Last Saturday was my first off alternate Saturday off and I took the chance to go sightseeing around Doha city by myself. Rather than drive there in my company sponsored car+diesel, I decided to go “foreigner” and take the public bus provided by the state-owned company Karwa.
Knowing for sure I will be travelling quite a bit on the bus, I chose to buy the day-pass which costs 9 QAR, good unlimited rides for the whole day and night. Single trip tickets cost 3 QAR each hence it makes more sense with the day pass.
If you know me, you will know I go crazy taking photos when I go sightseeing. This trip is no different. In total, I snapped 351 photos which are uploaded onto Flickr. These photos have yet to gone through QC hence browse only when you’re extremely free. 2 panoramas of the New Doha District taken from the Al Corniche are also uploaded. Click the photo below to see the full size.
Highlights of the photos will be provided in a later stage.
If I can find the time.
The residence compound I am living in is essentially a walled garden, housing people predominately from Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. Other than the occasional visit by (potential) vendors from the outside “world”, we are an isolated community, transplanting our customs and habits with us.
This situation isn’t just the case of us reluctant to change, rather I suspect, it is the norm rather than the exception. To the south of our compound (see Google Map above), lives a community of doctors and medical professionals. And to the north of our compound, lives another community of teachers.
In a corner of my neighborhood, exists a tiny park where some children and adults go in the evening for socialising. It is tiny but because of the children, it’s quite full of life, at least in one corner of the park. This is a park but it’s not a family park, as such, there is a strict segregation of adult males and females. In fact, a security guard is stationed inside the park full time. I almost made the mistake wandering over into the forbidden zone but was warned by the security guard.
There is no life other than human and insects in our compound. But just outside the compound, it is possible to observe some “wildlife” going about their daily business.
For someone who has only worked for 4.5 months in Singapore, working in Qatar is still a culture shock to me accustomed to “customer service” oriented business culture.
If you think customer service in Singapore is bad, you really have to look at vendors here to appreciate what you have. There is a photo studio company here, when I called for quotation, told me “We’re very busy. I’m not interested in doing business with you” even though the service period is for 30 months.
Another of our office furniture vendor, after asking them for a catalogue, told us to get them from another place. In fact, because the catalogue provided is quite lacking, in the end, we had to create our own catalogue using Photoshop, in order to satisfy our own customers. It’s not like we’re buying one. Strange.
Somehow, my first week in Qatar has passed right by, almost without me knowing it. So far, life has been pretty kind on me, no major feelings of depression or missing home. In fact, call me heartless, I think I’m loving my life away from home.
But I do miss my family and friends back home, but right now, the feeling isn’t that intense yet. I have been busy almost every night, either going out for food and/or shopping or hanging out at one of my colleagues’ place after having home-cooked food together. So there is almost no time for me to feel sorry for myself. Yet.
The one complaint I have about Qatar is everything is so far apart. It is impossible to go anywhere without having to drive out from my villa compound. =S
Latest news: I will be having alternate Saturdays off starting from the 2nd Saturday of April. Maybe I will have more time to go travelling in Qatar. I can only hope.
Even more latest news: Planning for vacation in September.
This is my first contact with a real traditional market. It’s exactly the way I like it.
Old traditional markets with major doses of the past that attempt to teleport you to an era long past.
Cobbled streets, marbled walkways and stone houses.
Despite this market being a tourist attraction, there is minimal touting going on. The shopkeepers are mainly keeping to themselves, or simply watching the people walk past. The shops are nicely lit and the narrow walkaways (about 1.5m at the largest) gives a nice cosy feel to the place.
An Iraqi restaurant
This Iraqi restaurant was quite quiet when we entered at around 7pm and the waiters are really friendly. The mixed appetizer is really nice, lots of olives, and other nutty stuff.
Dining in the restaurant isn’t cheap, total damage per person: 47 QAR (Qatar Riyals) with the most expensive stuff being the 1hour firewood roasted Hamor (grouper) at 95 QAR per kg
In 15 minutes, the temperature in unshaded areas can rise from 31 to 39 degrees C. And this is at 9am in the morning. Spring is ending soon. =S
Nights are pretty cool but humid.
On the first morning when we arrived in Doha airport, the temperature was quite chilly, with temperatures around 19-23 deg C. But as the season starts to change, the night temperature now is around 24-26 deg C. Humidity is low here. In the nights, the humidity is slightly higher due to the cooler weather but relative humidity is probably less than 60%. In fact, when taking the camera out from my 21 deg C office into the weather, there is NO condensation whatsoever! I love being able to use the camera immediately coming out of an air-conditioned room.
There is no queue numbers here, at least in the National Health Commission.
What the locals do here is to have rows of seats for waiting before the queue at the counter. People entering the waiting area is controlled at the entrance, thereby limiting the people to the number of seats available.
There is another security guy standing at the first row of the seats, directing traffic to the counters. Then once a row is cleared, everyone will have to move one row up, thereby ensuring nobody falls asleep and everyone has sufficient exercise.
An efficient system that works only with unpampered clients or not-too-sick patients. Can you imagine this system working in Singapore?
People who are forced to wait outside in the non-air-conditioned areas are provided with shades to keep the direct heat from the sun away. Standing in the hot desert sun is NOT a good idea.
