Mathaf: A pioneer journey to the corners of Doha’s most avant-garde art scene

Ari and myself in front of Mathaf #lifegoals

It was only when our cab driver took a right turn off the road and into the expansive sands of Doha, that I thought “this place really is off the grid.”

I had arrived in Doha, Qatar that morning, on a day jaunt with a friend from Dubai. Of course everyone had told us to the famous Museum of Islamic Art near the pier, but I was on a special mission.

I wanted to see Mathaf (pronounced Matt-hoff), the Arab Museum of Modern Art. . This place looked more avantgard than I expected for Qatar, and it was mostly run by young people – art students from the local community college. It seemed like a fascinating place to visit, and one that would be much more reflective of Doha art scene.

The museum’s website warned that it was hard to find (like everything in Doha), and that it was only accessible by taxi (like everything in Doha). I’m sure I even read something that said most taxi drivers won’t be familiar with it’s location or address. Thankfully, it is not so far off-the-grid that it doesn’t have a Google pin. When I had wifi in Dubai I pinned it on the map. As expected, our driver had no clue how to get there, so I sat in the back seat, staring at the moving blue dot on my iphone map, and telling the driver where and when to turn.

a typical view through the window of a taxi cab on the way to Mathaf

As we neared the museum we couldn’t find a road that would take us there. I asked t driver to pull over and showed him the map. The museum to the right of us, according to the map, though I couldn’t see it from the car window. There were no road visible on the map that lead there. And, looking out the window, there were no roads visible from the car either. Only a sandy pastier separates us from our destination, so the driver, no doubt annoyed and wanted to get us out of his car and to our destination as quickly as possible, turned the cab towards the pasture and drove through the sand until we spotted the driveway of the museum.

Once a curious white building came into view, I knew we had arrived at the right place. I timed our trip so that we would arrive 30 minutes before the scheduled special exhibition tour at noon.

We purchased our tickets first from two college-age women at the front counter. They wore the typical Qatar dress of a black abaya and black hijab. They spoke fluent English and were helpful.

There was plenty to do to keep us busy at that time. We browsed the gift shop, café, library, and student exhibition.

Even the bathroom signs are beautiful and uniquely Qatar, see the abaya

Note the dishdasha or shabaab and the keffiyeh

Cool lockers

Inside the library

Our guide, Ali, was a twenty-year-old student from the local community college. He had a gentle voice and spoke flawless English. Like the other young staff at the museum, he was not only interested in art, but also in different cultures. In particular, he wanted a chance to use English and meet people from all over the world. While casually conversing with him along the exhibit, I learned that he was soon planning to move to the United States to attend college. I asked him where he was going, and in a freakish coincidence, he said that he would be going to Portland, Oregon. I told him I was from Portland, and I asked him for the name of the college.As it turned out, he would be going to the same college where I worked!

Visitors now will not have to endure the hectic ordeal I had in getting to Mathaf. There is now a free shuttle bus that takes visitors from the easily accessible Museum of Islamic Art to Mathaf every hour of the day. However, at the time of writing this, it appears that construction is still obstructing the main road to the museum, so a detour is in use.

Doha Instagram Diary

Starbucks in Qatar

Well, there are no unique Starbucks menu items in Qatar, but being at a Starbucks in Qatar is a unique enough experience itself. I went to the Starbucks at the Villagio mall, which is out in suburban Doha. This was our first stop on our day in Doha journey. 

I have come to observe that Starbucks is the refuge for male shoppers in Qatar. It seems that while packs of women roam H&M and Sephora, their male counterparts take up the seats at Starbucks and spend the day chatting and reading the local news.

Photo Diary: Best of Doha

What I ate in Qatar

Absolutely no local Qatari food is the answer :(

Unfortunately when you are only in Doha for a day, you eat whatever comes your way.

But fortunately Doha is not short of amazing foreign and gourmet food. Our first meal was at the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) in Doha. They have an amazing little cafe of the ground floor, and although everything look delicious, I didn't have a lot of riyals to spend, so I orders a beat salad with cheese and bread. 
 

For dinner, we walked around Souq Waqif (a famous market) looking for something appetizing. There are local food offerings at the souq, but when we passed this Malaysian restaurant our mouths watered. My friend had been looking for these spicy noodles in Dubai for months, and we finally found them...in Doha.

The spread includes one mung bean drink, a watermelon juice with mint puree, spicy soup, spicy rice noodles, and some accoutrements of rice, chili, sardines, egg, and cucumber. Yum!

Now that I am a seasoned traveler in Doha (yeah right) I would recommend everyone do the one thing I did not get a chance to do: eat street food at the souq. At night, women in abayas enter the souq carrying their own pots and pans with homemade treats they cooked in their kitchens that day. This does not happen until nightfall, and unfortunately I had already eaten (and spent most of my cash) before they came out. When I go back, I will join the many people lined up for homemade Qatari food, and I will hold out a paper plate and tell them to dump anything on it they want. 

What do I buy in Qatar?

Although I was only in Doha a mere twelve hours, I managed to snag some amazing finds!

I desperately wanted to Starbucks Doha mug, which they had plenty of at the Villagio mall, so I bought two - one for me and one for a gift.

I also wanted to commemorate my visit to Mathaf by buying some cute pins. Again, I bought two sets, one for me and another gift. 

Lastly, I wanted something from the legendary Souq Waqif. I found some wonderful items, though many were overpriced and touristy, but I bought this colorful scarf for the ridiculous price of $3 USD from a Sri Lanken vendor. I didn't even haggle for it. 

A Day in Doha

A view of downtown Doha form the Museum of Islamic Art

Like anyone obsessed with traveling on two (sometimes three) vacation weeks a year, I try hard to see as many countries as possible in a short period of time. This doesn't always mean that I get to do each place a justice. Sometimes a day is all I have.
For some places, a day is enough, so I have heard.
I haven't found those places yet.

When I went to Scandinavia in 2011, I took a day trip to Helsinki and spent seven hours there in what I lovingly call "the seven hour scramble." I did see a lot of Helsinki, but the trip left me wanting more...like, a month more.

So this time when I was on the Arabian peninsula, spending a full week in Dubai, I could not resist the 1-hour $100 round trip flight to Doha, Qatar.

Admittingly, I would not have been so interested in Qatar if it were not for me being the only person in my office who had not been there. My previous employer had a relationship to Doha, and most of my colleagues when there annually....except for me.Their conversation filled me with wonder of things like the Museum of Islamic Art and the Souq Waqif, so I made a small list of things that could fill a day trip, and I set out to make the most of it.

Timing was important on this trip. We didn't want to go on a Friday because that is a Muslim holy day, so many things would be closed. My traveling buddy worked Sunday-Thursday though, so we were limited to just Saturday.

Here is how our day transpired.

9:15
We arrived at the Doha International Airport, and exchanged about $100 USD in to Qatari riyals.

9:30
We departed the airport in one of the many blue taxis which was waiting for us.

outside of the city, most of Doha looks like this

10:20
We arrived at the first stop on my list, the Villagio Mall, where I intended to go into the Starbucks and buy a Doha mug. I know, it's sad that we drove all this way for a mug, but there was no Starbucks in the center of the city, and the visit to the mall was very interesting. I immediately noticed that more Qatari women wear niqab (face-covering) in Doha than Emirati women do in Dubai.

During this time, we bought the mug at Starbucks, walked around the mall a bit, and enjoyed a latte.

just a regular day at Villagio Mall

11:00
We left the mall and took a cab to our next destination, Mathaf: The Arab Museum of Modern Art. I had come across this place accidentally on the internet, and it looked really cool and experimental.

11:30
After a wild cab ride ,we arrived at Mathaf. This museum was really the highlight of the day, and we were lucky that we arrived on a day when they do one of their scheduled guided tours. I will discuss Mathaf in detail in another post.

We spent about one hour walking around the open exhibits, then another hour on a guided tour, then raided the gift shop. I would say two hours does this place justice, but we hung out for three. 

outside sculpture at Mathaf

2:30
Got a ride into town from one of the Qatari English-speaking staff at Mathaf (thank you Abdul!). While he drove us, he shared many interesting stories about life in Qatar. He said that Doha has many visitors from Saudi Arabia, but police often pull over any car with a Saudi license plate and a woman driver, because they know it is illegal for women to drive in Saudi Arabia and therefore they do not have licenses. Qatar is much more easy going than Saudi Arabia, so it is a popular destination for tourists in the Arab peninsula.

Abdul took this picture of us at Mathaf

3:00
We arrived at the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA). This place is a national treasure, but Abdul says he finds it boring and he prefers Mathaf, and not just because he works there. Honestly, I do too. The best thing about MIA is the building itself, which is an amazing architectural experiences. It is a place of astonishing beauty with hands-down the best views of the Doha waterfront. Inside, they have a large collection of art from many centuries, but it is mostly tapestries, pottery, and jewelry. For art, I prefer experimental, visually-challenging things, like what I saw at Mathaf.  However, MIA is definitely worth the visit, and it has a great little cafe as well.

The famous museum of Islamic Art

4:00
We leave MIA to walk to the Souq Waqif, which only took about ten minutes. Considering the fact that every other desitnation was a thirty minute drive we were releived at the close proximity fo the souq and museum.We spent about an hour walking around the souq at dusk until it was time for an early dinner.

shoppers at Souq Waqif

5:00
Eat at awesome dinner at a Malaysian restaurant at the Souq.

Our awesome dinner

6:00
We spent another hour witnessing the Souq after dark (yes, it is pitch black at 6:00 pm in Doha) which is an entirely different experience. Street vendor come out, and the place gets crowded.  I definitely recommend the Souq-after-dark experience. I wish I could have stayed longer, but we had a plane to catch!

Souq at night

7:00
Hailed a taxi and drove back to the Doha International Airport. This was no small feet because traffic was outrageous, and what should have been a five-minute cab ride took thirty!

7:30
We arrived at the airport and went through the check in process. This was especially laborious because we were flying on a U.S. airline, so check-in was tedious and full of intrusive questioning. 

9:15
Our plane departs for Dubai. Goodbye Doha!

I know there were a lot of things I did not get to see and experience in Doha while I was there. Mostly notably were the pearl, and downtown Doha.  These are things I plan to see when I go next time, and there will be a next time!