Starbucks Cafes in Doha

There are of course many branches of Starbucks in Doha, we sometimes go to the ones in Landmark, Villaggio, Hyatt Plaza and City Centre malls. The staff in City Centre and Hyatt Plaza have been very friendly and helpful.

Usual drinks of course with lattes, cappuccinos etc as well as filling that gap snacks.

The only thing that spoils these cafes for me is that they are inside no smoking Malls and some people think it is OK to smoke in them. This puts me off going in as it is nice to eat and drink without the accompanying cigarette smoke.

Starbucks stores in Doha List

Phoning by Skype

I don't talk much on the phone but my wife likes to chat! Therefore for long distance phone calls it is ideal. You need a computer and an internet connection, set up an account and away you go.

It is a lot cheaper than using a mobile or land line phone, the service is good and you can set up to automatically top up your account after every £11.50 spent.

In Dubai the Skype was blocked so we had to get a VPN (look it up on Wikipedia) to overcome this blocking.

Transferring Money from your bank account overseas

I have a bank account with the HSBC that was not great to set up and was a fair bit of hassle. However now it is set up I can make transfers to other accounts.

I can make transfers to my UK Bank Account and the HSBC website allows me to set up a template for this and I can just vary the money and date I wish to send. I have also set up regular payments too in this way for regular monthly bills.

The charges for me are steep to do this. To transfer funds to the UK from Doha costs me in total 106 Riyals for each transfer. To be fair to HSBC the majority of this charge is from my UK bank. Why does it cost so much for a computer transfer I have no idea?

This post is to give you some idea of the charges when you want to transfer funds from your Qatar bank account to your home country. Also that is sometimes difficult to tie down exactly how much in total you will pay as your home country bank charge is difficult to ascertain first.

A Trip Away from Doha - Muscat in Oman

Oman is not too far away flying time from Doha and getting a flight will not be a problem. It is nice to get away for a few days and chill out.

My wife and I went to Muscat in Oman when we were staying in Dubai. However we drove there and the journey was a bit long (6 hours) and getting across the border was not much fun at all.

However, we did stay a quite a nice hotel called the Chedi Muscat. Here are some reviews of the hotel at Trip Advisor.

We had a very nice relaxing stay at the hotel and we enjoyed the spa, pools and the restaurants. The bedrooms for me were more style than substance. They look good but practically they are a pain. Must confess that we did not leave the hotel much or explore around the area. However most people seem to like Oman so it is worth checking out for a long weekend away from Doha.

Market by Jean-Georges at W Hotel special lunch deal

My colleague suggested this to me, said that he had a fantastic lunch there for a special offer of 85 Riyals. This I believe is only during the lunchtime.

The Market restaurant (not to be confused with the Spice Market) is in the W Hotel. The W Hotel is located two blocks in front of the City Center Mall out in West Bay.

Maybe it is best that you call and see if the deal is still on? Here is a link to the W Hotel Website.

Having checked out the website, the restaurant unfortunately allows smoking, as does all of the W Hotel restaurants etc except the W Cafe. This is the 21st Century W Hotel, when do we get clean air to breathe?

Talking Matters Toastmasters Meeting on Monday 26 September 2011

Come along to our next meeting of Talking Matters Toastmasters Club:

Venue: The Oryx Rotana Hotel, Doha (near the airport)

Time: 7pm to 9.30pm

Date: Monday 26 September 2011

Listen and be entertained by the prepared speeches, hear them being kindly and positively evaluated. Watch the people playing the various roles for the meeting and be enthralled by the lively and entertaining table topics session.

As a guest you can get in for free, have some nice snacks and a coffee at the interval as well as making some new friends. Come along and join us!!!

Branigans Restaurant near the Tennis Club

This restaurant is next door to the Doha Tennis Club that is down just off the Corniche pretty much into West Bay. At the Oryx Roundabout turn away from the Corniche and there is a big car park at the first turn off on your right.

This is a good place for families as it has a big playground for children. The food is mainly of the chips with everything variety. Burgers, Coca Cola, ice cream etc. We have been there once with some friends with young children and they like to go there.

For my wife and I it is a bit run down and needs a bit of an update. Not really my cup of tea.

Ruby Wu's Asian restaurant in the Ramada Hotel

Ruby Wu's restaurant is in the basement of the Ramada Hotel. It is in the left hand Ramada building as you look at the hotel from the car park. Just pretty much walk straight then go down a sweeping Hollywood staircase into the open basement area.

Ruby Wu's Asian restaurant shares its space with Bombay Balti restaurant so you can also get Indian food while you are there. It does good food (as does the Bombay Balti) so you will not be disappointed. It is also licenced.

Only down side is that sometimes you get smoked over, unfortunately that is the case with all pretty much all Doha restaurants. One day they will realise that it is nice to breathe clean air when you having a meal?

Phone 4428 1428

Trip Advisor Reviews

Ruby Wu's Website in Ramada Hotel

Talking Matters Toastmasters Meeting on Monday 26 September 2011

Come along to our next meeting of Talking Matters Toastmasters Club:

Venue: The Oryx Rotana Hotel, Doha (near the airport)

Time: 7pm to 9.30pm

Date: Monday 26 September 2011

Listen and be entertained by the prepared speeches, hear them being kindly and positively evaluated. Watch the people playing the various roles for the meeting and be enthralled by the lively and entertaining table topics session.

As a guest you can get in for free, have some nice snacks and a coffee at the interval as well as making some new friends. Come along and join us!!!

Holiday Away from Doha to Sri Lanka

While you are staying in Doha, it is good to spend a holiday every so often around the area to take advantage of your location. We also like to get away from the desert and experience a different culture too.

A couple of Christmas's ago we went to Sri Lanka. It is only about a four hour flight from Doha and Sri Lanka is a good place to visit. We stayed near Columbo in an eco friendly hotel that was OK (if not exactly luxurious) and we were able to chill out and the locals made an effort at Christmas time too.

We also had a two day trip by car to Candy that was great. We visited an elephant orphanage, a tea plantation as well as a temple where there is a Buddha's tooth!

We liked Sri Lanka and would recommend it as a different place to go.

The One furniture stores

These shops called "The One" are funky sort of furniture stores. Not really to my taste, it always seems a bit gothic to me but maybe that is what you like?

There are two branches that I know of. One in Landmark Mall and the other in Villaggio Mall (this one is next to the cinema). The Villaggio one sold us some tickets for Doha College to see Miss Saigon but I don't think this is a regular service.

Both of these are worth a browse round to see if you can enhance the decoration in your home.



Small Turkey Breasts

As there is only my wife and I here in Doha we do not want family size portions of anything and we found in Carrefour (branches in City Centre and Villaggio Malls) that they do a frozen turkey all breast that is really good for just the two of us.

We did not find this in the other supermarkets, so just in case you were looking for this which is an ideal size for two with a bit left over for cold turkey the next day then Carrefour is your place, in the frozen food fridges.

Time Out Doha magazine

Time Out Doha magazine we usually buy on our trips to the supermarket where it is usually on sale at the check outs. I believe it comes out once a month but it might be less frequently than this. We have a browse through it and select somewhere new to eat or maybe there is a feature that we are interested in.

No doubt you are familiar with Time Out for your local city and the Doha version is worth picking up each edition for some new ideas of what to do in Doha.

There is also an on line version too.

Time Out Doha Website

Toastmasters International

My wife and I joined Talking Matters Toastmasters Club in Doha about ten months ago and thoroughly enjoy the experience. We have made new friends, enjoyed the speeches and even joined the Excom Committee to help run the Club. Our Club meets each second and fourth Monday of the month at the Oryx Rotana Hotel at 6.45pm to 9.30pm. Please come along and join in.

However there are many Toastmasters Clubs in Doha and they are all affiliated to Toastmasters International (TMI) so you can go to the TMI website and read all about Toastmasters and then conduct your own research into a suitable Toastmasters for you. You will benefit very much from joining a Club.

TMI Website

W Cafe at the W Hotel in West Bay

The W Cafe is in the W Hotel on the ground floor opposite the City Centre shopping mall a couple of blocks down.

The decor in the W Cafe is really bizarre, nothing seems to match and the colours are quite gaudy. It is a bit expensive for what you get. However the drinks and snacks are nice. My wife and I have popped in a few times and I also like to look into the Apple computers store in the hotel right next door.

It does nice cup cakes and latte, as well as a nice tea (i.e. as in sandwiches, cakes etc with coffee or tea). It was also open in Ramadan this year so that was good to pop in during the day and have a bite to eat and get a latte.

Link to website

Qatar Visitor Website

This is a very useful website that will give you loads of information about Qatar and Doha. It was (along with Qatar Living) one of the most useful information websites that we used when we first came to Doha and I still check back onto it from time to time. Time Out Doha as well I like but just tend to buy the magazine rather than visit the site.

Qatar Visitor provide information on hotels, travel, residents informaiton, town and city guide, things to do, Qatar culture, shopping and history of Qatar.

Qatar Visitor website

Using a petrol station in Doha

This for me is one of the small pleasures of being in Doha. The petrol stations here seem generally to be quite small and frankly a bit rundown and scruffy.

However, the price of the fuel is very cheap, probably about 1/5th of the price of that in the UK.

Also, someone will put the petrol in for you, you just need to tell the man what you want. They also sell newspapers generally as well. I always get out of the car and talk to the man filling the tank for me and find out where they are from and what their country is like. Always good to learn something.

Also, make sure you give the guy a nice big tip. I wouldn't want to stand out in the heat all day and smell petrol from dawn to dusk.

Around the petrol stations there are usually small shops where you can pop in and get a snack or get a little bit of shopping or a hair cut.

Petrol stations are often "hidden" in Doha, so make sure you take a note of where they are as for me there do not seem to be too many here.

Talking Matters Toastmasters Club Meeting on Wednesday 14 September 2011

Please come along to the next meeting of the Talking Matters Toastmasters Club that we will share with the Al Banush Club. It will be Talking Matters Clubs 191st meeting. The details are:

Venue: Al Banush Club, Masaeeid

Time: 7pm to 9.20pm

Date: Wednesday 14 September 2011

As a guest you will be able to watch people give their speeches that they have prepared, overcoming any fears of public speaking. There is also the lively Table Topics session where people give very short speeches off the cuff on subjects that they only get there and then. The prepared speeches are also kindly evaluated.

At the interval there are refreshments and for guests the entire evening is free!

Please come along and see what we get up to and make some new friends when you will surely join up!!!

Talking Matters Toastmasters Club Meeting on Wednesday 14 September 2011

Please come along to the next meeting of the Talking Matters Toastmasters Club that we will share with the Al Banush Club. It will be Talking Matters Clubs 191st meeting. The details are:

Venue: Al Banush Club, Masaeeid

Time: 7pm to 9.20pm

Date: Wednesday 14 September 2011

As a guest you will be able to watch people give their speeches that they have prepared, overcoming any fears of public speaking. There is also the lively Table Topics session where people give very short speeches off the cuff on subjects that they only get there and then. The prepared speeches are also kindly evaluated.

At the interval there are refreshments and for guests the entire evening is free!

Please come along and see what we get up to and make some new friends when you will surely join up!!!

McDonalds in Doha

McDonalds in Arabia website

You can search for your fix of  Big Macs, fries etc so that you can find your nearest branch in Doha on the link above.

Whilst we all moan and groan about globilisation, fast food, unhealthy food etc we all go to McD's! I like to go once or twice a year and get the Big Mac fix.

For me, I like the burgers and fries and McDonalds do fantastic ice cream and probably the worst coffee.

Ponderosa Steak House in Doha

There are a couple of branches of this restaurant on the Salwa Road one down on Ramada Junction and the other is a few roundabouts along on the Salwa Road towards Saudi.

I have been in the one along Salwa Road for a company meal to celebrate handing over a building. The place was functional and we had a buffet of salad, some meats and as much fizzy drink as you wanted. I understand that this is all for one price?

You can also get steaks etc from the a la carte menu too.

Probably a good place to go if you have young children, for me though it was OK but not brilliant and a place to pop into after shopping when you don't want to cook!

Some reviews here at Virtual Tourist

Talking Matters Toastmasters Club Meeting on Wednesday 14 September 2011 at 7pm

Please come along to the next meeting of the Talking Matters Toastmasters Club that we will share with the Al Banush Club. It will be Talking Matters Clubs 191st meeting. The details are:

Venue: Al Banush Club, Masaeeid

Time: 7pm to 9.20pm

Date: Wednesday 14 September 2011

As a guest you will be able to watch people give their speeches that they have prepared, overcoming any fears of public speaking. There is also the lively Table Topics session where people give very short speeches off the cuff on subjects that they only get there and then. The prepared speeches are also kindly evaluated.

At the interval there are refreshments and for guests the entire evening is free!

Please come along and see what we get up to and make some new friends when you will surely join up!!!

Holiday Inn Express

If you are planning a short trip to Dubai or the UK then I can thoroughly recommend Holiday Inn Express.

Before coming to Doha from Dubai we moved out of our apartment and we had to stay in a hotel for a few days. We stayed in the Holiday Inn Express down by the Rasheed Port. It was wonderful, a really nice clean room, quiet and comfortable. No pool but a small gym and also the food in the restaurant both for breakfast and for a meal in the evening was wonderful. Pretty good value for money (for Dubai!)

Holiday Inns in Dubai

We also stayed in a Holiday Inn Express in Langley in Berkshire, UK for a few days on holiday. The room was clean and servicable and the staff were friendly and it was good value for money. The food in the bar was pretty good. However what made the stay special for me was the serve yourself all you can eat breakfast. To have proper bacon after a year without this in Doha was a lovely experience.

Holiday Inn Express in the UK

Shopping during Call to Prayer on a Friday in Doha

During Call to Prayer on a Friday between 11.30am and 12.30pm pretty much all the shops will be closed. This means that you have to plan around these times if you want to go shopping. Quite a few shops will be open prior to these times and then will open again afterwards.

The timings for shops in Doha on a Friday are a bit hit and miss and you will need to learn through experience when shops etc are open etc.

We went to the cinema in Villaggio as it advertised a film starting at 11.30am, but this did not include Friday. However, we did not know this in advance and when we got there at 11.15am on a Friday the cinema was completely shut. It did not reopen until 1.30pm (I think).

Probably best to avoid shopping during this time and check with the shop before you leave.

Dunkin Donuts in Doha

There are a few Dunkin Donuts in Doha that I know of and if you need your sugar fix then rest assured you can still find these around the place.

Two that I know of (but of course never go into :-)) are at the Teyseer garage on Al Waab Street (opposite the Hyatt Plaza Mall) and Landmark Mall.

A full list of Dunkin Donuts stores in Doha is here

Careful Driving in Doha

Being from the UK I have learned since coming to the Middle East (Dubai before Doha) that we drive pretty well in the UK. We signal, politely wave when someone gives us the right of way etc.

Driving in Doha is pretty different to this. Drivers sometimes drive fast and weave in and out of the traffic, taking risks. Do not copy them, it is dangerous.

People will push in front of you in queues.

Drivers will sometimes tail gate you and flash their lights to intimidate you. (Swallow your pride and get out of the way, it is safer).

No one signals at all.

A lot of people do not know how to use roundabouts and weave from lane to lane or just drive from the inside to the turning at the last minute. Beware.

If you let anyone in front of you or give someone else the right of way, then no one will wave and acknowledge this like they do in the UK.

While you are learning about this different culture of driving in Doha please take care, you will soon adjust.

Comfort Website: Wimp.com

In the heat of Doha, shops closed and not a lot going on then thoughts go to what to do. Many of us like to go on to the internet to check news and also to be entertained.

One website that I have discovered is called http://www.wimp.com/

This is basically where people have posted videos (about 5 a day) that can be entertaining, informative, slightly provactive etc. Worth checking out and watching a few.

The site is child friendly, there is nothing on it that is anywhere near the border of bad taste etc.

Getting Stuck in the Traffic and getting extremely frustrated

If you are a big fan of getting stuck in traffic, getting cut up by inconsiderate drivers and queuing in your car for ages then I can thoroughly recommend going to the Doha shopping Malls on a Friday afternoon. From about 5pm to 9pm it is complete hell on earth. Villaggio is particualarly bad.

The above is really a bit tongue in cheek but you need to plan your shopping times a bit in Doha as some of the car parks cannot cope with peak demand. Try and avoid the times that I have outlined above and you will be fine.

We usually go to the shopping malls outside of these times and generally we can park OK but there have been a couple of occassions when we have risked going at these times, queued up for about half an hour and then just given up and come home again.

Try Blogger

At the time of writing this blog post it is Ramadan and most of the shops are shut and the internet is obviously a place of entertainment and I am using the website called Blogger that is great to get my experiences out on Doha in this blog. It is also summer so what to do is fairly limited to shopping malls and hotel dining for me.

I have another blog where I review books that is called Rod the Blog

There are all types of blogs that people post and I use the blog provider called Blogger that is good although sometimes idiosyncratic. The Website Blogger. Check out other people's blogs on Blogger to see what other interests people blog about.

You will probably need a bit of training about Blogger and I used Recognized Expert. This site is great, lots (over 100) individual short (5 minutes or less) videos that take you by the hand step by step for all you really need to know.

British Home Stores (BHS) in Doha

Anything British is OK with me!!! There are two BHS stores in Doha as far as I know. One of these is in Landmark Mall next door to Marks and Spencer, so you can flit between the two to get the clothes that you would like.

Here is a review of BHS in Landmark in Qatar Visitor

The other branch is much quieter and is down in Boulevard Mall that is just along from the Ramada Crossroads heading towards La Cigale direction and is a block or so after La Cigale. The Mall is pretty small but does have a couple of coffee shops there as well as a shop that sells sweets.

Here is a review of the Boulevard Mall at I Love Qatar website

Paying Your Kahramaa bills on line through your bank account or on line

One thing we all cannot avoid is paying bills and Kahramaa which is the electricity and water supplier allows you to do this on line through your bank account.

However, to set this up is quite difficult as the number that you have to quote as your reference is about sixteen digits long. If I were you, have a bill in front of you and ring up Kahramaa so that you can get this done once. I got frustrated with trying different numbers before I called them.

You can also pay on line by epayment so that is another option for you too.

For both of these options, check out the Kahramaa Website