QATAR INTO UAE
Meeting More Bikers
29th November - 5th December | 2023
The next morning I finally met Katia (FB Nomad Katia), whom I “met” through our Overlanding Middle East Whatsapp group. I was really curious to meet up with another female motorbike overlander, especially as she just came from Africa, where I am planning to head to after the Middle East. I was expecting a young biker girl, and when she took off her helmet I shouted out in surprise “Finally someone my age!”. Please check out her account as she has been overlanding already for the last 4 years! And she is smaller than me - what a tough woman! After the big Hallo and the usual questioning, we left to visit the area of the famous mangroves in the North. It was really nice and we had a lot of fun - especially as my bike dropped on its own; well sinking in the marshland!
After lunch, we separated for the day as she was visiting her brother and family living in Doha, Qatar. I went back to the hotel to catch up on computer work. In the evening Elena, a German motorbike girl living here, picked me up. Salem from Tristar in Kuwait put me in contact with her; how nice is that again! I had my jaw-dropping moment when she got out of a sporty Jaguar car! We went for a lovely dinner with a fantastic view over the amazing night skyline of Doha.
The next morning I met up again with Katia to visit the “Sheik Faisal Museum” (google maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/FUSkV7i5aPU5kXyj6) about 1hrs out of Doha. What an amazing museum. It is a random collection of nearly everything. You could spend hours in it and still have the feeling you haven't seen it all!
In the evening I met up with Ali and Margie from the Qatar Riders. Unfortunately, they were the only ones showing up, but we had lots of fun and a lot to talk about. Margie invited me to the Ladies Ride tomorrow morning, so I automatically invited Katia to join in!
The meeting point for the Ladies' Ride was at 8am at the Ibis Hotel - how practical for me! There were 8 girls including Katia and me, how fantastic is that! We then went off along the Corniche with a panoramic view of the skyline of Doha. So far I enjoy the skyline of Doha the most of all these small states I visited recently, but I cannot say really why. Maybe it is still a mix of modern and old … We had breakfast at Katara, an old part of Doha. For breakfast, 2 more girls joined us - awesome! Of course, after breakfast, we couldn't miss out on taking lots of pictures.
The next afternoon I met up with Nikhi, one of the Lady Bikers, in the Souq of Doha as I wanted to find a little camel to “strap” to my bike :-D We both also had a lovely dinner there whilst sharing some stories about travelling as she also travels a lot together with her husband. She even invited me to stay a night with them before I left. Wow, that is really nice of them and as I enjoyed her company so much I accepted the offer for the next night.
I had for the evening an invitation to the clubhouse of the Batabit Riders (IG: batabitqtr) in Doha. It was nice to meet the guys and to see their clubhouse. I wasn't really prepared for an interview that they wanted to do with me. I felt like a movie star as so many cameras and lights were on me! They caught me by surprise! And in the end, they offered me a tent as they heard about my broken tent pole. Oh nooo, I had to accept the offer, but that is another tent I have to carry around! Now I have to find a solution to that! One of the Batabit Riders had organised for me to meet the owner of the BMW Showroom at The Pearl in Doha.
After breakfast, I packed my bike and off I went to the BMW Motorrad Showroom Alfardan (IG: alfardanmotorcycles) to meet Dani. What a lovely guy. They are not only selling BMW but also Triumph, KTM, Vespa, Ducati and some more brands. It is each time with these shops like walking into paradise! When we had our photo shoot they all were around my clock as they all couldn't believe it was already over 160k km! They even took pictures of it as here in the Middle East a bike over 50k km is already very difficult to sell! Probably mine would get into that “Sheik Faisal Museum '' with that many kilometres on the clock ;-) I was then interviewed by someone and dragged away - I thought he was part of the team until I figured out he wasn't. He was just curious about all my travels.
After lunch, Nikhi picked me up at the showroom and I followed her home. She introduced me to her family and showed me around. As she is from India her mother-in-law cooked us some lovely Indian food for dinner. After that, we sat together and chatted about biking holidays and general travel as they travel by themselves a lot. We watched some of their YouTube videos, which were really entertaining. Oh, and the whole evening I abused their massage chair. I must have exceeded the maximum time you should spend on it!! It was a bit of torturing, but then also relaxing! After all that pampering and torturing I slept like a baby!
The next morning, after breakfast, it was time to say Goodbye to Nikhi and the family. What a lovely family, pity I cannot spend more time with them as my insurance runs out!
Just before the border back into Saudi Arabia, I stopped at a cafe shop for a snack to use their internet as I didn’t buy a SIM card in Qatar. I was waiting for a message from Helen Lloyd, another overlander, as we were planning to meet at the beach on the Saudi side shortly after the border.
This time the border crossing took about a good 90mins as I had to wait for someone to turn up to stamp my Carnet de passagem. Weird, as on the way in that was automatically tied in with the customs vehicle check, but leaving they had to call someone to come with all the stamps. For a change, everything else went fast and smoothly!
It was so nice to meet up with Helen, as I heard of her already a lot from James as she travelled with his best friend Tim for a while. Also, I read an article about Iceland in one Overlander magazine. So lots of stories to share and tell that night! It was indeed a lovely camping spot right at the beach. The only down was the light that was on the whole night, but my new tent didn't let any light through, so I had a very good night's sleep!
The next morning we went together to the next supermarket to get a “breakfast” together before each of us headed in their direction. It took me about 2 hours to the nearest fuel station on the border into UAE. As I didn't have any more data for the internet I managed to get internet/wifi from one of the shop owners at this fuel station. That was helpful as I had a message back from Ibis Hotel in Abu Dhabi. Luckily I caught that as there was a mistake in the dates and my contact was online, so I managed to book the hotel already for tonight. I knew from “Nomad Katia” that there was nothing on that stretch to stay for the night. That meant another 3 hours of driving a boring straight road to Abu Dhabi once I had crossed the border. And UAE is another hour plus!
When I was sitting at that fuel station I suddenly realised that I would leave Saudi Arabia now, after nearly 2 months of being in the country. I got a wee emotional when I realised that! It was such a great time, with so many warm-hearted people I met, strangers full of curiosity and generosity! I don´t know how many invitations I received (and denied), thumbs up and videos of me (on Snapchat). What an amazing country, but there is still lots to do for tourists outside of Arabic-speaking countries. However, I am happy that I visited it now whilst it is still authentic and not overwhelmed with tourism! And I will miss the crazy driving, but NOT the speedbumps!!
I arrived at about 21h00 at the Ibis Abu Dhabi Gate and it was the first time that I saw Christmas decorations! That felt really weird, and made you realise how international UAE is! Well, it is already the beginning of December - in Europe, you already find Christmas decorations and sweets in October!
I hope you also enjoyed the time in Qatar meeting with all these bikers. Now the days are counting down getting home. There are still some places to visit in UAE, so check out the next blog next Sunday. Whilst you are waiting, enjoy the first ice-cold beer in nearly 3 months!
Places | Cities:
QATAR:
Doha
UAE:
Abu Dhabi
Driven km | Trip:
Total | Steffi: 34615 km
Information Border Crossings:
QATAR:
Smoothly once you got the person to stamp out the CdP.
UAE ENTERING:
X-ray drive-through - if you want or not.
Passport, VOA and you still can do the 3rd part insurance at the border.
All very easy and smooth.
Maintenance | Breakdown:
./.
Health issues:
./.
Special thanks to:
Nikhi for letting me part of her family for one night - and their massage chair!
Katia for her incredible stories of her travelling.
Helen for her incredible travel stories.