11th October: Doha, Qatar
Today will be a short one. Not long after going to bed last night, I starting feeling nauseous. It wasn’t a false alarm and I’ve been up a fair bit of the night. I’ve been trying to make the best of an enforced rest day by doing more admin and China planning but have been rudely interrupted by having to run to the bathroom on a very regular basis. At least this didn’t happen on the flight yesterday!
Unexpectedly, we were treated to a midday thunderstorm! We were anticipating wall to wall sunshine in Qatar but gradually the skies darkened and, sure enough, it began to spot with rain. There was evidently a lot of dust mixed in with the storm, given how visibility deteriorated. Our huge tenth floor window was perfect for the show, as lightning forked across the city sky. The rain seemed to mainly evaporate in the warm air, as what reached the ground was unusually sparse for such a storm. Despite it remaining cloudy for the rest of the afternoon, the ground was dry again within an hour.
Otherwise, we took excitement from ordering room service for the first time ever. Kaja got a falafel platter for lunch. We’d anticipated this being much more than £5, so were pleasantly surprised there were no extra costs.
By the late evening, I felt like I could eat some plain food. I’m not entirely sure a chocolate dosa (ordered to the hotel), watermelon, and baklava really meet that criteria but they did the trick! Kaja had a masala dosa again as she’s been getting withdrawal symptoms after 6 weeks without. The baklava and other assorted sweets from yesterday were delicious, although the layer of cheese in some was a bit of a shock!
At around 10pm, we made it out for a short walk, but gave up heading for the coast when we couldn’t find any way to cross the main road. Probably for the best, as I was already feeling a bit shaky with no energy in the heat. A fountain-turned-car-park and the outside of the National Museum of Qatar – based on a desert rose crystal – at least looked cool at night. Hopefully we can explore a bit more tomorrow.
