I am finally starting to like this place, even though with Ramaden our chances of seeing some scenery off the base is limited, at least I am not in Taji working and with all the sleeping in I have realized that this is definitely habit forming. Today I slept in and after getting my coffee and bagle headed to the pool, where this time I made sure to put SPF45 on my belly to not get burned. After a couple of hours there I headed back to the room, changed signed up for the inland sea tour and another shopping mall visit for Day 3. I ran into a couple of the guys from my Division and decided to linkup with them later in the afternoon. I grabbed some lunch over at the food court and then we shot some pool and did the usual war story tradeoffs. I then headed back to the room changed and waited for our mall bus to arrive. As luck would have it there was a tanker that overturned at the main gate and with the fuel spill we were delayed leaving for 30+ minutes. So by the time we got there it was 1900 hrs and we had to be back on the bus by 2100 hrs. One of the guys I met on the bus, we decided to grab dinner first then check out the mall. The food court was alot like our food courts but with a more arab/indian flavor to it. I went for the curry shrimp with salad, vegetables, colored rice, Arab bread and some Iranian tea. It was nice to eat something local and varied for a change. The mall is the third largest one in Doha and was basically a typical western mall, except they had some definitely Arab stores but most was like ours. It gave me a chance to check out the jewelry, especially with two women in the house whose taste is about the same when it comes to earrings and other jewelry. Carmen reminded me of the type of jewelry she likes and I couldn't figure out if she was hinting at something or not. I must not have had my hearing aids on when she was explaining what she liked!
We got back almost at 2200 hrs and it gave me a chance to grab a a couple of beers and head to the room for the night. It was going to be a short night since I had signed up for the inland sea and sand dune tour. 0600 hrs came around pretty quick and I was at the MWR site by 0655 for the 0700 hrs meeting time. We all got into Toyota Land Cruisers and headed off the base and past the airport before turning out to the sea. We got to a section of huge sand dunes and the drivers let out some air in the tires and off we went 4 wheeling. The 4 wheeling was pretty tame if you ask me but at least it gave us a chance to see another part of Qatar that we had never seen before. We than arrived at the sea location where they had set up like a camp. There were the usual bedouin tents with AC, some open but offering shade, and tables and chairs under straw roofs where we could sit and go into the ocean and swim. The bouyancy in the Persian Gulf we were located in the Dalwhat Salwa Bay was incredible you could literally float and I must have spent 20 minutes treading water effortlessly.
We got a chance to play some beach volleyball and then had a nice Qatar lunch arab style sitting on cushions in an AC tent. Chicken, beef and lamb kabobs, three types of salad, hummis, pita bread, rice and some fruit. After lunch I headed back into the water where some of the folks decided to partake in smoking some Arab tobacco via the hookah! It was then time to get back into the land cruisers and do some more 4 wheeling and then head back to the base. The traffic was lousy and there must have been more roundabouts then they have in Chiclana Spain!
I was all coated with salt when I got back to the room so I took a shower discovered that there is that spot on your back where you sort of can't reach to put on sun tan lotion, well guess who got burned there, yours truely. So obviously I can't put any lotion on that spot so I am screwed until more than likely my skin peels there.
I guess that's it for now, as I am heading back to the room to change grab a quick snack and get ready for the Villagio Mall which is like the Villagio hotel where they have a canal going down the middle and there are gondolas, with the painted ceiling to look like a sky. I am looking forward to seeing my friend Ziad tonite and get a chance to spend a couple of hours with him at dinner in the mall.
The Colonel
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