Summer Vacation Part 1 - Norway

I just got back from a one month vacation. The timing was good as a Covid wave went through Qatar over the last few weeks (I'm guessing the BA.5 variant) and it is starting to subside now. Cases are still high at over 600 a day but far less than a couple of weeks ago.

First was a one week vacation in Norway with friends, primarily in the northern city of Tromso. I don't recall how we wound up deciding to go there but it was a unique trip for me. Tromso is north of the Arctic Circle, so far north that in the middle of summer the Sun does not set. I have never been that far north so it was great to wade in the Arctic Ocean for the first time (briefly, the water was really cold of course) and to witness 24-hour daylight. The continuous daylight really does mess with your sleep schedule but I did bring a sleep mask and that helped a lot. Some of my friends didn't and their sleep got really screwed up. It's weird seeing daylight peaking through the curtains but it's 3am! Your mind starts thinking it's morning and time to get up. I spoke with a store owner, who turned out to be Kurdish, and asked him which was more difficult to deal with, the 24-hour daylight in the summer or the 24-hour darkness in the winter. He said the summer, again because the light can mess with your sleep. It's important to get a sleep schedule and stick to it, and have good black-out curtains.

The weather was mixed, sometimes sunny, sometimes cloudy and rainy. I took this great picture of a rainbow, at 1am!

Tromso was a nice city and we toured around the area in cars, did a boat excursion, and took the gondola up the mountain for the views. The city is around 75,000 people and it surprised me that there would be a city that large that far north. In Canada there are no cities even remotely that big in the north.

I will also confess to trying a meat not generally found in the West -- whale. Norway is one of the few countries that still allows commercial whaling so we found a restaurant in Tromso that served whale steaks. The meat was a deep red, a much darker red than beef, but the taste was similar, though with a "fishiness" to it, which made it a bit odd. The waitress explained that the fishiness was from the whale oil. I enjoyed the dinner. Did I feel guilty about eating whale? Maybe a little, but as it could have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience I figured I'd give it a try.

Afterward we spent a couple of days in Oslo before moving on. I enjoyed Oslo, seemed like a laid-back city. Temperatures were really nice, in the high-20s, but I think that was because Europe was undergoing that heat wave so temperatures in Oslo were maybe a little higher than normal (one sunny day in Tromso it hit 26, which was also impressive). The nice weather meant everyone was out and about. We did go see a museum dedicated to polar exploration and wandered around the shore. 

 Next stop -- Canada.

Another Trip to Turkey

Just back from a weeks vacation in Turkey. It was mostly helping some friends with things so there wasn't a lot of sightseeing, instead we were jumping from government offices to banks to other government offices. It was nice to relax though.

I've been to Turkey enough now to be able to tell some differences between Turkish cuisine versus Arabic cuisine. In the past I've noted that they're very similar, and to a newbie Westerner (like me at the time) they would be, but there are some significant differences:

1) Turkish food is usually a number of small dishes put in the centre of the table or given to you individually (see the pictures below for examples) whilst in Gulf Arabic cuisine a large meal tends to be larger dishes that are shared amongst everyone, even when you are eating with your hands from a large platter. I have yet to see Turkish meals eaten with your hand, Turks prefer cutlery.

2) Turkish food tends to involve a lot more dairy products. Cheese, butter, yogurt, these are all staples of Turkish meals. I've had meals that had four different types of cheese served, individually, not including any cheese incorporated into a dish (see the picture above). Arabic food, on the other hand, does not use dairy products much. Sometimes I see yogurt served as a side with a lamb & rice platter, that you can add to the rice if you want, but otherwise Gulf Arabic food is not big on dairy. In some ways Turkish cuisine could be seen as a cross between the heavy reliance on meat in Arabic cuisine, with the abundance of dairy seen in eastern European dishes.

3) Rice (or lack thereof). Arabic food uses rice as a staple grain, Turkish food doesn't instead having loaves of bread with the meal (as opposed to a thin Arabic pita bread) is much more common. Sometimes in Turkey they serve bulgur but I don't recall any rice dishes.

4) Nuts. Both cuisines utilize nuts but Turkish cuisine seems to use nuts a lot more. If you're allergic to nuts you are really going to struggle sometimes with Turkish food, they puts nuts and seeds in a lot of things.


I'm sure there's plenty of other differences between the cuisines, not to mention all the regional differences within Turkey itself, but it's nice that I'm starting to get better at recognizing the difference.

Back from Vacation

It was a long trip, thanks to getting a week off for the Eid holiday. I was away almost a month! I didn't post beforehand as I get a bit concerned that someone reading the blog might realize I'm out of the country and try to burgle my apartment -- extremely unlikely here in Qatar but it has happened to people elsewhere in the world.

First I was off to Thailand with a lot of friends (all told it was 15 of us, yes 15). It was my first time in Thailand and we had rented villas in a compound in the island of Koh Samui. We did a lot, a boat trip, BBQ, went to see the Muy Thai fights, explored temples, did an ATV excursion in the jungle, did go-kart racing, we packed a lot into five days.

From there I was off to England. I really wanted some cool, cloudy weather after months of Qatar heat and I certainly wasn't going to get that in Thailand. I was only going to be there a week before heading to Turkey to meet friends but in the end my friends had to cancel so I decided to stay in England and tour around the country. I went to a lot of places: York, Cambridge, Ely, Chichester, Bristol, Bath, Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon, Wawrick and of course London for a number of days. I won't go into the details as it was such a long trip but I really enjoyed seeing the England outside of London.

As for Qatar unfortunately it's still hot and the blockade is still in place. It was a distant hope that it would have been lifted while I was away but alas it was not to be.

Reflections of 2016

So another year has come and gone. While I know the Internet has been disappointed with this year due to all of the celebrity deaths my year was pretty good. Like every year I spent the last couple of days going through my photos.

On a fishing boat, Juan de Fuca Strait, Canada.

Of course I'm going to have wine and cheese. At a café near the Arc de Triomphe, Paris.

Kayaking in the mangroves, Thakira, Qatar.

A different angle of Michelangelo's David. Florence, Italy.

Lazing on the beach, Seychelles.

Dinner time at the majlis, Doha.

Enjoying a beautiful day in the sunshine. Vancouver, Canada.

Boating in the harbour. Bodrum, Turkey

On the steps of Sacre-Coeur Cathedral. Paris.

Chilling with a shisha at a well-known shisha cafe in Dubai, UAE.

Exploring the souq in Al Wakra, Qatar.

Of course you know where this is. I'm not sure how it hasn't fallen over. Pisa, Italy.

Showing off a new hairstyle. Victoria, Canada.

Watching the Euro Cup semifinals at a café in Montmartre, Paris.

Giant tortoises! They are only found in two places in the world, one of which is the Seychelles.

Enjoying a Florentine steak at the famous Trattoria Mario. Florence, Italy.

More and more often I seem to be wearing a thobe when I'm in Qatar.

Photobombing my niece's attempt to take a photo of the British Columbia Parliament Building. Victoria, Canada.

Enjoying a swim with my friends at a hotel in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

A lovely selection of baklava at a cafe in Bursa, Turkey.

Enjoying a concert of traditional Arabic music at Souq Waqif, Doha.

Having a drink at a bar in Florence, Italy.

Enjoying an ice cream. Everywhere, Earth.

Watching the sun go down at the beach. Dukhan, Qatar.

Hiking around a park in Vancouver Island, Canada.

I made a new friend. Doha.



I hope you all have a great 2017!

Saudi Transit Visa

Wow, it's been quite a while since I've posted on the blog. Not due to a particular crisis or dilemma, I've just been pretty busy in the evenings so haven't had time to sit down and write anything.

One of the things I was busy with was acquiring a transit visa for Saudi Arabia. A group of Qatari friends were driving to the UAE for an exhibition and wanted me to come with them. One problem with that though – Qatar and the UAE do not share a border, you have to go through Saudi Arabia to get to the UAE, and Saudi doesn’t just let Westerners into the country with a visa on arrival, you need to apply for one in advance.

Why there is a narrow part of Saudi Arabia between Qatar and the UAE is a bit of a story (I blogged about it here) and there’s no likelihood of that changing anytime soon.

Getting the visa is not as straightforward as you might think, though this may change in the near future. On October 1, 2016 the Saudi Government changed their fee structure for visas (the transit visa now costs QAR 300) and took down their website and e-visa processing system to upgrade it. At the time you couldn’t use their system for a transit visa to/from the UAE as it was not listed, you need to use an authorized agency that could process the application, but perhaps with the upgrade to their system maybe it will allow for people to apply to the transit visa without using an agency. We’ll see.

In the meantime you'll need to use an agency. When I did an Internet search for agencies the most recent information I found was from 2011 and it wasn’t very good, some of the agencies on the list no longer processed the Saudi transit visa. I am not going to post the list because at the end of the day I tried three agencies and I did not manage to get the visa (I will tell you why in a minute) so I can't even tell you whether a particular agency is good or not.

Assuming the requirements are still the same one of the agencies helpfully put up the list of things you need to apply for the visa. (one thing is missing from the list so continue to read this post after the list).

And the fee of course. The photos that they refer to are passport-sized photos. I believe that the last item refers to proof that you have a visa to enter the UAE, or are using a passport that allows you to acquire a visa at the border. The UAE allows most Western passport holders a visa on arrival. The agencies never asked me for proof of eligibility to enter the UAE.

What is this letter? Well it's a letter from your employer, that must be in Arabic, giving you permission to apply for the visa. Weird, huh? But in this part of the world Exit Permits and permission from employers to leave the country is a big thing. Most of my friends have to apply to their workplace for an exit visa every time they wish to leave the country. The agencies can hand you a copy (in Arabic) of what the letter should say, and your HR department will need to type out the letter on their letterhead and give it to you.

But there’s one more piece of information that you need. As you will be in a vehicle the agency will want a copy of the registration of the vehicle that you will be traveling in. I guess the visa is so specific it names the vehicle that you will be in. When I told the agency that I would not be driving and that I would be in a friend's car, they wanted a copy of my friend’s ID and his vehicle registration! Ummmmmm, okay. My friend had no problem providing me with copies. Here’s the kicker, the agency warned me that if I was not in that specific car with that specific person I'll probably be turned back at the border. That’s pretty strict.

In the end I didn't get a visa though. Why? Because I tried to apply the day that the Saudi Government took down the system for upgrades. Even the agency couldn't access the system so could not lodge the application. After 2 1/2 days the system was still down. A friend of mine suspected it was just that this one agency had problems, which is why we then traveled around and spoke with other agencies. All of them had the same problem. So now it was Tuesday, my friends were leaving Thursday, the visa takes 2-3 days to process, and we still weren't sure when we could even submit the application. So we scrapped the idea, I just bought a plane ticket to the UAE and met my friends there. Shame because I wanted to see Saudi, if only a little bit of it. I've lived in Qatar over 10 years and have yet to go to Saudi Arabia.

Not that I'm planning to visit the country anytime soon. The oil price crisis seems to really be hitting the Saudi finances, and they want money, so now visas to visit the country have got to be some of the most expensive in the world. The transit visa was QAR 300 but if you want a single-use visit visa you have to pay QAR 2000 (US$540!!), and QAR 3000 for a six-month multi-use visa. I can’t see that encouraging a lot of tourism so I’m guessing visitors will be largely pilgrims going to Mecca.

My friends said they will probably drive again to the UAE next year. They said next time they'll give me a lot more advance notice so that I can get the visa in time.

Eid Vacation in Turkey

So during Eid I went to Turkey to meet up with some friends. Like last year we went to a resort in Bodrum, this time the Voyage between Bodrum and Gumbet. I think my friends wanted a quieter vacation this time so picked a no-children resort.

It was a nice place, and all inclusive so we rarely left the resort. In the five days I was there I went to Bodrum twice and my friends only once.

We did go out to a couple of evening concerts, the first one by popular lounge/pop singer Serdar Ortac, and the next night by Turkish popstar Fatih Urek (who apparently also has belly dancer training). Both concerts started (yes, started) at 1:30 in the morning! Turks apparently love to stay up all night during vacations. There were even children in attendance at the concert. So some of my vacation was spent sleeping in late, eating lunch, then sitting a lounger snoozing some more.

[The Fatih Urek link is to a video of his that also shows Bodrum.]


All in all a relaxing vacation. I do like Turkey, and the recent issues there haven't caused any problems in the "sun cities" in the south. Unfortunately the coup attempt and an airport bombing have scared many tourists away so some places are suffering economically. Hopefully next year things will improve for the industry.

Seychelles

Shortly after returning to Doha I was off on another trip, this time to the Seychelles, a group of islands in the Indian Ocean. A friend had organized a trip for a bunch of the guys so we headed out for almost a week.

It's a beautiful place, a lot more mountainous than Bermuda and it has a lot of nice beaches. We had rented a villa in an upscale area called Eden island which overlooked a small beach.

The Seychelles were very isolated islands so had a lot of unique endemic flora and fauna. One of the most famous is "coco de mer" a tree found only in the Seychelles with a massive nut/seed. There are issues with conservation as the nuts are very expensive, and it's illegal to buy one except through an authorized shop (the stickers on the coco de mer in the picture indicate that they can be exported).

The islands are also one of only two places in the world to have giant tortoises, in this case the Aldabra Giant Tortoise (the other being the more famous, and slightly larger, Galapagos Tortoise from the Galapagos islands off the coast of Ecuador). The tortoises are actually native to a small atoll north of the main island but at the Botanical Gardens they have many and for a fee tourists can feed them and take pictures. Despite a small native habitat the species is doing okay now thanks to intensive conservation efforts, I believe almost no one is allowed to live on their island and efforts are underway to eradicate any non-native animals from the island.

The Seychelles has at various times been under French and British influence but the general culture is more French than English though both languages are widely spoken. Restaurants of all types are available but French and African-based cuisine seemed common. The friends I were with were Muslim and at one restaurant they were pleased to see cheese fondue available so ordered it (I was away at the time and didn't realize they had ordered it). When it arrived I assumed they had ordered a non-alcohol version so I never warned them (oops). Naturally after a few people tasted it they realized something didn't taste right -- they didn't know that cheese fondue typically has white wine in it. By then most of it had been eaten so they just put the fondue forks down in disappointment. Lesson learned, be careful of European cuisine if you don't drink alcohol.

Anyway it was a great vacation. We went snorkeling and saw lots of fish, many that were similar to fish that were common in Bermuda (various species of parrot fish, sergeant majors, butterfly fish) as well as others I had never seen before. There was lots of relaxing on the beach or by the pool and, maybe for once, I managed to not get sunburned at all. One of the guys had a run-in with a sea urchin but thankfully he had flip-flops on and only got a couple of pokes. Driving around the island we saw a ton of beaches and nice views from up the (steep!) mountain roads. Definitely worth a visit if you get a chance but be warned that it is an expensive place so it's would not be easy for budget travellers.

Eid Vacation

Back from vacation, as soon as Eid hit I was off to Paris where I stayed with some friends. The weather reports said it would be mostly cloudy and around 23-24 degrees so I backed light jackets, jeans etc. I was looking forward to some colder weather. Well, Murphy's Law of Travel, it turned out to be sunny and 29-30 pretty much the whole time I was there (except when I was at the Eiffel Tower).

All you Parisians who were thrilled with that, you're welcome.

As I like walking around seeing the sights temperatures like that are pretty draining, and Northern Europe is not big on having air conditioning everywhere, so even restaurants could be hot.

On the plus side the Euro Cup was on and I got to go to a bar with my friends to watch the France semi-finals. They won so of course everyone was happy. I was a bit unhappy that I would not be in Paris for the final, but it turned out that it was for the best since France lost.

Anyway, I had a great time. Paris is a lovely place. Just be careful with your stuff, while we were at a restaurant a lady at a nearby table had her bag stolen.

The Saudi Transformation

So the other day came the big announcement from the Saudi Government that people in the region were waiting for, the ambitious overhaul of their economy to get rid of their heavy dependence on oil. It’s a long-term plan up until 2030, but the Prince said that it could take as little as four years to get rid of Saudi Arabia’s oil dependence.

I don’t have all of the details but some industry privatization is in the plan, notably selling a small stake of Aramco, the creation of a US $2 trillion (yes, trillion) sovereign wealth fund, and huge development in non-oil industries. It’s seems to be a really, really ambitious plan and those timescales seem a bit unrealistic but something does need to be done, the last couple of years of low oil prices has shown the Saudi Government the dangers of oil dependence. I believe the Government is burning through $9-10 billion of their own cash reserves every month now due to the lack of oil revenue.

There is one development that I’m looking forward to – tourism! The Government plans to spend on tourism infrastructure and thus allow more non-pilgrim tourists to visit the country. I’d certainly go. All the years I’ve been in the Gulf living right next to Saudi Arabia and yet I haven’t visited it. I’m not even sure at the moment you can get a non-pilgrim tourist visa to visit the country. If they allow more tourist visas and let non-Muslims wander around the country (obviously not to Mecca and Medina, there’s no way the country will let that happen) there’s a number of places I’d like to see – the Nabatean ruins in the north, Jeddah and Taif, some of the mountains around the Riyadh plateau, maybe even the dunes in the south.

Some news articles are already slamming the idea. The argument sums up as, “No booze or bikinis, why would anyone go?” I think that’s not a good way of looking at it, people should look at it as more of an exotic adventure rather than yet another all-inclusive drinks & beach holiday resort. In fact I hope the Saudis don’t go that route. There’s plenty of places in the Mediterranean if resort vacations are your thing.

If they make reforms right away I might plan a trip in 2017.

Back from Vacation

Was away on a long vacation in Canada meeting with the family. It's great visiting Canada but man is it a long trip. A good 24 hours of travel to reach the West Coast. It'll take a few days to shake off the jet lag.