Continuing the shopping theme, I went on the Souqs tour. The tour first stops at the Gold Souqs and then at the Old Souqs. The first is the jewelry district. Primarily gold bracelets, necklaces, ear rings and the like. Neither my wife nor I wear jewelry so this first stop was of little interest.
At the second stop, the old souqs, there was a much broader range of merchants. Lots of spice and herb shops, clothing, an entire section devoted to birds. Apparently pet birds. Finches, cockateels, parakeets and what not. There were even a few large parrots. For all of this, I was a little disappointed. It was not as interesting as I thought it would be.
To begin with, it wasn’t old. The buildings that made up the old souqs were really quite new. There were a lot of Qatari there but it was obviously a tourist destination as well.
There were a number of restaurants in the old souqs. All of them looked very nice. We chose to eat at an Indian restaurant called Royal Tandoori. It was a very nice place, well decorated inside. The waitress helped me get the right order. I really like the chicken that comes in a thick sauce that is usually brown in color. I always think it’s Tandoori chicken and then I’m disappointed when it arrives. The waitress mentioned that it would be dry without something else. I changed to the right dish but I still don’t know what it is called. We had rice with peanuts and raisins, I don’t know what that’s called either, and plain and garlic naan. The food was very good, the service was great and the two of us had more than we could eat for $40. Pretty good deal.
Tomorrow, day 4, is my last day. At 2100 I will need to check to see if and when my flight back is scheduled for. It’s been a nice break. I can’t really say that I am anxious to go back to work but I am ready to leave here. A part from the tours there’s not a lot to do. I like having blazing fast Internet and I can keep myself occupied but the days go quicker down on FOB Hunter. I’m looking forward to getting some more photographs for my The Face of Iraq project. As we draw nearer to the end of this tour I look forward to being done and going back to civilian life. I’m ready to be a civilian again.