buildings, lots of construction going on the for the 2022 world cup, and even in summer, it felt like it was buzzing. And bloody hot and humid surrounded by the Arabian sea on the Persian gulf. It’s only neighbor a single border with Saudi Arabia. It’s below Kuwait and Bahrain and above the united emirates. Across the gulf is iran & Pakistan, india is only 4 hours away. Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Isreal a couple hours to the north. for me Doha was a new center of the world I had never really spent much time in! a very diverse and interesting place. Rich and opulent with lots of fancy hotels, and malls with air con. The weather was 39 but “feels like 44” with humidity. That’s like 94 degrees but feels like 104! Stifling hot. But I lived in phoenix before, I was no stranger to that heat. Plus texas and Arizona where I am headed are also blazing hot!

But Doha was interesting. They drive on the right side of the road, cape town is left. All the men wear white robes, the women wear black ones, abayas, with the veil or hijab. didn't see any burkinis. And although it’s 100% Islamic, it was haute couture islamic, designer sun glasses, glitzy sandals, perfumery is very big there for men and women (and old custom from desert caravan days?) and the vibe is glitzy upscale. Not the mangy jihadists you see with ISIS. This was upscale Muslim 100%! Kinda fascinating. Saudi is their neighbor but everyone hates Saudi. Lots of the labor force i met at the ritz that work in Qatar hate Saudi. Too rigid and controlling. Ahhhh, smells like sharia law. The work force is international…Nepalese, Philippines, india, chinese, a mixed bunch. You saw the rare black African or westerner. But Arabic ruled the day, in language also. I felt like an observer as I was one.

Doha is modern and the malls reminiscent of las vegas, think the mall at ceaser’s palace. But shopping isn’t really my thing. It was more exploring in an air con environment to get my 10,000 steps in for Fitbit. I also noticed the buildings were skinny. Lots of skinny buildings as the plots must also be small. Kinda cool. And definitely a hotel culture, where everyone knows where all the hotels are. You should see the Intercontinental, there’s the old Sheraton, here’s the Hilton, etc. hotels are also something to do to beat the heat. Go check out the hotels! St. Regis is also quite nice. The Ritz seemed dated. On the west bay lagoon. If there is a next time, I’ll stay in West Bay. I made it to The Pearl as well, but it just seemed like an upscale westwood village or mini scottsdale. Nothing I hadn’t seen before. overrated. Had dinner there. Dead quiet in the off season.

The bizarre thing is without the invention of the automobile and the discovery of massive amounts of oil in the Persian gulf, these guys would still be midnight at the oasis. There isn’t a building older than 70 years. It’s all new money and new wealth. Maseratis, Ferraris, range rovers, the works. I reckon Qatar is the size of Maine. But insanely rich. It’s like Dubai but a lot cuter. Easy to learn. I did the outdoor market as well. At night. Still blazing hot. But I like Doha. I’d do it again. It’s always nice to see somewhere you’ve never been before.

Camino de Santiago

And now for something completely different, and speaking of adventures, next year I want to do the 800km/500mi pilgrimage walk on the camino de Santiago across northern spain. Folks have been walking it for a thousand years from all over the world. Watch the film The Way. That’s the camino. Should take 35 days roughly. And it suits me perfectly. My brother was keen to do the Appalachian Trail up the east coast of the USA but that’s 1000 miles and takes 6 months. Hiking across medieval villages in northern spain going from pensione to pensione suits my aesthetic much better! And unless I meet someone and get married before then, I’ll do it solo. Thinking step one @ sept 15ish. Maybe stay a few days in paris at a cheap monastery I heard about. Then go to st. jean de p’ied to start the camino first in france and sail into Pamplona few days later. If that goes as amazing as I think it will, there is another camino trail that starts in Lisbon, Portugal and also goes to Santiago de Compestelo. I have close to 6 months off per year as the film industry is very seasonal in cape town. it's busy mid-oct thru mid-may. So might as well travel during the off season. The thing is I really enjoy the winters in the Cape of Storms! And winter is june-sept. oh well. I’m keen to explore! and i'm getting the hang of my seasons and time off. much to see. travel is really the only hobby i have. and pilgrimaging could suit me just fine.

The Cottage

In other late breaking news, this pilgrim just bought a house! The cottage photos from the last blog, that cottage, is now mine. After the loan was all but dead hitting a “massive snag” at ABSA bank, the bond was finally approved. So now I have a weekend cottage in Stanford. Probably Thur–Sunday nights in Stanford, and mon-wed in town. See my current lease out at The Piazza thru next june. Then decide to renew or not. Stanford is a very small village. Where everyone knows everyone’s business. Not sure i’m ready for all that. So weekdays in town could work with weekend retreats in the country...sound good. And the house is vaulted ceilings wth a pool. Wide open. Has a nice feel. Open and airy, kind of a white shabby chic feel to it. i want to add a master bathroom in the upstairs attic area and turn the whole upstairs into a master bedroom. Plus 3 bedrooms more downstairs. Good place for entertaining and having company come out and stay. Exciting to own some real estate again. As soon as I walked in i felt it. Even before I walked in, outside, it felt good. I was expectant. And the black paka-paka inside meowed back at me. That was my sign. That plus a horseshoe on the mantel on the terrace. Should get the keys nov 1 ish. More blog fodder. Thanksgiving and christmas in Stanford! chuffed!

Side bar…so weird to be flying over Russia right now as we clip the artic circle en route to dallas. I didn’t expect that.

Home Affairs dept.

Meanwhile, back at the dept of home affairs, i am still on appeal and await my Permanent Residency permit!!! I know, totally mental to buy a house in RSA with my immigration still not sorted, but COTW is a risk taker (or else i never would have moved to nairobi in the first place!) worst case scenario is i end up with a retiree visa and settle in ZA with that visa and dwell in the cottage. the exchange rate is beyond favorable to the dollar and ZA is cheap as chips on the USD! so, the cottage felt right, has a pool, gets me out of dodge on the weekends, and is a good, hopefully safe, fun investment. and i have a couple of backup plans is the PR permit doesn't come thru. either way, i'm good and can work legally til sept 1, 2017! there are 12 movies coming this year, plus more international commercials and the voiceover career keeps growing! total redemption of my LA career! so cool!

iTUNES FINALLY has MY DOCO!

so the good news is i have my first movie on iTunes! my cape town youth choir doco i shot a year ago is finally available to rent! and with 1 billion accounts on itunes, if i could get just 1 million to rent my little film i'd be set! (BTW itunes takes a 60-40 split...they get 40%!)

here is the link for FINDING MESSIAH! kindly share!

itunes.apple.com/us/movie/finding-messiah/id1145247992

THIS VISIT

my trip this time will take me to texas, arizona, oregon, utah, and back to dallas then doha then cape town sept 26th. lots of family to see! those are my visits. now let's get to the pics!

my flat in the Piazza

boeing 787 dreamliner. a nice plane.

9 plus hours to doha non-stop

no window shades on the Dreamliner...the large windows tint light to dark

arriving Doha...midnight

my first room at the Ritz. junior suite was nicer. : )

brekky buffet. more Ritz.

you know you're in Doha when...

the 'souq' or open market at night.

spirally mosque

skinny skyline

lots of metal and glass

couldn't quite figure this one out!

the Villagio Mall

inside The Torch

1 of 8 soccer stadiums for the 2022 World Cup in qatar

more inside the Torch

outside the Torch. tallest structure in Qatar.

more Villagio

gondola rides at Villagio!

no starbucks in cape town yet...

and more shopping.

if you can't leave qatar and you got billions of dollars, then you make it as nice as you can
it's hard, as there isn't much friendly nature there. in short, there's nothing to do there!