Our island, 'The Pearl' is divided into two horse shoe shapes - Porto Arabia where we live which has 31 nearly complete residential towers, a number of shops, cafes and restaurants, and Viva Bahriya, which is still incomplete and is undergoing constant development. With nearly 4 million square metres of space on this island, it's very easy to get absolutely, irrevocably lost if you don't know where you're going. Which is precisely what we did.
We took advantage of being lost in the midst of the enormous building site by trying out my new SLR on some of the buildings that were going up. Some were quite far from completion.
Others almost ready for their owners to move in.
But they all had one thing in common: a beautiful view of the Doha skyline out the back.
We snuck through one of the plots where foundations were being laid, and found ourselves on the beach just as the sun was beginning to dip over the sea.
As the familiar orange Arabian sunset began to spread over the horizon, I was so pleased that I had my SLR with me to capture it. Even though I'm still a long way from pro photographer status (I'm still mastering the basics like how to take the lens cap off and how to tell when it's on or off at the mo), photos are just soo much sharper and more colourful than the ones I'm used to taking on my battered and decrepit iPhone 5.
We stopped to watch some local children playing about on their jet skis.
And when the sun dipped lower and our stomachs started to grumble, we started the trudge back home along the beach...
Stopping en route for a few more snaps of the sunset...
And for a bite to eat at our favourite art house restaurant, Atelier Cafe.
I always love a little exploration afternoon with Rich, sneaking around places we aren't really supposed to be.
Especially as it meant we got some pretty good snaps in the process.
