One Night in Doha

One night in Doha was not equivalent to the song about the one night in Bangkok.
There was despair but no ecstasy, and the world was not my oyster after this visit.

Having a 13 hour layover in Doha, I could have done the wise thing and stayed at the airport hotel. However that would be boring as I wanted to discover a little bit of the city and have more to experience than just the airport.

You can leave the airport while in transit by purchasing a visa which costs QAR 100. The visa is available to countries in the Nordic region, European Union, North American, Asian, and Australasian region. 

Once you get out of the arrivals terminal you have the option to take a taxi, limo or be picked up by your hotels designated driver. Being adventurous I went with the taxi option. Bad idea on my behalf as the driver was confident in driving but had no clue where he was going.

Instead of going with one of the bigger chain hotels I decided on a Boutique hotel in the souk to get my group acquainted to the real Doha. Al Najada Boutique Hotel had received some good reviews online so I though I would try this place. I was expecting the hotel area to be loud, busy and a good feel of Doha in my short stay.

Well the above expectations were met except for the hotel not being open for business on arrival.

First the taxi driver had no clue where the hotel was and we drove around the souk and partially through (via the car park) twice before I saw the building. When I went to enter the building, I was surprised to find there was a Soprano type bloke at a security desk in a matrix leather coat sitting next to the the stairs leading to the entrance. 

My reservation was of no concern to him and his message was highlighting the obvious fact that this hotel is closed, and he is not the man to talk to so we should go to the Sister hotel to sort this out. He mumbled a Name of a hotel and pointed in a direction across the souk. My taxi driver shook his head from side to side and told me "No Problem sir, I know".

At this point my immediate concern was, why is this man wearing a leather coat in this hot humid night?, and secondly I have a major issue now as driving through the souk or worse walking through it with luggage looking for the sister hotel is not an option. Having experienced the chaos of a Marrakesh souk 3 months earlier, this seemed all to similar from initial observations.

So back in the car for one last drive and search attempt for this other place. After 10 minutes driving it was apparent that the driver had no clue what the Matrix Soprano Crossover man told him and it was at this point I asked him to take us to Radisson Blu which I remembered from the in-flight magazine. One hour of my life that I wont get back after this episode.

Check in went smooth at Radisson Blu and at this point the group was starving so we decided to settle for a Indian restaurant. The food was good but nothing over the top that I will rave on about. Fatigue was kicking in after the flight and souk adventures so everyone was ready to hit the sack. However I had to suggest we explore the bar upstairs in the hotel simply for observations. 

After the thorough ID checks at the door we entered the bar. Word of advise to all women: Do not enter the bars in Doha without a male companion. Taking two attractive blondes into the bar was like placing blood into water full of sharks. All the people in the bar which was all male except for 2 waitresses gave the girls the stare down and they had hope in the eyes. Fast forward 90 seconds, we hit the gas on reverse and got out of there.

Doha hotel bars is a red zone ;)

Doha is not a busy location yet but they have the handball championship there shortly and the bigger event Football world cup in 2022. So a lot of construction work is already in progress to improve things.

It is a smaller version of Dubai from first observations, however it is stricter. It features great architecture and the place has a lot of potential in the years to come. So a return visit with a longer stay is on the cards in the future to explore some of the fancy Museums, entertainment venues, and restaurants.