Here's the rest of my TR. Thanks for reading!
We landed in Doha and had planned to take the free Doha city tour offered by Qatar airways and written about on TA. The information there had indicated that any stopover - regardless of airline would be entitled to this free tour. We went through immigration and paid the 30 dollar fee on our credit cards to enter Qatar. When we got to the tour desk we were told we can't take the tour as it's not for stopovers between Gulf Coast Countries and in addition you need to fly in and out on Qatar airways. We flew in using Qatar but were departing on Etihad. No amount of pleading or convincing worked so we were now stuck in Qatar without a plan.
Courtesy of the free airport wifi I quickly read up on what to do in Doha and we exited the airport. A Pakistani guy came over to us and offered us a city tour for 25 USD an hour and we figured it was our best bet at that point so we agreed to go. I wasn't sure what I was getting into but I was willing to take my chances.
Turns out the driver was really nice and friendly, as were most of the foreign workers who live in Qatar. He took us the Museum of Islamic Art which is on a private island which houses on this museum. The grounds and architecture were stunning, and being Qatar, which is currently the wealthiest country in the world, there was no admission fee. Turns out almost nothing we did had any fees.
After touring the museum our driver than drove us through downtown Doha. Lots of construction in preparation for the World Cup. The slave labor going on there to build the facilities is rather obvious and I won't shed a tear if FIFA is forced to rescind Qatar's hosting the 2022 world cup.
We then went to the waterfront which is really a large area with outdoor theaters, shops and beautiful paths through this brand new but ancient themed city. There were golf carts and drivers who drove us around - for free of course. Gold plated Mosques and the works. We then stopped by the beach which had strict rules banning bathing suits. No matter, the woman were in the water with the full Islamic garb and only their eyes sticking out. I guess there's not much of a market for sunscreen!
Our driver then showed us a couple of other sites before we went to the Shuk. The Shuk has nothing in common with the ones I had seen in Israel as it was really a brand new facility designed to have a Shuk atmosphere. As it was in middle of the afternoon most of the shops were closed although there were some people around. We noticed a couple of Westerners but nothing on the scale of Dubai or Abu Dhabi. The heat was tolerable at that time of year (April).
There was also a Falcon Shuk but that was closed as well so at that point we just headed back to the airport. It was interesting to see different mens and womens quiet areas in the airport with the womans area being with etched glass that you can't see in to. We took an uneventful flight to Abu Dhabi after which I waited for my return redeye home and my buddy went to his hotel as his flight wasn't until the next morning.
As there was US customs in the airport which took forever I was able to pass the five hours quickly between the lounge and getting the gate. The flight was delayed for no apparent reason by about an hour and a half and the flight was completely full however I somehow got an exit row which made it more comfortable.
All in all it was a great trip and although I had Israeli stamps and was born in Israel I didn't have any real issues in the UAE, Bahrain or Qatar. My Qatar stamp is actually across the page from an Israeli stamp!
