Doha

6/19/2007 08:27:00 PM UTC +0300

Most of my time on R&R was spent at the recreation facilities on Camp As Sayliyah. However, we did get an opportunity to leave the installation on an organized tour of Doha. I'm sure that to some extent, this trip was a canned look at the sites most appealing to Westerners, and avoided other parts of the city that the Qatari people might prefer we stay away from. This is probably for the best, since there are, without doubt, mixed feelings about Americans among the local populace, and there was no concealing the military background of this generally uncouth group of young American tourists.

We started in the outskirts of the city, with some camel stables and a few food markets. The food markets, despite being somewhat less sanitary than what we're accustomed to in the US, were very well supplied with a variety of foods that rivals any grocery I've seen. The seafood market was a sure source for incontinence as far as I was concerned, but seemed to be working for the hundreds of bustling patrons. We were discouraged from photographing the locals, but I did get a photo of this rather indignant camel. (Indignant camels are not hard to find.)



From what little I saw this day, I'd say that Qatar is facing a difficult cultural transition. The history of the Middle East dwells on continual struggle for resources (fertile land and water, to name two huge ones), and the mentality behind this struggle has bled over to private lives, where this influx of money and Western culture has created a huge interest in vanity. Qatar deals in lots of gold and pearls, and most of the jewelry exchanges are also outside of the urban downtown area. The gold "souqs" (Arabic for "shops", I presume) deal in some of the most elaborate jewelry I've ever seen. It's not necessarily valuable, just big.



The downtown area is architecturally quite progressive. The buildings are all very modern, and the infrastructure is pretty much ready for the sort of traffic that a large city generates. There are perhaps more buildings over 40 stories tall in Doha than in all of Boston, yet the population of the whole country of Qatar is only 841,000 (estimated). Furthermore, at least half of these buildings are under construction. It's hard for me to imagine these buildings being leased any time soon. See Google Maps satellite imagery.

It is apparent that Qatar is posturing itself to be a resort and international business hub for the world. This is the only reason I can find for the enormous effort being put into this kind of development. They know that oil money will run out some day and for Qatar to remain economically viable, they'll need a new industry to expand. It's good to see that they are planning ahead, but I wonder if a culture can survive on its investments alone.



If you clicked on the google map link above, you can see just how much development they have planned. There's also a large flat rectangular building in the center of the downtown area. This is the City Center Mall--perhaps the largest mall I've ever been in, though once again, lots of vacancy here for planned expansion. If it were empty, this mall would feel very much like an American mall. There are many of the same retailers, and just a similar feel. However when you load it up with people, it takes on a very different atmosphere.

Before this trip, I'd never seen Muslims in traditional dress (men and women). I had expected that this division in cultural standards between genders would noticeably manifest itself in the way men and women act in public. Women would only be seen shopping for household necessities and taking care of the children. Men would be off doing whatever it is men do. I'm sure this is true in some places in the Middle East, but it's less true in Qatar, and not at all true in this mall.

Young men stand around and joke and try to look tough. Young women scamper about in gaggles, giggling and gossiping. Couples walk around hand in hand, with children in tow behind them. Were it not for their dress, their behavior would be basically indistinguishable from what I'm used to back home. It was frankly a bit eerie to see so many men and women dressed in basically identical clothing, living out their normal lives. (Sorry, no photos here either.) Though, to be fair, it was equally eerie the first time I walked into a Base Exchange back home and saw everyone shopping for clothes and buying groceries in military uniform. I guess I simply expect people with such different appearances to behave differently as well.

Our last stop on the tour was at the old souqs. This is the primary area in Doha where craftsmen and artisans can sell their goods. These little shops go on and on and on, there are probably several kilometers of little alleys with shops on all sides. Much of the area has been roofed between the buildings, so you feel like you're wandering around in catacombs. I could have spent hours looking at all the shops, but we had limited time as it was growing late in the day. There were lots of really great photo opportunities here, though without a tripod, nothing turned out well in the waning light. Use your imagination.



That's all I have for my trip. The return travel was relatively uneventful, except for the gut-tumbling landing in Kuwait (which cannot be adequately described in this forum). My next post will take us back to Baghdad.

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