The Islamic Museum of Art and Fly to Kuwait

 

The Islamic Museum of Art in the morning fog.

The entrance way

This is a silk woven curtain that was used in Mecca.

Stunning building...

halls...

and exhibits.

Medieval and crusader times

Weaponry

Having fun with another tourist.

A new Kenyan friend.

The fog had lifted by the time I came out.

Proud family welcoming home a new doctor (holding the flowers).

Monday, February 9th.

Today was my final day in Qatar. We had an optional visit to the Islamic Art Museum. The building was designed by the world famous architect I.M. Pei, who designed the pyramid attached to the Louvre in Paris. He was bought out of retirement by the King of Qatar who wanted to build a museum dedicated to Islamic Art. It opened in 2008 and is stunning. The building is built in kind of a traditional desert block motif and the exhibits and pieces of art are wonderful. I wandered the halls admiring the artifacts and learning about 1400 years of Islamic art history. I saw a man holding a stuffed toy in front of an exhibit  as he was taking a photo, and I photographed him from the other side. We had a good laugh at that and I airdropped him the photo. In one exhibit hall I met another Kenyan security guard and we struck up a conversation. He was a very well educated, well spoken 40 year old (I learned his name was Samuel). Like other people I have met he is here because there are no opportunities for him back home. He sends most of his earnings home to support his wife and two children. I asked if his family wanted to join him but he said no, the culture shock would be too great. His wife would not want to dress as Qatari women. He told me that many Kenyans want to come to Canada, but he told me a friend of his went to an agency in Kenya and paid them a substantial fee to secure a work visa for Canada. When he got to Canada he found that it was a visitor visa and he could not work, and was required to leave after its expiry of three months. Sad to hear about scams like that involving Canada, but again goes to illustrate how lucky we are to live where we do and have the opportunities we do… an accident of birth.

Then I walked back to the hotel in time to meet the group, pick up my luggage and board the bus for the short drive to the airport. John phoned me when I was in the washroom, and we had a short talk. We checked our luggage and had some time to wander the airport before our short one hour flight to Kuwait. The airport there was not nearly as nice as Qatar and the immigration was onerous. Most of us had already paid for an e-visa before we arrived (the rest had to pay and apply on arrival) but that didn’t seem to make the entry any easier. We had to take a number and queue before meeting a immigration officer who scrutinized the printed visa, then sent us to another guy who took our finger and thumb prints and took several photographs of our eyes, before sending us back to the first guy who then stamped the visa paper. Then we had to go to the real customs officer and have our passports stamped. There were a lot of people there and the line was long. I was one of the first through and while waiting around we observed a whole family awaiting the arrival of their newly graduated doctor daughter/sister. They threw rose petals at her and hooted and hollered, very touching. We met our local driver and drove to the Al Hamra Hotel where we got our room assignments and shortly after headed out for a nice Italian meal in a modern mall across the street. We were back ‘home’ by 8:30.