Farmer’s Market

So. I bring one box of 4-kg broccoli home. The price? 20QR only…

I got that from a newly set up farmer’s market, officially called Al Mazrouah Yard. A new initiative by Ministry of Environment and Hassan Food Company . Homegrown produce like tomatoes, potatoes, broccoli, cucumbers, eggplant, jerjer are available. Unfortunately I couldn’t find out spinach and pakcoy that I was looking for. Some indicative prices are below:

Green Chilly 3 kg QR 9

Capsicum (green) 3 kg QR 20

Cucumber 7 kg QR 11

Khoosa 5 kg QR 16

Egg plant 4 kg QR 15

Tomatoes 7 kg QR 15

Cabbage 1 piece weighing 3 kg QR 5

Cauliflower 5 kg QR 12

Pumpkin 8 kg QR 11

Yellow pumpkin 8 kg QR 12

Beans 4 kg QR 10

Radish 5 kg QR 18

Jirijir leaves 8 bunches in a box QR 5

Beat root 7 kg QR 16

Coriander 15 bunches in a box QR 10

Broccoli 4 kg QR 20

Spinach 10 bunches in a box QR 10

(Source: The Peninsula)

The market – with 24 stalls – is open from Thu to Sat from 7am to 7pm. It can be accessed through Al Shamal Expressway Exit 16 and follow the exit to another 3.2-km (from the road) or 2.2-km from the roundabout westwardly. When I visited last week small direction signs were provided.

Coordinate: 25°26’2″N   51°22’56″E

Now…let me think how to consume that much of broccoli 🙂 Care to share recipes?

Al Mazrouah Yard

 

24 stalls are set up in the yard offering local produce

 

A box of 4-kg broccoli worth 20QR only

 

 

 

Purple Island Revisited

Revisited Purple Island on 22 Dec 2012 for a family field trip of Association of Indonesian Petroleum Engineers (IATMI) Chapter Qatar. As a trip leader, I had 19 cars in tow in the foggy morning that turned out to become a slightly hot day. Nevertheless, it was still an interesting trip. And as always the most interesting part was while crossing the first two water breaches. Two kids were perfectly wetted due to slippage during the crossing 🙂

With us was one geologist who happy enough to share his knowledge on rock formation. Interesting!

We also had a small clean-up drive; collecting rubbish dumped by irresponsible people. We found usual and interesting items: from energy drink cans, plastic bottles, plastic bags, instant noodle cup to – I’m sorry – co***m. Fiuuhh.

Some pictures from the visit below.

See old post here including Directions how to get there.

The start of the causeway

Migrating bird on transit in Purple Island

Mangrove in Purple Island

Crossing the breach is always fun

Crossing the breach

Halopeplis perfoliata

 

Glossonema varians

Fathan interested in this insect mound

Faiq and Fathan climbed up the hill

This portion of the island is full of seasnail shells – source of ancient purple dye

Seasnails fossil in the making

Area as seen from one of the hills

Clean-up drive

Mangrove is well-known for fish breeding spots

 

Al Khor Community as seen from the island

Flora of Qatar

While searching for information on flora of Qatar, I found a good book detailing all floras in Qatar. In this 67-page book, Unesco Office in Doha provides an up-to-date scientific reference on Qatar’s habitats and vegetation. There are 110 vegetations listed, each has detailed information on scientific name, growth form, status, habitat and distribution and uses.

Due to copyright issues, they can’t be displayed here but you can access and download the book from this link. Look at page 48 for the pictures of 110 vegetations that make up the list.

Have you ever spotted one of them?

 

Unesco’s An Illustrated Checklist of the Flora of Qatar

Some changes in this blog

I made few changes to this blog.

– Domain. The blog address is now “wahyuinqatar.com”. This address will direct blog readers to the same/prior blog: wahyuinqatar.wordpress.com. I deleted wordpress.com from the address to make it more personal by using paid-services from WordPress (US$18 per year).

– WordAds. This is the official WordPress advertising program. Every now and then, here and there, post-related ads will be placed by WordPress. Any inconvenience is regretted.

– Theme. I changed the theme regularly for refreshing. There are many paid-theme available, but as of now I stick to free-theme provided by WordPress. Thanks to the developers.

I just hope that these changes make the blog better.

Doha 23rd International Book Fair

Few shots from a recent visit to Doha 23rd International Book Fair. The fair is held from 12 Dec to 22 Dec 2012 at Doha Exhibition Center. We found that majority of stands are offering Arabic books,  not surprising. Only few English book stands (less than 5?) present and they are among hundreds of stands from many participating countries particularly from Middle East.

There are special participation from Embassy of the USA, French Embassy, Japan Foundation. Kinokuya also presents with its cosplay and famous animation figure such as Naruto. Other stands include computer and gadget accessories.

If you’re lucky you can grab a boxy paper trolley for free to help you carry your book shopping. The trolley is distributed intermittently at the information desk.

Apart from stands there are also a stage, and book review room.

Although this is a book fair, I am surprised to see that the book price is not necessarily cheaper.

It may be worth visited and if you are non-Arabic reader don’t expect too much though.

Thanks to the book fair organizer at least for making this fair happen and to Blackberry for the camera 🙂

2012 Doha 23rd International Book Fair

Faiq and Fathan tried to spot English book stands

One of the stands from abroad

Fathan enjoyed browsing books

A stand from French Embassy

A stand from Japan

Kinokuniya and Cosplay

Fathan with book trolley

Happy Fathan brings home lots of books

Ehem :)

 

 

Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge Stadium and Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium

Belated post. Some pictures from summer visit to Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge Stadium (with museum and stadium tour) and Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium (no tour).

Chelsea.

Information on the stadium tour can be obtained from here: http://www.chelseafc.com/stadium-tours. Stamford Bridge Stadium is easily accessible by tube. The nearest station is Fulham Broadway station, 200m from the stadium. The museum and stadium tour costs GBP18 and lasts for one hour plus museum visit. Tour is held every half an hour starting from 10am to 3pm. Time saving tips is that you should visit  museum first then follow guided-tour otherwise you need to go back to museum from the megastore as far as half-stadium distance. Allow 15-20 minutes for the museum unless you are a big fan of Chelsea.

As usual, the tour takes visitors to the external of stadium, the pitch, home dressing room, visiting team dressing room, press conference room, fans zone beneath the stadium and the tunnel leading to the pitch. And expectedly ended at the club megastore. It was a good tour except that Chelsea run the tour directly to the pitch, not saving the most dramatic moment of seeing the pitch at the end.

Stamford Bridge Stadium – Chelsea’s Home

 

Chelsea FC Museum

Inside Chelsea’s Museum

Miniature of the Stadium

One of the entrance gate to the stadium

Our tour leader asked which football club each of us supports. Of course not Chelsea :p

The pitch under preparation for the start of 2012-13 league

In Stamford Bridge Stadium

One of the stands in Stamford Bridge

Chelsea Dressing Room

Chelsea Dressing Room

Visiting Team Dressing Room. Look how different it is with Chelsea’s

Placing game board behind the door is one of the Chelsea’s tactics to win the game

Press Conference Room

Tunnel to the pitch

Expectedly the tour ended at the club store

ARSENAL

Due to limited time, a visit to Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium was without a guided stadium tour. I visited the stadium external only. Emirates Stadium is easily accessible from Arsenal station (Piccadilly line), a three minute walk. Other stations like  Finsbury Park (Victoria, Piccadilly Lines and Great Northern rail) and Highbury & Islington (Victoria Line, North London Line and Great Northern rail) stations are around a 10-minute walk. Emirates Stadium is a modern stadium with modern architecture. Arsenal legends such as Henry, Tony Adams are honored with statues and big posters across stadium whereas fans from all part of the world honored on fans wall. As it is famously known as The Gunner, Arsenal marks its significance with two big guns placed near ticketing counters and megastore, not-to-be-missed photo opportunity.

Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium. With Tony Adams’s statue

The stadium and museum

Fans’ wall

Thierry Henry, one of the Arsenal legends

Arsenal known as The Gunners