Saturday, December 30, 2006
Eid Mubarak - Happy Eid!
Today is the first day of Eid Al-Adha, which for us means it is one of the few days where things are actually closed! There is a link above about this one if you are interested in reading more.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Australia riding on the sheep’s back?
With Eid al-Adha approaching, the price of sheep has been reported to be increasing… all very exciting huh!
Not much point trying to explain this whole Eid thing in detail at the moment, but basically it includes distributing meat to the poor. To meet the demand for sheep there has been an increase in imports leading up to this time, and the prices are the thing I cannot work out at all…. Sudanese and Iranian sheep are going for QAR700-800, you can get Syrian sheep on the black market for QAR1000+ (apparently the most sort after)… and the lowly little Australian sheep are going for QAR370!!!!!
Doesn’t this all seem a little strange? Possibly the cheap Australian sheep is somehow tied into oil imports or something, but maybe this has something to do with why Australian farmers are doing so badly… maybe Australia just doesn’t have very good sheep to ride on anymore! The only thing I know for sure is you can buy Australian sheep cheaper in Qatar than you can in Australia and that just all seems a little strange.
Not much point trying to explain this whole Eid thing in detail at the moment, but basically it includes distributing meat to the poor. To meet the demand for sheep there has been an increase in imports leading up to this time, and the prices are the thing I cannot work out at all…. Sudanese and Iranian sheep are going for QAR700-800, you can get Syrian sheep on the black market for QAR1000+ (apparently the most sort after)… and the lowly little Australian sheep are going for QAR370!!!!!
Doesn’t this all seem a little strange? Possibly the cheap Australian sheep is somehow tied into oil imports or something, but maybe this has something to do with why Australian farmers are doing so badly… maybe Australia just doesn’t have very good sheep to ride on anymore! The only thing I know for sure is you can buy Australian sheep cheaper in Qatar than you can in Australia and that just all seems a little strange.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Al Khor & Simaismah
Drove up to Al Khor today, which is about 20 minutes north of Doha. I suppose though the 20 minutes depends on where you consider the northern part of Doha to finish. It is really about 20 minutes north of West Bay, which means it is about 45 minutes from home.
Along the highway we past camels which was nice… I was thinking this was the first time we had seen any in the wild, but latter it occurred to me that it was more than likely a “camel farm” if there is such a thing (which I am guessing there is). Still was nice to see them wandering along the side of the road going about their camel business. With the high fences and camel grids on the side roads there isn’t really any chance of them venturing onto the road, but I have read of cars hitting them and doing much damage to both car and camel… just don’t think this happens on the highways, unless they manage to jump off the back of a ute… I don’t think they are that eager to get off when they are going for a ride though… they look like they enjoy it too much!
Along the highway we past camels which was nice… I was thinking this was the first time we had seen any in the wild, but latter it occurred to me that it was more than likely a “camel farm” if there is such a thing (which I am guessing there is). Still was nice to see them wandering along the side of the road going about their camel business. With the high fences and camel grids on the side roads there isn’t really any chance of them venturing onto the road, but I have read of cars hitting them and doing much damage to both car and camel… just don’t think this happens on the highways, unless they manage to jump off the back of a ute… I don’t think they are that eager to get off when they are going for a ride though… they look like they enjoy it too much!
OK... so only one camel, but with them wandering one way and us driving the other it was the only one that made a photo!
Anyway really don’t have anything nice to say about Al Khor so best not say anything at all beyond the fact they do have a little Al Corniche and a bit of a beach with a park, but with a lot of road works going on there, you really don’t get to see much of it at the moment.
We decided to head back to Doha via any exit that went back out to the coast… we ended up in a seaside village called Simaismah, a very small little community. This place has a very flat tidal 
beach with sludgy muddy sand once you head off the first couple of metres of beach, and at one end there is a long rock wall with small fishing boats (not Dhows though, but rather small white boats). There were lots of shells to collect, and we returned home with yet another bag full as well as some broken tiles to put in the garden. Another nice afternoon wandering along with cool sea breezes blowing making us wish we had on warmer clothes!
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Al Wakra
We went for a drive down to Al Wakra today, which is the nearest town to Doha heading south along the coast. Really it seems like an outer suburb as it is only a few minutes along the open highway, but does have the history of being it’s own entity over time so is not considered as being a southern part of Doha.
After sitting in the park feeding the wildlife (re: cats) bits of KFC we headed down onto the sand.
At the southern end is the fishing harbour, which seemed very sleepy but did have many fishing Dhows tied up (looked like more than in Doha), and what looked like a couple of sand football pitches (if there is such a thing… but there were goal posts set up).
The beach at Al Wakra is a wide tidal beach with clumps of mangroves and the odd car part
giving the sand bars something to grab hold of. We spent what seemed like a couple of hours wandering along sand and wading through shallow warm waters searching for shells. We even found a few unopened pearl shells, but when opened unfortunately didn’t have any little pearls in them. A nice way to spend an afternoon and will be even nicer when it starts to warm up a little… so somewhere we shall return to!
After sitting in the park feeding the wildlife (re: cats) bits of KFC we headed down onto the sand.
At the southern end is the fishing harbour, which seemed very sleepy but did have many fishing Dhows tied up (looked like more than in Doha), and what looked like a couple of sand football pitches (if there is such a thing… but there were goal posts set up).The beach at Al Wakra is a wide tidal beach with clumps of mangroves and the odd car part
giving the sand bars something to grab hold of. We spent what seemed like a couple of hours wandering along sand and wading through shallow warm waters searching for shells. We even found a few unopened pearl shells, but when opened unfortunately didn’t have any little pearls in them. A nice way to spend an afternoon and will be even nicer when it starts to warm up a little… so somewhere we shall return to!Monday, December 25, 2006
Al Corniche
This afternoon we headed off to Sheraton Park to have a little walk around what is more or less to top end of the Corniche. The park itself is really not much of anything apart from a nice large grassy area, but it is a nice section of the Corniche with the Dhow jetty that used to ferry people across to Palm Island plus there are places you can sit on the steps beside the water (not as nice as it could be since it is still pretty cold here in the afternoons).
We went down onto the rocks and tiny beach (a little bit of sand that has been caught by the jetty) and discovered lots of little shells. Think of normal shells, but shrink them! Most of them are not much bigger than large grains of sand, and all rather cute (well as cute as tiny shells can be). Anyway we did come home with a handful of Arabian Gulf shells regardless of how small they are!
We went down onto the rocks and tiny beach (a little bit of sand that has been caught by the jetty) and discovered lots of little shells. Think of normal shells, but shrink them! Most of them are not much bigger than large grains of sand, and all rather cute (well as cute as tiny shells can be). Anyway we did come home with a handful of Arabian Gulf shells regardless of how small they are!
Christmas in Qatar
Well while Christmas is just another working day here (well for those not on holidays), we were surprised at the amount of stores with decorations and Christmas trees. Yes, even in Qatar you can buy all your Christmas needs and the freezer sections are full of turkeys!
Anyway a Merry Christmas to all!
(The Australian phone system stills doesn't seem to be able to handle the yearly spike for Christmas phone calls)
Anyway a Merry Christmas to all!
(The Australian phone system stills doesn't seem to be able to handle the yearly spike for Christmas phone calls)
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Islam
We seem to be gathering quite a few things about Islam as there is a Ministry here that sets up stalls on a regular basis to communicate the masses. They aren't out there trying to convert people, rather it simply seems to be an exercise in education. We have been given a few books and booklets since our arrival including a English translation of the Qur'an. Anyway the best place I have found to get a basic overview of Islam is the Wikipedia page so I have put a link in the post title above. Being in an Islamic country it is helpful to have a basic understanding of what unerpins the culture and society.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
The Closing Ceremony - Doha Asian Games
Well we went to the closing ceremony last night... and in one word, spectacular!
40,000+ people waiting in anticipation... it was all worth the wait!
We will get around to posting some photos and comments soon (promise)... so check back soon!Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Doha Players Theatre
The other day we went past the old Doha Players Theatre; the only location of a terrorist attack in Qatar. They haven’t done much to the building since then either! It is all a bit weird really, but I suppose it is a reminder that even in a country that feels as safe as Qatar these thing can happen. That may sound strange coming from someone from Australia, but in all honesty this place feels far more peaceful and safe (well apart from on the roads at times). I think they should think about leaving this building the way it is to remind everyone that this should never happen again.
Have put the link above if you want to read more about the 19th of March 2005.
Monday, December 11, 2006
Eclect-O-Retro returns
Well it has taken a few months (and we still do not have broadband) but with the wet weather and holidays continuing, the eBay store is once again active.
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Islamic Heritage Exhibition
We went to yet another exhibition running in conjunction with the games today. This time it was the Islamic Heritage Exhibition located at Al Resala Girls School near West Bay.
We were greeted at the door with Arabic coffee, dates and a traditional type of sweet. Kerry can’t do the Arabic coffee because of the cardamom so she cleverly swapped cups after I had nearly drunk all of mine. We were then guided into a room, which had been set up to look like the facades of the most important mosques with a replica of the Kaaba (the black stone building in the middle of the Sacred Mosque in Makkah) in the middle. We were given very well rehearsed explanations of the mosques, the Quran, as well as the Kaaba itself. As well as this there were little exhibits about some of the nearby countries like Oman, Lebanon, etc, with the odd handicrafts here and there.
We were also taken through some of things that are have a great importance to Islam such as honey , brushing your teeth with a “stick” (from an Iraqi tree that I can’t remember the name of), “cupping” (which to me seem much more like blood letting), and the qualities of Makkah water from the well inside the Sacred Mosque (which we were given a little cup of). All of which had interest value and we even bought some extra “toothbrush” sticks!
We were greeted at the door with Arabic coffee, dates and a traditional type of sweet. Kerry can’t do the Arabic coffee because of the cardamom so she cleverly swapped cups after I had nearly drunk all of mine. We were then guided into a room, which had been set up to look like the facades of the most important mosques with a replica of the Kaaba (the black stone building in the middle of the Sacred Mosque in Makkah) in the middle. We were given very well rehearsed explanations of the mosques, the Quran, as well as the Kaaba itself. As well as this there were little exhibits about some of the nearby countries like Oman, Lebanon, etc, with the odd handicrafts here and there.
We were also taken through some of things that are have a great importance to Islam such as honey , brushing your teeth with a “stick” (from an Iraqi tree that I can’t remember the name of), “cupping” (which to me seem much more like blood letting), and the qualities of Makkah water from the well inside the Sacred Mosque (which we were given a little cup of). All of which had interest value and we even bought some extra “toothbrush” sticks!
Friday, December 08, 2006
Permanent Driving Licenses
We decided to see what we could do about getting our permanent driving licenses as now we have the residence permits and both of our temporary licences had expired. Rather than go along and try to take care of the process ourselves we thought we would give Mr Mustafa (the licensing guy who had help those from AJA with the temporary ones) a call and see if he could help or not.
We got the photocopies ready that we knew were required and the QAR200 each that we knew he charged. Then Kerry gave him a call, which ended in his location getting lost in translation, but he said he would come to us instead… he ended up on our doorstep to collect everything within an hour. Not the easiest man to understand, after some confusion we worked out that because Kerry is my sponsor she had to provide a letter stating it was ok for me to have a license… this letter involved her signing at the bottom of one of the blank photocopied pages and him taking that away to type the letter in Arabic (you seem to put a lot of faith into the people who type stuff in Arabic for you, but what else are you going to do). He also asked for another QAR100 to cover the extra worked involved with mine (apparently)…
At about 6:30pm (he did say something about 6-7pm) he turned up on our doorstep once again with a big smile and handshake… as well as the documents and photos that weren’t needed… and most importantly our licenses! Don’t actually know how he did this as the license section is only open at certain times and he technically shouldn’t have been able to get mine until the following day.
All a bit strange and really don’t know what these people do, or how they do it… but it would seem that once you know what to do and who to do it through, you can do it for a lot of people for a fee!
We got the photocopies ready that we knew were required and the QAR200 each that we knew he charged. Then Kerry gave him a call, which ended in his location getting lost in translation, but he said he would come to us instead… he ended up on our doorstep to collect everything within an hour. Not the easiest man to understand, after some confusion we worked out that because Kerry is my sponsor she had to provide a letter stating it was ok for me to have a license… this letter involved her signing at the bottom of one of the blank photocopied pages and him taking that away to type the letter in Arabic (you seem to put a lot of faith into the people who type stuff in Arabic for you, but what else are you going to do). He also asked for another QAR100 to cover the extra worked involved with mine (apparently)…
At about 6:30pm (he did say something about 6-7pm) he turned up on our doorstep once again with a big smile and handshake… as well as the documents and photos that weren’t needed… and most importantly our licenses! Don’t actually know how he did this as the license section is only open at certain times and he technically shouldn’t have been able to get mine until the following day.
All a bit strange and really don’t know what these people do, or how they do it… but it would seem that once you know what to do and who to do it through, you can do it for a lot of people for a fee!
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Sports City at Night
We went up to Sports City again tonight as they have traditional Asian music playing across two stages between 6-9pm, not to mention all the people and bright lights. We strolled around for a little while and watched some Indonesian musicians and then headed to the other stage to watch some drummers from Malaysia doing their thing. All very impressive… although there is only so many summersaults someone can do over a drum before it drags on a little. Sat and had a coffee and watched Ashur watching and saying hello to anyone and soaking in all the lights!
The most important part of the evening was after trying to get tickets to something, somehow Kerry managed to walk away with tickets to the closing ceremony! Not sure about this since we were told a few days ago that it was sold out… apparently not! We may not be going to see any of the sporting events but I think going to at least one of the ceremonies will make up for it all!
Rain continues (on and off)
Well it has now officially become the wettest December in 42 years! So much for deserts being dry I say! Admittedly “wettest” translates into about 25-30 mm of rain, but it seems much wetter as most of it just lies around until the sun appears once again to start the evaporation process… puddles and potholes are appearing (and getting bigger) and really not going anywhere… but everything is green (and a bit slushy)!
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Asian Games Tickets
We tried to get tickets to a few things over the past couple of days, but everytime we come up with somehting we think would be worth going to, it seems sold out. It seems either everything has sold out because of the low ticket prices (most are QAR 5 or 10), or there is something not quite right with the computer system between the Internet sales, the kiosks, and the outlets... anyway we are going to try again!
Rentals Cars
We received an email from our rental car company today letting us know that they hadn’t taken the payments from the credit card for the last 3 months. This technically means that we had only paid 2 weeks worth of rental for 3 ½ months! Apparently they like to have personal approval each monthly payment and hadn’t got through to us on the phone or something along those lines.
So anyway after a quick phone call and some directions we headed off to the industrial area to fix up the payments. I just thought it was funny that the company would let one of their cars be out there on the roads, while letting the payment lapse for three months. They are going to come over in a few days to replace the car so they can take care of the little dent from our accident and give the car it’s first full service… we have driven 5000 klms since we arrived!
So anyway after a quick phone call and some directions we headed off to the industrial area to fix up the payments. I just thought it was funny that the company would let one of their cars be out there on the roads, while letting the payment lapse for three months. They are going to come over in a few days to replace the car so they can take care of the little dent from our accident and give the car it’s first full service… we have driven 5000 klms since we arrived!
Monday, December 04, 2006
The Sports City Doha
We decided to get into the spirit of everything at the moment and head up to Sports City to soak in some of the Games atmosphere and more than anything, just to have a look around… After walking around the fence to get to the entrance which included us going through metal detectors and everything else passing through xray machines we entered what is a a huge complex! With the Khalifa Stadium, Aspire Complex and basketball stadium spread out throughout the place… as well as the tower, womans club and a very funky looking mosque, it took a fair bit of walking to get around. Sore feet, but all well worth the look and all very impressive!
Apart from the sporting venues there was another group of exhibitions set up by the museums authority at the Woman’s Club. In various rooms within the building there was “Dawn of Photography” (which had some very funky and old cameras, photography, and a huge stereoscopic viewer that you sit up and look at some rather old Middle Eastern images). Also there was a display from the Qatar Weaponry Museum, “Weapons to Sports” which traced the history of sports such as fencing and archery etc (also another beautiful “bargain” book). There was also the Philatelic & Numismatic Exhibition (stamps and coins galore), Asian Visual Art Exhibition, Asia in Photography Exhibition and the Architecture Through Photography Exhibition. Finally, if all that hadn’t kept you occupied for a while, outside the building was a display of sand sculptures.
KandA outside Khalifa Stadium
Aspire - The undercover stadium not really looking as impressive as it really is!
The basketball stadium with some locals wandering one way as we wander the other
MandA tower gazing!
Apart from the sporting venues there was another group of exhibitions set up by the museums authority at the Woman’s Club. In various rooms within the building there was “Dawn of Photography” (which had some very funky and old cameras, photography, and a huge stereoscopic viewer that you sit up and look at some rather old Middle Eastern images). Also there was a display from the Qatar Weaponry Museum, “Weapons to Sports” which traced the history of sports such as fencing and archery etc (also another beautiful “bargain” book). There was also the Philatelic & Numismatic Exhibition (stamps and coins galore), Asian Visual Art Exhibition, Asia in Photography Exhibition and the Architecture Through Photography Exhibition. Finally, if all that hadn’t kept you occupied for a while, outside the building was a display of sand sculptures.
Sand looking very well sculptured
Food World
Food World, which seems an appropriate name for a store that sells food, is our “bread shop”. It has become known as the bread shop because it is the nearest place that sells Bateel Bakery white bread… soft and squishy white bread without the overdose of sugar that much of the white bread here seems to consist of. The actual sweet white bread here is called Milk Bread. I am not sure as to the relationship between milk and sugar, but I can assure you it does exist. Food World is the usual medium sized food store with bits and pieces of everything ranging from food to perfumes, and the upstairs is currently going through renovations and clothes through to whitegoods are appearing. It is just up on Salwa Road, and really is only just around the corner. Also in the small row of stores is a bookshop, pharmacy and TATA truck and bus “store”. For those that don’t know, Tata buses are big scary Indian vehicles that are very chunky and solid, and many are driven in a bit of a scary manner… we call them potato buses!
Across the road is Al Jazira petrol station… another one of those translations that are evident here. You get used to seeing Al Jazeera written, but of course all the translations from Arabic to English are phonetic so there is normally at least a couple of spellings floating around… and no, that isn’t a ghost making its way across the road… just another local taking his life into his own hands crossing Salwa Rd!
On the way home snapped this photo of Sports City… the Asian Games in full swing! The little street lights in the foreground at the bottom of the picture is our compound.Saturday, December 02, 2006
Qatar Museum Exhibits – Sheraton & Palace
During the Games, Qatar Museums Authority (QMA) have set up a number of exhibitions around town to entertain and educate the masses. I think all the mini-exhibitions contain parts of greater collections that are normally housed in the Museum (which is currently closed for renovations), the Photographic Museum (which is currently under construction; and only just), the Museum of Islamic Arts (which looks finished but doesn’t open until next year), and some other places around town we have yet to discover. But to make things easier the nice people at QMA have nicely set up these exhibitions in central locations for us all.
Today we headed off to one of the conference halls at the Sheraton Hotel – Al Majlis Hall. In this one location we were treated to “Lost World Returns” (dinosaur bones and bits and pieces), “Mughal Jewellery Exhibition” (a nice collection of very old and impressive Indian bling) and the “Traditional Costumes Exhibition” (which I guess is self-explanatory).
A couple of things that we were more impressed with than anything else were the freebies. The first thing was all these exhibitions are free. As you walk in to each section you are handed a rather nicely produced soft cover book with lots of photos and explanations of the exhibition. Apart from that Ashur was given three bags of goodies as we wandered around… one QMA bag of goodies, another for the dinosaur exhibition, and then a final one, which had a very nicely boxed QMA branded coffee set (I think that one may have been meant for the parents). We also purchased a beautiful “Lost World Returns” book which only cost 50 QAR; apparently a special price during the games, which doesn’t really make sense since the exhibition is only on during the games… but very cheap regardless!
After that we headed off to Fahd Bin Ali Palace, just next to the beautiful mosque behind Emiri Diwan (the closest thing we have to a government house here). Here we were treated to some classic cars from one of the Sheiks private collections, the “Qatari Historical Photos Exhibition”, and “From Cordoba to Samarkand” (some key works from the Islamic Arts Museum). All very impressive and another no cost venue… although a bit light on the “freebies” this time around! Once again though we bought ourselves a beautiful book on the Islamic Artworks for a “games special” QAR 50!
As a side note, the wind when we were leaving the Palace was the coldest we have felt here… believe it or not it felt icy!
Today we headed off to one of the conference halls at the Sheraton Hotel – Al Majlis Hall. In this one location we were treated to “Lost World Returns” (dinosaur bones and bits and pieces), “Mughal Jewellery Exhibition” (a nice collection of very old and impressive Indian bling) and the “Traditional Costumes Exhibition” (which I guess is self-explanatory).
A couple of things that we were more impressed with than anything else were the freebies. The first thing was all these exhibitions are free. As you walk in to each section you are handed a rather nicely produced soft cover book with lots of photos and explanations of the exhibition. Apart from that Ashur was given three bags of goodies as we wandered around… one QMA bag of goodies, another for the dinosaur exhibition, and then a final one, which had a very nicely boxed QMA branded coffee set (I think that one may have been meant for the parents). We also purchased a beautiful “Lost World Returns” book which only cost 50 QAR; apparently a special price during the games, which doesn’t really make sense since the exhibition is only on during the games… but very cheap regardless!
After that we headed off to Fahd Bin Ali Palace, just next to the beautiful mosque behind Emiri Diwan (the closest thing we have to a government house here). Here we were treated to some classic cars from one of the Sheiks private collections, the “Qatari Historical Photos Exhibition”, and “From Cordoba to Samarkand” (some key works from the Islamic Arts Museum). All very impressive and another no cost venue… although a bit light on the “freebies” this time around! Once again though we bought ourselves a beautiful book on the Islamic Artworks for a “games special” QAR 50!
As a side note, the wind when we were leaving the Palace was the coldest we have felt here… believe it or not it felt icy!
The Opening Ceremony
The 15th Asian Games began last night with a bang! Many bangs to be honest…
Friday was a yuck day… windy, overcast, and quite a bit of rain. Not the best conditions for the Opening Ceremony at all. We actually drove past the site earlier in the day and apart from everything being wet, there was of course still work going on. As the afternoon rolled into evening the weather continued being pretty horrible, but dry and warm at home we flicked through the numerous Al Jazeera Sports channels and found one that was doing the English language telecast.
It actually started… hhmmm… interestingly is the best way to describe it all. Orry’s riding around on bicycles and running around in the rain being chased by children. Very Sydney Olympics, minus the kangaroos… looked like “insert national animal mascot here” sort of thing. But after a little while of that and come the “official” start time, the rain finally stopped and the whole thing got under way with the sell-out crowd looking like they were having fun, albeit wet and wind blown. We couldn’t here it from home, but it was all very impressive and made us wish we were there. Although the sitting in the rain for a few hours before the ceremony got under way would have been no fun!
I am guessing that most of the world saw the flame being lit… the horse (which was bought and trained in Australia) nearly slid over just before it made it to the top, but obviously someone was looking down on the whole event. As a side note, the reason stated for using Australian horses was that Arabian horses are far too intelligent and stubborn to perform a feat such as running up the number of stairs and the ramp… also there are no hills high enough in Qatar to train them on (suppose that makes sense).
Once flames (both the one in the stadium and the other on the tower) were lit the fireworks started, which dragged just about everyone from the compound on to the street to watch… the normal firework-type “oohhhssss” & “aahhhsss” were heard in many languages!
Overall the ceremony was impressive… the best money can buy! Admittedly some of it didn’t seem to make sense but that was probably because the enormity of what was going on was better to see in person rather than on a little TV screen. I still like the guy’s furry hat with the lights in it… he looked like he was having fun – for anyone who saw the ceremony you would know what I mean!
Friday was a yuck day… windy, overcast, and quite a bit of rain. Not the best conditions for the Opening Ceremony at all. We actually drove past the site earlier in the day and apart from everything being wet, there was of course still work going on. As the afternoon rolled into evening the weather continued being pretty horrible, but dry and warm at home we flicked through the numerous Al Jazeera Sports channels and found one that was doing the English language telecast.
It actually started… hhmmm… interestingly is the best way to describe it all. Orry’s riding around on bicycles and running around in the rain being chased by children. Very Sydney Olympics, minus the kangaroos… looked like “insert national animal mascot here” sort of thing. But after a little while of that and come the “official” start time, the rain finally stopped and the whole thing got under way with the sell-out crowd looking like they were having fun, albeit wet and wind blown. We couldn’t here it from home, but it was all very impressive and made us wish we were there. Although the sitting in the rain for a few hours before the ceremony got under way would have been no fun!
I am guessing that most of the world saw the flame being lit… the horse (which was bought and trained in Australia) nearly slid over just before it made it to the top, but obviously someone was looking down on the whole event. As a side note, the reason stated for using Australian horses was that Arabian horses are far too intelligent and stubborn to perform a feat such as running up the number of stairs and the ramp… also there are no hills high enough in Qatar to train them on (suppose that makes sense).
Once flames (both the one in the stadium and the other on the tower) were lit the fireworks started, which dragged just about everyone from the compound on to the street to watch… the normal firework-type “oohhhssss” & “aahhhsss” were heard in many languages!
Overall the ceremony was impressive… the best money can buy! Admittedly some of it didn’t seem to make sense but that was probably because the enormity of what was going on was better to see in person rather than on a little TV screen. I still like the guy’s furry hat with the lights in it… he looked like he was having fun – for anyone who saw the ceremony you would know what I mean!
Friday, December 01, 2006
Kitten becomes “Kitten”
Well it has taken a few months but the little kitten that was hanging around not long after we arrived has finally become “pet” friendly. She now spends most of her time around home and comes in for scratches. “Kitten” (appropriate name for at least a few more months) can be seen most evenings either snuggled up beside one of us on the couch having a nap and sitting on a lap having a pat. 'tis all rather cute!
Michael Got ID
It has taken many months but I finally became “legal” the other day and I am now in proud possession of a Qatari ID card and my passport. Yes, it has finally been returned to me with the addition of a full-page sheet stuck in there… apparently that page is actually my Residents Permit and quite impressive I must say! But it does say “Family Vis” which makes Kerry my sponsor. Rather generous of her to sponsor me I think, so I guess I better do some more cooking, cleaning and driving or she may just have me deported!
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Central Market
For some reason only known to us (but obviously forgotten) we hadn’t actually made it to the wholesale market, which is just up the road on the way to AJA, until last weekend. As I keep saying, everything here seems to have at least 2 names and the Central Market… Wholesale Market… Fruit & Vegetable, Fish, Omani, Garden & Livestock Souqs are no different!
The whole area is really quite big with the biggest area devoted to the Fruit and Vegetable Market. There is a central marketplace, as well as several rows of stores running parallel to the marketplace selling the same things (I think maybe more in bulk though). Anyway we went for a walk around the market itself and ended up acquiring an old Arabic man with a wheelbarrow who proceeded to collect our purchases and follow us around. As you would imagine, everything was cheap, but the one thing I can’t quite work out is why all the stalls sell the same produce… it isn’t broken down into types of produce at all, but rather everyone seems to have more or less the same things at the same price. I imagine the guys that run them probably build some sort of relationship with returning customers over time because realistically you only need to go to the first stall through the doorway for everything you need.
Our old Arabic porter took our purchases out to the car for us and when Kerry tried to give him some money he proceeded to go through an “I am breathless” performance… as well as conveying the need for some stuff for his Asthma. Not sure why because she actually asked him how much he wanted rather than just handing over some money to him. Anyway I think he gave up after one more note was handed over. Saves carrying stuff but sometimes it just isn’t worth the hassle!
We also went and walked around the Omani Souq… it should actually be called the drive-thru souq! It is all under one roof with open sides and you can actually drive up to all the stalls and purchase from the comfort of your car if you so choose. There really isn’t much there that isn’t in other places within the Central Market but it is a good place to pick up cheap Frankincense and try to ingnore the smell of dried fish!
Not far from there is the Garden Souq, which is more or less a collection of small gardening shops along one of the back streets. Don't know how come we didn't know this was there before now! Believe it or not most of the plants are actually quite cheap (I guess we automatically thought desert = expensive plants). They also sell a variety of mostly terracotta pots of all shapes and sizes… also cheap! So we now have several pots sitting around outside, plus quite a few flowers stretching their little feet into the (somewhat sandy) soil. We also picked up a hedge trimmer… you may have noticed from the latest “rain” picky that the hedge is now straight! No more waves!
We had a drive around the outer part of the livestock souq and smelt the fish market as we went past (that was enough)! But at the back of where the sheep and goats are kept we came across the camel market. Once again, don’t really know why we hadn’t seen this before. I just presumed it would be a little marketplace where people bring their camels to be sold. It is actually a big area with lots of fences in various states of fallingness, full of camels of various sizes and colours. After only seeing the odd camel in the back of a ute driving down the road, it was a little surprising to see so many in one place… we will have to go for a return visit!
The whole area is really quite big with the biggest area devoted to the Fruit and Vegetable Market. There is a central marketplace, as well as several rows of stores running parallel to the marketplace selling the same things (I think maybe more in bulk though). Anyway we went for a walk around the market itself and ended up acquiring an old Arabic man with a wheelbarrow who proceeded to collect our purchases and follow us around. As you would imagine, everything was cheap, but the one thing I can’t quite work out is why all the stalls sell the same produce… it isn’t broken down into types of produce at all, but rather everyone seems to have more or less the same things at the same price. I imagine the guys that run them probably build some sort of relationship with returning customers over time because realistically you only need to go to the first stall through the doorway for everything you need.
Our old Arabic porter took our purchases out to the car for us and when Kerry tried to give him some money he proceeded to go through an “I am breathless” performance… as well as conveying the need for some stuff for his Asthma. Not sure why because she actually asked him how much he wanted rather than just handing over some money to him. Anyway I think he gave up after one more note was handed over. Saves carrying stuff but sometimes it just isn’t worth the hassle!
We also went and walked around the Omani Souq… it should actually be called the drive-thru souq! It is all under one roof with open sides and you can actually drive up to all the stalls and purchase from the comfort of your car if you so choose. There really isn’t much there that isn’t in other places within the Central Market but it is a good place to pick up cheap Frankincense and try to ingnore the smell of dried fish!
Not far from there is the Garden Souq, which is more or less a collection of small gardening shops along one of the back streets. Don't know how come we didn't know this was there before now! Believe it or not most of the plants are actually quite cheap (I guess we automatically thought desert = expensive plants). They also sell a variety of mostly terracotta pots of all shapes and sizes… also cheap! So we now have several pots sitting around outside, plus quite a few flowers stretching their little feet into the (somewhat sandy) soil. We also picked up a hedge trimmer… you may have noticed from the latest “rain” picky that the hedge is now straight! No more waves!
We had a drive around the outer part of the livestock souq and smelt the fish market as we went past (that was enough)! But at the back of where the sheep and goats are kept we came across the camel market. Once again, don’t really know why we hadn’t seen this before. I just presumed it would be a little marketplace where people bring their camels to be sold. It is actually a big area with lots of fences in various states of fallingness, full of camels of various sizes and colours. After only seeing the odd camel in the back of a ute driving down the road, it was a little surprising to see so many in one place… we will have to go for a return visit!
Must say the brown fluffy camels are rather cute (well as far as camels go)... must be their winter coat!
Monday, November 27, 2006
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Wetness...
Well it wasn’t that long ago that when we arrived we heard that some people had never seen rain in Doha so we really didn’t know what to expect (and I guess the same could be said for the whole country). Thinking back now though, I think they must have been people that had only been here since the beginning of the year. Over the past week we have felt cold, seen light rain on and off, plus had a few beautiful sunny days… but today again it is rain… and actually real rain this time.
We awoke to wet ground and dripping drains so it had rained a bit over night… but since I got home from dropping Kerry and Ashur off it has been pretty steady. I guess the funny part about it is that although I now know it does know how to rain in Qatar, I also know most people don’t know that driving in the rain is slightly different from driving on dry roads. The other funny part to it all is that although I said last week that the rain has come in time to clean off all the roads and buildings for the games, now there are other problems… what does happen when brand new roads get waterlogged! Did they test the Games flame to see if it works in the rain! Can they run the opening ceremony in the wet! If they turn on everything at the stadium will it explode into one giant short-circuited electrical blue flame!
…aahhhh I am sure it will be ok and at least everything is green!
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We awoke to wet ground and dripping drains so it had rained a bit over night… but since I got home from dropping Kerry and Ashur off it has been pretty steady. I guess the funny part about it is that although I now know it does know how to rain in Qatar, I also know most people don’t know that driving in the rain is slightly different from driving on dry roads. The other funny part to it all is that although I said last week that the rain has come in time to clean off all the roads and buildings for the games, now there are other problems… what does happen when brand new roads get waterlogged! Did they test the Games flame to see if it works in the rain! Can they run the opening ceremony in the wet! If they turn on everything at the stadium will it explode into one giant short-circuited electrical blue flame!
…aahhhh I am sure it will be ok and at least everything is green!
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Saturday, November 25, 2006
Ready for the Games?
Finally got around to taking a few photos of Sports City yesterday. Things are looking ready but your guess is as good as ours. The occasional crane appears and then disappears which possibly means they thought everything was done and then remembered there was something more. There has been a helicopter flying around constantly, which is probably a security measure as today is the day they have the full dress rehearsal for the ceremonies. Metal detectors are in place and you can't even get close to the place anymore without clearance.
Sports City Road... across from the entrance to the compound looking up to the main games venue.
Al Waab Street... the entrance to Sports City and those weird "fishing-rod" lights! The tents house the metal detectors and secured entrance.
Khalifa Stadium... the odd crane still in action, but 6 days out from the opening ceremony! The calm before the storm...
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Music to our ears...
We made one of our “essential” purchases from Carrefour a couple of weeks ago… a Hi-Fi system. Ended up getting an LG LX-D6960, which from searching the Web for that model number, doesn’t actually exist (who knows!)… But anyway it has all the things you need like 5 speakers and a sub-woofer, 5 DVD changer, 5.1 & DTS sound, etc… your normal high range mini home theatre hi-fi system. Cost the grand total of QAR 1049 (about $370 AUD) which is somewhere in the region of half the price you would pay in Australia. It was set to Region 2, but the added bonus is after about a minute of playing around it was easily made into a region-free DVD player (got to love redundant technology).
Also bought the Cars DVD to go with it… can’t buy a home theatre system like that without getting something new to watch! DVD’s here are one of the things that aren’t cheap at all. Region 1 DVD’s are imported from the USA on release and cost QAR140 (about $50 AUD), then other various Region Codes (mostly Region 3 or 2) are available for between QAR80-100 (around $30 AUD). I think there is a 15% import tax on both DVD and CD media because CD’s aren’t cheap either; I suppose they have to tax something! Regardless we have also bought Ice Age 2 and Brother Bear 2, just to keep the sanity so we didn’t have Small Soldiers or Cats & Dogs going in the background repeatedly! Maybe we may get around to buying something non-animated one day.
With Free To Air Satellite TV we aren't watching many DVD’s anyway… although we only have about 10 English language channels compared to the 100+ Arabic ones. I am not actually sure why, but we don’t get Qatar TV through our service. They have QTV2 which is a English language channel… would be interesting to see, but given what we have seen of the Saudi English language channel it would be more for humour value rather than actually having anything worthwhile on it. Maybe we will get cable one day, but broadband comes first by far and hopefully we will get the application for that done soon. No doubt getting that on will not be a quick process as I am sure most of the Q-Tel staff are tied up with the Games.
Also bought the Cars DVD to go with it… can’t buy a home theatre system like that without getting something new to watch! DVD’s here are one of the things that aren’t cheap at all. Region 1 DVD’s are imported from the USA on release and cost QAR140 (about $50 AUD), then other various Region Codes (mostly Region 3 or 2) are available for between QAR80-100 (around $30 AUD). I think there is a 15% import tax on both DVD and CD media because CD’s aren’t cheap either; I suppose they have to tax something! Regardless we have also bought Ice Age 2 and Brother Bear 2, just to keep the sanity so we didn’t have Small Soldiers or Cats & Dogs going in the background repeatedly! Maybe we may get around to buying something non-animated one day.
With Free To Air Satellite TV we aren't watching many DVD’s anyway… although we only have about 10 English language channels compared to the 100+ Arabic ones. I am not actually sure why, but we don’t get Qatar TV through our service. They have QTV2 which is a English language channel… would be interesting to see, but given what we have seen of the Saudi English language channel it would be more for humour value rather than actually having anything worthwhile on it. Maybe we will get cable one day, but broadband comes first by far and hopefully we will get the application for that done soon. No doubt getting that on will not be a quick process as I am sure most of the Q-Tel staff are tied up with the Games.
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Michael’s RP Process
Kerry hasn’t got around to posting about her RP process (but will eventually), but mine has been very long and drawn out. The whole thing has been thrown into chaos due to the influx of Games workers (or at least this is what we have been told). Added to this is the fact the system and locations are being updated, for example where the fingerprinting used to be done (and where Kerry had hers done) has now changed to a brand new building with new equipment (no more ink), which is located across the road from the compound. They are slowly moving the medicals from one location to several centres throughout Doha, but this has yet to take effect.
So after the initial blood typing which was done so long ago I have had to wait for Kerry to get her RP as the primary sponsored worker, as have all dependents whether they are working for AJA or not. This means I couldn’t get in for the medicals until 2 weeks ago and have only just come back from my second attempt at getting the fingerprinting done.
The medicals process consisted of heading off to the Medical Commission that is located very close to AJA with a number of other AJA-related people including Kerry and Ashur. Kerry needed to get some form filled in and that was the process completed for Ashur… no medicals or fingerprinting needed for child dependents under 15.
While that was taken care of I had to head off the “men’s section” to wait in a room with many others. We sat in rows of chairs waiting for our turn at the windows… every time someone went to a window you were gestured to move along a chair. This meant we slowly snaked our way up and down about 6 or 7 rows of chairs… sit down, stand up, shuffle along, sit down, stand up, shuffle forward a row, sit down… you get the idea! The mysterious windows consisted of handing over some money, getting a digital photo taken while you are standing there waiting, and being given some form.
Next you head off to the next room… the process is actually numbered and graphically represented on the wall… 1. money, 2. medicals, 3. blood, 4. x-ray…
When I walked towards the desk located in the middle of everything else, a man pointed next door to number 4 – x-ray. Always the sceptic I was a little worried about this as I know everything needs to follow the correct procedure around here otherwise you run the risk of having to start all over again! Anyway not one to go against the grain I headed towards door number 4 and then into a little room where I found about 10 Indians standing around with their shirts off talking and laughing. Once joined by other AJA people, as well as various other men from one country or another the whole thing possessed some weird locker room imagery with a few men and teens of Arabic and sub-continent decent giggling and not wanting to take shirts off until the last minute and so on… no nipple-cripples or wedgies that I saw, but I was just trying to ignore it all! Anyway the x-ray was quick and painless, as most x-rays are… no one grabbed me shouting “oh my god” so I am guessing everything was where it should be and looked as it should look.
Next I had to head back to the counter where I was given a red stamp on my form and a small test tube. After joining yet another que (as you do), I walked into a little room, sat down while a very polite man jabbed me in the arm while I looked the other way… that was it… hhmmmmm! It would seem I got the good one, as many people made statements regarding pain, large bruises, or lumps coming up on their arms. I have seen it… I heard pain… saw blood… as I said; I think I got the good one!
…and that was it. I never got to see what was behind door number 2… the medicals room. I am guessing that this part of the process may be for those that enter the country without a valid medical certificate, something we had to get in Australia before leaving.
After a wait of a few days, my name appeared on the “fingerprinting list”. As the new fingerprinting place (CID) had just opened I don’t think Gulam was up to speed on the ins and outs of the new system… This resulted in the first time I went being shuffled around through a few waiting areas and one of the policemen getting rather annoyed with Gulam for not doing this or that; too many people from AJA at once, or not submitting the correct form first, or something else. Anyway it all ended with us being shuffled out of the VIP section, then them accepting 5 people to process… After waiting to see if anything changed for a while I just headed home.
The next fingerprinting list was for this morning, so once again a group of us headed off to the CID building with Gulam. Same policeman… and still not happy with Gulam for something said harshly in Arabic several times. Anyway with only three “men” we were allowed into the VIP section, given our forms and number to wait… then shuffled over to another building where some very polite men proceeded to do our fingerprinting very quickly. The system is now computerised and users hybrid photocopiers rather than the old ink and paper method that was used up until a few weeks ago. No pain, no mess, no fuss… just seems that getting in the door has a particular protocol that needs to be followed.
So after signing a yet another form and handing back my passport to Gulam, then giving him and his offsider (no idea who he is but was carrying Gulam’s bag for him) a lift back to AJA, I’m done. It has taken 3 months, but I was assured I would have my RP, Passport and ID Card by the end of the week. Just as well as my temporary drivers license expires in a few days and I need all my papers back to get a permanent one. Hopefully that wont turn into yet another adventure, but in the back of my mind I am thinking it wont be as easy as it should be…
...we shall wait and see!
So after the initial blood typing which was done so long ago I have had to wait for Kerry to get her RP as the primary sponsored worker, as have all dependents whether they are working for AJA or not. This means I couldn’t get in for the medicals until 2 weeks ago and have only just come back from my second attempt at getting the fingerprinting done.
The medicals process consisted of heading off to the Medical Commission that is located very close to AJA with a number of other AJA-related people including Kerry and Ashur. Kerry needed to get some form filled in and that was the process completed for Ashur… no medicals or fingerprinting needed for child dependents under 15.
While that was taken care of I had to head off the “men’s section” to wait in a room with many others. We sat in rows of chairs waiting for our turn at the windows… every time someone went to a window you were gestured to move along a chair. This meant we slowly snaked our way up and down about 6 or 7 rows of chairs… sit down, stand up, shuffle along, sit down, stand up, shuffle forward a row, sit down… you get the idea! The mysterious windows consisted of handing over some money, getting a digital photo taken while you are standing there waiting, and being given some form.
Next you head off to the next room… the process is actually numbered and graphically represented on the wall… 1. money, 2. medicals, 3. blood, 4. x-ray…
When I walked towards the desk located in the middle of everything else, a man pointed next door to number 4 – x-ray. Always the sceptic I was a little worried about this as I know everything needs to follow the correct procedure around here otherwise you run the risk of having to start all over again! Anyway not one to go against the grain I headed towards door number 4 and then into a little room where I found about 10 Indians standing around with their shirts off talking and laughing. Once joined by other AJA people, as well as various other men from one country or another the whole thing possessed some weird locker room imagery with a few men and teens of Arabic and sub-continent decent giggling and not wanting to take shirts off until the last minute and so on… no nipple-cripples or wedgies that I saw, but I was just trying to ignore it all! Anyway the x-ray was quick and painless, as most x-rays are… no one grabbed me shouting “oh my god” so I am guessing everything was where it should be and looked as it should look.
Next I had to head back to the counter where I was given a red stamp on my form and a small test tube. After joining yet another que (as you do), I walked into a little room, sat down while a very polite man jabbed me in the arm while I looked the other way… that was it… hhmmmmm! It would seem I got the good one, as many people made statements regarding pain, large bruises, or lumps coming up on their arms. I have seen it… I heard pain… saw blood… as I said; I think I got the good one!
…and that was it. I never got to see what was behind door number 2… the medicals room. I am guessing that this part of the process may be for those that enter the country without a valid medical certificate, something we had to get in Australia before leaving.
After a wait of a few days, my name appeared on the “fingerprinting list”. As the new fingerprinting place (CID) had just opened I don’t think Gulam was up to speed on the ins and outs of the new system… This resulted in the first time I went being shuffled around through a few waiting areas and one of the policemen getting rather annoyed with Gulam for not doing this or that; too many people from AJA at once, or not submitting the correct form first, or something else. Anyway it all ended with us being shuffled out of the VIP section, then them accepting 5 people to process… After waiting to see if anything changed for a while I just headed home.
The next fingerprinting list was for this morning, so once again a group of us headed off to the CID building with Gulam. Same policeman… and still not happy with Gulam for something said harshly in Arabic several times. Anyway with only three “men” we were allowed into the VIP section, given our forms and number to wait… then shuffled over to another building where some very polite men proceeded to do our fingerprinting very quickly. The system is now computerised and users hybrid photocopiers rather than the old ink and paper method that was used up until a few weeks ago. No pain, no mess, no fuss… just seems that getting in the door has a particular protocol that needs to be followed.
So after signing a yet another form and handing back my passport to Gulam, then giving him and his offsider (no idea who he is but was carrying Gulam’s bag for him) a lift back to AJA, I’m done. It has taken 3 months, but I was assured I would have my RP, Passport and ID Card by the end of the week. Just as well as my temporary drivers license expires in a few days and I need all my papers back to get a permanent one. Hopefully that wont turn into yet another adventure, but in the back of my mind I am thinking it wont be as easy as it should be…
...we shall wait and see!
Monday, November 20, 2006
The games of someones life...
Well it is under two weeks until the Asian Games start and things continue to progress; apparently there are early round football matches already on. It is so easy to focus on the negative aspects of the games (as many do), with doubts filtering in whether everything will be ready and the disruptions that are begin caused to “normal” life. Quite simply put… not everything is finished and nor will it be, but they will make the most out of what they have… secondly, the disruption to normal living is evident and continues. This runs from the speeded up road works and the opening and closing of roads and traffic diversions, through to prices rising or possibly not coming back down after Ramadan and Eid (even the souq operators are more hesitant to haggle).
Among the funnier things we have seen was one night when we were passing along Al Waab (the main road leading to the stadium). This has gone from being far from completed to being “nearly there” in what seems only a couple of weeks. The laying of pavers on the medium strips is being done late into the night, but do they have high-powered lights set up so they can actually see what they are doing? No, they are using the headlights of their cars. Ok so it does the job, but I wonder how long the paving will last!
We had a drive along the Corniche on the weekend and it is all looking very green and clean. Lots of flags are flying and overpasses are either in place or “nearly there” crossing the road (the cycling and road running is being held there). Cruise liners have arrived in the harbour to provide extra accommodation.
Wooden barriers are up on the corners of roads to cover up construction sites and empty lots… covered in Games images of course. They even cleared up across the road from our compound, which until now has consisted of piles of sand and rock. Don’t know where it was all taken to, but it happened overnight as it was obviously a bit too close to event locations. Karwa taxis have all but vanished from the roads, as most of the taxis and buses (as well as their drivers) have been seconded by the organising committee to ferry athletes and officials. Apparently one of the newspapers counted 1000 cabs sitting in the lot waiting for the Games out of the total of 1300-1400 Karwa cabs (not bad).
So they are actually getting it all together… “the games of your life…”
There is something missing though… it really all looks so “Western”. I don’t know if that is good or bad. I suppose promoting how “developed” Qatar is will be great for the country, but unfortunately in some cases “developed” seems to equal “western”. As far as this particular event is concerned, “developed” also seems to equate to Australian… not as strange as it sounds! The mascot for the Games is Orry Oryx… and no offence, but I don’t know of many countries that would come up with a name like that outside of Australia. The same company that did the opening and closing ceremonies for the Sydney Olympics is running the Doha ceremonies. Australian songwriters have written the Games song. “…the games of your life…” is the slogan and the “Friendship Flame” is about to return to Qatar after doing the rounds of Asia; of course both have that Aussie ring to it. The best money can buy maybe, but yet again it just seems to lack that sense of authenticity that I am continually searching for here.
I don’t know if anyone else will feel this way, but from Michael the marketing guy’s viewpoint it all seems to be doing a major disservice to this region along with it’s history and culture. I just hope that given time while the Asian Games may continue the process of putting Qatar on the map, it will be the countries unique culture, history, environment and lifestyle that keeps it there.
Among the funnier things we have seen was one night when we were passing along Al Waab (the main road leading to the stadium). This has gone from being far from completed to being “nearly there” in what seems only a couple of weeks. The laying of pavers on the medium strips is being done late into the night, but do they have high-powered lights set up so they can actually see what they are doing? No, they are using the headlights of their cars. Ok so it does the job, but I wonder how long the paving will last!
We had a drive along the Corniche on the weekend and it is all looking very green and clean. Lots of flags are flying and overpasses are either in place or “nearly there” crossing the road (the cycling and road running is being held there). Cruise liners have arrived in the harbour to provide extra accommodation.
...flags flying, grass greening, flowers flowering...
...overpasses... well... passing over!
Not sure why the bottom of all the palm trees have all been painted white, but the cruise-liners are slowly arriving to provide extra spectator rooms.
...and just in case the cruise-liners run out of rooms as well!
Wooden barriers are up on the corners of roads to cover up construction sites and empty lots… covered in Games images of course. They even cleared up across the road from our compound, which until now has consisted of piles of sand and rock. Don’t know where it was all taken to, but it happened overnight as it was obviously a bit too close to event locations. Karwa taxis have all but vanished from the roads, as most of the taxis and buses (as well as their drivers) have been seconded by the organising committee to ferry athletes and officials. Apparently one of the newspapers counted 1000 cabs sitting in the lot waiting for the Games out of the total of 1300-1400 Karwa cabs (not bad).
So they are actually getting it all together… “the games of your life…”
There is something missing though… it really all looks so “Western”. I don’t know if that is good or bad. I suppose promoting how “developed” Qatar is will be great for the country, but unfortunately in some cases “developed” seems to equal “western”. As far as this particular event is concerned, “developed” also seems to equate to Australian… not as strange as it sounds! The mascot for the Games is Orry Oryx… and no offence, but I don’t know of many countries that would come up with a name like that outside of Australia. The same company that did the opening and closing ceremonies for the Sydney Olympics is running the Doha ceremonies. Australian songwriters have written the Games song. “…the games of your life…” is the slogan and the “Friendship Flame” is about to return to Qatar after doing the rounds of Asia; of course both have that Aussie ring to it. The best money can buy maybe, but yet again it just seems to lack that sense of authenticity that I am continually searching for here.
I don’t know if anyone else will feel this way, but from Michael the marketing guy’s viewpoint it all seems to be doing a major disservice to this region along with it’s history and culture. I just hope that given time while the Asian Games may continue the process of putting Qatar on the map, it will be the countries unique culture, history, environment and lifestyle that keeps it there.
It's raining again!
aahhhhhh... 21 degress and light rain... 'tis a beautiful morning in Doha!
...just in time to clean off the latest layer of dust... someone is smiling down upon the Games organisers!
...just in time to clean off the latest layer of dust... someone is smiling down upon the Games organisers!
Friday, November 17, 2006
The Burnt Out Towers
The burnt out twin towers are a bit of a local (little mentioned) landmark on West Bay.
What do you do when you have two incomplete buildings that have had two separate pretty major fires in them within the 6 months during late 2005 – early 2006! You just leave them alone until you can work out what to do with them… maybe you could knock them down; maybe you could fix them... if you are lucky they may just disappear!
What do you do with said fire damaged buildings when you know millions of eyes from all over Asia (plus many from outside of the Asian region no doubt) are going to be focused on your capital city… ahhh, cover them with shade cloth and hope the wind isn't too strong! Maybe no one will notice!
What do you do when you have two incomplete buildings that have had two separate pretty major fires in them within the 6 months during late 2005 – early 2006! You just leave them alone until you can work out what to do with them… maybe you could knock them down; maybe you could fix them... if you are lucky they may just disappear!
What do you do with said fire damaged buildings when you know millions of eyes from all over Asia (plus many from outside of the Asian region no doubt) are going to be focused on your capital city… ahhh, cover them with shade cloth and hope the wind isn't too strong! Maybe no one will notice!
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Old (Current) Airport
Went for a drive the other day to show Kerry where the Traffic Dept I had to go to was. After all this time I have only just worked out that when you see reference to the “old airport” area, it isn’t actually where the old airport “was” but rather is where the old airport is (as in the current airport). If you follow that!
Ever since the plans were laid for the new airport, which is under construction (and will continue to be an artists impression for another couple of years still), the area beside the airport has been called Old Airport… which is more or less Najma where the apartments that some of the AJA staff are housed are. Anyway as we were driving down Oqba Bin Nafie (the road the traffic dept
is on and don’t ask for a pronunciation) we saw just how close it is to the airport!
Ever since the plans were laid for the new airport, which is under construction (and will continue to be an artists impression for another couple of years still), the area beside the airport has been called Old Airport… which is more or less Najma where the apartments that some of the AJA staff are housed are. Anyway as we were driving down Oqba Bin Nafie (the road the traffic dept
is on and don’t ask for a pronunciation) we saw just how close it is to the airport!Al Matar (road), which is also known as Old Airport Road is at the end of Oqba Bin Nafie… but of course they are currently rebuilding Al Matar, so maybe it will be called New Old Airport Road! As far as I can tell most roads seem to have at least two names, and of course even if you can pronounce the Arabic name the chances of anyone knowing what you are talking about are pretty limited. Hence everyone takes directions from landmarks and roundabouts, but the newer issue here is that some of the roundabouts have been replaced with traffic lights, so the intersections have become “interchanges” rather than roundabouts. So even they have their old roundabout name and their newer interchange name. I guess the funny thing is that since most of the Karwa taxi drivers are relatively new to Qatar, many of them really have little idea where they are going… no wonder!
Ah but we are now locals... or at least we can always head towards the tower that can be seen from just about everywhere (as long as they turn the lights on) and pretend we are never lost!
Sunday, November 12, 2006
November rolls along
Well November is progressing along nicely and we are all well… first two weeks have been taken up with AJA and shopping trips… a normal life… the weather continues to cool down… cats continue to congregate by the back door when it is open and they are feeling hungry… our villa continues to become more like home, as does Doha… oh and of course Games preparations continue (more about that later though)!
I have been applying for jobs still and my search has now extended beyond Qatar (if I was to get something elsewhere, we can deal with it if it eventuates). I honestly have lost count of the number of positions I have applied for in Doha. It isn’t that the work isn’t here, but I really want to get something substantial (preference for an internationally recruited position with at least some of the “expat package” benefits). For the moment though everything in Qatar seems destined to continue the way it is for at least another month with the singular focus on the Asian Games… to be honest I am looking forward to getting the whole thing over and done with so we can experience this place under normal conditions. It feels a little like it has been one thing after another thus far with the initial settling in, then Ramadan followed by Eid, and now with the Games and winter holidays approaching… role on mid-December.
I have been applying for jobs still and my search has now extended beyond Qatar (if I was to get something elsewhere, we can deal with it if it eventuates). I honestly have lost count of the number of positions I have applied for in Doha. It isn’t that the work isn’t here, but I really want to get something substantial (preference for an internationally recruited position with at least some of the “expat package” benefits). For the moment though everything in Qatar seems destined to continue the way it is for at least another month with the singular focus on the Asian Games… to be honest I am looking forward to getting the whole thing over and done with so we can experience this place under normal conditions. It feels a little like it has been one thing after another thus far with the initial settling in, then Ramadan followed by Eid, and now with the Games and winter holidays approaching… role on mid-December.
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
October Ends
Well we have made it to the end of another month in one piece and still with our sanity intact. It is only 4 ½ weeks until the Asian Games start, and therefore only 4 ½ weeks of work at AJA until holidays start.
Also more importantly our blog is finally up to date with nothing really to be backdated. Kerry has her Residency and ID Card… I still have to go through the medicals and fingerprinting process being a dependant (I actually think my medical may be later this week). We haven’t posted anything about the experience yet as we were waiting until we both had braved the ordeal, but Kerry does have a rather special page in her passport, while mine is still out there in the system somewhere.
Driving is getting better, and with only the one accident (plus a number of near misses) I think it is going as well as can be expected. Hey we haven’t written off a rental yet, so things must be going ok! As I said before, the roads are getting even worse at the moment as things are put into top gear to complete everything prior to December 1… I think this is the calm before the storm as I can’t see it improving until after the games are over.
There is a steady influx of people into Doha to fill the various holes in the workforce for the games. A Syrian and 2 Egyptian guys came up and had a chat when we were at the souqs the other night… some of the many new arrivals walking around with their Doha Games ID’s hanging around their necks. Funny that we are more local than others now!
The weather is cooling down as we draw near the winter months… it is only reaching the low-mid 30’s now! But it is actually nice and mild in the evenings, and the air-conditioning is actually being turned off some nights. It isn’t too far away when we will be able to have them off all the time… looking forward to the peace and quiet!
Job-hunting for me continues. I have submitted my resume quite a bit to both agencies and employers… but with the positions advertised worldwide there apparently can be up to a three month wait until they finalise the selection (sometimes longer for teaching positions starting the next academic year). It will be interesting to see if I can pick up something before the games… fingers crossed. Wont be much fun if I have to work through December while K & A are on holidays!
There are a few things we have noticed about Doha and Qatar in general… while it is developing, it also seems a little held back by years of tradition. Cheap labour is in abundance from various places in the sub-continent and SE Asia, so when you have cheap labour there are certain things that become entrenched in society. The expat workforce is employed by nationals and therefore there is something owed to all nationals or something… people from India, Nepal, etc do certain things and are employed in particular positions… people from SE Asia are employed in other positions. Westerners are employed in various other positions and seem to fill the gap between the lowly paid expat workforce and Arab nationals who don’t have the skills to fill the available jobs.
But… gaps still remain.
The banks are a perfect example, where they all look the part. The owners have seen pictures of banks and know what they should look like, from the layout to the type of furniture right down to the wood grained walls in the mangers office. But there is still something missing when you can go to one branch and talk to 4 different people and get 4 completely different answers… hierarchical and bureaucratic structure reigns supreme here. I guess that is all part of “developing”.
Similar to this is the general lack of authenticity in much you see on a daily basis. Some of this is blamed on the western influence and while I would agree with this to a point, the fact is in relative terms there isn’t that many westerners here so it stems from further a field than this (i.e. international education and media consumption). It is far more correct to look at the influence and being “the expat influence” as much of what we see isn’t western or Arabic. The fact is that it is the kids who all want to walk around with mobile phones and iPods, and drive around in any number of prestige European cars or be driven around in oversized American SUVs. It is a melting pot of a country as all are to an extent, but I feel The Gulf is at the crossroads of the world and given that, needs to make a concerted effort to hold on to tradition and culture.
Well with 20 months to go, we shall just have to wait and see what vision materialises (or unravels) before our eyes.
Here is some useless trivia… did you know that somewhere between 12-25% of the worlds cranes are in Dubai! They think that 1/3rd of the world’s high-rise cranes are there.
Oh and also one other piece of trivia to end the month. Sports City Tower is not going to open until April 2007 and is going to have a swimming pool suspended off the side of the hotel about 100 meters from the ground (or something like that). It was only the façade that is to be completed prior to the games and the bit at the top for the flame.
Also more importantly our blog is finally up to date with nothing really to be backdated. Kerry has her Residency and ID Card… I still have to go through the medicals and fingerprinting process being a dependant (I actually think my medical may be later this week). We haven’t posted anything about the experience yet as we were waiting until we both had braved the ordeal, but Kerry does have a rather special page in her passport, while mine is still out there in the system somewhere.
Driving is getting better, and with only the one accident (plus a number of near misses) I think it is going as well as can be expected. Hey we haven’t written off a rental yet, so things must be going ok! As I said before, the roads are getting even worse at the moment as things are put into top gear to complete everything prior to December 1… I think this is the calm before the storm as I can’t see it improving until after the games are over.
There is a steady influx of people into Doha to fill the various holes in the workforce for the games. A Syrian and 2 Egyptian guys came up and had a chat when we were at the souqs the other night… some of the many new arrivals walking around with their Doha Games ID’s hanging around their necks. Funny that we are more local than others now!
The weather is cooling down as we draw near the winter months… it is only reaching the low-mid 30’s now! But it is actually nice and mild in the evenings, and the air-conditioning is actually being turned off some nights. It isn’t too far away when we will be able to have them off all the time… looking forward to the peace and quiet!
Job-hunting for me continues. I have submitted my resume quite a bit to both agencies and employers… but with the positions advertised worldwide there apparently can be up to a three month wait until they finalise the selection (sometimes longer for teaching positions starting the next academic year). It will be interesting to see if I can pick up something before the games… fingers crossed. Wont be much fun if I have to work through December while K & A are on holidays!
There are a few things we have noticed about Doha and Qatar in general… while it is developing, it also seems a little held back by years of tradition. Cheap labour is in abundance from various places in the sub-continent and SE Asia, so when you have cheap labour there are certain things that become entrenched in society. The expat workforce is employed by nationals and therefore there is something owed to all nationals or something… people from India, Nepal, etc do certain things and are employed in particular positions… people from SE Asia are employed in other positions. Westerners are employed in various other positions and seem to fill the gap between the lowly paid expat workforce and Arab nationals who don’t have the skills to fill the available jobs.
But… gaps still remain.
The banks are a perfect example, where they all look the part. The owners have seen pictures of banks and know what they should look like, from the layout to the type of furniture right down to the wood grained walls in the mangers office. But there is still something missing when you can go to one branch and talk to 4 different people and get 4 completely different answers… hierarchical and bureaucratic structure reigns supreme here. I guess that is all part of “developing”.
Similar to this is the general lack of authenticity in much you see on a daily basis. Some of this is blamed on the western influence and while I would agree with this to a point, the fact is in relative terms there isn’t that many westerners here so it stems from further a field than this (i.e. international education and media consumption). It is far more correct to look at the influence and being “the expat influence” as much of what we see isn’t western or Arabic. The fact is that it is the kids who all want to walk around with mobile phones and iPods, and drive around in any number of prestige European cars or be driven around in oversized American SUVs. It is a melting pot of a country as all are to an extent, but I feel The Gulf is at the crossroads of the world and given that, needs to make a concerted effort to hold on to tradition and culture.
Well with 20 months to go, we shall just have to wait and see what vision materialises (or unravels) before our eyes.
Here is some useless trivia… did you know that somewhere between 12-25% of the worlds cranes are in Dubai! They think that 1/3rd of the world’s high-rise cranes are there.
Oh and also one other piece of trivia to end the month. Sports City Tower is not going to open until April 2007 and is going to have a swimming pool suspended off the side of the hotel about 100 meters from the ground (or something like that). It was only the façade that is to be completed prior to the games and the bit at the top for the flame.
Monday, October 30, 2006
October Photos
...road to nowhere. The overpass crossing the pipeline vanishes into the sand dune
Ashur digging in the dunes while cow-cow looks on!
The "bachelors" hit the streets during Eid!
Just to prove we are slowly collecting keepsakes... we are not allowed to sell these on eBay before we leave!
You have to love kitschy souvenirs!Sunday, October 29, 2006
Eid Break
The Eid break was a nice change… no early mornings!
Today was the first day back at school and the first really early start since before Ramadan… our little robot alarm clock starts up at 5am. The only real positive to this is we are greeted by freshly brewed coffee… we managed to find one of those drip filter coffee makers with the timer on one of our many early shopping trips… it is put to very good use.
On the subject of shopping… most of the break was taken up with various little shopping adventures here and there (and also a lot of work from Kerry… catching up, preparation, etc).
Today was the first day back at school and the first really early start since before Ramadan… our little robot alarm clock starts up at 5am. The only real positive to this is we are greeted by freshly brewed coffee… we managed to find one of those drip filter coffee makers with the timer on one of our many early shopping trips… it is put to very good use.
On the subject of shopping… most of the break was taken up with various little shopping adventures here and there (and also a lot of work from Kerry… catching up, preparation, etc).
City Center with the ice skating rink in the bottom left corner
Last Tuesday we headed off to City Centre, which we hadn’t been to since we got here. Lots to see and do across all the levels of what is one big shopping complex. We seem to pick up bits and pieces on each of our little adventures and our home is slowly feeling a little more homely. This time it was a very nice Iranian carpet/door surround thing from a little booth on the ground floor… plus some rather nice little wooden Abaya dolls plus various other little bits and pieces.
One of the many things for children in City Center... Ashur loved running and climbing around in here!
Thursday night we headed back into town to walk around the souqs… spent time looking through the old souq area with is looking rather nice and traditional now after all the work they have been doing. There was even a guy with a donkey, but Ashur couldn’t be encouraged to go for a ride. Also went for our first walk around the gold souq… gold everywhere… store windows dripping in the stuff. All very impressive and I know it only added to Kerry’s gold bling desire! Even saw the falcons with their little helmets covering their eyes, sitting on outside on perches waiting to be sold. The one thing that was a shame is it is looking like all the prices for the souvenir sort of things all seem to have gone up… or maybe we are just becoming “local” and know where to get better bargains! At the end of the day we are here long enough to wait out the whole Asian Games thing, and make the most on the overstock and decreased prices once it and the associated workers, athletes and tourists all depart Qatar.
...our lounge, slowly looking more homely after more shopping adventures...
On Sunday did the Carrefour grocery shop just up the road at Vallagio… major road works between here and there as they rush to finish the main road outside Sports City (or Aspire Zone, or whatever it is called this week), which meant our normal 10 minutes drive home, grew to 45 minutes as we ventured through various diversions and closed roundabouts! Don’t know how long everything will be like this but they only have a month to go to get everything finished… who knows if they will make it or not!
But anyway it is time to get the coffee ready for the morning (got to love technology).
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Rain in Doha
Well this may seem a little like a weather update... but to continue the recent theme of weather... WE HAD RAIN!
Ok, so it was light and only lasted about 10-15 minutes and really was hardly enough to wash the dust off the plants... but it did rain earlier this afternoon and we were suitably impressed. We must be getting used to the place because we all went out and stood in it... there was even a little girl all full of screams and excitment up the road trying out her umbrella!
Ok, so it was light and only lasted about 10-15 minutes and really was hardly enough to wash the dust off the plants... but it did rain earlier this afternoon and we were suitably impressed. We must be getting used to the place because we all went out and stood in it... there was even a little girl all full of screams and excitment up the road trying out her umbrella!
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
(not so) Singing Dunes
Monday afternoon we headed off in convoy to watch the sunset over the singing dunes, which is about 30-40 klms southwest of Doha. One of the heads of department had emailed everyone at school last week about doing a few things over the Eid break, but we only decided we would join them on this excursion at lunchtime. As it turned out there were only about 5 or 6 cars/4WDs heading out. Must say it was nice tackling unfamiliar roads by simply following the car in front!
Really the drive out there wasn’t that bad at all, although there were road works along the way (in Qatar… of course there would be road works!). Most of the road was actually very good, and looked very new… straight, flanked by camel fences once again (although we are yet to see any in the wild still) oh! ...and multiple power lines.
Really the drive out there wasn’t that bad at all, although there were road works along the way (in Qatar… of course there would be road works!). Most of the road was actually very good, and looked very new… straight, flanked by camel fences once again (although we are yet to see any in the wild still) oh! ...and multiple power lines.
Although you may think sand dunes = 4WD (I did) as it turns out these are probably the most northern dunes in Qatar, so they more or less just spring up from the same flat rocky terrain we are used to. The prevailing winds just move the sand until it gets caught on the next mound etc. Thinking we would have to drive off road and get stuck somewhere was silly of me… we actually had to only drive probably 100 meters from the road to park in the middle of several dunes.
wweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
... only problem going down... you have to climb back up!
These dunes are called “the singing dunes” because apparently the composition of the sand makes them make a unique sound… they didn’t sing for us but we will not hold that against them…Although, walking down the dunes creates an audible low ‘hum’/ ‘drone’ which resembles song (albeit, low pitched)… they are at least, Middle Eastern sand dunes, and that is more than enough for them to be at any particular time!
Our time was spent walking up and down… getting sand blown at times (still getting the sand out of our pockets)… watching the sunset… eating and talking with some of the others. Went for a little walk into the dunes once it was dark and decided that although peaceful, being lost in the dunes would not be a nice experience at all.
Lots of rubbish lying around on some parts of the dunes!
Some of our group atop one of the taller dunes watching the last rays of the setting sun...
... slowly sinking in the west!
They build big suns in these parts... isn't there anything petro-dollars can't buy!
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