QAT: The Pearl-Qatar

Northern Doha, Qatar

The Pearl-Qatar is an artificial island offering luxurious residential properties, creating some 32 km of new coastline. It's the first land in the country to be made available for freehold ownership by foreign nationals. The whole project costs at least US$15 billion (~S$20.3 billion).

If you're not renting a car, Uber is one of the best ways to get around Doha. My BFF and I paid QAR 28.00 (~S$10.40) for a one-way ride from The Royal Riviera Hotel to The Pearl-Qatar.

Such a majestic Ministry of Interior building!

Carriage is one of the food delivery services available in Qatar.

The driver dropped us at Medina Centrale, primarily a retail district offering up to 600,000 square feet of retail space at the heart of the artificial island.

Not that it's important to me, but I'll never get 2,900 likes in my Instagram account.

Medina Centrale also offers more than 500 residential units.

The shopping centre situated in the district is called Souq Al Medina.

The shopping mall was dead quiet at around 12.20pm on a weekday.

That kind of clock always makes me think of a train station.

From there, we walked to a nearby marina teemed with private boats.

When I went there, I immediately thought of Sentosa Cove in Singapore.

Speed boats remind me of a classic game, Tomb Raider 2, when Lara Croft visited Venice.

That's quite a big toy store.

We reached a bridge across a small channel, where we could see Marsa Malaz Kempinski Hotel (5*) that showcases European architecture with Arabian touch.

We cut through a shopping area at the marina to go to another place.

I love Doraemon! Do you?

We ended up in Viva Bahriya, a Morrocan style residential enclave with its own stretch of pristine white sand. We were approached by a friend security guard who told us that non-residents are not allowed to go there, but he still allowed us to take one photo before we left.

As we made our way back to Medina Centrale, we saw a restaurant with a punny name. Eggspectation hails from Montreal, Canada, serving a lengthy egg-focused breakfast menu, as well as typical Western dishes for lunch and dinner.

We had lunch at a Persian restaurant.

I wonder if The Pearl-Qatar has ever been crowded since its inception?

After that, we made use of Uber again to go to Katara Cultural Village.