Welcome to my third blog entry, in which you'll finally be able to see something that you might have expected to see when I told you I was going to the Middle East.
As you're no doubt aware, I arrived in Doha during Ramadan, Islam's month-long religious ritual of daytime fasting and nighttime celebration. Here in Qatar, it's against the law for anyone to eat, drink or smoke in public during the fasting hours, which run from sun-up to sun-down. Once the sun goes down, Muslims break their fast with a few dates and some water, then go to the mosque to pray. After that, the family celebrations begin and can last until sunrise the next morning.
The college arranged for all the new staff to experience what the celebrations can be like by taking us to the Ramadan tent in the Ritz Carlton. To give you an idea of how beautiful this hotel is, go to:
I took a few photos in the lobby, as I was astonished by the beauty of just that area. This is the chandelier that hangs over the lobby and some of the gorgeous flower arrangements there:
The "tent" was set up in the ballroom and was decorated in what I can only describe as Arabian Fantasy style. This was the VIP area, but nobody in attendance that evening was VIP enough ;-)
The rest of us ate at tables like these:
Sorry there aren't any photos of the HUGE buffet that filled the outer room attached to the ballroom... I was too busy stuffing my face with all the delicious European and Middle Eastern food!! My favourite offering was dessert: white chocolate and dark chocolate fountains with marshmallows to dip into the rich flowing decadence!!
At the entrance to the ballroom anteroom was an exhibtion of Middle Eastern handicrafts. I loved the pashminas and this tea?coffee? set:
Beautiful! Definitely like Arabian Nights. :) Very cool.
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