Monday's Moment: Seashells from Oman

Monday's Moment: Message in the Sand

Beatuiful Day Trip to Banana Island

On Christmas Eve Eve, Richard took a vacation day and we took a trip out to Banana Island. Since Mason got to get away, we thought this would be a nice break for the rest of us from the hustle and bustle of city life. Banana Island Resort offers day trip packages (though someone is hinting for a Mother's Day weekend in the future). It's a small resort island about a 30 minute boat ride from Souq Waqif area, we caught an early boat out and a later boat back for a full day of fun. So while waiting to board we could admire the spiral mosque in the morning sun (or as some expats call it, the seashell mosque).

The weather was a bit chilly but we could admire the tropical island beauty, 

run freely, 

and hunt for shells. 

I found a couple awesome treasures!

It may have been a tad windy that day. Don't mind my hair.

We had a late breakfast at one of their restaurants, just outside the restaurant there was a Reflexology Wading pool. What's that you ask? It is an Ancient Egyptian method to restore good health and balance to the body. Essentially you walk through water that has rocks/pebbles strategically placed to provide you a foot massage of sorts while wading.

The rock placement was quite methodical as well, they were placed in patterns of different sea animals, such as a sea horse, dolphin, and sand dollar/sea star (some sort of echinoderm). You quickly learned which rocks felt good and which hit pain sensors!

After lunch and wading, it had finally warmed up enough to allow swimsuit donning, sand castle building, and playing in the kids pool water slides! 

While some worked on channeling their inner mermaid,

others used the downtime to catch up on some reading!

It was also now low tide, so we could take advantage of the water swing (the seat was underwater at high tide when we had arrived).

There were a handful of people on the boat we took over, we saw a huge school group arrive while we were on the beach, and we saw people here and there, but it was relatively quiet and secluded (guessing middle of winter isn't there high season). It started to make us miss Fiji.

As the afternoon breeze started to pick up, we all started to get chilled (you know if Mr. Turn-the-AC-Down is cold, then it's cold). Luckily they had warm showers for those of us in swimsuits to get warmed up. We head to the American Diner for a late lunch and then to the bowling alley!! We had a super fun game of bowling.

We walked along the path on the seaward side of the island. Near the main building, there we got this nice scenic shot!

We were headed back to the front not to go to the playground again, but to decorate a Gingerbread House. There is a little coffee shop, that decorated the entrance like a giant gingerbread house. 

Once inside you could got a more manageably sized house of your own. 

Clarissa was super excited and took the task quite seriously (sampling all construction material of course).

I snuck out to catch the end of our island adventure day's sunset.

We then caught the ferry back to city. The Banana Island dock was nicely lit up. One of the most ingenious things they did was make a valet parking ticket with three parts. One went with our car/keys, when boarding the return ferry they tore off the second part (which they used to radio back with the number), so as soon as we got off the boat our car was already pulled up in front and ready to give the last ticket to the valet attendant and drive off!

It was a fun day, it would be much more enjoyable if it was bit warmer. We did get some information about doing shore dives, so given it is the only place of its kind in Doha....we will likely be back (ahem, cough, Mother's Day weekend, hint, hint).

Eid-al-Adha Staycation

In late August, the Embassy (and almost all of the country) shuts down for Eid-al-Adha. It translates to Festival of Sacrifice and occurs in August (the actual dates shifting year to year as the Islamic calendar is a lunar based calendar). Mr. Wiki also tells me that the festival is in honor of Abraham's attempt to sacrifice his son to show that his love for God came before anything else. The Eid-al-Adha holiday lasts for the three days of festivities!

For us, our HHE had arrived in port the day before the Eid holiday began. Our fingers were crossed in vain during that one business day in hopes everything would clear customs AND be delivered. So we had lots of days off, no car, and not much to do. Given we had just arrived, we hadn't even given much thought to taking a trip out of the country (like many expats do we quickly discovered). So we went shopping at IKEA, watched movies, went to the pool, played some Uno and some more Uno....luckily having gone to the Intercon Natadola Bay so many times in Fiji, at some point we had decided to upgrade to their Ambassador Membership. It gave us late check outs, early check ins, room upgrades, free water and snacks, and every year we get a complimentary weekend night. So when you book one weekend night, you get one free. So for the weekend after Eid, right before school started, we opted for a little staycation and headed to the West Bay beach in Doha and stayed at the Intercon here.

We had booked the standard two beds in a room, but our free upgrade came in handy (and it was busy that weekend) and we ended up with a 2 bedroom suite! It was huge! Bigger than apartments I had just out of college! The kids room had a lovely desk with a view where Clarissa contemplated how she would someday have a job with a desk having a similar view!

I had a chance to stick my toes in now the other side of the Persian Gulf (recall Richard and I visited Dubai).

We all jumped in the water. It was nice and warm!!

As you can see by her grin, our fair weather snorkeler liked the water temperature. It was a sandy beach with nothing to see (though none of our snorkel gear is here yet). Mason and I took turns and swam out to the rocky little spot you see in the back of the photo. There were a few more fish swimming around there. Past the floating line of bouys, there is a decent drop off and jet skiers were seen zipping around behind there as well.

The first evening, Richard and I walked around hoping to find a good spot to get some 'sunset glimmering on the skyline' photos but the beaches are all private so we were limited to just the Intercon property and did not find any good vantage points. We did find a resting bird on one of the buildings that was quite photogenic.

The next day was more of the same....beach and pool time! They had a Jenga game in the Ambassador's lounge (which had free nibbles and drinks)....so we hung out there a good bit too.

What you can't tell from these photos is how HOT the sand is! (I know I know, comparisons get annoying) On our Fiji weekends, I'd kick my shoes off on arrival and not put them on again till we were getting in the car (sometimes not even then). Here....you have to wear you flip flops right up to the water's edge! It is was that hot....if my 'crazy hippie feet' - as Richard calls them - couldn't even handle it...you know it was hot (Cap't Dainty Toes was completely out of luck).

We'd managed to make do with snacks we'd packed and the Ambassador lounge nibbles the first day. We had a fun poolside lunch the second day. On our second evening, we opted to eat at one of the restaurants on site. Clarissa was sold on the idea when she saw the chocolate fountain at the dessert section! At the entrance, they had some interesting art work. Hanging from the ceiling was a huge 4-story jelly fish. Below it looked a giant brain coral head. Cnidarians represented!

We also thought it was interesting and thoughtful that on the ceiling in our room, there was an arrow indicating the direction of Mecca. Saves a bunch of calculating when trying to determine where to place your pray rug.

Our last morning, we hit the pool one last time before getting cleaned up and heading home. We had laundry to do and the kids had New Student Orientation the next morning. I give her an eight for attitude! Getting outside early beats the crowds though!

I did walk down to the beach and get a little artsy with the sand and city skyline. I started at the far end and had to move down a bit after the different shots to get "fresh sand" (especially after a wave would take a letter or two).

It was a nice break from the everyday and the emptiness of our house. Richard and I even had the chance to squeeze in badly needed massages! We also now have information about getting day passes to just come to the beach occasionally!

Tambua Sands Weekend

What's the expression....while the cat's away the mice will play.....so Richard had a 2 week training in DC at the end of October/beginning of November, with travel time he ended up being gone about 2.5 weeks. Of the three weekends he was gone, logistically the last one worked out best for the kids and I to head to a resort for a little get-away with a spa and kids club since we be tired of so much alone time with one another. So by the time I decided which weekend to head of town, when I started contacting resorts, a lot had no availability....oops. Eventually I did find a resort I've heard a number of people have gone to with availability....weekend saved (but oops no spa or kids club)! As soon as the kids got off the bus, I had them changed clothes and off we headed. We managed to beat most of the evening/get out of town traffic and arrived at Tambua Sands Beach Resort in about 2 hours. We got checked in and they helped us get our bags to our bure. We dropped everything and ran out the front door to enjoy the sunset!

Note: The 'Fiji Filter' that makes everything look beautiful.....even bickering siblings.....

Someone really wanted to go swimming in the ocean....but we needed to get some dinner first....

Someone else was happy to have the hammock back to themselves....

I do wonder if pink clouds is where purple rain comes from....

After dinner we hung out and played some ping pong while waiting for the every exciting crab races. The kids did decorate the 'race track' too.

Then Mason played a game of pool with the activities guy, Tui (who was soon to become Clarissa's new bestie).

Mason's crab, Hillary, won the race and he got a bowl of ice cream for the prize. Clarissa hung out at the bar waiting for the ice cream.... We headed back to our room to listen to the ocean as we drifted off to sleep.

Saturday morning was the last morning before daylight savings began, so the sun rose around 5 am....so when you sleep with the windows open to keep you cool at night (yeah, Richard would have been miserable with no AC) the morning sun woke Princess Early Riser (Mason on the other hand happily slept in). So Clarissa and I went out to explore. Right outside our bure, we found these fluffy flowers all over the ground....so soft and fluffy!

Scattered everywhere....(it is from the Sea Poison Tree or Fish Poison Tree (Barringtonia asiatica) the seeds can be ground up and used to stun fish).

So pretty!

The other day, I showed you Clarissa and I were the only ones up this early enjoying the rising sun. It was very peaceful as we looked for shells the tide had brought in.

Great start to the day.

Afterwards, we headed to the breakfast. The kids wore their swimsuits so they could immediately partake in the pool waters.

After swimming/enjoying the view we got cleaned up and headed to the Kula Eco Park. Mason had been here on a field trip, but Clarissa and I hadn't gone yet. I was excited to see the Fiji Banded Iguana, though Clarissa was not going to look nor touch any snakes. We arrived just in time for the sea turtle hatchling feeding.

We not only found the Fijian Banded Iguana, we got to hold them!

 Also got to hold a snake!

Clarissa decided to look at the snake....

Then, she not only touched the snake, she held the snake! We think this was the Fiji burrowing snake (Ogmodon vitianus), or locally known as the Bolo.

We then walked around and checked out all the birds (and the only mammal indigenous to the Fiji Islands) on the property.

Fruit bats....those indigenous mammals.

We stalked this peacock for a long time and told him what a sexy beast he was....but apparently that wasn't enough to get him to strut his stuff and show us his plumage in its full glory!

After circumnavigating the park, we headed to the little gift shop. Clarissa had some tooth fairy money burning a hole in her little purse. She bought a cute necklace with a sea horse pendant carved out of a shell. As we were leaving it started to pour down rain....good timing!! We headed to a lunch spot we had heard great things about Eco Cafe....we heard they have a tasty wood fire oven cooked pizza. So we tried it out.....the rain stopped after we ordered. The view was amazing and the pizza yummy! We will be going again (in fact we have since taken Richard).

We headed back to Tambua Sands. High tide was mid-day so we attempted to snorkel, but the tide was already heading out again and the water got shallow pretty quickly so we gave up on that and headed to the pool again. Afterwards, we got cleaned up for dinner. I put some flowers in Clarissa's hair....because I could!

Before dinnertime (they had set hours), we watched the sunset....it was a beautiful one....with lots of selfies. 

Sunset!

After the sunset.....it looks like the sun is actually in the water.....

I practiced some free range parenting and allowed Clarissa to hang out at the bar with her buddy Tui....

After dinner, the kids went on a frog hunt (technically a cane toad hunt, but I didn't want to be the annoying biologist correcting people)! Clarissa caught 8 frogs and Mason caught only 1....that's my girl! They then raced the frogs. Another little boy from Germany picked one of Clarissa's to race. That frog won, but since Clarissa won the frog catching portion they both got a bowl of ice cream! 

We crashed hard that night! Daylight savings kicked in and we sprung ahead at 2:00 am, so the sunrise was at a much more reasonable 6:00 am on Sunday..... After breakfast, Clarissa sadly said goodbye to her bestie Tui....Mason and I are still amazed how much she quickly she befriended him. She's normally super shy around strangers. She wanted me to take a picture for her iPad to remember him (even though both kids want to come back and stay in the honeymoon suite which has a private jacuzzi/mini pool.....). The resort had lots of cute, witty signs....I think one was my fave that summarizes our weekend.