11th January, 2024
Apologies if you received notice of an update to two of the blogs, but eagle-eyed Val spotted that the dates were for last year, not 2024.
Well, we decided to venture out to the Doha Horticultural Expo. It is basically like a normal Expo ie with different countries having pavilions but on a rather lower scale for some. It was difficult to see quite why some of the countries were actually there as there was little more than a garden shed on display. That said, we did pop in and see the UK offering, which, not surprisingly featured a garden.
It was getting decidedly hot, so we dropped into one of the largest and most impressive pavilions, that of Saudi Arabia. It was very elaborate with some very welcome air-conditioning. They were pushing a very green agenda such as a huge tree-planting programme and a greening of Riyadh, which is planned to reduce the overall temperature by some 2 to 4 degrees, if I remember correctly. Some terrific displays, but the cynic in me did wonder how much was greenwashing. Let’s hope not.
The organisers had kindly lent us a wheelchair for Val, which helped a lot, but there was very little cover, so muggins here was getting rather warm what with all the pushing, so we decided to call it a day and head back to the cool of the hotel.
Come the evening it was off to the Souq again. It was bustling as ever…
We ended up deciding to try a Palestinian restaurant, which was a bit of curate’s egg to be honest. I had a Shawarma (spelling?) platter, which was a bit like a doner kebab (chicken) cut up, with chips, which was tasty and an excellent salad with pomelo and pomegranate. Val plumped for a chicken liver dish with a pomegranate sauce and some specially-requested chillies. The problem arose when the liver arrived, but the chillies and the sauce didn’t. Eventually the chillies were brought, but they were huge, so had to be sent back. Then the sauce arrived and finally the chillies in an edible state. Unfortunately, by now the liver dish was cold, so it too made a return journey to the kitchens. Other than that it was OK!
Ok, more tomorrow….
Mr Benn's Blog 
Doesn’t sound an overall success today!. I hope you got some supper in the end Val! Was the fabrice quarter interesting? The Souq being that close to your hotel still sounds an asset even if your meal tonight wasn’t perfect. Horticultural Expo in the heat sounds a challenge. Love the fountain outside the Saudi pavilion. Looks fabulously cool. Was the UK pavilion supposed to be sustainable planting? (A bit difficult to tell from the photo; it looks a trifle dull.). I imagine there were a number of vertical planting exhibits indoors under lights? Don’t think I got a notice of an update, so all is well. L xxx
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