Dear Doha Diary

I've been in Qatar now for over 18 months and I find it hard to describe the impact this change has had on my life.  Being the end of the year and the end of another contract without the certainty of another yet again, I'm in reflective mood.  Those who know me  know all too well that I have sought to understand and embrace Arabic culture rather than continue my English life abroad.  My feeling being that a life seeking knowledge and cultural understanding is all the richer for it.  So I shrugged off my British reserve and resistance and opened my mind and my heart. To quote from Muhammad Asad's extraordinary work 'The Road to Mecca', "when water lies motionless in a pool it becomes stale and muddy, but when it moves and flows, it becomes clear".  So too the heart and soul and indeed the mind of man. So…. I have Arabic friends, I frequent the souq as my relaxation space of choice, I listen and dance to Arabic music, occasionally smoke shisha, dri

My blogs about my trip to Yemen have so far sought to describe the beauty, the warmth and the friendship of the place which many refer to as the cradle of civilisation.  Indeed many in the Middle East trace their ancestry back to the country which is home to the most welcoming and hospitable of any people in the world. But as Ive hinted, there is a darker side to Yemen and in recent weeks, the security situation has deteriorated still further and it would now be even more dangerous for a westerner to travel there, particularly through Sanaa, which in September, was taken by the Houthis - a Shia group which during the summer led protests against rising fuel prices and a lack of representation in the Yemeni government.  Clashes continue between the Houthis, the Government and Sunni Al Qaeda militants who are fighting back against the Houthis takeover. So far the trouble has been focused around Sanaa and the North but it is moving towards the south, with the capture of Al

……so there I am, an English girl in Yemen.  As the taxi drives us from the airport, I can see that every woman is dressed in the abaya and full veil….. I ask Yazid if I need to buy a veil.  He reassures me it will be fine.  There are areas where I will need to be careful but in busy places such as the mall and tourist spots, I should be OK.  I'm pictured here wearing the abaya and hijab on one of our trips out.  I would always wear the abaya in the car and then when Yazid and his friend felt it was safe, I could remove it and wear western clothes in certain areas. As we drive through the streets, I can see the neglect and the poverty.  Rubbish piling up along the roads, buildings fading with only memories of the long forgotten good times, when Aden was a thriving tourist destination.  When the beaches were packed with holiday makers from around the world, there for the guaranteed sunshine and warm waters of the Gulf of Aden. The driving didn't  seem to follow an

I can't quite believe this is my second Ramadan in Qatar!  Where did the time go?  Ramadan is now nearly at an end and Eid is just around the corner.  I entered Ramadan this year with a clearer idea about what it really means and why it is such a special time for those of the Muslim faith.  As you know, it is a time of fasting between sunrise and sunset - not just food and water but also smoking and resisting all other desires, if you know what I mean. In Qatar, everything is closed pretty much all day, until around 5pm when things start to open up and food will not be served until after prayers at sunset.  The roads are deserted and tumble weed blows down the street.  Then in the evening, its chaos.  Everyone is out, the roads are jammed, the malls are humming and the restaurants packed with families coming out for Iftar.  Families with the smallest children stay out until the early hours enjoying the atmosphere. During Ramadan, I had to take my recycling to the park along t

At the end of April, having been in Qatar for more than a year,  I decided that I needed to step up the adventure and experience quotient and look further afield for a bit of excitement.  Where did I choose?   Ever since I met my friends in Souq Waqif, here in Doha, and having been moved by their charm, their warmth, their sincerity, their joy of life, not to mention their excellent dance moves of course!!…. I have wanted to go to Yemen.  When one of my closest friends got stuck in Yemen at the end of last year just as the new Qatari Amir changed the visa rules so that Yemenis could no longer visit Doha, I made up my mind.  I would visit Yemen somehow, despite all the warnings, dangers and difficulties securing a visa. I read that, as a British passport holder, the only way for me to visit would be to book with a tour company and be accompanied by a guide at all times.  OK for a tourist visit, to see the sights, such as the incredible Haid Al-Jazil in Wadi Doan, Hadramout (pi

Unbelievable but true - it was a year ago exactly that I arrived in Qatar!!  And what a year its been!!  New friends, new language, new culture, new experiences, and new job of course!  And Ive had to get used to the sun shining almost every day!  What a hardship!  But for a bad weather junkie, I initially missed the rain a great deal.  i love storms, wind , torrential downpours, hail, snow, you name it!! Listening to the rain on my window on a Sunday morning was one of my great pleasures in life!  I wondered how I would cope without it.  But now I am used to the relative predictability of the sunshine and the ease with which I can do things and go about my business without thinking…. "what will the weather do today?".    I can pop out to the Corniche or the Souq for a walk, go for a run or go shopping  and I don't need to carry my 'just in case' umbrella!! Strangely enough though, this year has been the wettest people here can remember.  The