Temperatures are rising above 40 now. Time to switch on the AC during the time out of the flat and switching it off during night time. To be able to sleep without the noise.


Even the cats are now looking for shadow places, a few I saw hidden under cars in the underground parking of the Virginia Commonwealth University in Education City. Outside strong, hot winds blew from the north, carrying a lot of dust and sand into town. Waves of sand flowed over the road, tickling the body of the car. Inside the parking lot, although exposed to the outside, the winds seized, the heat came down. This made those cats have a rest under the cars.


Once you enter the university campus, there is a canteen to go for food at reasonable prices. Normally it does not exceed 15 Riyals for a proper and nicely prepared meal. There are several menus to chose from, even the pasta can be ordered with ingredients of your choice. And it will be freshly prepared while you are watching. Sometimes it is a bit crowded, but adapting your times of appearance will give you a chance to grab a seat.

Betos is an Argentinian steak restaurant located on C-ring-road. When you come from Hamad hospital heading towards Ramada signals, just after the small road leading to Doha clinic on your right hand side. It's a nice place with space to sit outside, but I doubt that this is fun with all the traffic jam caused by Ramada signals just a few metres away from you.

A colleague recommended the restaurant to me as he said it's a good place to get nice meat. Although they offer you bread and relish just upfront your meal, I was a bit disappointed. Maybe because of going there on a Saturday most of the dishes in the menu were not available. Shortage of meat, they explained. So there were just three or four dishes available. But they also had a small display on the table showing special offers. And those were available.

I chose the Philly steak, a sizzling pan of chopped beef, topped with melted cheese and accompanied by flavoured rice, vegetables and cheese sauce. If you go there just for a small bite, this one is enough. But if you are really hungry, you should order something else. Unfortunately I am not sure what. Maybe the sirloin steak which they announce to be 11oz.

The quality of the food was ok, it tasted good and it was enough for me, because I was not that hungry. But keep in mind that they will add a 10% service charge on top of the announced prices of the menu.

edit: Betos is closed for a while now. A new restaurant has been opened in the same location, but I wasn't able yet to go there and test the food.