Doha Al Corniche Run

It has been a very rough last few days indeed. Unable to sleep much at all, I worked through most of the night tired and irritated until dawn.

At 6am, still unable to sleep I ventured outside in frustration to run the Corniche in Doha. Might as well run myself into the ground.

I went in to work bleary-eyed after that as well.

So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.

Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time.
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over,
Thought I'd something more to say.

As the lyrics so passionately articulate, it's the despair and desperation of time wasted and having nothing to show for it at all.

I have to also remark at this point that I can't believe the last time I posted about Doha was about two years ago (see England-Brazil Soccer Match).

So this morning at 6am, I did the Al Corniche run weary-eyed and not expecting much at all. I know my body will crash and collapse sooner or later. Sometimes I feel the sooner I get this to happen the better.

My route went from the Four Seasons Hotel (opposite the Mövenpick Towers, a Swiss chain, where I am staying) to the Pearl and back. Checking my records, I had originally filed the run with MapMyRun exactly 2 years and 10 days ago.

(I normally run all the way up to the edge of I.M. Pei's achingly beautiful Islamic Museum of Art, see here, but the side entrance was blocked by Doha's omnipresent and endless construction.)

See the route below:

I split the run into two halves. On the outbound leg I ran to the Pearl. Then took a short break to drink my water bottle and glance at the high-rise area where I had started my run and ran back along the curve of the Corniche.

Into the elevator, I went up to the jacuzzi at the hotel fitness center.

But being so tired, I wasn't in the mood to enjoy the brightness of the scenery from the 26th floor.

I downloaded my run statistics from my iPod Nano to the Nike+ website:

The run data wasn't that bad. At least I burned about 875 kcal in a bit over 7 miles (or nearly 12km). Still, I was incredibly tired and irritable. And decided not to review the details.

After breakfast, I relented and plotted both legs of the run in Excel. Here you go:

As the red line clearly reveals, yes, I was a wuss on that return leg.

My mind wanders randomly when I'm exhausted. But because I run with music on my iPod Nano, another set of lyrics came to mind:

They say a restless body can hide a peaceful soul
A voyager and a settler, they both have a distant goal
If I explore the heavens, or if I search inside
Well, it really doesn't matter as long as I can tell myself
I've always tried

Shenzhen Ping Pong: Doha!

Last November I spent a month in Doha, Qatar and couldn't find anyone to practice with. So when I returned I decided to make a blog entry (see here) lamenting the lack of ping pong there: the purpose being to garner Google hits for keywords "table tennis" and "Doha".

Well, the power of the internet should not be underestimated!

(For the record, Ashish, a fellow table tennis enthusiast currently working at Hamad Medical, and I played at the Qatar Bowling Center for an hour and half. The table fee there is 20 rials/hour.)

I wonder what the Olympic rings are doing there at the bowling center?

Update: Ping Pong paddle considered dangerous!

Leaving from Doha airport, my hand luggage was searched at the gate by Qatar Police. This was an additional security check since I was traveling to the United States.

I was most surprised to find that my ping pong paddle was singled out and removed. I was told it couldn't be carried aboard. A dangerous weapon perhaps? Go figure: my loop isn't good enough yet... Anyway, it had to be checked in separately as another piece of luggage.

So strange! Not even in the paranoid USA did the TSA cared even about my paddle...

No ping pong in Doha?

I've been here a month in Doha working at CMU Qatar.

Like many unfamiliar cities with a large expat population, once you learn a few things and get to know Doha a little better, it's possible to find decent food and just about anything... except ping pong perhaps.

I've tried emailing the Qatar Table Tennis Association. I've put out feelers on the Table Tennis group on qatarliving.com. Never got a reply. There is an ITTF event in Doha every year. The Qatar Open attracts the best players in the world. Sport shops sells cheap paddles. Players? I haven't found any.

As a last resort, I went to the Table Tennis social hour scheduled for Monday nights at the Recreation Center in Education City. Predictably, the room was completely empty. Nobody showed up. They have truly excellent lighting and three tables. I'm sad.

So what did I do? No robot. And I only had two balls. I stared into the mirror and practiced my serve for an hour... Why did I make this blog entry? Well, a search engine will pick this up if someone is looking for table tennis in Doha. The Activity Room upstairs at the Recreation Center, Education City. Now you know.

Update: Something to think about...

My game declines when I'm not playing. The longer I'm without practice, the rustier I get. But to my surprise what I'd call the strongest parts of my game are not necessarily the parts that are best preserved or decline the least.

For example, most people who know me would say my forehand loop is the strongest part of my game. But after nearly two months without playing, I realize my forehand loop is off. Surprisingly, my reverse penhold backhand (a relatively new stroke for me) is still there.

I think there are two possible explanations:

• My forehand loop is much stronger than my reverse penhold backhand. So there is less to deteriorate to begin with with the backhand stroke.
• My forehand loop was developed through sheer practice and not from strong fundamentals. It relies on excellent timing. Without constant practice, it simply doesn't work. That is, the percentage landed is low.
  On the other hand, my reverse penhold backhand has been coached professionally from the beginning. So although it hasn't had the time to become as well-developed as the forehand, the fundamentals are better and don't require as much calibration.

Food for thought...

Doha: England - Brazil

Whew, it has been quite a first weekend in Doha.

Yesterday was the century ride (blog entry).

Tonight, I attended the sold-out England - Brazil soccer match in the 50,000 seat Khalifa International Stadium, ticketing courtesy of my friend Majd Sakr.

It's a gorgeous looking stadium:

Here is the view from the 500 Rials ($140) seats we got:

Yup, a little too far away to see the faces of the players despite my recent iLasik surgery.

For the second half, we ended up in some minor-VIP seating area. Free juice and a big difference in terms of viewing:

The game? It was 1-0 to Brazil and we unluckily missed the only goal just after half-time due to going for free juice. It was a friendly and both teams had already qualified for the World Cup in South Africa, so neither team had very much at stake. Still, it was fairly obvious Brazil was the better team. They scored a goal, hit the post and missed a penalty. England barely had a look in at goal.

The stadium is part of the Doha Sports City Complex built for the 2006 Asian Games.

Next to the stadium is the 300m tall Aspire Tower shown here. (About the same height as the Tour Eiffel in Paris.)

Also, next to it is a large shopping mall (Villagio) - not shown here.

Sunset: Liberal Arts and Sciences Building, Education City, Doha

The Liberal Arts and Sciences Building (LAS) in Education City, Doha as seen from the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Qatar building. Sunset beginning around 4:30pm: A closer view of the LAS. Photograph taken on my walk back from the Recreation Center pool at 6pm:

More to come...

Doha

This is my third blog entry on Doha. Previous two entries:

• Museum of Islamic Art
• CMU Qatar

It definitely makes for an interesting juxtaposition of cultures. Let's see here: gutra, thobe, sandals, and no riding gloves on what looks like to be a BMW R 1200 RT tourer.

Not to mention, powerboating and dhows as we'll see below.

I stayed in the high-rise section of Doha (shown in the distance above).

The Al Corniche Rd connects that section to the purposely low-rise section fronted by the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA), which is right next to the location where I took the above photo.

(Click to see an enlarged annotated satellite view of the area.)

It's a nice 10K run from my hotel along the waterfront to the Diwan (nr. the MIA) and back. That should give you some idea of the scale of the place.

On the day I arrived there was a Class-1 World Powerboat Championship race going on right in the bay. Using the 10x zoom on the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5, I found it hard to properly track the boats: However, I was able to capture the next boat cleanly with my point-and-shoot camera (despite shutter delay) because it was dead in the water: Qatar has a long tradition of boating given its fishing and pearl diving history. Next to the MIA is the port where traditional dhows are still built: Here is the view looking south from the man-made hotel beach (though I'm sure the sand is locally sourced) towards the port and museum area (in the far background):

Hmm, perhaps the view is clearer from a higher vantage point:

(Yes, I took a brief swim in the Persian Gulf. It was surprisingly warm even in April. As a sinking swimmer (see here), I enjoyed the buoyancy offered by the sea water. However, as a scuba diver, I rate the visibility as downright murky though.)

You may also have noticed the huge project near the top of the satellite map. That is the Pearl-Qatar, an immense project which is still under construction (like much of Doha). Supposed to be a Riviera-style man-made island complex. Perhaps appropriately, this is the southern view from the patio of Bice, an Italian restaurant there:

I didn't get to see much of old Doha (if it exists). On a brief visit to the souk, which looked rather gentrified, I managed to take two 360° spherical panoramas:

(Use Apple's free QuickTime Player to view the special .mov image files, which can be zoomed and rotated 360° in all directions. Click on the links to see the spherical panoramas.)

souk1.mov Hello Majd!
souk2.mov

That's it for my Doha entries. Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Doha: CMU at Qatar

(See my previous entry on the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) here.)

My visit to Doha was made possible by Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) at Qatar. CMU-Q is located in a 14 sq km campus (named Education City) on the western edge of the city. Education City is a massive initiative housing multiple institutions and is the flagship project of the Qatar Foundation.

A bit like with the MIA, CMU has just recently moved into a building that looks somewhat quiet and fools the eye, appearing deceptively small from the outside, but is impressively large and opulent from the inside.

To illustrate this point, here is the entrance.

Behind that dark glass is the atrium, here is a 360° spherical panorama of what it looks likes on the other side:

(Use Apple's free QuickTime Player to view the special image, which can be zoomed and rotated 360° in all directions. Click on the link to see the panorama.)

Panorama p3.mov

(Notice how the atrium is lit from above by the Arabian sun. Also, I took this during setup for Meeting of the Minds, an end of semester student poster event: hence, the easels and tables for food. You may also be able to pick out the location of the next panorama.)

The next spherical panorama shows another open area to one side of the atrium.

Panorama p1.mov

(Unfortunately, there are only regular chairs in this picture. When I first arrived, there were wonderfully large red cushions in the seating area with students sitting around chatting and using their laptops. I missed that photo op.)

Next panorama, something at the other end of the size scale: the small but rather classy looking library:

Panorama p2.mov

(I like the way the library has floor-to-ceiling glass affording a view of the outside courtyard but always shielded from the blast furnace of a hot sun that I'm told can reach 55°C in summer. The only direct sun exposure here is filtered through the geometric openings on the far wall.)

Finally, here is the entrance to the building again (rumor has it the cost was $500 million to $600 million): If you click on the picture, you may be able to see water running continously down that center channel.

Doha: Museum of Islamic Art

Recently, I visited the newly opened Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) designed by I.M. Pei in Doha, Qatar.

(View of the MIA with the modern highrise area of Doha in the background. The al Corniche promenade runs in a half-moon along the water connecting the two areas. A good 10K+ run.)

I have an interest in architecture and spherical panorama photography. Previous entries on the topic have included:

• The Getty Museum in Los Angeles. (Blog entry here.)
• MIT's Stata Center designed by Frank Gehry. (Off-blog webpage here.)

A close-up of the main building taken by my friend Majd Sakr:

The museum cuts a rather lonely and austere figure on Doha's skyline:

Inside, the building is simply magnificent, and a feast for the eyes (and camera):

View of the interior looking up.

Of course, there are interesting artifacts on display:

including a view of the world that's hard to decipher unless you are familiar with the Middle East:

But for me, the museum itself was as interesting as the displays. The museum simply abounds with interesting touches. Here is an exterior elevator (plan view, i.e. looking down):

Stairs with Japanese-style lighting both recessed and protruding, making for an interesting perspective effect:

A detail of the ceiling viewed through a fisheye lens:

More bendy stuff from my fisheye lens:

On my second visit to the museum, I was graciously permitted to quickly use my tripod after the museum closed. This allowed me to take my 360° spherical panorama shots from the three different positions shown below:

For your viewing pleasure, you should click and view these specially prepared .mov files using Apple's free QuickTime player. You can rotate around 360° in all directions, as well as zoom in and out (shift and control keys in MacOSX). In particular, look up at the ceiling.

Pano #1
Pano #2
Pano #3

(Special thanks to Merridy Wilson at the MIA for making these images possible.)

One of my favorite images:

Since I stayed after closing time (5:30pm) to take the spherical panoramas, the sun happened to be setting as I left. A final view of the museum and sunset: