Last night Steve and I went on a date. We found a babysitter and everything! It was so nice to get out by ourselves. Elliott loves when our babysitter comes over. Amelia not so much, but she was sleeping when we got home last night, so things seemed to go just fine.
We went to the Souq Waqif (pronounced sook wakeef), which is one of the oldest in Qatar. It is an outdoor, covered market, that was rebuilt a while ago and so it is not the original structure, but it was fun to imagine that this is what it would have been like hundreds of years ago. The souq is on the original spot of the old souq, and looks like it would have hundreds of years ago. The literal translation of Souq Waqif is "the standing market" (according to Wikipedia). There were tons of little shops selling perfume and fabric, traditional clothing, gifts, handicrafts, spices, and so much more. There's also restaurants of many different ethnicities. Here as some pictures I found online. We didn't take any ourselves.
This is what it's like on the inside. Different little shops line each side.
This is what it's like outside. Again little shops line everything.
This is the restaurant area.
It took us almost an hour to get there (but only 20 minutes to get home) because of the traffic, but we have come to expect that and so it didn't bother me as much. Parking was insane. But again, we expected that and so wasn't as stressful. We decided to wander around for a while before eating dinner. And that's really what you do. I never saw a map or anything. You could get so lost in there, and we really weren't paying attention to where we were going; we were just turning corners here and there. Thank goodness for gps on Steve's phone. We were able to navigate our way out again. We found a Malaysian restaurant to eat at, which wasn't as busy as some of the others. The food was okay. I wouldn't mind going there again and ordering something different. Steve tried squid and offered me a piece, which I did end up trying. I'm not a fan. The taste of the dish was good, but the squid was a rubbery as I imagined it would be and if I hadn't been at a restaurant, I would have spit it out.
We had a great time. It was a bit strange to be out on a date and not hold hands. It is culturally uncomfortable for the native Qataris (and maybe others from around the area too, but I'm not sure) to see any public display of affection, even hand holding. So we don't hold hands anymore.
I want to go back sometime and get something traditional to Qatar, something made here, as a momento of being here.
This is what it's like on the inside. Different little shops line each side.
This is what it's like outside. Again little shops line everything.
This is the restaurant area.
It took us almost an hour to get there (but only 20 minutes to get home) because of the traffic, but we have come to expect that and so it didn't bother me as much. Parking was insane. But again, we expected that and so wasn't as stressful. We decided to wander around for a while before eating dinner. And that's really what you do. I never saw a map or anything. You could get so lost in there, and we really weren't paying attention to where we were going; we were just turning corners here and there. Thank goodness for gps on Steve's phone. We were able to navigate our way out again. We found a Malaysian restaurant to eat at, which wasn't as busy as some of the others. The food was okay. I wouldn't mind going there again and ordering something different. Steve tried squid and offered me a piece, which I did end up trying. I'm not a fan. The taste of the dish was good, but the squid was a rubbery as I imagined it would be and if I hadn't been at a restaurant, I would have spit it out.
We had a great time. It was a bit strange to be out on a date and not hold hands. It is culturally uncomfortable for the native Qataris (and maybe others from around the area too, but I'm not sure) to see any public display of affection, even hand holding. So we don't hold hands anymore.
I want to go back sometime and get something traditional to Qatar, something made here, as a momento of being here.
1 comment:
What a wonderful experience! Glad you at least tasted the squid, not too sure I would have done as much. And no PDA. Wow.
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