The pedestrian tunnel starts from an elevator in a glazed room in north of Souq Waqif, right in front of Al Jomrok Boutique Hotel which has a black anchor logo, showing me that I was on the east coast of Qatar now. Gliding underground with a button touch, I stepped beneath the surface of two main streets namely Abdullah Bin Jassim Street and Al Corniche Street. Enjoying step by step in underground tunnel with air conditioner in it.
The hallway is like a mall corridor, decorated with artistic lighting decorations, with Digital LED along wall and luxurious brown marble floors. As I remembered, I passed a minimalist stand with the letter Q logo belonging to Qatar Charity, the leading non-governmental charity in that Gulf state.
I continued into a different room with view of huge pillars between car parking lots. This is an underground multi-storey parking area with a capacity of 2,000 vehicles. You know, now I was in the economic center of Qatar.
At the end of tunnel, I started up a gentle slope, circling clockwise. Now I was treading a new area. Long beachfront pedestrian path, paved with paving blocks, concrete fenced in beach side and hydroponic garden combined with low palm trees on the side of road. This was the famous Corniche Promenade in Doha.
Wait, guys….
I wasn’t going to discuss Doha Corniche with you guys first….
I would go to a monument in the shape of a giant pearl shell called “The Pearl Monument”. I have an obligation to visit this landmark.
I thought not only travelers, even all Qatari citizens should be obliged to visit The Pearl Monument. Through this monument, all audiences should know that prior to 1939, the era before the discovery of “black gold” in the bowels of their earth, Qatar was a poor country whose income depended on the catch of pearl oysters in Persian Gulf.
I thought Qatar was quite self-aware because they haven’t forgotten their economic roots in the sea. A gamble for the soul of people who must find a pearl shell from ten thousand of them. How not, the toll diving method was a simple dive method which wasn’t safe from attacks by sharks, barracudas and sea snakes. It was also just a seasonal job between June and September with a voyage of more than two months in the middle of Persian Gulf.
The monument is located right at the pearl dive site, on Corniche Road before entering Dhow Harbour. This is a form of respect from the Emir fot Qatar’s pearl history. A monument built with view background of West Bay area, decorated with a collection of country’s iconic skyscrapers.
Tha was a little story about my visitation to a beautiful monument. Let me show you how beautiful Doha Corniche is….
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