27 January 2003 - On Thin Ice

What better thing to do in the middle of the expansive, scorching desert of the Arabian Peninsula than... ice skating.

Much like thier robber barron brethren in America a century before them, the oil sheiks believe in bigger, gaudier, and more exotic. Winess the City Center mall in Doha, supposedly the largest in the Middle East. Coming from the land of the largest mall in the world, I can attest that this is a very large shopping center. Of course, to be a true tourist magnet, a mall needs a signiture activity attraction. West Edmonton mall has a water park, Mall of America has Camp Snoopy (not to be confused with the military depot here in Doha). City Center Doha has an ice skating rink. It isn't quite large enough to play a real game of hockey on, and most of the skaters are young Arabs more used to inline skates. The balconys overlooking the rink are filled with men in robes and veiled women starting in awe at the strange sport below them.

I must add at this point that Kuwait, not to be outdone by the Qatari's, have built their own ice rink. It is actually a regulation sized Olympic quality pond. The Kuwaiti's also have something resembling a national ice hockey team.

So with an afternoon without liveshots, the Fox crew headed over to the mall to don their skates and make an attempt at not making fools of themselves in front of the locals. After a good skate, we picked up a hibachi and some turkey sausages and settled in at the hotel to watch the replay of the superbowl.

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Claire, Steve, Ellen, Sami, and Barneby at the ice rink	Claire and Ben	Barneby catches his balance	lacing up for an afternoon on the ice	an actual Zamboni in Qatar. Who would ahve guessed!
	Fox News Executive Chef Mike Butler		Fox News Sous Chef Ben Johnson