Wed 9/Apr - We land in the stunning Hamad International Airport. Check in to the lovely Mondrian Hotel.  Meet old MotoGP friends and Gordon's friend Khalid Al-Ali, his wife Hege and daughter Sara in our traditional Syrian restaurant in the old Souk Waqif

Thu 10/Apr - A visit to the nearby Lagoona Mall, then an enjoyable after noon with the Al-Ali family at home in their museum-like tea house.  In the evening we have our MotoGP opening dinner featuring a talk from Khalid and meeting our three sponsored Moto3 riders.  The Mondrian dishes up a brilliant buffet!

Fri 11/Apr - Jana links up with a Czech friend Martin who has started the brilliant Joy General Cafe in the Pearl with the best ice cream in Doha! In the evening Jana & Alex head to the amazing Villagio Mall, while Khalid and Gordon go to the track where Khalid takes some guests around the circuit he designed! Hege and little Nora join us, Gordon & Sharon get to babysit!

Sat 12/Apr - We visit the stunning Museum of Islamic Art (See separate gallery below).  Then to a coffee in the souk, and Gordon & Alex part from Jana to go to the circuit.  We are joined by Khalid and Sara. In the first two hours in his first MotoGP since he was 10 years old, Alex: visits a MotoGP garage, stands on the pit wall during a MotoGP session, visits the service road guided by the track's architect, meets Valentino Rossi, gets a private tour of race control, gets a private demonstration of the latest in leather airbag technology, visits a Moto2 garage and meets several riders.  He later joins the sprint Podium ceremony and gets sprayed with "champagne" from  Alex Marquez - the rider of our partner team Gresini.  Talk about the VVIP treatment!  Jana returns to Joy General for dinner

Sun 13/Apr - We start the day with a visit to the amazing National Library. Apart from one of the most unique and 'un-library-like' designs we have ever seen, the permanent exhibition of historic artifacts and texts is fascinating. It is located in the massive "Education City" which is like 20 college campuses all joined together!

Race day goes by in a flash as always...  Jana joins us at the circuit and meets up with many old friends, including Fabio from LCR Honda who is kind enough to let us watch the race from his garage (and a good thing as they take a sensational 4th place - the best placed Honda in 2 years!). Gordon joins his guests for closing drinks in the Mondrian.

14/Apr - Sunday, while at the ever stupendous breakfast at the Mondrian, we make a spur-of-the-moment decision to extend our stay a day and joy more time in Doha and another chance to meet up with the Al-Alis. So we shift our flight to Tuesday and extend the car and hotel - and then get to enjoy another sublime and leisurely breakfast! We spend the morning in the incredible Place Vendome mall.  In the afternoon we meet up with Hege and the kids Sara, Latifa and Nora at the lovely re-developed Old Harbour.  At the insistence of our commander Latifa, we had a superb pizza dinner followed by an amazing coffee and sweet shop. A lovely evening with families that fit well together! We hope to catch up again soon!

Tue 15/Apr - Sadly it is goodbye to Qatar and a last chance to enjoy the amazing airport and the Qatar Airways lounge for breakfast before flying home on my favourite airline! Look forward to returning and seeing the bits we missed this time around!