It's Freakin' Hot!

Qatar is in the northern hemisphere almost directly on the Tropic of Cancer, and is a fairly small peninsula sticking out 160 km into the Gulf of Arabia, so it is mostly surrounded by the warm waters of the Gulf.

Qatar is a desert ... every bit of it. Were it not for man's intervention, I don't think there would be a single green plant here. Come to think of it, were it not for man's intervention, I don't think there would be a single white man here either.

Being a desert, it can get hot in the summer ... notice that the graph peaks at 45 degrees C during July and August. Now that's the average temperature, and to give you a comparison, Toronto's highest months are the same months when the temperature is 26 degrees C. I know in Ontario, when it gets to 30 degrees, we whine and complain about the heat and generally hide in air conditioned spaces. Just imagine that you are here where the temperature is 20 degrees hotter. Some smart asses will say stuff like ... 'yeah well it's humid here in Toronto unlike over there where it is a desert climate'. Wrong! Because the country is surrounded by very warm water, it gets very humid here as well.

Some days I have gone out to my car, which has a gauge to show the outside temperature, and it has surpassed 53 degrees C, and that doesn't include the effect of the humidity. It makes it difficult to drive when it's that hot because, despite using a reflective windscreen, the leather steering wheel and shifter are almost too hot to touch ... and be careful not to touch the seatbelt's metal parts to any exposed skin! There is a law here that should the temperature reach 50, then workers have to be sent home for the day ... never happens because the temperature never 'officially' gets to 50.

I've been here for 5 months now and have yet to see a single drop of rain. It has rained (twice) at night, and I know that because there were puddles on the ground the following morning.

What we do have here are dust storms. They usually happen just before a weather change like in the spring before it starts to get real hot. I was at lunch in the cafeteria with Rhonda one sunny, clear day, and when we came out from our 20 min break, the sky was brown, the humidity was very high and the finest dust you can imagine was heavy in the air. It gets into every pore of your body. Apparently, when these dust storms hit, the clinics and hospitals get very busy with people getting sick because of them.

Because of the extreme summer heat, most people get the hell out of Dodge for as much of it as possible, especially the westerners. Another reason they leave is to miss the month of Ramadan, but more on that in a separate post.

There is a winter here where the weather is cooler, but it's fairly short ... usually falling on a Tuesday.

To sum up the weather here ... it is freakin' HOT!

Thobes and Abayas

Take a close look at the picture above and notice the range of dress depicted. You might want to click on the picture to see it in full size. In the left half of the picture you will see, from left to right, a Qatari boy, two Qatari women wearing abayas, and two arab men, one wearing a traditional thobe and one not. The abaya is a loose fitting cloak that covers the whole body, and you will see some women cover their face entirely and some don't, although they all wear coverings over their head called a hijab. You might think that wearing a black cloak would be hot in this climate, and you are right, especially since they are fully clothed underneath the cloak.

 The man on the left is a Qatari wearing a thobe, a long white robe similar to a white dress shirt that extends to the feet, and a ghutra which, can be either white or red and white checkered.On top of the ghutra the men wear an igal, or black rope-like coil to hold it in place. Men also wear undergarments including a t-shirt and pants that cover from navel to knees.

Boys may also be seen wearing the traditional thobe exactly like the men, and mothers don't have to worry about grass stains since there isn't any.

Since the Qataris all wear thobes and abayas, you may think clothing is not a status thing, and that follows the Quran's teaching of being modest. What they do, however, is spend big money on bling such as 18 carat gold cufflinks with precious stones, expensive watches, and yes, the ultimate status symbol, expensive cell phones.

On a side note, notice the two other women in the first picture walking away from the camera. The one next to that tall drink of water wearing the skull cap is Rhonda, my friend and my boss, and lagging behind her is Connie, her mother. For non-arabs, it is ok to wear what you want, so long as you don't expose too much between the shoulders and knees.

Doha people come out in droves at night making the driving a bit of a nightmare. Because of the traditional dress being worn, women in particular are very hard to see in the dark, so you have to be careful not to hit them. We kid around that '... the ghosts and ninjas' are out, which is slanderously referring to the thobes and abayas, but reminds us to watch we don't hit one. I think the rule of thumb here is don't hit anyone at or above your status class, the others ... well, as I said before, they are just potential road kill anyways.

A Course? In Singapore? Of Course!

Following right on the heels of my trip to Pattaya, Thailand, I flew to Singapore. Now the last Peoplesoft course I took was paid for by me ($5,000) and it was in Mississauga where I also paid for my own hotel. Now, if you're from Heathcote, Ontario, that may seem like a big deal. But I'm not from any where near Heathcote, not any more anyway. So when my boss (did I tell you she was also my friend?) asked me to take another course that was offered in Singapore, paid for by the college including a five star hotel and a generous per diem allowance ... well you can guess it didn't matter where I was from, never mind Heathcote.

The only down side of this trip was that I'd just spent 9 days in Pattaya and was running a bit low on energy and probably dangerously low on protein. Anyways, a week in Singapore after a week in Pattaya is like going from total disarray to absolute organization. Singapore is beautiful and so clean and organized ... eat your heart out Toronto.

My hotel was the Pan Pacific in the heart of Marina Bay, Singapore. Very nice ... had a room on the 31st floor with the outer wall made of glass ... no peeping Toms at that elevation. The view was spectacular overlooking the harbour and the world's biggest ferris wheel called the Singapore Flyer.

To give you an idea of the scale of this marvel, the Flyer is 536 feet high, takes 30 minutes to take a one revolution 'flight' ($30), has capsules that hold 28 people, and is capable of holding up to 784 passengers! And no, I didn't partake of this wonderful opportunity ... if I didn't ride a 7 foot camel, I'm not riding a 536 foot high ferris wheel that calls rides 'flights', never mind that it doesn't have a nasty disposition or bites the clients.


As for the course I took, it was delivered by a local Singapore resident originally from Hong Kong. We had a great time as I was the only student and he loved to chat. I learned more about Singapore from him in four days that from anything else.

You might wonder how I got along with language while in Thailand and Singapore. In Thailand, I couldn't speak a word other than to point to myself and say 'Singha', which is the local beer ... very good by the way. Eye contact and a big smile pretty much gets you anything else you want, if you know what I mean. For everything else, enough Thais speak enough English to get you by. In Singapore they primarily speak a form of English, known there as Singlish which isn't too hard to understand. When I get around to going to Malaysia, they apparently speak Manglish, which by the sound of the name, might be a tad hard to understand ... much like my fellow workers from Newfoundland 'mangle' their English.

Overall, the trip to Singapore was terrific. I learned some useful stuff on my course, had some great meals (hopefully restoring my lack of protein), and took in the sights of one the world's premiere cities. I'm pretty sure I need to take a couple of more courses in the near future.

Off to Thailand - yeS_I_AM

Near the end of April I had my first days off work ... holiday time for a week. One of the things I decided when I took the contract in Qatar was to take advantage of the generous holidays and travel, primarily in Asia. My first such travel was to Thailand, formerly known as Siam. After a 7-hour flight from Doha on Qatar Airways (great airline), I arrived in Bangkok. Finding transportation to Pattaya where I was booked to stay was easy ... lots of independent taxis to take you there ... only 1000 baht (about $30 CAD) for the one hour and forty-five minute ride on the motorway.

Pattaya is a popular beach resort area close to Bangkok, but better known for its nightlife. Pattaya has more bars than any other place on earth, and Walking Street is the most obvious example where the fare is more than just beer ... girls, boys, even girls that are really boys ... only you really can't tell.

But Pattaya is not all nightlife, only the most exciting part.

 During the day, whenever you can drag your butt out of bed after a night on Walking Street, it is a tropical paradise with beautiful beaches to relax on and regain your strength for the coming night. At the south end of Pattaya over a hill, is Jomtien Beach which is far nicer than Pattaya Beach because there are not many motorized vehicles in the water. Umbrella's line the beach where you can sit and relax all day on a beach chair for 50 baht ($1.60) and be served drinks, have a manicure, a Thai massage and eat some great food. My favourites were fresh steamed jumbo shrimp and barbecued squid cooked right on the beach

Getting around in Pattaya is easy. It has one of the most efficient transportation systems I've ever encountered. They are small blue pickup trucks with two facing benches in the back and buttons to push when you want them to stop ... which they will about 6 feet after you press it. They are everywhere and come along about every 3rd vehicle on the road. The are called baht buses because they cost 20 baht (about 65 cents).

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Sand dunes and camels - back to the desert

A couple of the great things at Sealine beach area are the camel rides and the dune buggy rentals. So far, I've ridden neither, but I will in the future. The camels are very cool as seen in the picture above. You don't get to take one out for a ride by yourself, and given their generally nasty disposition, it's probably a good thing ... nasty buggers. Notice that they are all wearing colourful muzzles so they don't take a chunk out of the patrons. Now there's a new thing to knit in your spare time ... not much different than a tea cozy.

Here a mother and daughter show they are more adventuresome than I am. I believe they were just out in the sun a tad too long. You know, mad dogs and Englishmen ... in this case Englishmomandkid.

On my way back to Doha, I actually saw a herd? of seven wild camels by the roadside ... no saddles or muzzles either.

To the Desert in my Z4

On my first venture out of Doha and into the desert ... Qatar is entirely desert even though it doesn't always look like it in Doha where there are palm trees and grass ... throw enough money at it and you can even conquer Mother Nature. On the drive out there, I passed road signs that were like our deer crossing signs, only they are camel and ostrich crossing signs. In Doha, instead of pedestrian crossing signs, they depict a person wearing a thobe ... so we call them thobe crossings. Attempting to cross any road without these signs is taking your life in your hands, because pedestrians are really just potential road-kill here.

On a fine Saturday morning, myself, Satish (a co-worker from India) and his 13-year old son drove out to Sealine Beach. Once out of Doha, you appreciate exactly what a desert really is ... totally barren. It's not all sand like I thought, but more like hard-packed clay-like dirt the colour of sand. Once you get to Sealine, however, you see massive sand dunes that the locals love to challenge with their Land Cruisers (the most popular vehicle by far in Qatar). Just to show you that my comments about what the Qataris drive like in my previous post are carried over to desert driving, catch this video of them in the sand dunes ... insane! And if that doesn't convince you check this one out ... That'll leave a mark!

This is a view of the Sealine beach area from atop a large sand dune ... damn near killed me climbing it. As you can tell it was near the end of a kind of a hazy and overcast day.

Oddly enough, Satish's son doesn't swim (neither does Satish) and they come from Kerala, India, which is by the ocean. Eventually, though he went in the water after climbing the sand dunes ... after all it was 40 degrees C, and I think the sand was more like 140 degrees.

Roundabout problem solved - my new wheels

One of the very worst things about Doha is driving in Doha. I've found the people here to be very refined, dignified and respectful ... at least until they get behind the wheel. They do have well-defined driving laws here such as, no cell phone use when driving, only park in designated areas, speed cameras everywhere, and well marked lanes on the roads. The only problem is that nobody either knows of the laws or doesn't give a rat's ass ... probably the latter.

The first month I was here, Rhonda drove me to work and to shop, etc., which was great. But I knew I needed to get my own vehicle and learn to drive here. After seeing what driving was like as a passenger and driving Rhonda's car a few times, I realized I had a choice ... get a tank or a very fast car to survive. I chose the latter because I couldn't find a tank complete with ammunition for the canon.

 My rule-of-thumb for driving here is as follows: If another vehicle looks like he might be able to cut into your lane, he definitely will, and if it looks like there's no way he could squeeze in, he definitely will. The only way to drive here is what I would call the defensive-aggressive style of driving. That means don't trust any other driver not to do something stupid (because they will), and if you are going to go ... GO!

 The majority of roads are multi-lane divided highways with the average city speed limit of between 80 - 100 km/hr, and for the most part, they have roundabouts instead of intersections. The rule of roundabouts is that the inside lane has the right of way ... only no one knows that here. It wouldn't be so bad if the drivers here knew what that thing is sticking out of the left side of the steering column (the turn signal), but they apparently do not as no one uses them except some Canadian drivers. My new car even has fairly large side flashers so other drivers can see your signal even if they are beside you ... not that it matters to them.

I love my new car ... a BMW Z4 ... the ultimate roundabout tool. Not many other vehicles can do a roundabout like I can ... except for the Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Maseratis, Porsches, etc., of which there are more than a few. I now look forward to my trips to and from work ... I refer to them as rally races, because that's pretty much what they are.

This is the view of my car that I like to give other drivers as often as possible because, only then do I feel they won't hit me ... at least until the next roundabout.

The term 'woman driver' here takes on a whole new meaning. One really disconcerting thing is that they wear black head coverings ... some completely covering their face. Seeing them anywhere near me makes me nervous especially when they are using their cell phone ... which is all the time.

Not so modern - The Old Souqs

Souqs are actually shops, and in Qatar, shops tend to be located in groups. For instance there are the gold souqs, the furniture souqs, the computer souqs, ... well you get the picture. I'm still looking for the automotive souqs and the ever popular soup souqs.

Doha used to have an old souq. However, times move on, and it was decided that progress required knocking it down and replacing it with a new souq that looks like an old souq. This area is call Souq Waqif, but more commonly known as ... you guessed it ... the Old Souqs. It is huge and contains a maze of shops that sell everything you can imagine. It is particularly famous for spices. 

One of the nice features of the Old Souqs is the range of restaurants featuring foods of many different cultures. They all have outside areas where you can sit and eat, smoke shisha, and watch the people go by.

Here I am doing just that but particularly concentrating on my shisha. Now don't be confusing this with smoking anything illegal ... that's what I would call hashisha.

The Pearl

The Pearl is a man-made island that is 10 minutes from the college. While it is still under construction, I went there to see this amazing place. It is truly The Pearl of the Gulf.

Talk about high-end shops! As you enter The Pearl, you pass Rolls Royce, Maserati and Ferrari dealerships.

Once inside you can visit shops like Giorgio Armani and many I have never heard of because they are way out of my league, but it doesn't cost anything to look. I saw a golf shirt for just over 1,000 riyals (about $350). The marina is spectacular, and while not finished there were a few boats moored there ... some over 100 feet.

Not What I Expected

I'm not really sure what I expected once I got here, but my first impressions are certainly not what I envisioned. Doha is undergoing massive construction. You can't find a spot in Doha where you don't see construction going on. The picture above is taken in the city centre, and as you can see, it is very modern with some of the most fantastic architecture I've seen anywhere.

With a population of around 1.5 million, only about 350,000 are Qatari nationals with the rest being expats mostly from other Asian countries. There is definitely a class system here with Qatari's being on the top rung, followed by Westerners, like myself, then other Arab nationals, then the rest. It's not right, but it's nice to be in the upper echelon of these classes.

One of the most common comments from people at home when they heard I was coming here to work on a three-year contract was '... be careful and take care over there', which showed their concern that this might be a dangerous place being in the Middle East, which is commonly believed (by westerners) is a centre of terrorism. After being here such a short time, it is already evident that these concerns are unfounded. I have never lived in a city where I felt safer - except when driving, but more on that later.

Shop Till you Drop

One of the first things you need to do when you arrive in Doha is to shop to equip your apartment with necessities. Rhonda and Connie, her mom, took me to a few of the malls to get started. As in the rest of Doha, the malls are ultra modern, if not downright fantastic. The mall pictured above is the Villagio Mall which features 220 stores, a canal that runs  through the mall complete with gondolas, and a hockey rink in the food court area. The shops are mostly high-end ... I saw a cell phone for sale for a mere 24,000 Qatar riyals (about $8,000 CAD)!

College of the North Atlantic - Qatar

It is only my second day in Doha, but I get to see my new workplace - the College of the North Atlantic - Qatar. It still seems strange that I am working in Doha at a college based in Newfoundland. Sure doesn't look like Newfoundland in February! Although the college has one-quarter of the students at Niagara College, the campus is about four times bigger and very impressive. The Qatari students can be recognized by the traditional white thobes (for men) and black abayas (women) they are wearing.

The IT department where I will be working is nicely appointed and includes a solarium in the middle of it where you can actually go for a smoke ... unbelievable.

The people that I will be working with are mostly expats as well. They come from India, Somalia, Lebanon, Sri Lanka and yes, Canada. There is a large number of Canadian expats, although they are primarily from Newfoundland, so they still seem like people from a strange land, especially when they talk. It is doubly strange that they teach the Qataris English, but qualify it somewhat by calling it English as a Foreign Language ... seems foreign to me.

A New Land - Different Weather

My long flight finally ended at 1:00 AM on February 2nd where my boss, and  friend, Rhonda met me at the Doha International airport. She borrowed my winter jacket as she was cold, which seemed weird to me given that I had just come from Canada and Britain's biggest snow storm in 18 years ... it was 22 degrees C!!

We went straight to the Movenpick Hotel in Doha where I stayed for the night ... got to sleep around 3 AM. Since the college was sending a driver to pick me up at 7:30 AM, I didn't get a lot of sleep before facing my new country, my new city, my new residence and my new job. However, I was excited to look out my hotel window and see the view (above). It was sunny, warm, and it was a great view of the harbour, complete with palm trees and a small mosque next to the parking lot.

My first day was spent visiting my new apartment and going shopping for things I would need for the first few days. The apartment is more than satisfactory, being spacious and well equipped with furniture and appliances. The ceilings are high, the floors marble tile and the apartment has 4 large air conditioners, one in each bedroom, the living room and the kitchen.

The bedrooms are large and furnished with huge wardrobes and beds. The master bedroom has a 'super king size' bed ... great for when you crash after a night out on the town as it won't matter which direction you land on it. It also has a balcony you can see in the upper right of the picture.

From the Land of Snow

It's a long flight from Toronto to Doha, and a long way from Canadian winter to the hot deserts of Qatar. But, apparently, the Canadian weather was not going to let me free yet as it followed me to London, England causing London's biggest snowstorm in two decades. If the Brit's only knew it was my fault for trying to escape weather we Canadians like to leave behind. Consequently, we were stacked up over Heathrow airport due to the fact that half of the runways were closed, and we landed about 45 minutes late. Once on the ground, we were delayed another 45 minutes as a large jet had skidded sideways on the taxiway heading towards the terminal ... glad I wasn't on that plane.(Heathrow plane blocking our plane)

By the time we deplaned, the departure time for my scheduled flight to Doha had passed, but it didn't matter because no planes were going anywhere. It may have been the largest snowfall England has seen in eighteen years, but to a Canadian like me, you wondered what the fuss was all about with only about 4 inches of snow on the ground.

After an 8 hour delay at Heathrow, I was very relieved when we finally departed for Doha. No one in Britain realized that I had been the cause of their natural disaster. That was the last time I would see snow.