My children came to visit me over Christmas week, arriving on 18th Dec, the Qatar National Day. This was on a Friday and proceedings were due to start in the afternoon, after Friday prayers. The children came on a night flight especially to make it in time for the celebrations. But the evening before we all got a message on our phones from the mobile telephone companies (there are only 2 in Qatar) that the proceedings will start at 8 in the morning ( a great way of getting a message to all the nation). That was a blow to the schedule. Children arrived at 9:30am and at this time we saw the military planes do the air show, but we only saw them when they came to turn around above us as we were many miles from the main show area. So we missed the air show. I took the children home and they went to sleep for a few hours, during which period we had heavy thunderstorms. Then I realised why the plan had changed from afternoon to early morning, they didn’t want the dignitaries to get wet at the opening ceremony of the celebrations.
The other organised part of the event was to be the firework display, and we sort of missed this as well. The traffic was too heavy around the Corniche, infact, it was virtually stationary, so we headed to The Pearl (the Qatar equivalent of Dubai Palm Islands), and thought we could see the Corniche from a distance. So we sat having a very expensive coffee and the fireworks started, and we didn’t realise that the part of the Corniche where the fireworks were was on the other side of some tall buildings. So we got some distant noises and saw only the topn end of the tall fireworks in the sky. We sort of got the essence of it.
So despite having missed these two major events and getting soaked when the heavens opened (my kids must have brought the clouds with them from UK), we still managed to enjoy the day. This is because the best part of the day was watching the local people parade along the streets doing some crazy things. We’ve all seen a carnival, so imagine an unplanned carnival where everyone does their own thing and has their own way of celebrating. So the floats are cars (mainly land cruisers) and there are many activities around each vehicle, here are some details to help you imagine ...
A car with someone standing on the bonnet (while it’s moving) holding a large Qatari flag and dancing to music coming from within the car, which is decorated with Qatar national colour (purple) hearts, and his friends are sat moving to music on top of the roof.
A whole lane of cars is stopped because a group of middle aged men in full Arab gear decided to get out and do the Qatar national dance in the middle of the street.
All the cars in the three lanes have been stopped by three cars which have slowed down. As the cars in front move forward the road is emptied for a while, and one of the cars comes screeching ahead doing hand brake turns and is spinning round and round in the middle of the road with spectators just meters away.
So imagine three lanes of a road both ways (6 lanes all together) of such spectacles. Mustn’t forget to mention the Ferrari with two posers. A little boy (about 8 years old) stood by the road side and as cars with open windows drove past he would spray silly string into the car which he was hiding behind his back. Well, the occupants of the Ferrari were not too pleased when they were shown up by this little kid and his silly string.
Despite the danger element it is still fun to watch, and its fascinating that such recklessness is allowed in the name of fun and celebration.
The other organised part of the event was to be the firework display, and we sort of missed this as well. The traffic was too heavy around the Corniche, infact, it was virtually stationary, so we headed to The Pearl (the Qatar equivalent of Dubai Palm Islands), and thought we could see the Corniche from a distance. So we sat having a very expensive coffee and the fireworks started, and we didn’t realise that the part of the Corniche where the fireworks were was on the other side of some tall buildings. So we got some distant noises and saw only the topn end of the tall fireworks in the sky. We sort of got the essence of it.
So despite having missed these two major events and getting soaked when the heavens opened (my kids must have brought the clouds with them from UK), we still managed to enjoy the day. This is because the best part of the day was watching the local people parade along the streets doing some crazy things. We’ve all seen a carnival, so imagine an unplanned carnival where everyone does their own thing and has their own way of celebrating. So the floats are cars (mainly land cruisers) and there are many activities around each vehicle, here are some details to help you imagine ...
A car with someone standing on the bonnet (while it’s moving) holding a large Qatari flag and dancing to music coming from within the car, which is decorated with Qatar national colour (purple) hearts, and his friends are sat moving to music on top of the roof.
A whole lane of cars is stopped because a group of middle aged men in full Arab gear decided to get out and do the Qatar national dance in the middle of the street.
All the cars in the three lanes have been stopped by three cars which have slowed down. As the cars in front move forward the road is emptied for a while, and one of the cars comes screeching ahead doing hand brake turns and is spinning round and round in the middle of the road with spectators just meters away.
So imagine three lanes of a road both ways (6 lanes all together) of such spectacles. Mustn’t forget to mention the Ferrari with two posers. A little boy (about 8 years old) stood by the road side and as cars with open windows drove past he would spray silly string into the car which he was hiding behind his back. Well, the occupants of the Ferrari were not too pleased when they were shown up by this little kid and his silly string.
Despite the danger element it is still fun to watch, and its fascinating that such recklessness is allowed in the name of fun and celebration.
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