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The time has come! After rescheduling once, the morning has come for our photo shoot at the Inland Sea!

We went to bed about 8:30/9 p.m. the night before and even though the alarm was set for 2:30 a.m., my mind woke me up with excitement at 11:30 p.m. and 1:45 a.m. I had blown out my hair before bed and now began to curl it. I opted not to use hairspray knowing the desert would be windy and trying to brush my hair after would be a disaster. It would be like a bird’s nest.

I then applied makeup and successfully put on false eyelashes for the first time AND at 3:15 in the morning! I’m very proud. I excitedly woke up Yoni too early but that’s ok :) Our outfits traveled well and didn’t need much care after unpacking. My dress is the Heavenly Hues Royal Blue Maxi Dress from Lulus.

The driver, Jonathan, picked us up at 3:45 a.m. and we made our way through Qatar to our photographer Ivan’s house to pick him up. The drive overall was about 2 hours to the sand dunes near the Inland Sea. The Inland Sea is a body of water near the Persian Gulf and is located on the border between Qatar and Saudi Arabia. On the way, we also had to stop to let the air out of the tires before entering the desert and Jonathan also used this time to pray. The tires get deflated to give them more surface area to better grip the sandy ground.

It was cold! And windy! My ears hurt from the chill and my teeth chattered. But as the sun rose, it did get warmer. The shoot was so much fun! Yoni found Ivan on Instagram through a colleague and the pictures we got back do not disappoint. We are in love with them! Some of our favorites are below.

The ride to the sand dune of choice wasn’t smooth but didn’t cause any problems. We spent about an hour there taking pictures. On the way back, however, the bumpy ride made me uncomfortable. Pair that with a lack of sleep and I wasn’t too pleasant. All good in the end, but I was pleased once we hit the highway. Even with taking motion sickness medicine, I didn’t think I’d be able to do a half-day desert safari as we planned. We made the decision to cancel our excursion for the following day and do something else instead.

We arrived back at the hotel at about 8:30 a.m. and fell back asleep for an hour before going to breakfast. The rest of the day was lots of napping and relaxing!

For dinner, we decided to try out Tasty Street and went back to Katara Village. Once there, we did a loop and consulted the menus at each shack. Other groups did the same! We ran into a group from Louisiana. We ordered from three different restaurants and split everything. Tasty Street, sadly, is just the name of the strip. The address itself is Shakespeare Street. Each shack has a neon sign on it, sometimes relating to the cuisine sold. Overall, it’s a very social media trendy place to take photos.

Starting from top right and moving down:

• koshari with special sauce - an Egyptian dish with chickpeas, pasta, dried onions, and tomato sauce on rice and lentils

• papdi chaat and rabdi falooda from Jaldi Jaldi - Indian dishes. Papdi chaat is made with chickpeas, potatoes, chutneys and species, yogurt, and has crunchy crackers on top. Rabdi falooda is a dessert with ice cream, rose syrup, vermicelli noodles, and milk. It’s like a dainty noodle milkshake.

• cookies for dessert from Local Cookies. I still have the tin!

You’ll notice that this is a blend of cuisines. The country is more than 85% immigrants which contribute to the variety of dishes. I enjoyed everything we ate, but my favorites were definitely the papdi chaat and rabdi falooda. They reminded me of my trip to India which you can read more about here.

We then walked around Katara at night. Amazing views and very different from the day. It was differently busy with a few night tours. The fountains were lit up with the colors of Qatar. Our walk helped us digest dinner, and then it was time to head back to the hotel for some sleep!

The next day, Yoni and I slept in. Having canceled our half-day safari, we were in no rush. We ate breakfast then went back to our room and answered our Year of Us question book. The book was a gift from my friend DK. Yoni and I each have a copy! For couples living together or temporarily apart, I highly recommend this book to have new conversations.

We ate lunch at Al Khariss. I ordered a zatar pita with veggies, something light because I was still full from breakfast but knew I needed to eat before we checked out Purple Island.

Purple Island is about one hour from Doha. Purple Island, contrary to its name, isn’t actually purple but is named as such for it was a main site for the purple dye industry. We spent two hours there walking the mangroves and sitting on the island. We watched some kayakers (it was low tide) and the sunset while snacking on some fruit and bars. Honestly, it was a good way to spend our day but we felt it was ok to skip it. By this time, we felt we’d done the big activities of what there is to do in Qatar. We could have also visited Banana Island, which is a touristy resort island, but heard mixed feedback from locals and chose not to do it.

The sun disappeared and we opted to revisit Evergreen Organics for dinner. Seated at a table across from us was a couple from South Africa living in Doha for the last 5 years. They’re also vegan! The four of us chatted for about 20/30 min and they gave us a list of other vegan restaurants to try. We’ll pick two and try them tomorrow. Instead of eating dessert at Evergreen, Yoni and I went back to Al Terrace to try the Georgian honey cake, medok, I had been thinking about since I first arrived. We couldn’t finish it, the piece was large and sweet. It’s a great Rosh Hashanah recipe to add to your table!

Tomorrow is our last full day! It’ll be full of eating and picking up some take-home goodies from the Souq. Sweets, spices, and a picture frame for me and Yoni! On each trip we take together, we pick up a location photo frame and fill it with a picture of us from the trip. A beautiful tradition!