Things to do this weekend www.thepeninsulaqatar.com PAGES 2-3 FRIDAY 13 MAY 2016 Email: [email protected] thepeninsulaqatar @peninsulaqatar @peninsula_qatar WEEKEND EDITION IYA A MYSTERIOUS VALLEY IN JAPAN PAGES 4-5 THINGS TO DO THIS WEEKEND EVENTS Demystifying Finance UB40 Live in Qatar Finance for non-financial managers with Professor Patrick Legland HEC Paris in Qatar is offering an Open-enrollment Program in De- mystifying Finance run by Professor Patrick Legland. This program His designed to cover the fundamental aspects of accounting and finance and to provide participants with an easy-to-learn and practical financial toolbox. You will leave this program with: ¿ 6B5C81@@B?138D?G1B4C133?E>D9>71>469>1>35 ¿ >81>354C;9<<C1>469>1>391<F?312E<1BI ¿ %5<6 3?>6945>35G85>49C3ECC9>7CE2:53DC1CF1B9541C3?=@1>I financing, value creation or management dashboards ne of the world’s most iconic reggae pop bands, UB40 will give their Qatar live debut at Doha’s InterContinental Doha Where: Tornado Tower, West Bay OBeach (West Bay Lagoon) on Friday, May 13, 2016. Grab the When: May 18 & 19, 2016 best seats before its too late. Fee: $1,950 When: May 13; 7pm Where: InterContinental Hotel Doha Beach Ticket: QR249 (General), QR499 (VIP tickets); visit q-tickets.com and platinumlist.net to book your tickets. Qajar Women: Images Of Women In 19th Century Iran his exhibition features the centrality of the female form to the artwork of the Qajar Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto Tperiod in Iran (1785-1925). Through a variety of historical objects from or the music lovers in Qatar, Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra will be MIA’s collection, in juxtaposition with photo- Forganising Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto at Opera House in Katara graphs and contemporary artworks inspired by Cultural Village. the Qajar period, they explore the meaning of the image of women at the onset of modernity. Where: Opera House, Katara Cultural Village When: May 13; 7:30 pm (seating begins 20 minutes prior; late Where: The Museum of Islamic Art comers cannot be seated) When: Until June 11 Tickets: QR 75-200 Ticket: Free admission Check http://www.mia.org.qa for details Doha Mums Summer Market anting to shop for gift items, jewellery, artwork, clothing, hand- Wcrafted items, or Qatar souvenirs? This is the summer market that you could head to. Taking place at Radisson Blu Hotel on Salwa Road Intersection, there will be about 90 vendors with some from Works from Mathaf Collection, vol. 2 Dubai as well. Where: Radisson Blue Hotel, Doha he exhibition features an exhibition of conceptual Emirati art- When: May 14, 11am to 4pm (those wanting to avoid crowds can ist Hassan Sharif, titled: “Hassan Sharif: Objects and Files”. The opt to pay QR50 to shop between 10am and 11am) Texhibition includes a selection of artist archives and object instal- lations from between 1981-1987, during which time Sharif established new, self-imposed systems of repetition, duration and chance in the Ramadan Bazaar 2016 execution of his work. Sharif’s works are showcased alongside four significant and in- ri Lankan Majlis Qatar (SLMQ) will host Ramadan Bazaar 2016 fluential artists from across the Arab world, including Faraj Daham Stomorrow at Stafford Sri Lankan School Doha. Apart from shopp- (Qatar), Saloua Raouda Choucair (Lebanon), Inji Efflatoun (Egypt) and ping, there will be a free medical camp, kids zone, games and various Farid Belkahia (Morocco). other fun activities for the entire family. Where: Ground floor of Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha Where: Stafford Sri Lankan School Doha When: Until September 4 When: May 13; 3pm to 10pm Time: 11am-6pm, Fri: 3pm-8pm, Monday closed Tickets: Free entry Ticket: Free entry 02 FRIDAY 13 MAY 2016 Some events mentioned here are for next week. We are EVENTS giving you headstart so that you book your tickets in advance. Scan& Watch Scan the QR code to watch videos from The Peninsula newspaper Art of Islamic Geometry Kutnu Fashion Show at The Ritz Carlton Doha Workshop By Aziza Iqbal practical introduction to Islamic geometric A pattern. In this one-day taster workshop, participants will be guided step-be-step through the construction of an Islamic Geometric pattern, Hamad Bin Khalifa Medical City Hospitals on paper using traditional techniques. After the geom- etry, the workshop continues with the design transferred on artist paper and painted using harmonious colours in watercolour or gouache. Each class ends with a finished painting. A new patter is taught in each class, so students are invited to attend multiple sessions. All materials will be provided. No previous experience neces- sary. Suitable for all levels. When: Until May 25; 5pm to 8.30pm Where: Katara Art Studio B19 Entry: QR200 for each workshop All workshops are single day workshops Age: 16+ Classes will be conducted in English iDiveQatar Origami Family Workshop t’s time to hit the Qatar Sky! Skydive Qatar is holding a skydiving event from May 3 to May 31 in which the adrenaline junkies can sign 14 May 2016 Birds Origami Iup and get a chance to jump from an aircraft at 13,000 feet over the 28 May 2016 Flowers Origami Al Khor desert. Both male and female certified instructors are available. * Workshops will be in English. * Age 6 and above. Where: Al Khor Airport When: May 3 to May 31 Where: Katara Art Studio B19 Tickets: Tandem jump (QR1,899 including a souvenir video & pho- Time: 3pm-5pm and 5pm-7pm tos); Certified Solo Jump (QR150 with Rig rental QR240 ) Admission: QR100 per session FRIDAY 13 MAY 2016 03 In Japan, where all notable things are grouped in trios, Iya is one of the “three hidden valleys.” TRAVEL Few know about this mysterious, remote valley in southern Japan By Mark Jenkins Visiting the Iya Valley last summer, I didn’t make shops, restaurants and - most egregiously - a large The Washington Post it to Chiiori. It’s far off the main road and is now a parking deck jammed against one side of the ravine. rather expensive hostelry, managed by a nonprofit Away from the road, the view is more rustic, although group Kerr founded. But I was glad to see that pic- the 148-foot-long vine bridge is crowded with people he Japanese know the Iya Valley for its re- ture, just to prove that someplace I’d read about who move gingerly from slat to slat, clinging to the moteness, alpine scenery and vine bridges in the region actually existed. I’d found little other vines that hold everything together - or appear to - and for being the fabled 12th-century ref- evidence that there was anything there, except the 46 feet above the river. uge of the Heike clan. Tourists are unlikely history reflected in the name Iya Valley, which means According to local lore, Heike warriors (also known Tto know it at all, but if they do, it’s probably “Ancestor Valley.” as the Taira) strung bridges made of vines that could because of Alex Kerr. In the age of crowdsourced data, there’s little un- be severed quickly to prevent their enemies from At the tourist information office near Tokyo Sta- charted territory. Yet in 2015, Google Maps showed pursuing them. These days, though, the tendrils wrap tion, I tried to explain this to the two very nice women nothing in most of the Iya Valley save mountains, the around steel cables. The same is true of the three behind the counter. They were visibly surprised that Iya River and a few twisting roads. (Cursory informa- other vine bridges, all of which cross the same bend a foreigner was planning to visit the valley, which tion on a few more places has been added since, of river near the opposite end of the valley, in the nestles in the mountains of Shikoku, the smallest of but the map is still largely empty.) When I arrived at area known as Higashi (“east”) or Oku (“deep”) Iya. Japan’s four main islands. Oboke, the closest train station, I had only a vague The valley and surrounding mountains combine Kerr, a writer whose study of Asian languages sense of what awaited me. traditional Japanese attractions - regional delicacies and culture began as a 9-year-old in Bethesda, Mary- In Japan, where all notable things are grouped and hot-spring spas - with ones that can be found land, discovered the Iya Valley in 1971, when he was in trios, Iya is one of the “three hidden valleys.” Still, much closer to Washington: hiking, camping and a college student. He soon bought an unoccupied it’s not exactly the South Pole. Trains arrive at Oboke white-water rafting in warm weather, leaf-peeping farmhouse there and renovated it, painstakingly re- almost hourly from dawn to midnight, and a pair of in fall, skiing in winter. Although the highest peak, storing the thatched roof. He named the place Chiiori, tag-team buses can traverse the entire basin in about Mount Tsurugi, is gently sloped and a mere 6,413 or “House of the Flute.” two hours. But the buses don’t make the complete feet high, the tightness of the Iya gorge provides I gave a brief account of this, which I’d read about trip in winter and run only on weekends for most of dramatic vistas suggestive of loftier climes. The sense in Kerr’s 1996 book, “Lost Japan.” The women smiled the year. The longest period of daily service is from of enclosure renders the terrain mysterious, which and shook their heads, as if this was the sort of thing mid-July to the end of August.