D'Juhn Keep on 28/12/2006 at 03:12

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In Doha, Qatar o/
for 45 days o9

The arrangement was that four guys from the company I work for would go out to Doha and do some work on the 2006 Asian Games. We were two fork drivers and two general crew, of which I was one. Until the 6th of November we were actually all told we'd be in Dubai, not Doha. gg office o9. We went out there on November 8th and arrived in Doha at about 2100 local time (KSA, GMT+3) and even then it was still warm and humid at night. We got to our apartment block - Al Bayti Towers, which turned out to be quite nice, and settled in.

(http://img139.imageshack.us/my.php?image=01wa8.jpg) http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/2944/01wa8.th.jpg
(http://img139.imageshack.us/my.php?image=03dg5.jpg) Lounge, (http://img139.imageshack.us/my.php?image=04ay9.jpg) dining room, (http://img139.imageshack.us/my.php?image=05mh5.jpg) bedroom.

Bayti went 12 floors up and so had a great view of the city around it

(http://img139.imageshack.us/my.php?image=22un6.jpg) http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/4639/22un6.th.jpg
(http://img139.imageshack.us/my.php?image=23ti0.jpg) http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/1282/23ti0.th.jpg

A couple of enterprising crew had, with help from the site carpenters, created a bar on top of our roof, too!

(http://img139.imageshack.us/my.php?image=24ik0.jpg) http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/6936/24ik0.th.jpg

The cat creeping into the picture was a stray found at Khalifa Stadium and taken back to Bayti by one of the crew. Named Pearl, she was adorable, though had a habit of following anyone on the roof around - to the point you couldn't take a step without tripping over her. A tricky obstacle at night, especially.

(http://img139.imageshack.us/my.php?image=25mv5.jpg) Pearl homing in once more.

We went straight into work the day after arriving, though only starting at midday, due to us having just got there and all. Each hour there was a huge bloody coach that left from each (of 8) apartment block to go into Khalifa Stadium, where we were all working, and back again to the apartments. It was pretty insanely wasteful to have a coach to yourself, as happened sometimes.

Anyway, we got in while the temperature was in the mid 30s, which I for one loved. A lot of the other crew, we found out, had been there since early September and had worked through temperatures as high as 50 degrees C :o Cases of water were left around everywhere and constantly replenished. I was getting through about 6 litres a day in the first few weeks. We were working 10 hours a day with 1 day off a week, roughly. The hours were give and take with overtime available and a lot of people stored their days off to have off in a bundle when things got quiet.

Myself and the other ‘general crew', a guy called Billy, were assigned to help out the head of audio-visual, communications and lighting (IIRC) which mainly involved putting some towers together to house some projectors called PiGis. We were working with the guys from the French projector company ETC, so I got to practice my long-neglected French. The work we did involved scaffolding, putting together some frames, making the whole thing “airtight” with wood and vinyl sheets, putting in a couple of fans to each one, making sure it was waterproofed and finally painting the thing so it'd look inconspicuous. The finished article is here in all its beauteous (http://img139.imageshack.us/my.php?image=07wk7.jpg) glory.

We also did odd jobs around the site, such as hiding unsightly cables, running power out to places, etc. As I have a fork licence as well, I was hi-jacked after the opening ceremony to help get rid of the flooring, which was carpet and HexaDeck TM. 12 hours, from 1600-0400, is entirely too long to spend on a forklift D:.

I should probably take some time to say what was actually going on out there. The (http://www.doha-2006.com/) Asian Games is a huge deal in Asia and the Middle East but I had never heard of it before working on it, nor had most of the people I know, despite it having started in the 50s. The Doha games have claimed to be the “biggest ever” and the games themselves went on for 2 weeks. At Khalifa Stadium, there was the opening ceremony (500 riyals, about £70 for a ticket) on the 1st December and the closing ceremony on the 15th. Both ceremonies involved speeches, dancing, etc, as well as a prop-filled narrative. The Opening had a bunch of rubbish about this guy who sets off to find some pearls, does so and returns and is happy ever after, blah, blah, blah. The closing featured something about Ali Babar and the Forty Thieves I think, I didn't even bother watching that one. It had a giant, inflatable genie though, which looked quite impressive. Between all this poncery, they hosted a load of track and field events, so the stadium had to be changed from giant theatre to sports venue and back again in as short a time as possible.

On the night of the opening, I was up at the very top of the eastern side of the stadium as we had to make sure the PiGis didn't get wet whilst making sure they had enough air circulating so they didn't get overheated. We didn't have to do much the whole time, so I got a load of photos of the thing. I will mention here that the annual rainfall is Qatar is around 70mm. I'm fairly sure we had more than that on several days in December. Directly before and after the opening ceremony, it absolutely poured down. It was a bit wet during the ceremony, but they got incredibly lucky, all things considered. It was also quite windy, which meant they had to scrap an important part of the ceremony, whereby a dozen boats come flying overhead on wires, with divers inside. Apparently it was too risky for the people in the boats to do it.

(http://img139.imageshack.us/my.php?image=08pr9.jpg) http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/531/08pr9.th.jpg A few thousand people spell out things with glow sticks.

(http://img139.imageshack.us/my.php?image=09sq9.jpg) http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/1193/09sq9.th.jpg A giant bird saves the pearl fisher from a sea monster (yes really)

(http://img205.imageshack.us/my.php?image=10kx7.jpg) Horsies! :D

(http://img205.imageshack.us/my.php?image=12sh0.jpg) Qatar celebrates its oil and gas reserves (yes really)

(http://img205.imageshack.us/my.php?image=12auz5.jpg) http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/6541/12auz5.th.jpg Astrolabe containing olympic flame.

(http://img205.imageshack.us/my.php?image=13ya4.jpg) Emir's giant LED-screen hotel penis lights up.

(http://img205.imageshack.us/my.php?image=14qa8.jpg) Fire(http://img205.imageshack.us/my.php?image=15tx9.jpg) works!

(http://img205.imageshack.us/my.php?image=16az7.jpg) http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/3273/16az7.th.jpg It's all over in a blazing blaze of blazy light.

As I said, I didn't see the closing ceremony as I could not have cared less about it. It did, however, feature camels and even more impressive fireworks.

(http://img205.imageshack.us/my.php?image=17xb6.jpg) Camel! (http://img205.imageshack.us/my.php?image=18yh0.jpg) Camels! (http://img205.imageshack.us/my.php?image=19nq0.jpg) Fireworks! (http://img132.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20rl3.jpg) And more, (http://img132.imageshack.us/my.php?image=21jv6.jpg) and more.

Dodgy camera work makes it even prettier, I think :D

About Qatar, generally, then.

I'll start with its social make-up. Its head of state is the Emir. This one seized power from his father some years ago and has, in all fairness, made Qatar a noticeably progressive place - in Middle Eastern terms. Women are allowed to drive, the state doesn't interfere with the press too much and I think there's even a constitution on the way. Against that, the Emir is still very much the dictator, there are no political parties and so no elections and power is in his hands - or given out by him. But it's a start, right? Doha wants to be the new Dubai. It has an immense program of construction work, and, as it has just hosted the Asian Games, has all those sporting facilities in place. It's even creating its own man-made islands in a complex called The Pearl. The country is flush with oil and gas money and has the highest GDP of any developing country - $28,300. Yet workers there can earn as little as 1400 riyal per month - £200. And that's with 12 hour days, 30 days a month. No Qataris do any work, from what I could see. The entire workforce is made up of immigrants from India, Nepal, Burma, the Philippines, etc. Most are men, which is what creates the hugely skewed ratio of males/females of working age in Qatar. Working conditions are hard and dangerous for the immigrants as most are working in the construction industry with little or no training or safety precautions. The guys I worked with slept in warehouses filled with large beds that slept half a dozen people and worked on a one-in one-out system. I heard stories - though mainly from the nearby U.A.E. of companies bringing these workers over and taking their passports, effectively owning the man. Basically, the gap between the rich and poor of Qatar is unimaginably huge.

It's easy to identify the Arabs in Doha because they're inevitably driving a monstrous 4x4 S.U.V.s or hummers. I can sort of understand this as there ARE places where you can't get to in a normal car in the country. Though I sort of doubt some of these pristine cars are called on to go over sand dunes much. I know the U.S. has seen falling S.U.V. sales but they're doing well over in Qatar. I didn't actually see how much petrol costs there but it must be something close to free as you can get taxi rides across the city for under £2. There's a law that says if you're in an accident you have to stay wherever you are until the police come and determine whose fault it was. This creates HUGE traffic jams as people can't get round an accident and the cars aren't allowed to move! Drivers are also pretty insane out there and will frequently mount the kerb to get round a traffic jam or create 3 lanes where only 2 exist.

When I first walked around the city, I thought that women weren't allowed on the streets or something, because there simply were none, despite crowded streets. I later realised that it wasn't the case. The only people who walk the streets are immigrants, who are almost entirely male. You don't see any Arabs actually walking around. They take cars to the shopping malls or souqs, get what they want and drive back. I found it like the U.S. but even more noticeable. The immigrants, for their part, walk, take the bus or use cars, though not usually the monster trucks favoured by the Arabs. They also congregate in their hundreds in public places, especially on Fridays - the equivalent of Sunday in the west. Regarding women and their dress, I don't think it' required for Arab ladies to wear all-concealing garments but most choose to. Whether this is an actual choice or something they'd be spat upon for not doing, I don't know. Probably nearer the former as the immigrant women wear western clothes with no trouble. Likewise, Arab men usually have their traditional robes and headscarf on, whilst the immigrant men wear jeans and shirts.

The shopping malls I went to were lie any in the U.K., I found KFC, Burger King, McDonalds, Starbucks, Accessorize, Mothercare, the Early Learning Centre, etc, etc. It surprised me a little, but not that much. The souqs are like shopping malls but grottier. Originally, the name referred to markets where trading was done and so small shops sprung up in the same area and it was a souq. Nowadays, a souq is more like a small, grotty shopping mall. There are about 8 different souqs in the ‘souq district' and between them they sell pretty much everything, though of generally low quality. The gold souq is an exception to this as they mostly use hallmarked 22c and 24c gold. Souq Waqif was the original souq but became modernised quite garishly and so is currently being renovated to look more traditional.

The role of the pub/bar in the U.K. is taken by the coffee shop in Qatar. There are a *few* restaurants and hotels that serve alcohol, but at expensive prices. You can also purchase an alcohol permit that lets you get alcohol from Qatar's one distributor, which is like a warehouse. Beer is only available by the case and still isn't exactly cheap. I heard there are quite harsh penalties for: transporting alcohol unless it's directly from the warehouse to your home, drinking in public, being drunk in public, etc.

It is a very safe place with low crime rates, probably due to the penalties crimes. Reading a paper I saw, in the middle pages, “2 beheaded for drug smuggling” (cocaine) and read how a woman's sentence - for adultery - was commuted from death by stoning to 40 lashes, 2 years in jail and deportation. Though I think that one may have been in the U.A.E. I believe thievery gets you a hand chopped off in classic fashion and murder is the death penalty. You get the idea.

I've gone on for far too long but if, like me, you knew nothing about Qatar, I hope you found it illuminating. For those that found it tl and perhaps dr, here's my final thought. There is no reason for anyone to visit Qatar. I couldn't wait to leave, partly because I wanted to be at home and partly because it's a shitty place to live in.

Here are some random pictures for your delectation.

(http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/1594/1oz0.jpg) Mosque, (http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/9103/2zd0.jpg) call to prayer thing, (http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/1954/3yl7.jpg) souq street, (http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/2166/4at4.jpg) donkey in souq, (http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/3571/5cy1.jpg) Aspire Stadium, (http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/6774/6sn0.jpg) statue, (http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/4977/7am5.jpg) sunset, (http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/6628/8fu7.jpg) penis by night (turtle's new band?), (http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/4373/9wi5.jpg) Aspire stadium by night (http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/7504/9bmn9.jpg) and again
(http://img132.imageshack.us/my.php?image=26ea9.jpg) Your host with curly hair once more

Fingernail on 28/12/2006 at 10:13

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Good stuff, looks like it doesn't vary too much, although obviously you were doing very different stuff.

One of the things someone told us was that all the big building projects, the skyscrapers and all (this is particularly pertinent to Dubai) are going to be kaput within 40 years because of the humidity of the climate.

And yeah, I also thought there's no reason to visit any of these places particularly. I'd tell anyone to go to an Arab state with some actual history and culture. Oman is a little better (well, quite a lot better actually - and no buildings over 6 storeys high), but somewhere like Jordan will do you a much better holiday.

Although at the same time I also value the fact that I've been there and seen it. But once is enough. I can't imagine spending 45 days out there, you must have been CRAZY.

TBE on 28/12/2006 at 17:01

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My time in Qatar sucked. We were stranded there because our plane broke down on the way to Iraq. So they put us in smelly-vermin-infested tents. Then on the way back to the US (45 days later) they pretty much did the same thing. We were in (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/udeid.htm) Al Udeid.

Anyone wishing to visit the middle-east, I'd recommend Eastern Turkey. Much more pleasant than all the other places I've been. Trust me, I've been to almost every middle eastern country there is. Jordan seemed like it could be nice, but I didn't get to travel far. The Jordanians I met were very nice and welcoming.

SD on 28/12/2006 at 18:36

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Holy crap Iggles, you even seen to be getting the vague beginnings of a tan :o

Your pictures are great btw, and it's nice to get a perspective on life in the Middle East from someone who's actually been there. This also applies to Fingernail. Nice work gents.