On the Road: Qatar

Back in the East

This was my shortest visit to any country on my trip. I stopped in for only four days. Qatar didn’t warrant more time I’d figured. It was just a small country with one city. In 1971 seven sheikdoms in the Arabian Gulf united to form the UAE. Qatar, like Bahrain, decided to remain alone. Now the country thrives thanks to its huge oil and natural gas reserves. There’s so much money the Qataris don’t know what to do with it. They basically threw cash at the selection committee to win the bid for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and so ambitious is the ruling family (House of Thani) that they want to create the world’s first air conditioned open air stadium for the event. It’s surreal what great wealth can accomplish. In the capital of Doha there stand several imposing sky scrapers that are mostly empty. So why the hell spend the money for unnecessary buildings? Well, the answer is quite simple—to impress. And Doha does not fail in that department. The city is an ongoing experiment to make desert living not only tolerable, but also glamorous. The goal is to be like Dubai in 30 years.

Qatari National Flag

Modern World

My travel has been rather random. I keep jumping back and forth between developed countries and more rustic destinations. The two are good in their respective ways. While in Africa the food was cheap and the accommodation very reasonable. And to save on expenses I avoided nice restaurants and hotels. So I was slumming it in places that didn’t have hot water or good Internet. I was getting sick of the food in the meantime. I should commend the people in Africa for eating largely healthy. One local man in Kenya had put it very succinctly that in Africa people who are skinny tend to be poor, and those that are fat tend to be rich. In America it is the opposite. The rich eat healthy. Or at least it seems they don’t eat fast food crap or processed foods, but organic, freshly made dishes. In Africa the latter is the standard. The wealthy are the ones that prefer the crappy processed stuff because it is varied and loaded with flavor. Such a contrast between the two worlds.  As for me I like the crap from time to time as well, granted it’s the right type. 

I arrived in Doha and stayed with a CS host originally from Egypt. Near his house were some places to eat. I ended up going to KFC. I couldn’t even remember how long it had been since I’d last eaten at one. At least five years. I got a set meal with a chicken sandwich and fries. The medium sized drink cup that came with it was huge. As I waited for my food I looked at the people in the restaurant. Most looked Asia—Indians, Filipinos, Thai. Doha was very diverse in this way. But it wasn’t necessarily a good thing. The city was running off the exploitation of foreign labor. And the people working all the service jobs were getting the absolute minimum in wages. A Filipina had taken my order and an Indian passed me the food.  I sat and stared at it a moment.  I’d chosen KFC because it was close and cheap. I should have walked further.  The objects on the red tray before me were turds masquerading as food. I shook my head in regret. To think, I’d once practically lived off fast food junk. Now I couldn’t understand how people could even call it a meal. A cardboard lettuce sandwich probably had more nutritional value than what I was about to eat.

Back at the apartment I rinsed the taste from my mouth with a glass of water. Then I kicked back on the couch to use the Net. The connection was damned fast. I could watch Youtube videos and face chat on Skype. My host Mohammed had his computer out more than me. He spent his free time playing online games (League of Legends), so though we were in the living room together for hours, we hardly said a word to one another. In a separate room Mohammed had a washing machine. The sight of it almost made me cry. For months I’d been washing my clothes by hand. Now I just threw it in the machine. Afterwards I took a hot shower. Halfway through I decided to make it a bath and I soaked in that water for a good length of time. Such simple moments of joy like this one made me feel more at peace with the world.

Doha Skyline

Fanar Tower

Giant Sea Shell

Modern Residential Area

Islamic Monument

In the Airport

City Sights

Doha did not have so many monuments. Its skyline was the city’s famous feature. The tall buildings lined the Arabian Sea and traditional dhow boats floated in the aquamarine water. Latticed boom cranes on unfinished constructs promised more to come. A taxi driver told me the waterfront is the same as the tall built up skyline along the Huangpu River in Shanghai. Quite amusingly, in Shanghai I remembered the Oriental Pearl Tower standing out most because of its phallic-like appearance. Not to be outdone Doha had the Burj Qatar tower. The locals jokingly referred to it as the Condom Tower and it looked exactly like one, even having the grayish off white color of some condoms. From there the coast curved inland providing varying views of the buildings from a seaside esplanade. The buildings were most impressive at night. I went with Mohammed and his Egyptian friends to drink karak and see the lit up skyline. Karak, by the way, is a type of milk tea with spices. I took photos with the colors reflecting off the sea.

One other prominent landmark in Doha was the Museum of Islamic Art. Designed by I. M.Pei, the same man who made the pyramid at the Louvre in Paris, the museum building is best described as a fusion of modern geometric design and classic Islamic architecture. Admission was free. I entered and found the interior layout as impressive as the outside facade. The exhibits though were not so interesting. The museum exhibited 1,400 years of Islamic art covering three continents, yet it could not compare to the impressive art found in India or China, let alone the graceful painting and statues of European museum collections. I took photos nonetheless. I also laughed when inside an exhibit about the Qajar women of Iran. During the Qajar Dynasty between 1785 and 1925 the Iranian people had strange notions regarding feminine beauty. The most desirable of women were those that had a unibrow and mustache, and for those ladies that lacked these, they used make up to pencil them in. One black and white photo from the era showed a plump woman of the shah’s harem and she looked exactly like a dude. If I were only so lucky to have a harem of my own, that's the last type of woman I'd choose to be in it.

I went to the Souq in the city too. It’s the place where people hang out on the weekends. The buildings were not originals but it retained the feel of an old outdoor Arab market. Mohammed’s friend Abdullah took us in his car. We sat at an outdoor cafe had Arab sweets including kunafeh, a breaded treat with cheese. Nearby local Qatari musicians performed traditional songs with a guitar like instrument and drums. Mohammed said the men were supposedly singing in Arabic but that he did not understand a single word. I shrugged my shoulders. It was all gibberish to me. Another night we went to an outdoor mall called Katara. The layout had been planned to resemble a traditional Arab town. And in the back beside the sea was an outdoor amphitheater. We went late in the evening and there were few people. We walked around and drank karak. This was what ordinary people did at night. The only other interesting thing was to visit a licensed bar and pay a fortune for alcohol. Elsewhere drinks were prohibited. The penalty for being caught could be jail time, deportation, or God forbid, 40 lashes. It wasn’t a problem in my case. For the short time I was there I could resist the need for alcohol.

Local Souq

Museum of Islamic Art

Inside Restaurant

Art Display

Stairs

Overlooking the Water

Abdul Wahhab Mosque

Outside View

Mohammed Gaming

Second Class Citizens

To build their modern and grand city the Qataris couldn’t be bothered to dirty their own hands. They've instead used their vast oil wealth to bring in foreign laborers. The people come predominately from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Thailand. The foreign workforce makes up 90 percent of the population. In many cases Qatari business owners pay them so little these laborers can’t afford to live in regular housing while working in Doha. So they end up in small temporary enclaves that resemble trailer parks. What’s worse is the Qataris treat them like animals. They have them working outdoors in the summer months in 50C temperature. It’s not uncommon for workers to die from heatstroke. And if a worker were to complain they’d get a laugh in the face or threats of deportation. That’s how it goes. Professional workers have the same problems. One of Mohammed’s friends who was an engineer from Egypt was debating quitting his job and returning home because his employer refused to grant him holiday time, which by law, was his right to have. 

Qataris of course have it easy. Each company is required to be at least 51% Qatari owned and must also employ a quota of local nationals. But these people don’t work in most cases. They just show up around once a month and sit for a few hours. For this they are paid more than the other employees who are working their asses off to keep the businesses running. Mohammed said that when the Qatari guy in his office made that rare appearance, he would do nothing more than smoke and eat nuts while looking down at his coworkers with unveiled contempt. This arrogance and privilege extends to everyday life. In any conflict of interest between a local and foreigner, whether it be a traffic accident or a housing argument, the police and judiciary system will almost always back the Qatari. The best thing a foreigner should do in such situations is to simply apologize and walk away--even if they are in the right. The Qataris have all the wealth too. Of any nationality in the world, per capita, they are the richest. Qataris have so much disposable income that they don’t like to drive a car for more than a year or two, preferring to buy a new model. The local market is so saturated with used cars that it’s one of the cheapest places to buy one. Gas is very low in cost too. 

Because Qataris live like royalty it is exceptionally difficult to become a national. The best hope one has is through sports. Qatar doesn't have a large local pool to draw talent from, so like most other things in the country, they import it, and to play on a Qatari team in international competitions an athlete must have citizenship. Therefore, volleyball players, runners, footballers and so on, are mostly foreign born. What is particularly interesting about this is that once the athlete stops competing, their citizenship is often revoked. This can be a problem for those places where a person must give up their own citizenship to take on another. Money is the motivating factor. Even so, Kenyan javelin champion Julius Yego turned down $9.5 million from Qatar last year. The venture is not without its risks. If an athlete is injured before they can earn their paycheck, it could spell disaster, being both poor and stateless. Some also see it as poaching, or in other words, stripping a country of its talent. At any rate its only a select few who have the option of considering such a move. Most people in Qatar could never dream of becoming Qatari. Not the business men or wealthy residents either. You need to have the blood. Otherwise you're just a second class citizen.

Foreign Workers

Stop Over

The days I had in Qatar served as a transitional period between East Africa and the Caucuses. I was glad to spend what little time I could in the country and wished I'd booked my flight to stay longer. But those days I don't set aside in one place I will be able to enjoy in another. Besides, time is not the big issue for me. I'm in for the long haul. Now I'm working my way back to Europe 10 years since my last visit. Should be exciting.

Boats and Building