Qatar and Rwanda
What we did
On Monday the 2nd of December we began our round the world adventure with a flight from Canberra (flying internationally from Canberra is amazing!) through Sydney, and a very long 15 hours later we arrived in Doha, Qatar. We spent 3 incredible nights at the Al Najada by Tivoli in Doha (most likely the one and only 5 star hotel we will stay at on our trip) and 2 days pottering around the Souk and sampling too many Qatari sweets.
Then on Thursday we were back to the airport and on our way to Kigali, Rwanda! The contrast between our 5 star hotel in Doha and our Rwandan Airbnb was rough (where are the giant fluffy towels?!). Kirsten fell hard for the 5 star lifestyle and is currently trying to work out a way to go back. But we quickly fell in love with this beautiful, clean, lusciously green city. When people hear the name Rwanda the horrors of the 1994 genocide are often the first thing that comes to mind, where one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred in the space of only 100 days while the international community stood by. The way Rwanda has healed itself in the intervening 25 years is incredible, and these days it is often referred to as the ‘Switzerland’ or the ‘Singapore’ of Africa, because it is so clean and orderly.
We’ve spent our time in Kigali visiting the Genocide Memorial, the Rwandan Parliament (which also houses the Campaign Against Genocide Museum) and doing a walking tour of the Nyamirambo area run by a community based organisation empowering women in the community. We’ve also braved our first moto taxis and sampled some of the best pastries and coffee Kigali has to offer (at least one legacy from the Belgian colonists we can be thankful for!)
Here’s a wrap of the highlights from week 1 of our trip:
Favourite thing we did
Tim loved our visit to the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, with its beautifully curated selection of centuries old stunning pieces that track the movements of Islam around the world over the millennia. A close second was visiting the Rwandan Parliament, what with Tim being a museum educator himself at Old Parliament House back in Canberra.
For Kirsten it was the visit to the Genocide memorial in Kigali. Rwanda made it onto our itinerary because Kirsten has a long-held interest in the Rwandan genocide, stemming from a major essay she did in her political science degree 12 years ago. So getting to visit the Genocide Memorial in Kigali and bear witness to both the atrocities that were committed here and the incredible way the country has healed from them has been an amazing experience.
Favourite thing we ate
We both loved the giant cheese stuffed meatball we had with lunch for our first meal in Qatar. Tim also rates the grilled cheese sandwich on spelt bread that we had on our first night in Kigali. It was the only dinner option on the menu at Inzora rooftop café, which we ended up at when Kirsten mixed up her starred breakfast and dinner restaurants in google maps before we were able to get an internet connection, and we were too tired and bewildered to find somewhere else.
Favourite thing we drank
For Tim it was downing a pint of full cream milk at a Rwandan milk bar on our walking tour of Nyamirambo. Kirsten is loving Rwandan coffee in both quality and price tag (in contrast to Qatar!)
Biggest splurge
Qatar was hideously expensive for people travelling on a shoe string. This was particularly challenging when our jet lag and the price of a cup of coffee came head to head. Our biggest splurge this week was definitely shelling out A$10 EACH for a cup of coffee at the Museum of Islamic Art to wake us up enough to enjoy the collection (although that view was worth paying for).
Best deal
You may have expected to see our 5 star hotel in Doha listed as the biggest splurge, but it was actually the best deal! Discover Qatar offers some incredible stopover packages to encourage people to spend a few days in Qatar when they fly with Qatar Airways, including accommodation at a wide range of 4 and 5 star hotels at bargain basement prices. So we scored our 3 nights at the Al Najada by Tivoli for around A$75 a night! They even threw in some decorative swan towels and cake when we told them it was our honeymoon! Kirsten is currently plotting ways we could route our future flights through Qatar to be able to stay there again…
Dinky-Di Duo 