Saturday, February 18, 2012

A kite, a snow board and Iran!

Gary is not simply satisfied with completing several triathlons, a bike ride from Manchester to Blackpool and swimming from Alcatraz. Now we're in Qatar, and the sea is not as bitterly cold as the north sea, he wanted to try his hand at kite surfing.

Yes kite surfing. Standing on the water with your feet strapped to a board letting the wind and an abnormally large kite drag you around. In Qatari waters, with Iran only a few puffs of wind in the wrong direction. Hmmm.....

So for his birthday, I got him just that, a beginners course in Kite Surfing. Thankfully Kite Surfing is tricky tricky tricky, so this time he wasn't going to be blown off course and end up in Iran.




A bit warmer than trying to kite surf in the UK! 




Trying to untangle the kite.



Safety Harness! 


















Wetsuit on, time to get wet! 




























Saturday, February 11, 2012

Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You!

Gary turned 34 on the 26th of January. These pics are a little late, but that we because we were too busy celebrating to post on the blog.

Gary has been harping on about making curry from scratch, and so I made a homemade Indian meal consisting of:

Starter:

Vegetable Samosas

Main Course:

Lamb Rogan Josh
Naan Bread

Dessert:

Chocolate Brownie with Salted Caramel Butter Sauce and Vanilla Ice Cream

Yes I know that the dessert is not indian in origin, but dessert should always include chocolate in my book. 

I even made the Naan bread from scratch, go me! 

Of course, not all of it was a stroke of genius. The recipe for the main course called for 10 large Cardamon Pods, so I added those, and the entire dish just tasted like cardamon. So note to self, no cardamon next time. 

Here are some photos of the table I set up for the evening. There are no photos of the food as we were too busy eating it! 















Sunday, February 5, 2012

Doha City

As most people know, Qatar, and Doha in particular is undergoing a major building phase. The skyline literally changes from day to day as builders work around the clock to complete their projects.

These are not just any projects, Qatar aims to build the biggest and the best, if you build it, they will come. And they do.

Doha City Centre is becoming an easily recognisable skyline. Architects are creating buildings that are works of art rather than blocks of concrete.

The best part, is that the City centre hosts the Corniche, a long walkway alongside the sea, backing onto the city itself. So you get the feeling of space and freedom, whilst you are downtown.



See that teeny tiny building on the right, a few years ago that was the tallest building in the skyline, it's the Sheraton Hotel. 


It looks tiny now compared to what else they are building!







This is across the water from the City Centre, the building with the spire is the Islamic Centre. 


Work in progress, but it will probably be completed before anyone gets to visit and see it!


There are Dows all along the harbour, you can just turn up and they will take a group of you out to sea. No alcohol though people, it is not a booze cruise!


This is the Corniche, you can walk along for a couple of miles or so. It makes a good running track apparently! 






Our own little dessert island. 




Yes that is a man abseiling off the building, I think he was trying to clean the glass, he's probably still up there! 










So here is a sneak peek of Doha City, hopefully you can come see it for yourselves!