For the past three years (well this is the third year) we’ve put together a very special National Day event site. It started in the end of 2008 (when we officially started working on iLoveQatar) and then we got the support from Vodafone to turn the experience into something prettier. I didn’t want to simply give people an events listing page and figured that with all the traffic going to the site (last year we had around 20,000 unique visitors in around 10 days) we should be doing something helpful!

So we started promoting Qatari talent. In 2009 we promoted Rayana, an amazingly talented singer. A small girl with a big voice. In 2010 we promoted Moh’d Kamal, Qatar’s first Qatari stand up comedian. This year we’re promoting a bunch of Qatari cartoonists, each with their own style! So far we’ve got @fatoomworld @wse7en @iba7r and @mana_qtr . Many of them contribute to www.qartoon.org

So if you’re looking for some quick info on what National Day is all about, a great events guide, and want to check out some great Qatari talent, then check out www.qatarnationalday.qa (yep we’ll be using that domain from now on so bookmark it!). Oh and guess what? You’ve got a chance to also win 10,000 QR from Vodafone! Head on over to the National Day and click on the competition tab to find out more

A day to be proud of

Qatar National Day 2010 is coming!

I hope that everyone has a great Ramadan period, and whether you are Muslim or not, there’s a lot to do in Qatar during this time.

www.Ramadan-Kareem.net has launched and it’s even bigger and better than last year’s effort.

Last year, we launched a real first…our site got lots of attention by helping people find out about all the wonderful things happening during Ramadan in Qatar. So we had a challenge: How do we take what we did last year and make it even MORE useful? This year we’ve partnered up with Vodafone again as well as got some support from QF Radio and Katara!

The beauty of www.Ramadan-Kareem.net is that it’s so simple. Not only is it easy to navigate but there are some great features!

We’re Mobile!
It only made sense to create a mobile version of the site. Especially since we partnered up with Vodafone! We took Ramadan-Kareem.net and shrunk the site into a useful mobile tool. It looks and feels like an app as well! So get tap-tap-tapping on your smartphones! Don’t have one? Don’t worry, the mobile version works on most devices!   Oh and if you’re a Vodafone customer, it’s free to visit the site!

We’re on the Radio!
QF Radio will air a special English-language Ramadan show every day during Ramadan at 8pm! Hosted by Laura O’Shea. They’ll be using Ramadan-Kareem.net to share what’s happening in Qatar, some of our own tips, and useful applications with their listeners too!

When you visit our site, you’ll see an ‘On Air’ button. When you see it light up, it means the show is…on the air!

We’ve got an app for that!
Whether you are on the site or on your mobile, we’ve got a list of great Ramadan-related apps to download. We’ve listed apps for iPhone, Android, and Blackberries. Just click your favourite app’s icon to download!

We’re Dynamic!
The website’s background changes depending on the time of day.
☾ In the morning the sky is dim and a sun rises
☾ During the day the sun shines bright, birds fly around and the wind gently sways the hanging lanterns
☾ For sunset—and because it’s so rare for us to enjoy a beautiful one in real life—our site’s sunset begins 15 minutes before night, so if you’re lucky enough to be on our website at exactly the right time you’ll see a brilliant orange sky.
☾ When it’s time to break your fast, the moon pops out, the lanterns light up, and the stars twinkle.
☾ We’ve also got some fun messages that pop up while you’re on the site. “Whoa, it’s hot outside!”

Why is this special?
Because it’s a fun way of letting people know when its time to break their fast! Don’t have a calendar? Have a calendar but don’t know what time it is? Just visit the site and if you see the moon, you can break your fast. It’s also a tool for kids!

We’re social!
☾ Sharing is caring:
You’ll notice Twitter, Facebook, the ‘Like’ button, and the new Google +1 button on the site. So sharing the site is extremely simple! Go ahead! Click on our LIKE and +1 buttons.
☾ Tents and Events:
-During Ramadan many people meet up at night at various tents and events to be together and socialize. If you’re looking for a calendar of events, then our site is here for you. Our calendar will constantly be updated as we get wind of more events!
-Last year people asked for more events besides simply the ones at hotels, and so we’re working hard to get as much as possible on there! Got an event yourself? Let us know so we can add it to the site!

Send an eCard!
We’ve created some very nice and colorful Ramadan cards for you to send out to family and friends. All you need to do is select your image, type in your message, position the message so that it’s in just the right spot, and click send!
Love the card? You can save it in MMS format so that you can transfer it to your mobile and send it to anyone through your mobile!
Don’t see an image you like? You can upload your OWN image and send it out as an ecard!
We love choices!

Ramadan 101
We know that some people might not know what Ramadan is all about, so we’ve included an “About Ramadan” tab on the site. If you want to brush up on your understanding of Ramadan, then visit this section for: when it is, what it’s about, dates and times, tips about eating, drinking and smoking, dress code, and other special considerations.

Convenient Prayer and Iftar times!
We’ve tried to make your life as easy as possible when it comes to knowing when to pray and when to break your fast.
☾ We’ve got a full Ramadan calendar on our site
☾ You can download the calendar to your phone or desktop
☾ You can register to receive FREE SMS notifications
☾ You can pick up a pocket calendar in store
Prayers, Quran Verses, Tips and Recipes Via SMS
As a new addition this year, Vodafone customers can also subscribe to receive daily prayers and verses from the Quran, audio clips, tips and recipes during the holy month of Ramadan.

Suhail package: Receive a prayer and a verse from the Quran daily.
Text SUHAIL to 97796 to receive this package every day for a month for only QR7

Al Hilal: Receive a prayer, a verse from the holy Quran and an audio clip from your favourite scholar.
Text ALHIL to 97781 to receive this package every day for a month for only QR10

Al Badr: Receive a prayer, a God Good name animation, a fasting and health tip and a clip from Al-Afasy.
Text ALBAD to 97797 to receive this package every day for a month for only QR12

Al-Thuraya: Receive a prayer, a recipe and a health tip daily.
Text ALTHU to 97780 to receive this message every day for a month for only QR10.

Send an eCard!
We’ve created some very nice and colorful Ramadan cards for you to send out to family and friends. All you need to do is select your image, type in your message, position the message so that it’s in just the right spot, and click send!
Love the card? You can save it in MMS format so that you can transfer it to your mobile and send it to anyone through your mobile!
Don’t see an image you like? You can upload your OWN image and send it out as an ecard!
We love choices!

Vodafone customers only for the above.

What are you waiting for? Spread the word!
Oh! And to make things even MORE digital, we’ve created cool QR Codes that you’ll see behind the Ramadan booklets on desks. It looks like a sqare barcode with the VF logo on it. Download a QR code scanner from your app store.

Here are a few suggestions:
iPhone: RedLaser
Nokia/Symbian: reader.kaywa.com
Android: QR Droid

And show some love to Vodafone by checking out their site! www.vodafone.com.qa They’ve got some special promos and if it wasn’t for them Ramadan-Kareem.net wouldn’t be as cool as it is!

Ramadan Kareem Qatar! I hope that people will have a great experience of Ramadan this year.

If you’re interested in reading up a bit, then be sure to check out these threads and posts:

Ramadan in a nutshell

Ramadan isn’t just for Muslims

Luxurious Ramadan

Saying Ramadan Kareem

Ramadan Opening Hours Guide 2010

Garangao – A Child’s Dream (The 14th day of Ramadan)

ILQ (partnered with Vodafone, Katara, and QF Radio) will be launching a fantastic new Ramadan site this year. It’ll contain a great events guide, a ramadan 101 guide, prayer times, special apps, and e-cards!

That’s not all! This time we’ve also got a MOBILE version and to make sure you don’t miss QF Radio’s 8pm show, an ‘on air’ button will light up!

For those who don’t know what the Doha Twestival is, have you been living under a rock? It’s only one of the world’s biggest festivals that happens in multiple countries around the world!

This year it’s happening at Aspire Park (from 6pm – 9pm) and organized by Qtel Virgin Mobile and sponsored by Aspire Zone, Al Saad Rentacar, QatarHappening, and all proceeds going to Reach Out to Asia.

Tickets cost 25QR per person (or 40QR for a family). So not only are you coming on down for a day of fun but by buying a ticket, your money goes to charity too! You’ll get to enjoy music, traditional dancing, some stand up comedy, and there will ALSO be auctions for Sixth Senses massages, Glow manicures and event tickets to iLoveQatar and GlobalDJ’s Big Day Out!

Anyway, if you need more convincing, click here. Hope to see you at the event tweeting away! Don’t forget to say hi to people from iLoveQatar (ILQ). We’re not sponsoring the event but we’re definitely supporting it

Oh great, another “Festival” in Qatar, I thought to myself. I’m tired of seeing huge advertisements for events and then heading on over only to be disappointed by poor crowd control or the fact that there aren’t really any festivities at all. That being said, I was never more happier to be proven wrong. I drove through a giant ship’s helm at the East Gate of Katara (that’s just been opened. It’s where Aladdin’s Kingdom used to be) and was ushered through to the car park. I was happy with the fact that even though we were parking on sand, they cleared out the rocks and tried to make the parking lot a ‘real’ parking lot.

I walked on through passed the VIP tent and loved hearing the old Qatari sea chants on speakers and the tiny old traditional huts set up on the left. In front of me was a building shaped like a Dhow, some young staff sadly were more interested in chatting amongst themselves than guiding visitors sadly. Entering, I realized that it was like a museum, complete with a cave-like interior, glass tanks with sharks, hanging giant purple jellyfish and some interactive stations too.

I passed by one area where a kind guide asked me if I wanted to see something cool. I felt like I was being let in on a secret. He pulls out this giant armored crab. He tried to get me to carry it for a while and although kind of intimidated, I acted cool and said I was fine. I had to pull the “I don’t want my thobe to get dirty” line. It was either that or hike it up and run like a girl! After seeing how harmless it was (especially how it ran on the ground like a remote control car) I knocked on its shell. Oh yeah! That’s one point for the human and IN YO FACE for the crab.

Exiting the boat, I wasn’t sure where I was supposed to be going so I just followed the brick road. To my left was a childrens area, where you can find games, a live show, and some great educational.. umm.. fun stuff (alright my vocabulary isn’t excellent!). To my right was a sealions pool. That’s where we get to see some great tricks from one of the seas smartest animals. I wonder where they brought them in from?

Now THIS is the part that made me go wow. It involves Pearls, mermaids, oil, robots, bouncing animals, and lots of dancing.

Walking on down further there was a giant stage that we were guided into. I sat down and waited for a show to start. Bare in mind that I was kind of confused and didn’t know what to expect. Under my seat was a bag that had a gold colored metal helm and a few guides. I wrapped my ghitra around my neck to keep warm. The wind was blowing strong and the weather was getting quite cold.

After a few introductions we’re told that we’re going to watch “Secrets of the Sea” and the lights fade out. Now this is a bit of a spoiler so scroll down if you don’t want to know what happens! Disney-esque music starts and we embark on the journey of Qatar’s history. It’s about a young girl who’s being told a story about Qatar’s development and how the country went from an uneducated poor country to a society that survived on pearl diving to the discovery of oil to the focus on education. It was a beautiful story and I loved it. Be warned though, parts are in arabic and there isn’t any translation, but I believe that they did such a great job that whether there was translation or not, people will understand it all.

I loved the use of colors, imagery and when it came up to the discovery of oil part, I loved how a woman’s long flowing abaya represented the flow of oil. Throughout the whole show as well, you’ll notice that the quality of the dancers clothes improves to represent how the country gradually became richer.

You know what? I’ll end it at that. I don’t want to ruin too much of the story, especially since I’ll be uploading some snippets of videos soon.

So what’s there besides the show? There’s seals shows, ball games, beach football, a carnival (parade at the venue!), animation and scientific workshops, a visual arts symposium, sailing and rowing classes, a dancing fountain, raffle draws, puppet shows, marine magic, feature films, I’m getting tired just writing all this stuff down! Do yourself a favour.. check out the Qatar Marine Festival’s schedule here. It ends on the 26th so you better hurry up!

It’s a great festival and whats even more amazing is that its all free. Thank you Qatar for doing something so great for everyone in Qatar.
If you’ve been a part of putting together the QMF, drop me a note and let me know. I’d like to include the names of the people/companies that helped out because I’m so proud of the hard-work put into this.

View more pictures here

View videos here on our Youtube channel.

I just had to mention this. Someone by the name of “Mudeer” posted on the iLoveQatar.net forums and I just had to bring this to the Qatari blogging community. See original post here.

The Kuwaiti blog is actually run by a couple Mark and Nat. Two Lebanese expats living in Kuwait. 2:48AM (I wonder what the history behind the name is) is quite a fun blog to read. It’s well written and (like this blog), aims at being fair and well balanced.

Let’s cut to the chase shall we? Mark visited a brand new restaurant that opened up in Kuwait called Benihana (a popular international franchise). They’re quite famous for doing fancy tricks while cooking the food in front of you. Here’s a video posted by Mark that shows you the experience:

I actually laughed when I watched this! He’s just banging his fork on the table. That’s not entertaining… that’s called ‘giving someone a headache!’.

Now the company that runs Benihana has dug themselves a deep hole (the irony being that the owner must be another form of a ‘hole’ to have done that). Who wants to go to a restaurant that’s publicly saying, “Eat our crap and like it!”. They even went as far posting ‘positive’ comments on this guys blog AND they deleted all comments posted on their facebook page. It looks like all they want to do is silence the public…

This case is going to set precedence in the GCC not only in Kuwait. As we all know, it only takes one GCC country to do something and the rest follow suit…

Good luck 248AM!

If it’s one thing we’ve learned from the Asian Games 2006, it’s that Qatar knows how to throw a party. So I’m sure that whether you’re from Korea, Japan, India, Jordan, or any of the other countries from the 16 countries who’s gotten this far, then you’ll want to know where the fun and games will be at.

Qatar’s promised that this will be THE best Fan Zone ever of any Asian Cup history.

Alright! So here’s what you need to know! The Asian Cup Fan Zone is going to open on the 6th until the 29th of January. It’s basically the place to hang out when you’re not watching match. You’ll find exhibits, attractions, a huge food court, concerts, and interactive games. During the evenings, there’ll be additional entertainment which includes a flame and music show, a virtual penalty shot simulator, street football pitches (yup! You so you can score goals yourself!), a games zone and an exercise area.

So what time do you need to be there? It opens from Sunday to Wednesday from 4pm-10pm and weekends from 10am to 10pm (that’s what I gathered from the QNA anyway).
Don’t forget! Follow me on twitter @iloveqatar if you want to receive live tweets while I’m at the Fan Zone. Another shout out to Samsung and Forbes for inviting me over. Samsung is one of the official sponsors of the Asain Cup 2011.

Here’s some important links to follow and fan!

Official AFC Asian Cup Facebook group

I Love Qatar Fan page

I ♥ Qatar group

I’m sure that this national day is going to be a big one! With us winnning the 2022 World Cup as hosts, Qatar will probably want to show how awesome it can be.
Be warned though, if you are anywhere near the corniche, you’ll be stuck for a good couple of hours as people drive down on packed lanes, dancing, cheering, and waving flags.

Usually the westbay area has huge led screens showing different shows and arab celebrities (for those stuck in traffic and unable to watch the show on tv), trees are lit up with in themed colors (last year was purple and yellow), signs drip with led lights, banners and flags are waved all over the place and people parading to enjoy the festivities.

Around 6pm is when you should get on the corniche. That’s where you can see the sound and light show and enjoy the fireworks display. If you are lucky, you’ll also be able to get a table at Al Mourjan and enjoy some delicious food, desert, and if you’re partial to it, have some sheesha.

It’s going to be cold as usual, so make sure you come wearing a jacket. Last year was so amazingly cold and since the corniche is by the sea, I can assure you that you’ll regret not bringing something warm to wear.

So if you’re looking for a great guide to the events around Qatar (not just the official ones), visit http://www.nationalday2010.com You’ll find a bit of information about the history of Qatar, various events, some downloads, and you’ll also find some funny videos made by Qatar’s first Qatari comedian (and ILQ Ambassador), Mohammed Kamal! Thanks to Vodafone for helping ILQ put all this together. (To other companies, if you’re willing to partner up with ILQ and help us do other awesome stuff, please drop me a line!!)

Don’t forget to sign up to the ILQ newsletter. Registration on the site!

Ramadan Mubarak! I hope that people will have a great experience of Ramadan this year.

If you’re interested in reading up a bit, then be sure to check out this threads and posts:

Ramadan in a nutshell

Ramadan isn’t just for Muslims

Luxurious Ramadan

Saying Ramadan Kareem

Ramadan Opening Hours Guide 2010

Garangao – A Child’s Dream (The 14th day of Ramadan)

ILQ will be launching a fantastic new Ramadan site this year and it’ll be used every year to let you know what’s going on in Qatar and as a useful guide

Two tweaks have been implemented onto ILQ recently and I just wanted to share them.

1) The menu bar on the left is now compact! We’ve added a cool accordian menu style that shrinks after 2-3 seconds of being expanded. If it detects that you like clicking around on links that are usually hidden, it’ll stay expanded. What’s better? iPhone friendly!

2) We’ve added a new list on the main page that shows you what the current events, latest news, latest threads, and guides are in Qatar! Now you can go clickity click and you’re there in a …. click..

If you’ve got your own ideas, share them with me! Now get going to http://www.iloveqatar.net