doha daily 3/12/06

Dunestock Stage

Food Tent







Kids Tent
This past Friday, Tristan and I attended Qatar's 2nd annual "Dunestock 06." (A "sandy" version of Woodstock out in the desert) At 10am we met up at Angela's house and caravanned West with 5 other cars past the US Army Base in the direction of the town, Mesaieed. I had planned to be out in the desert for only a few hours, so we just brought a cooler full of water, juice for Tristan and a few bites to eat. After this excursion however, I will take going out into the desert a bit more seriously. We were well prepared, no problem, but there are things you need to think about, like...make certain someone knows where you are going to be, have a full tank of gas, make certain your cellphone is juiced up and since this is a concert in the desert, do you have a blanket to sit on or perhaps something to SHADE you from the sun!!! (Luckily, Angela brought her "soccermom" gazebo - we were like sitting ducks on a pond) And, oh yes, the WATER. I was a bit hesitant about going in the rental KIA, but everyone assured me the sand/rock would accommodate. We stayed on a paved road until we arrived at some large sand dunes and then the lead car careened off the beaten path to follow some tire marks in the sand that swerved in a snake-like fashion and contained chunky jagged rocks, until we came around the corner of a large sand dune, like in the movie "Planet of the Apes." (It made more sense to me to go as the crow flies from the street to where everyone was parking their cars in the sand, but it seemed that everyone before us followed the same route, so that must have been the thing to do...the entire time I thought my tires were going to pop) The wind was blowing hard and as we pulled around the corner you could see the diehards in their tents, which were leaning with the strong wind, who slept there the night before. Occassionally, someone would drive by in a Quad kicking up dust, or a Pathfinder could be seen and heard venturing its way up a dune to ride along the top ridge. It's sad to say, but one of the highlights of the day was a GMC truck that rolled down the side of the dune. It was totalled with a smashed windshield and flat tires. I ran up the dune to see the end result, which is NOT an easy task, by the way, I don't care how many miles one runs on the treadmill during the week. Tristan and I took a tour of the food and kids tent. The stage was situated at the base of the sand dune, so for 50riyals you could enter the stage area, park yourself somewhere on this sand dune and watch a concert. OR, I imagine...if you just climber up the backside of the dune, you could get a great seat for free : ) They had 2500 in attendance last year and were expecting 4000 this year. Tristan was a trooper and hung in there until 315ish, when HIS MAMA started getting tired, so he and I left before the concert kicked off (400p). But it was a great experience and I'm glad we went. Cars were filtering in as we were leaving. I wish Thierry could have joined us - I think he would have had fun seeing all of the hippy expats in their H3's with their kids and mini-hibachi's. Our friends returned at midnight, completely exhausted, I was told.

Some other things going on: Car shopping. There is certainly alot to choose from, and unless you are a Toyota Landcruiser, Nissan Pathfinder or Mitsubishi Pajero, you are kind of the odd-man out. There are alot of gold "action" stripes as accessories and it's easy to pass a car that still has the manufacturer's plastic wrapping on the seats, even after one year of owning the car. I've been told that is because it creates an image of the car still being new.

We went and checked on the progress of the wardrobes yesterday - they are coming along nicely. When Thierry and I were walking around the house at 1230p, the workers were all sleeping on the floor in the maid's quarters and along the wall - it was kind of creepy, but we couldn't help ourselves speaking softly so as not to awaken them - lunch break!

It's nice to see Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien on here at a more "reasonable" time - beginning at 9p - the content is always at least one day behind.

I've started downloading NYT's, NPR and Slate's daily podcasts on my ipod to play them in the car as there is only one radio station that is broadcast in English.

Thierry Tristan and I went to a great restaurant yesterday for lunch, called "Mint." Here is a picture - See you!