Doha, Qatar

April 23, Tuesday. Yesterday we were still in Dubai with a visit to nearby Sharjah on the schedule.  I've been coughing my head off and really didn't feel very well, so when I realized it was going to be very similar to the tour the day before (skyline, mosque exterior, historical site, souk), I decided to stay on the ship and try to rest.  I feel better today. Have I turned a corner?  I hope so!

Musicians welcomed us as we disembarked

At any rate, I decided to go on the tour of Doha, Qatar, today. Our four hour highlights tour began with a drive into Doha's dramatic skyline. Ten years ago, this was nothing but desert, but today it boasts some of the biggest, tallest, newest, and most expensive buildings anywhere except in one of the Emirates. Qatar, although it would be geographically logical to be part of the UAE, is not. It is a country unto itself.

Islamic Cultural Center

We drove past the Islamic Cultural Center with its spiraling tower, and on into the Old Souk, which is not really old but made to look as though it has been there for years.  As we approached we saw a parking lot full of camels.  Were they truly parked while their owners went shopping?  Probably not. probably they are there for atmosphere. At any rate, I was sorry I was on the wrong side of the bus to take their picture. Soon I was able to get a decent shot of three local cops showily mounted on white Arabian horses, just like out of the movies. 

Mounties of Qatar

Traffic cop with sun protection

Several streets later we arrived at the souk.  Unfortunately, I didn't realize the camels were just a half block away. I really liked this souk, which had a wide variety of shops selling everything from kitchen goods to hardware, brilliant silk yardage for women, the white and pale plaid cottons used to make men's clothing here. The long one-piece kandura for men is seen here commonly.  They were also selling ready to wear.  Crazy plastic shoes, red and white or all white scarves (ghutra) that men wear on their heads with long black cording (egal) holding them in place, children's clothing, many beautiful silk or cotton caftans, and even beautifully embroidered black abayas for the women. The black fabric of these was soft, sheer, and quite exquisite. No electronics, no books, plenty of interesting people watching. The entire souk was crowded with both tourists and locals, all busy shopping.

The entrance to the souk

I'm not sure, but this might be a wind tower,
which is used here to provide natural air
conditioning to areas below.

Narrow lanes and shopkeepers wearing kanduras

Pots and pans!

Karafes

Beautiful kaftans

Head scarves for men

Men's clothier

A kandura for a little boy

Glorious fabrics!

Adorable!

A quiet lane in the souk...

...leads to a new set of shops

The hardware store!

Portable stoves and kettles

Just outside, several old Iraqi men sat on padded wheelbarrows, waiting for business. Apparently if you buy something big, they will deliver it to your car. 

A guide told us these men are Iraqis and very poor. 

Expats can work here, but when they become too old to work
they must return home and have no retirement benefits.

Speaking of cars, our tight-lipped guide managed to tell us that most Qatari families own at least five-–a Rolls or other luxury sedan, a sports car, a Land Cruiser, a jeep, and a pickup for big shopping. No wonder the air quality is bad! Shopping seems to be a major preoccupation here. Everywhere, we saw black clad women drifting through high end Parisian designer shops, men eyeing expensive cars, crowded jewelry stores, and so on.

Only six percent of the work force here is Qatari. The rest are imported expats who do all the visible work. What was quite recently one of the world's poorest countries, thanks to oil, is now one of the wealthiest, but I got the impression that the people just live off their newfound wealth without having any sense of having earned it. Apparently falconry and camel racing are popular here.  Hard to imagine the lifestyle, really.

All of this is similar to what we saw in Dubai, our first Arab country and the first of the Emirates we will see. I've been told, however, that Qatar is more determined than the QAE to maintain its "Arab-ness" and less likely to embrace Western incursions into its culture than Dubai in particular and the UAE in general.

At The Pearl, a very high end shopping area surrounded by water and expensive yachts, it was one exclusive shop after the other. 

The shops of The Pearl are behind me.
This is the yacht basin.  Oh yes, families want
one of those, too.

Hermes, Dior, Cartier, Rolls Royce, Jaguar...
Name any luxury brand and it is here.

Another stop was at a huge new shopping and entertainment complex called Katara. It was stunningly expensive, but also architecturally stunning.  Outside they were building a huge dune that is being lined with drip hoses and planted with all kinds of grasses, ground covers, and probably flowers.  The complex itself has everything from an amphitheater that made me think of Egypt in some indefinable way, a few buildings covered with mosaic tiles, two large beehive like structures that we think are dovecotes, and even a token native-style eatery. Our Moroccan guide was terrible and told us NOTHING, so we all had to just imagine answers to our unasked questions. 

The building on the left and the column
were covered with gorgeous mosaic work

Stunning

Click to enlarge.  Perhaps you can see that this is all metallic gold.
There is a faint frieze at the top, and the gold glows in the sunlight 

A long shot of the beehive structures

  

The arena

Such beautiful design with the interplay of light,
shadow, and line.

The lone old-style building

Dovecotes?

Even the traffic cones are beautiful!

On the way back to the ship we drove past Al Jazeera's unimpressive headquarters and then through masses of new or nearly new villas. Apparently every Qatari family needs one or more of those, too.  We saw some in rather poor condition as well, very surprising since none could possibly be more than ten years old. Peeling paint, cracked and peeling plaster. Is it the desert sun or that people here have no idea about maintenance?  I suspect the latter. Back to the boat after a drive down the beautiful Corniche, or seafront walkway.