Sun 26th – The Kings Of Doha!
(Photo's - Prem & Jules, a standard sign around the Kalifha & The Kings Of Doha!)
Well, today was a day off and myself and Adam decided that it was high time that we actually had some decent catch up time away from the masses. It started with a bit of a sleep in – we didn’t drink last night but played PS2 and messed around til about 3am – we were kept up by Stoop action until 0430 but I’m sure others have suffered! Casino Royale was showing down at Chillies Mall (our local) at 1400, so we wondered down there and had lunch at Chillies 1st. Not too bad food – I had fajitas that was served across four plates! Very filling & quite nice.
Got the tickets and walked into the cinema – very excited as the last movie was crap but I’ve probably bored you all with those details in the past! Cinema wasn’t huge but still fitted into the ‘big screen’ category worthy of a Bond film. The Qatarians don’t care for advertising or previews and the movie kicked in smack bang on 1400. Took a second to realise that it was the movie and not a preview. I won’t bore you all with details and what not now but I will say that it was GOLD! Smiling all the way through, laughing & clapping and cheering! It wasn’t until we stood to leave at the end that we stood and saw the audience behind us and went “Oh!” It was one of those mini culture shocks when you’re in a familiar/comfortable environment in another country – majority of the audience behind us were all kitted out in their best Arab garb! It then dawned on us that we were probably the only ones clapping and cheering during the movie – we kind of beat a hasty exit after that, glad that we hadn’t been cheering on Bond as he took n a bunch of Middle East looking type people! Um..er….!
From there we decided to head to City Central Mall – the one with the ice skating rink inside. Managed to hail one of the ‘normal’ cabs and headed off with the mission of acquiring Adam a real guitar. I also had the idea of getting a camera & headset lot for my computer. We first went in to Carfour which is this HUGE French chain that sells everything – kind of like Coles, K-Mart & Bunnings combined! I managed to get a really good deal on both a camera and headset – score! It’s so weird how the pricing structure works here – there’s no real scale of what’s cheaper etc.
We then decided that it was time for coffee. Poked around some more. Found an uber cinema complex and realised that there were actually heaps of movies showing at the moment. We contemplated a few but decided to keep on looking around. We ended up buying a Shoosha from our good friend Haymar from India! He befriended us quite quickly and sold us a basic, tourist Shoosha with tobacco and coals etc for 200 riyal – I was pretty sure it was crap deal, no, not pretty sure, damn sure but it was a day hanging with Adam and it did mean that we could hang on the Back Stoop in our courtyard and chill!
A few of the gang rand us through the day to see what we were doing and where we were but we gave them the standard “We’re out and about” response. I know that sounds rude but there were a couple of groups who disappeared off by themselves, leaving ‘the needy’ ones high and dry! Mean, but, sometimes you have to cut your losses – tough love, that’s the ticket!
We found the guitar shop we’d been recommended by Canadian Bill (LED Stories) as his wife works over here and it was a very funny skit to watch Adam attempt to play & tune the guitar without getting into trouble from the storeman. It was apparently a pretty good guitar and around $100 odd cheaper than in Melb! So, with a guitar slung around his back and to a dodgy rendition of G&S’s “A Wondering Minstrel”, Adam & I sauntered back into City Centre – much to the amusement of many shoppers! My theory is, as long as we’re not running around tipping over shelving units and punching people, we’re able to behave as if we were waking the streets of home!
We then went to the 3 story high amusement section and loaded up a card with credits and had a round on this huge F1 simulator – full size car with wind, suspension, sounds – the works! It hurts a lot when you come flying around a corner and find & then slam into Adam! We also played a few rounds of the standard shoot ‘em up games and then had a go at their Go Karts – not really that fast at all but if you threw your weight around on the corners you could get some decent skids and turns outta them!
All the while, due to the guitar, people kept stopping us and asking about our band & told us of their bands and music tastes! All very funny! It was also a case of we had to make up basic little white lies abut our band because, if you’re carrying a guitar around, you must be in a band! We just did the standard of who ever made the lead, the other one would back him up! It’s worked and got us out of & into trouble before and continues to prove a successful way to talk ourselves around and through anything!
We got phonecalls from a few of ‘the nice people’ about heading out to dinner and then going to the night souks as possible previously discussed. We sort of looked at each other and, without saying a word, agreed that we would continue to do our own thing for the remainder of the evening. We then had more coffee and just sat and chatted for awhile. Soppy as this may sound, it was great to just slip back into the friendship that has always been there, despite having seen each other for approx 2.5 days in nigh on 3years! It was mostly just babble that led into tangents that brought on themed stories, old stories, life, stupidity etc. – classic Tim & Adam!
We went and checked out the movies and decided upon The Departed – new Martin Scorsese flick. It was pretty good, no Casino Royale but good non the less. We then caught a cab home to find that most of the guys & gals were home and that the souks had shut around 2130 – an hour after they got there after dinner! A wise decision by myself and Adam! We then sneaked off, poured ourselves a Drambuie and sat out back and smoked apple shoosha for a couple of hours. A damn fine & decent way to top off a nice day of ‘official’ one on one Brotherly Time.
Got the tickets and walked into the cinema – very excited as the last movie was crap but I’ve probably bored you all with those details in the past! Cinema wasn’t huge but still fitted into the ‘big screen’ category worthy of a Bond film. The Qatarians don’t care for advertising or previews and the movie kicked in smack bang on 1400. Took a second to realise that it was the movie and not a preview. I won’t bore you all with details and what not now but I will say that it was GOLD! Smiling all the way through, laughing & clapping and cheering! It wasn’t until we stood to leave at the end that we stood and saw the audience behind us and went “Oh!” It was one of those mini culture shocks when you’re in a familiar/comfortable environment in another country – majority of the audience behind us were all kitted out in their best Arab garb! It then dawned on us that we were probably the only ones clapping and cheering during the movie – we kind of beat a hasty exit after that, glad that we hadn’t been cheering on Bond as he took n a bunch of Middle East looking type people! Um..er….!
From there we decided to head to City Central Mall – the one with the ice skating rink inside. Managed to hail one of the ‘normal’ cabs and headed off with the mission of acquiring Adam a real guitar. I also had the idea of getting a camera & headset lot for my computer. We first went in to Carfour which is this HUGE French chain that sells everything – kind of like Coles, K-Mart & Bunnings combined! I managed to get a really good deal on both a camera and headset – score! It’s so weird how the pricing structure works here – there’s no real scale of what’s cheaper etc.
We then decided that it was time for coffee. Poked around some more. Found an uber cinema complex and realised that there were actually heaps of movies showing at the moment. We contemplated a few but decided to keep on looking around. We ended up buying a Shoosha from our good friend Haymar from India! He befriended us quite quickly and sold us a basic, tourist Shoosha with tobacco and coals etc for 200 riyal – I was pretty sure it was crap deal, no, not pretty sure, damn sure but it was a day hanging with Adam and it did mean that we could hang on the Back Stoop in our courtyard and chill!
A few of the gang rand us through the day to see what we were doing and where we were but we gave them the standard “We’re out and about” response. I know that sounds rude but there were a couple of groups who disappeared off by themselves, leaving ‘the needy’ ones high and dry! Mean, but, sometimes you have to cut your losses – tough love, that’s the ticket!
We found the guitar shop we’d been recommended by Canadian Bill (LED Stories) as his wife works over here and it was a very funny skit to watch Adam attempt to play & tune the guitar without getting into trouble from the storeman. It was apparently a pretty good guitar and around $100 odd cheaper than in Melb! So, with a guitar slung around his back and to a dodgy rendition of G&S’s “A Wondering Minstrel”, Adam & I sauntered back into City Centre – much to the amusement of many shoppers! My theory is, as long as we’re not running around tipping over shelving units and punching people, we’re able to behave as if we were waking the streets of home!
We then went to the 3 story high amusement section and loaded up a card with credits and had a round on this huge F1 simulator – full size car with wind, suspension, sounds – the works! It hurts a lot when you come flying around a corner and find & then slam into Adam! We also played a few rounds of the standard shoot ‘em up games and then had a go at their Go Karts – not really that fast at all but if you threw your weight around on the corners you could get some decent skids and turns outta them!
All the while, due to the guitar, people kept stopping us and asking about our band & told us of their bands and music tastes! All very funny! It was also a case of we had to make up basic little white lies abut our band because, if you’re carrying a guitar around, you must be in a band! We just did the standard of who ever made the lead, the other one would back him up! It’s worked and got us out of & into trouble before and continues to prove a successful way to talk ourselves around and through anything!
We got phonecalls from a few of ‘the nice people’ about heading out to dinner and then going to the night souks as possible previously discussed. We sort of looked at each other and, without saying a word, agreed that we would continue to do our own thing for the remainder of the evening. We then had more coffee and just sat and chatted for awhile. Soppy as this may sound, it was great to just slip back into the friendship that has always been there, despite having seen each other for approx 2.5 days in nigh on 3years! It was mostly just babble that led into tangents that brought on themed stories, old stories, life, stupidity etc. – classic Tim & Adam!
We went and checked out the movies and decided upon The Departed – new Martin Scorsese flick. It was pretty good, no Casino Royale but good non the less. We then caught a cab home to find that most of the guys & gals were home and that the souks had shut around 2130 – an hour after they got there after dinner! A wise decision by myself and Adam! We then sneaked off, poured ourselves a Drambuie and sat out back and smoked apple shoosha for a couple of hours. A damn fine & decent way to top off a nice day of ‘official’ one on one Brotherly Time.
posted by Tango Techie @ 3:21 AM
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