Spa Review|| Royal Thai Lady Spa

I have heard many good reviews about this spa, so one Saturday afternoon I decided to see if they could squeeze me in.

Royal Thai Lady Spa - Al Waab Street, Doha

Easy to find and has parking outside, accessibility isn't an issue.  It's very well known so if you take a taxi there you won't need to give the taxi driver directions!  One thing you need to know about Spa's and mos beauty establishments in Qatar is that men are strictly forbidden to go inside one and some ask that you leave the children behind too.  

I opted for an aromatherapy oil massage (170QR), I didn't opt for a Thai Massage (130QR) because I wanted a relaxing massage and usually I don't relax when I have a small human walking on me! 

Moments after arriving, my feet were placed in a large golden bowl of warm water and I was given a foot scrub - perfect.  I was then taken upstairs and along the way I enjoyed looking at the beautiful Thai decor throughout; I felt like I had left Doha. 

Pretty Thai statue that welcomes you at the entrance

My room was not a room per say, but it had a place for my items and hooks for my clothes and handbag.  The background music was difficult to hear as I was beside the a/c unit but soon became white noise.  As time progressed I realised that I could hear everything going on around me; people talking, the a/c unit, a iPhone ringing in the cubicle next to me because the lady in there had failed to turn on her phone off despite the signs and the toilet flushing!

The actual massage was great, all of my knots and aches were loosened and the Thai therapist had great skills.  I would have that massage again, but not in the cubicle with a curtain (think shop fitting room where you can throw things over the top to the next person in the next cubicle).

When it was time to go, I was escorted downstairs and given a small glass of water to sip for a few moments. In my own time, I went to the desk to pay.  'How was your experience?' asked the kind receptionist, I gave compliments to the therapist and said exactly what I've written above, that it was too noisy which made it hard to relax.  The receptionist advised me that they have one room with a door and full walls, and relaxing music, so next time I just need to specify that I want that room, and the best part is that there's no extra cost. 

Overall:

Treatment: 9/10

Experience: 4/10

Staff: 10/10

Cost: Lower end - Average 

Tips: Call in advance and ask for the quiet room

Final words:

Although not entirely relaxing, it was a through 1 hour, the therapist managed to get rid of a lot of knots that I had and finished by cracking my back which was so delightful!  I do recommend you go, but make sure you ask for the room if you want a dreamy treatment. 

Was this helpful?  What was your experience at the Royal Thai Lady Spa?

Restaurant Review|| Yum Yum, K108 Hotel

Yum Yum, K108 Hotel

It's Friday evening and my husband and I went to Yum Yum restaurant, which is on the 10th floor of the K108 Hotel. 

From the exterior the K108 looks clean and tidy despite being in a busy, noisy area. 

As you walk up the stairs to the entrance you come face to face with a large white, glass, automatic door, as you walk through there are beautiful lanterns on the floor before you walk through another large white, glass, automatic door.

Once you've ascended to the 10th floor a kind gentleman open the glass doors to the restaurant. My initial thoughts were, wow, this place is very pretty! 

A dimly lit restaurant, that has a clean fresh feel to it, mixed with nicely placed lanterns, embedded in coves in the wall, adding a warm glow to the room. 

The menu is simple and on one page! But, it's still hard to make a decision because the food on offer is delicious! The drinks menu offers non-alcoholic cocktails; if you need alcohol with your dinner, this is not the place for you. 

I opted for the Hammour with pumpkin and mushrooms (75QR), and my husband chose the lamb rack (95QR). 

Within 15 minutes our food arrived, freshly cooked and on hot places - perfect! 

The colourful, well-presented food tasted as good as it looked; it was fresh and extremely tasty. 

Surprisingly I did not get a dessert, my main meal was very filling, but didn't leave me feeling bloated! 

Conclusion

This is a wonderful find and very much a diamond in the rough; do not let the area deter you from going! 

Negatives: 

Make sure you get someone to park the car in the hotel's car park, otherwise you could be circling for a while trying to find a place to park! 

Do not sit on a table beside the doors to let the smokers in and out! A beautiful view, until someone opens the doors to go out and smoke and we had hot sticky air blown over us, followed by smoke smell while they were puffing away! 

Table beside smoking balcony

Positives 

The food is delicious, the service nothing short of excellent and the best part? When dining at Yum Yum you've donated to charity! A percentage of the hotel's profits is given to charity.

Service is excellent; staff are attentive but not over bearing.  The chef wears a clean, white uniform complete with a large white chef's hat. A well presented chef is refreshing to see. 

The tables have wonderful distances between them. No eaves dropping and you don't get distracted by anyone else. 

The décor is clean, different and great for first dates, birthday's or even a meal for one! 

Would I go again? Yes

Cost? Reasonable

Alcohol? No

Child friendly? Yes

Telephone companies in Qatar

When I came in Qatar in February 2013, I got a PAYG sim from QTel, who are now named Ooredoo. 

With family in the UK, I was worried that those older family members who do not have Skype will find it expensive to call me and visa versa.

BT charge a ridiculous cost to those calling Qatar, but those who call the UK will find it is very reasonable. 

With Ooredoo when you top-up 100qar, you will receive 20free international minutes each time. Eg 200qar means 40 free international minutes. 

Should you eat through those, and are a fellow chatterbox, the cost to call a UK landline is vey reasonable - around 20p a minute. Amazing, I know!! 

Top up Ooredoo online

In Qatar you usually go into the shop and buy a voucher to top-up your phone.  But last night I realised I can now do this online, via Ooredoo's website - hooray! 

Alternatively, you can use a machine outside, or inside, an Ooredoo shop. The machine looks a bit like a cash point.  It's very simple and thankfully offers the process in English too. 

So, this is a little insight into what I use and how I top-up my Ooredoo mobile number online. 

Oh! In Qatar how your telephone number flows is very much keeping up with the jones'... If your number has double digits increasing numerically eg 66 77 88, then you've hit jackpot - but you probably won't get that. But having your number sound expensive is a good thing too. To say 'double three- double five ...' Etc also makes life easier! 

Good luck! 

Renting in Qatar

Where to rent in Qatar

Source: PropertyFinder.qa

So your moving to Qatar, your dates are set, what next?  Choosing where to live in Qatar can be daunting, but mostly exciting.  The wonderful thing when you move away from the UK is you will find the apartments or villas are a lot larger than what you are used to in the UK - unless you live in Surrey and have acres of land with a 10-bedroom house! 

Personally I have moved from a 2-bed, one bath, small kitchen and living room apartment in Chelsea, London, to a much larger 2-bed, 1.5 bathroom, large kitchen and large living room, for much cheaper too!  

You can wave good bye to carpet mites and say hello to gleaming, cool marble tiled floors, dark wooden doors and accents and air-conditioning, which will be your best friend come summer time!  When you sign your work contract, you are usually offered a housing allowance (in some cases is not enough to pay all the rent), or your company will put you in company housing which will be in a compound if you have children, or an apartment if you don't.  Generally having children is a huge plus as you are given better allowances!  Here are a couple of places I know of and can speak about from personal experience.

The Pearl

The Pearl is a wonderful man-made island, it holds many apartments where most ex-pats go to live.  The Pearl is an island where you have no reason to leave.  Should you live in Porto Arabia, your tower will come with a swimming pool, gym, spa and in some cases, a private beach.  If not, certainly a resident's beach.

The Pearl has bars, shops, restaurants, supermarkets and a boat harbour housing some glorious boats!  Along the board-walk you will see smiling locals, well preened ex-pat wives and an abundance of palm trees.  It's the place to be, but of course this comes at a higher cost.  The above photo illustrates a typical set up in Porto Arabia, a high tower with large flats, every single on complete with a large balcony.  A large swimming pool, with plenty of sun loungers for ladies lucky enough not to have to work.

Positives:  You have everything you need in one place, you have cleaners onsite, dry cleaning services, water delivery services, property management and wonderful views. It's the place to be and be seen.

Negatives: The Pearl is still largely under construction, so if you are in a new building, be prepared to listen to construction all day long, for 6 days a week.  Rent is very high, a modest two bed in an older building will set you back around 12,000 Riyals a month.  If your housing allowance covers this, great!  But be aware that your rent is likely to increase at least 500 or 1,000 Riyals a year.  Upon leaving The Pearl, you hit roadworks that are likely to remain there for some time. Getting to the city entails many roundabouts, all of which have long traffic queues, prepare to spend 10-20 minutes crawling up to each roundabout. 

Renting in Doha

If however, your housing allowance does not allow  you to live on The Pearl, you can still get large 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom flat elsewhere, which will usually start from around 6,000 a month - yes, half the price!  Unfortunately it might mean you do not have a gym, pool and certainly not the luxury shops!  But you do have quick access to zip around the city, it's more developed so less roadworks and construction sites!  

Another reason not to live on The Pearl, is you might prefer to live on a compound with other ex-pats, and live in a stand-alone-villa, aka semi or detached house.  With this you might have your own pool or a large one to share in the compound.  Popular compounds are the Beverly Hills ones, they are also expensive, but very well maintained and have a supermarket, tennis courts, hair & beauty salon, gym and coffee bars.

You may wish to seek a more modest environment, with a smaller compound that has larger homes and one pool for all to share.  You can get a 5 bedroom - 3 bathroom, maid's room across 3 floors, with a drive and a garage for around 12,000 a month - the cost of a 2-bed flat on The Pearl!  These are located towards the Villaggio Mall.

I strongly advise contacting agents, a good place to start is propertyfinder.qa, there are some agents, who do not charge tenants a fee!  When you do move, it is very common to chose services apartments for a month or two until you are settled - a very good choice is you have children too.

How to rent in Doha, Qatar

For those of you who are not given company housing, or perhaps declined it there are a couple of things to note when renting in Qatar.

- Upon signing your housing contract for one year, you will hand over 12 post-dated cheques to pay for the rent.  In Qatar, that is considered safety for the landlord as your year paid for.  The Cheques will be post-dated, and deposited in the bank by the landlord or agent.  

- You must never, ever, ever allow a cheque to bounce.  This is a jail-worthy crime, so always make sure your cheques will be cleared without a problem  If your cheque bounces, your LL will be very quick to contact you, or visit you, and tell you that you have 'x' amount of time to fix the problem - usually by the next day. 

 

- Above your door, or next to your front door will be two metal plaques with numbers on, take a photo of them or note down the numbers and find your meters and record the numbers too.  (I was asked to take a photo of the plaques and meters, so I recommend you do this in the first place so you don't have a wasted trip when going to pay for your services. )  The two plaques will be for water & electricity, which will be paid in the same place, Karama. 

- Set up your tv, internet and home phone and you're ready to go!

Good luck :)

How to dress in Qatar

How should ex-pat women dress in Qatar? 

When dressing to go in a public space; shopping centre, the office, cinema, green spaces/parks, supermarket, car wash, newsagent, public beaches etc, you must dress in a respectful manner. Cover your legs to your knees, your chest and shoulders.  Note: ANY indoor space will have their air con on very, very low, you will want to wear a cardi or shawl because it's so cold - especially when sat in the cinema! 

To help you, I've created a little list below of what to wear and what not to wear in public spaces, in Qatar. 

Do wear:

- loose clothing 

- knee length shorts

- linen trousers; if white, make sure they are not see through!!! 

- knee length skirt

- maxi dress

- round-neck t-shirt

- shirt

- 3/4 length tee

- shawl over bare shoulders

Do not wear: 

- hot pants

- shorts or skirts above the knee

- vest tops

- anything that shows your cleavage

- clothes that are tight and show your body off eg: leggings without a long top covering your bottom! 

- spaghetti straps 

-bikini tops!

Clothes you can wear on your enclosed compounds are depending on the compound's laws, but generally you can wear what you like; Shorts and bikini top, vest top and hot pants, swim suit or bikini in the pool, tight clothes etc. 

I hope that helps a little? If you have any comments please let me know! 

Moving to Qatar from the UK

Moving to Qatar

 

 

Clothes, shoes - where do they all fit?

Luckily for me, I did not have a house to empty, children to move nor require an international moving company to take me to my new home.

If you are moving with a couple of suitcases, I found using vacuum bags extremely useful.  I could fit in a lot more than rolling, or laying clothes flat inside the suitcase.  If you are in the UK, you can buy them in Argos, Amazon or even Ebay!  I bought mine from Argos and collected them in the store.

They are very easy to use:  Put as many clothes into the bag, but leaving a little bit of a gap where the zip is - say 2 inches.  Press the bag closed, unscrew the cap on the valve and apply your hoover to the end of it, turn hoover on and watch the clothes reduce - ta daa!!

I managed to fit into one suit case: 1 double wardrobe of clothes and 4 large drawers worth of clothes.....

Ah-mazing!

What you do not need to bring - endless thick jumpers, thick cardigans, thick anything!  I've got one thick jumper and 7months later i've not touched it... even during the Winter in Qatar all you need is a cardigan and maybe a little jacket.  So unless you plan to leave Qatar and go skiing somewhere,  you really do not need thick layers.  Same with shoes, all I wear in Qatar are a pair of Mango black heels for work, or ballet pumps, and when outside I wear either flip-flops or sandals during the day, and killer heels at night (only because I am a shortie!)

Pets

Sadly I did not have any fluffy companions to bring to Qatar with me, but if you cannot bear to leave them behind with a new family, and happy to bare the costs, then I suggest six months before you move , go to the vets and get the little fluff ball injected and registered with a pet passport.  There is a very well known company here which many people and charities use to get their fluffies shipped across the oceans: http://www.qatarpettravel.com/

Paperwork

I have experienced the most stressful time with lots of different opinions and comments given to me by various people, including my HR Manager!  But, as i'm now with my RP I will tell what you need....

 Driving License

You need to drive in Qatar.  Simple.  As a Londoner, zipping around on my Brompton bike or using the train/tube/buses, coming here was a bit of a mobility shock.  Before you leave the UK you need to go to the Post Office and obtain an international driving license.  If you come to Qatar with only your UK License, then you can only  drive with it for 7 days, you can only get a temporary license with your UK one until the tourist visa in your passport runs out, however if you have an international one that lasts a year, you are a lot more mobile then just your UK one. 

I will tell you this now:  Things in Qatar take a very, long, time to do.

Unless you are lucky enough to work for one of the big Oil & Gas companies out here, your Resident Permit process will take anywhere up to 3 months - and by the way, during this time you cannot leave the country.  Once your visa has been changed from a tourist one to a business one, until you receive your RP, you cannot renew your temporary license as you are already in the system as a business visa and should have an RP.  It's during this time that I was stuck without a license and risking driving without one, which is not an option.  Taxi's are crazy, but not too badly priced, however Qatar is the hub of traffic because there are too many cars and the roads were not designed for so many. 

I digress, just make sure  you obtain that international driving license, you will thank me later!

Getting your education certificates attested in Doha

Give yourself a few months to get your certificates attested before you come to Qatar.  It's a 3 step process and i'm here to help!

Step 1: 

Gather your highest, most recent qualification/s and take them to a solicitor to get certified.  We used all original documents during this process. Once that has been done, you need to send your documents to Milton Keynes

Step 2:

Direct yourself to this link, where you fill out a form, obtain the Milton Keynes address and complete the process online.  

https://www.gov.uk/get-document-legalised

Step 3:

Now that you have your document certified by a solicitor and legalised by the UK Government, you will need to book an appointment with the British Embassy, Doha to get the document attested.  Once they have stamped the document, it will be accepted by your company.  Completing steps 1&2 in the UK will save you a lot of money, because everything has to be couriered to the UK and that is not cheap!

Marriage Certificate

Take it to the British Embassy in Doha straight away, along with your education certificates to get attested.  If it is not attested it is not worth anything in Qatar's eyes.   If you got married in a nice exotic country that was not your home, you might need to send it to that country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get an attested stamp - however, wait until someone asks you to do that, I found out when I went to get mine stamped at the British Embassy (We got married in Trinidad & Tobago).

Passport Photos

Bring around 20 passport photos of each family member with you, they will be snapped up in no time!  If you don't remember to do this, don't fret!  There is a very good photo place located in 'City Centre Mall', when you are inside it's to the left hand side of the supermarket 'Carrefour'.  I received 8 photos which worked out to cost me around £1.50, which might even be cheaper than getting it done in the UK.

Make sure you have lots of time left on your passport too, i'm yet to experience trying to renew mine while in Qatar, but speaking with those who have done this, it was a royal pain and very slow.  You can renew your passport up to 8months before it actually expires, so I highly recommend you do this before coming to Qatar if you need to.  Also, when your documents are processed, your Business Visa sticker is placed in your passport, and your bank accounts aligned with that passport number, so to change it all..... well you can imagine the can of worms that will produce!

Birth Certificates

These don't need to be attested, but bring them along anyway, they might be required for  ID purposes, anywhere, at any time.

Useful Links:

Use this link to find how to process a certain document, eg Education certificate.
https://www.gov.uk/legalisation-document-checker/y


To book an appointment with the British Embassy, Doha:
www.britishembassydoha.clickbook.net

*All photos have been taken from Pinterest

Introduction

Hello and welcome to my blog,

I started this blog as I felt compelled to share my knowledge, experiences and photos of my new home, Qatar.

Why Qatar?  

I moved to Qatar earlier this year to be with my husband.  I had the chance to experience a new life abroad which would challenge me, yet excite me too.  I cannot speak Arabic,  I've never lived abroad, but every visit I've had to the Middle-East has always left me wanting more.  With that in mind, I knew I wanted Qatar to be my new home.

Why Blog?

Before moving to Qatar I found different answers to my many questions and most of the posts I reviewed were outdated and not in 2013.  I decided by creating a blog in the current year, hoping it will provide recent information and help those who were in the same position as I was.

I hope I help you in some way, if not, I hope you enjoy reading my blog!

Qatar skyline at night - West Bay