Instead of staying in a hotel this year, I’m sharing an apartment or sorts (it’s a room in a Residence Hotel) with a fellow photographer, Andrew Wheeler, whose work has probably had more influence on me than any other sports shooter. I’ve known him in person for several years and it was largely his offer of the spare bedroom that allowed my trip, as this alternative saved over $1000 off my budget. The place has several benefits beyond the price: it’s not situated between six competing mosques, so I wasn’t awaken at 4:30 this morning by the call to prayer. I quite liked hearing that phenomenon during the day last year, but at 4:30 AM, two hours after you’ve gone to sleep…
Another benefit is that Andrew is quite a cook. After a relaxed day at the track, we stopped off at the Doha Carrefour, making me flash back to living in Lyon and Paris. The local mega-market is even more interesting than the original. It’s in a huge shopping center on the north edge of the bay, which accurately reflects the mix of Arabic and western cultures vying for the locals’ attention in Doha. Next to a silver merchant will be a Starbucks, then a seller of traditional Muslim garb, then a GNC nutrition store, then a Villeroy & Boch flatware and china seller, then a KFC. In the middle of the mall is an open-air ice rink with skaters sliding on the ice in the middle of the desert. Amazing!
The Carrefour is enormous, just as you’d expect if you’ve been in one before. As you enter is a large cigarette bar with attendant; though you can’t get alcohol here, many Qatari smoke enthusiastically. The produce section seems fairly European until you come across the nut selection, which is extensive (the smoked cashews that Andrew found are dangerously delicious), and the spice area, which smells as amazing as it is colorful. There would definitely be a few raised eyebrows in US Customs for anyone who tried to import a few of those mysterious powders.
There were many western products easy to identify, as well as some local products that were… Well, what the heck were they? No English beneath the Arabic on the container, so I had no idea. We decided to try some of the Moussy non-alcoholic malt beverage in a beer-shaped can. It contains vitamin C and sugar instead of alcohol as a preservative, and tasted rather beer-like.
We saw LCR Honda rider Randy DePuniet shopping by himself for some groceries, unrecognized by the locals. Probably even Rossi could move unnoticed among the Doha shopping crowd.
Back at the apartment, we feasted on basmati rice with a kind of chana masala curry, accompanied by a cucumber/tomato/cilantro salad. Delicious! The main dish was rumored to contain some small bits of lamb but I didn’t see any in mine—I think Andrew picked it out for me. He’s swell.
All of this happened after a relaxed day at the track, which consisted mainly of unpacking our gear and settling in to our spaces in the media center. I said hello to many of the folks I’d med last season and met a few new ones, either via introduction or after ‘meeting’ on Twitter or Facebook via shared acquaintances.
Proudly I displayed my first Orange photographer’s credential, which was granted by Dorna for this event only due to the reduced number of media here at Losail. Though I’m only in the club for one race, it feels great to have full access: I will be on the MotoGP grid for the first time!
I visited my new pals from Clinica Mobile, the mobile hospital that travels with MotoGP to every race. On the flight from Frankfurt I’d sat next to Paolo and Guiseppe, an osteopath and PT respectively, who’d invited me by for a real Italian coffee. I ran into them in the paddock and we went back to see their facility. They can do up to small surgeries if they need to, but the coffee turned out to be freeze-dried Nescafe—their little joke.
I said hi to Randy Mamola and his son Dakota, and was pleased to learn that Randy carries our 2010 calendar with him everywhere he goes because it has full GP and WSBK schedules. That’s what he said, but I know it’s because the photos are so cool.
One of the main highlights was being reunited with David Emmett, master of www.motomatters.com , with whom I have a odd friendship: the only time we see each other face to face is at race tracks. It would be positively weird to see him in person anywhere else!
So it was a very pleasant first day back in race town, and again I was amazed at how nice the people in this world are to someone who shows up once in a while and then isn’t seen for months. A final example is Ben Spies’ crew chief, Tom Houseworth. We have a friend in common, and I found House, as he’s known in the paddock, in the Tech 3 garage to say hello. We chatted mostly about his interest in astral photography, and he ended up showing me some amazing images takes with his telescope/camera in New Mexico.
I love it here, and can’t wait for tomorrow, when the 2010 racing begins with the first practice session of the season. Bring on the night!
