Day 199 - later

Yep, you guessed it, still stuck in Qatar. The other day I took a city tour. For a short time we were at the ancient market of Doha, dating all the way back to at least the 1930's. We had an hour and a half to kill, and after walking around for an hour, not being able to leave for at least another half, I got some Baskin Robbins Ice Cream and sat on a street corner, watching all the ladies in Burkkas walk by. Not something I thought I'd ever do, but when in Doha,...Due to cultural differences, we Americans are all stongly encouraged not to stare at, and certainly not to take photographs of, women in Burkkas. However, with nothing better to do while eating my ice cream, I got to wondering; what do women wear underneath their Burkkas? Are they in designer clothing, or does the Burkka allow otherwise self consicous women to walk around in public in sweat suits while wearing no makeup? Trying not to be too obvious with my staring, I tried to figure out how to tell what was underneath. These things are black as night, so there's no seeing through them. Starting with the shoes doesn't help, as almost all of them wear sandals. But then one particular amorphous shape caught my eye. Unlike most of the Burkka wearers, there was no eye-slit. This woman was wearing a black veil which allowed her to see out, but we couldn't see in. She was about 5 foot 10, very slim, and wearing what looked to me to be high priced high heeled shoes, but what do I know. Ah ha, I thought, some women do dress up. Then as she came around the corner the wind off of the Persian Gulf caught her burkka, billowing open, and allowed me to see that she was in fact wearing blue jeans. I guess that answers my question. I promise there will not be a discussion, at least from me, on what these guys wear under their man dresses. It's not flattering on Dom DeLuise, and trust me, it's not working for these guys, either.