To mark the breaking of the fast last night I went to the State Mosque to see the firing of the Ramadan cannon.
As usual lots of families were there and kids crowded around the cannon.
The soldiers on duty were friendly and had no problem posing for pictures with the kids.
As sunset approached everyone was moved a safe distance away.
And . . . fire!
The problem with taking pictures of the cannon blast is that you then can't cover your ears. My ears were ringing a little after the blast. After the cannon went off I tucked into some dates and water that I had brought with me. Three guys near me didn’t have any dates so when they saw I had some they asked if I could give them a few so I gave them some.
After iftar I wandered around Ezdan Mall for a bit. Happened to come across some tables set up in the middle of the mall asking people to sign up to be organ donors.
I signed up, I don't have an issue with donating my organs to others when I pass away. Sadly I know someone who's uncle passed away recently waiting for a new organ. He was on an organ transplant list but a suitable organ was not found in time. Organ donation can save lives everyone, if you haven't signed up please consider it. There's a website on that notice board I took a picture of.
The mall also had some kind of lecture going on. I'm not sure exactly what it was about as it was in Arabic, likely a Ramadan religious lecture.
The weather was dry so although it was hot in the evening it was definitely bearable. I decided later that evening to go for a walk to Souq Waqif. As it was the night before Garangao I figured the area of the souq selling candy would be busy but I was a little surprised at just how busy it was.
Here's a picture near Souq Waqif at 11:30pm, there was a traffic jam.
And in the narrow lanes there were big crowds. This picture was taken around 11:45pm.
So what does one do at the Souq around midnight? Get a haircut of course. I wandered by the Turkish barber there for a trim. Most places would be open until 1 or 2am.
Even at 12:30 in the morning a table at a café was hard to come by.
One thing of note is that the Souq has expanded the fan zone in preparation for the upcoming World Cup final. It had been getting more and more crowded around the original screens that had been set up in the Souq, to the point where it was difficult for many people to even watch due to the crowds. Now the Souq turned one of the parking lots into a massive fan area. It looks like it could hold thousands of people.
Tonight I’m planning to go to the Garangao festivities at Katara and take a few pictures.
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