while not null: A trip to spend a bit of time with mama

Doha, the capital of Qatar (population 2.8 million) was a shock for me because of the weather. It reminded me of Darwin in Australia. Hot and humid to the point of feeling like being in a sauna. If you are going to visit and want to spend time outdoors, go in December or January. Otherwise, you will need to be very careful outdoors. The felt temperature during my stay was about 50 C. Surprisingly, even at these temperatures I saw birds, smaller than sparrows, with beaks open, rummaging in the bushes.

Practical tips: if you have an e-passport, try the automatic gates - a much faster way to enter and exit the country. Travel insurance is mandatory, but does not seem to be checked. Sim card: get a Vodafone sim at the airport - it was reasonably priced for a short stay. On Friday (Muslim holy day) the metro starts running at 2pm. Get the Karwa Taxi app to book a free metroexpress minibus to your destination to/from the metro station. I didn't and walked - not recommended. Doha is huge and there is a good chance that your destination will be a fair distance from the station. There are also free scheduled metrolink buses.

Food: Carrefour and shopping malls are your friend. Small grocery shops - probably not, especially the ones that do not take credit cards. The Qatari Riyal is hard to exchange outside Qatar and if you find a place that buys it in your country the rate may be quite bad, even though the Riyal's value is fixed (pegged) to the US Dollar.

Gender and age imbalance. Doha is full of young men from Asia living and working there. This is especially visible when you get on the metro in standard class.

Ok, so what was interesting. Architecture, definitely. The geometrical shapes of the buildings, but also interior and exterior details.

There is a lot of construction going on in Doha.

The metro: modern, fast, cheap standard class fare, good frequency, connecting to the airport, interesting architecture of the stations, driver-less, 3-car sets, a separate car for "gold club" class (5x more expensive than standard) with access only from the platform, a separate car for women and families. The Doha metro stations seem to be deep underground - compared to shallow metros it takes a while to get to the platform. The wayfinding could be better. I kept getting lost and arriving at a wrong exit on street level, only to have to go back down again and try a different corridor and exit. Once on the surface there was often no easy way to cross the street, so taking the correct exit is important.

All platforms are fully enclosed. You cannot see the train until the doors open.

It would be great if you could exit from the station directly to a nearby destination, like the Villagio Mall. Not having to walk outdoors through a car parking lot would improve the experience a lot: