Welcome to Qatar, y'all! (part one)

About a week ago, I returned home from a twelve-day trip to Qatar, where I was doing some preliminary work on a new research project. I stayed mostly in Doha, which is the capital and by far the biggest city, though on the last day I got the chance to venture out of town to a camel-feed farm with some amazing nature photographers and birders. Though I have spent a lot of time in other parts of the Middle East, this was my first trip to the Gulf. Here are some impressions...

(above is the stunning Museum of Islamic Art, designed by I.M. Pei, and opened in late 2008. more on this later).

My hotel was about a 15 minute walk away from the Corniche, a pedestrian walkway that stretched all the way along the curved bay of the city. Despite it being October, it was insanely hot, but everything immediately felt about ten degrees cooler on the Corniche. Below, a fishing dhow; a pop-up mosque on the beach; window reflections; and skyline with the spiraled Islamic Cultural Center.

Friday prayer at the mosque outside my hotel window:

The amount of construction going on in Doha was mind-boggling. For the past 10 years or so, Qatar has been building some of the most impressive, modern buildings in the world, and there are many more in the works. Below, the downtown skyline; the Doha Tower by French architect Jean Nouvel; the Cornell University building in Education City (this is really what it's called); an office building near my hotel; and one of the many, many gigantic malls strewn throughout the city.

 

And, finally, there was this guy: