I was very hungry after my dip in the Gulf, but I was also feeling quite frugal and a bit self-conscious about my attire. None of the places in the shopping center I had passed through seemed to serve walk-ups. Most of Doha’s restaurants – at least in this part of town – were aimed at higher class clientele. I eventually found a highly rated, inexpensive Yemeni “restaurant” on Google Maps. It turned out to be a nothing more than a food truck! The heat was oppressive even at this hour of the night. I really wanted to sit in an air conditioned space to await and eat my food. It just was not in the cards. I sat outside in front of a fan, and sweated out the wait. The food was good and inexpensive, but the wait was certainly not comfortable.

I walked down the shoreline and along the outside of a mall that was closed as I made my way back to the metro. The mall and shopping center were gaudily decorated with modern consumer-targeted architecture. A lighted gift box was incorporated in the building to encourage customers to purchase expensive presents. Sweat poured off of me as I passed a shore front cultural museum as well. It was closed as I knew it would be at this hour. I finally reached the metro station and began to cool down. I grabbed a few snacks and drinks for the next day as I walked the last few hundred meters from the metro back to my motel.

The national museum was my first stop the next morning. I learned there that I could buy a pass which would also gain me entry to the Sports Museum and the Museum of Islamic Art in a “three for the price of two” deal. Museums seemed like my best bet for activities on scorching August days in Qatar, so I let my Sudanese ticket clerk up sell me on the package.

About half of the National Museum of Qatar was closed for renovation. This was a cost of visiting in the off season. What was open was worth the visit. The structure itself is a very strange looking piece of modern art inspired by the desert rose crystal. Seeing an example of one of these crystals, the similarity was apparent. I found the part of the museum that had been Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim al Thani’s palace far more aesthetically pleasing.

Al Thani was born in the late 19th century and served as Emir of Qatar throughout much of the early 20th. When the Ottoman Empire began to back away from control of Qatar during the First World War, Al Thani asserted power. He ran the Ottomans out of Doha in 1915, and was eventually recognized by the British as the Emir. He signed a treaty with the British agreeing not to make political agreements with foreign powers without British approval in return for the British protecting Qatar from all sea-borne threats. Thus, Qatar became a British protectorate and remained so until British devolution of all of their colonial possessions after World War II. Al Thani was also fortunate enough to oversee discovery of oil in the region, and to benefit from the associated economic boom. The Al Thani palace section of the museum is not air conditioned, otherwise I might have spent a bit more time there. As it was, I enjoyed the building and the view from its roof.

The National Museum of Qatar – at least the portion that was open – had nice displays of jewelry, clothing, and traditional weaponry. The strongest section that was open covered the evolution of the Qatari economy. Prior to the discovery of oil, Qatar, like Bahrain, had been best known for its pearling industry. I had seen a bit more on the history of pearling in Bahrain than was on display at this museum, but the Qatari museum devoted a lot more space to the discovery of oil, and its transformation of the Qatari economy as well as the country’s future and current position in the world. Qatar embraces its status as an oil emirate, whereas Bahrain seems to be trying to move to a slightly more diverse economy with greater emphasis on banking. Certainly, the Al Thanis have done everything they can to highlight Qatari wealth on the world stage, as will be seen in more detail at the sports museum.

(Continued)