Camel Christmas Fun

So when you haven't been able to travel for 13 months what do you for fun on Christmas Day? Go to the Camel Races naturally....lol. 

Actually, it was kind of an organic booking. Camel racing only runs during the cooler months (November - March typically), on Fridays and Saturdays (the weekend), and about 2 weekends a month. So given we are leaving at the end of the school year, this was on the bucket list of things to do before we leave. Richard had taken some time off during the holidays, so I was trying to take advantage of his holiday. So when I saw the ads for camel racing tours, I messaged them to book ours. They were running the 25th and 26th. Richard and the teen had plans on Saturday....so Friday it was.....it just happened to be December 25th...aka Christmas (remember we are in a muslim country and that isn't really a big deal here). The day prior to the races we got a message letting us know the time to meet (given Friday is a prayer day, the races don't start until after prayer time) - we were meeting at 12:50...so not too early! As we drove out to the race track, the tour guide gave us all kinds of camel race facts! Did you know there is an annual Camel Beauty contest! Any guesses on what the prized qualities in a camel are??? (lip size -plumpers are banned- and no tattoos or scars were biggest ones). 

We arrived at the race track with a few minutes to spare. Everyone had a chance to use the restroom, get some gahwa (Arabic coffee), and dates. We then got back in the bus and headed to the first race. Here's a video and then I'll explain with some photos!

So the races are run with two lanes of SUVs running on both sides of the camel track. On the back of the camel is a remote jockey. The jockey is controlled by the the owner inside the SUVs. The guide told us that horn honking doesn't start until the last 1.5-2km and the jockey whipping is typically saved for the last 1 km. If it used too soon, the camel can sometimes wear themselves out too quickly. Sometimes the lead camel remains ahead the whole time and other times a camel from behind will be motivated.

While one race is going, camels for the next race are lined up. As soon as we past the finish line, the bus driver sped back around to the starting point. We waited a minute or two and the next race started. We were on a 7 km track and each race took about 8-10 minutes. We circled around about 3 times and then got out of the bus to watch the next race at the finish line.

Camel foot print and then all the SUVs coming as the camels are racing towards us. You can see one camel turning a bit sideways. This one likely just got the whip and it got spooked. The guide said that is a risk using them, sometimes the camels will just go sideways and that doesn't do any good.

So lots of foamy mouths as they crossed the finish lines. This was apparently pretty common - though some leaders would haven't any. It's just from spit production as they are running.

Camel training prior to races involves training in swimming pools, so when running in the air versus the water it is much easier.

This camel seemed to be "singing" as it pulled up in the rear....not a care in the world...lol.

Between the races we watched at the finish line, Clarissa raced across the tracking...lol.

The one with the blue jockey is the winner!

Qatar banned the use of human jockeys in 2005, prior to that child jockeys were used. The guide asked the kids on the bus what would you do if you were riding on the back of the camel during a race? Clarissa answered "scream". He said that was the right the answer, the child jockeys did learn the proper time to scream (the last 1 km or so) and that would scare the camels to run fast. You can read more about it here.

After watching our second race cross the finish line, we then walked over to what I will describe as the "waiting area". It is where the camels who are waiting to race were sitting. When we first arrived it was packed, since 6 or races had already been run it was about half empty and by the time we left at the end of the afternoon it was empty.

I held one of the jockeys. I forget the exact weight, maybe about 4-5 pounds. Not super heavy but definitely needed both hands. It is powered by a drill battery (you know the kind for putting furniture together/making holes in things) and there is only one person in charge of inspecting, assembling, assigning the jockeys to keep everything fair. It has a receiver for getting the signal for whipping and a speaker to hear the owners voice saying "go".

We all got to pet some camels (you should be happy the internet hasn't figured out how to make scratch and sniff photos....lol).

Richard got some people pictures of the camel handlers....

Is it me or is this camel posing/smile behind its handler's shoulder?

We then walked through the field of camel mines (some of us more successfully than others) to the starting line. The camels are walked over by their handler and then hooked up the gate. 

Camels kind of remind me of toddlers - all antsy and and making faces...lol.

On the outside of the gates, there are men who make sure they are lined up and legs aren't tangled (don't want any camels tripping over each other).

The gate lifts up and all the camel harnesses are released.

The camels then all take off in a mad camel dash!

We were able to watch from both sides....one side was much closer!

But the further side smelled better and had less flies....

The kids had more fun than they expected during the mandatory fun day!

Each race had 20-30 camels racing.

We had another bathroom break, watched/rode along with a few more races (some from the camera crew side of the track, then we went back to the other side of the track - all the kids were sitting on one side of the bus and asked to switch to see better).

We watched all the races for the day and then headed back to Doha. As we were leaving we had to stop several times at the camel crossings.

The guide said the camels heading towards the tracks would be training tonight, since the day's races were over.

All in all, if you are ever in the area and it is camel racing season, it's definitely something you should put on your to do list! We went with Murex Tours.

Holiday 2019 Visitors - The Festivities

So as I mentioned in my last big post, the in-laws had arrived, had a good two weeks to get over jet lag, I'd taken Jim birding, and the kids were now on holiday break. So the real fun began. The break began with two meetings of Santa's helpers. One for the Girl Scouts/Cub Scouts with Santa arriving via a fire truck!

The other was the Embassy holiday party with Santa arriving on a motorcycle (I didn't get the arrival but did snap a photo of the kids with Santa).

Yes, Clarissa is wearing tights with Santa cats on them! You'd be surprised what you can randomly find in the stores here!! I had been waiting for the kids to get out of school to take Ann and Jim to Baladna Farms. I have been once before and it was definitely on the 'you have to see this desert marvel' list!!

We timed it so we arrived in time to eat lunch at their cafe (lots of cheese/dairy dishes), took our obligatory 'in the sign' photo (can you find everyone), checked out the art cows, and then head over for milking time.

What? I'm not supposed to milk the fake cow?

The milking parlor with its giant rotary milking system was impressive as usual.

Next we walked over to Baladna Park, this was the highlight for Clarissa. She may or may not have been asking to head over here the entire time!! For only 10QR (so less than $3), we got a bag of bits of greens and vegetables to feed the animals in the petting zoo. There were overly friendly camels.

What did they call this on Seinfeld? Close talker?

There was a sleepy llama (so adorable!) and well as some white ostriches behind it.

There were some miniature donkeys (which totally sounded like 'Donkey' from Shrek in my head) and miniature ponies. The donkey didn't want its photo taken but the pony gave us some goggly eyed look.

The zebra showed off all its teeth when eating the leafy greens.

Clarissa loved the baby bunnies and I think she fed them half our bag of food. They were pretty adorable.

The teen took the time to entice one of the tortoises over to fence to feed it. Tortoises really need to learn better manners and chew with their mouths shut!!

We then took a ride on multi-person bike. The 6-seaters were all gone so we split into two groups (which later changed after this photo was taken).

Taking the race serious.

Some of us were working hard and others were hardly working.....

That evening we got cleaned up to go out to dinner. We had another set of visitors from the States to meet up with!! Richard's cousin/Ann & Jim's niece and her family were flying to Africa on Qatar Airways via Doha. QA has a deal where you can stay overnight at a number of local hotels for a discount. It adds some tourism dollars to the economy, helps travelers with jet lag, and in our case - let us catch up! We met up a Damasca One Restaurant in Souq Waqif for dinner. 

We enjoyed a yummy and entertaining dinner (we had no idea there was live music and a dancer!). He had on a lighted-skirt like thing that he took off and was spinning over his head (and our heads) while dancing and walking around the restaurant. His vest lit up also. I think Clarissa really liked that flashy style.

After dinner, we set up a time to meet back up the NYC cousins before their flight the following evening (did you recognize the kids from the NYC post! They sure have grown a lot). We obviously met back up at Souq Waqif since that is were they were staying and the best place to sightsee! Sparkly objects everywhere....even Ann and Jim couldn't resist a peek.

Of course we headed over to falcon souq because where else can you see beautiful falcons for sale?

We checked out a couple falcon shops and this beautiful falcon that had likely just had or was waiting for a check up at the falcon hospital.

From a class field trip, Clarissa knew a secret entrance into the horse stables. So we took the walkway less travelled.

Jim met a friendly horse.

We also witnessed a camel fight (None of us had ever seen one of those). The video wasn't very good (just like kids, they stopped the ankle bitting when you hit record), but I got a couple photos where you can tell it's not everyday happy camel happenings.

We headed to the playground a bit and then over to the corniche (walkway along the water). Clarissa and I opted to chill by the pearl fountain while the rest of the gang walked out to the very end of the docks to check out the view of downtown.

Afterwards, the weary cousins headed back for a nap before the flight for that evening and we headed home to get ready for Santa's arrival. For a number of evenings we were playing holiday pictionary-type game. We did Christmas songs, movies, foods, objects, etc. I think the funniest picture that nobody could guess was Clarissa's drawing of a manager waving bye aka 'Away in a Manger'. I have apparently failed as a parent...lol.

Christmas came and went in a flash....some flashes had a bit more energy early in the morning and were unable to stay still enough for a photo., while other flashes could barely open their eyes...lol.

If you remember, over the summer, Clarissa and I had picked up fabric and pattern. As you saw, I squeezed in the time to make everyone matching Christmas PJs!

We had the usual chores of grocery shopping for things like cabbages twice as big as your head (luckily we were able to request 1/4 of it), while Ann and Jim were in town (and Jim kindly took care to make sure all our leftovers/goodies got finished off).

We were able to fit in a few more sights and adventures before Ann and Jim's trip ended. One day Richard, Ann and I headed out to Al Zubarah Fort - Qatar's UNESCO heritage site. Jim had tweaked his back on the bike at Baladna and the kids had no interest in old stuff, so they stayed at home. It took us about an hour and half drive to get there.

Al Zubarah Fort and the archeological site at the city nearby is the only UNESCO site in the country. The fort was originally built in 1938 as a Qatari Coast Guard station. 

The fort was built with limestone, coral rock, and mud. It was used for protection and has two floors of soldiers quarters. There was also a deep fresh water well within the fort.

The nearby village (which is what really helps earn the UNESCO designation) has been undergoing archaeological excavation. Al Zubarah (which translates to mean 'sand mounds') has had documentation/history of villages since 1627. This was one of the areas used for pearl diving. So Ann learned all about the country's pearl diving (one exhibits was in the fort and some more in a little trailer). We were told we could walk/drive down to the village and then walk through, but the gate was shut that day. Here's a view of the water from the fort, you can see bits of the city remains poking up.

All in all, it was a great morning. We passed camels, Arabian Oryx and all kinds of interesting scenery on our way.

By this time, we only had a couple days left and our visitors were getting their luggage packed up. There was only thing on their Doha bucket list they hadn't checked off. Due to all the rain, we hadn't gone dune bashing which includes a stop to ride camels. Now Ann wasn't all the interested in bashing dunes, but did want to ride on a camel. I have to admit, I had a great idea! I suggested it to Richard, he agreed it was a great idea....so off he and Ann went (since Jim's back was still not 100% he passed again). They drove out to Sealine - where the SUVs head off-road but have to stop and deflate their tires. So while the drivers deflate their tires there are restrooms, Arabic coffee to drink, falcons to hold, and of course...camels to ride.

Ann loved her camel ride! Mission Accomplished! I am in the process of clearing off a spot on the shelf for my favorite person of the day camel statuette...lol.

Just like that, our visitors had spent a month taking in the sites, tastes, and sounds of Qatar. I think we did a pretty good job of showing them most of Qatar! I put together this little map that showed them where all they explored. 

A few hours after they left, Ms. Isa Lei started demanding to know where her snack dealer was....apparently even the grandkitty got spoiled!