We like Qatar so far. It seems like that: they gave money to some people and said: “take that money and make us a nice place”.
It is Wednesday the 7th of December. Our first stop was the national museum of Doha, which was an architectural piece of art. See this photo I found on the internet:
and here are some photos taken by Morad:
The content of the museum was not really impressive. Some artifacts from here and there, and some information about the history of Qatar. I didn’t have a lot of interest and didn’t feel I learned much more. It was just nice moving between the halls and observing different modern technologies employed to present the basic contents. I imagined, if Egypt would have such a budget and determination to present things nicely…
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After the visit we werde picked up by Assem. An old friend from Egypt that moved here more than a decade ago. He is a pharmacist, and we sat beside each other in Grade one when we were 7 years old. Last time we met was 5 years ago in Germany. He drove us to “Katara”, a cultural village that was also made to impress. A lot of beautiful architecture, art installations, luxury shops side by side with old traditional workshops where craftsmen worked with their hands and hammers to carve wood or create artifacts from local materials. Fishermen drying salted fish and women selling their home-cooked food in stalls. The place was buzzing with locals and fewer tourists. Such nice energy and vibes close to the seaside. We sat there and discussed different cultural topics about Qatar and living there. Assem works in the biggest hospital here and gave us insights about the health care system.
Here are some photos by Morad from Katara:
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After Katara, Assem took us to Lusail, a new city built in the last 10 years to be part of this World Cup preparation. So, they built a gorgeous stadium, a shopping boulevard, and plenty of residential units. I don’t know what Qatar plans to do with all of this new infrastructure. I feel it can simply accommodate plenty of new residents and businesses.
At the end of the boulevard on the seaside stood 4 impressive, gigantic metal-looking towers. They cornered a plaza with stairs and hanging above it was a big shark model in the sky. On this boulevard, there was a festival with many people, many big speakers with loud music, and a program of shows and events. Street performers were around the clock and at the end, there was an impressive drone-light show in the sky above the sea combined with beautifully matching music employing fire and smoke. Unfortunately, the locals and residents didn’t seem to appreciate the festival with music and shows as I anticipated. I was dancing almost alone on the street. There was a good DJ on the stage. I felt, “what a waste”. Again, it was an example of how you can build great “things” with money, but you can simply put culture inside the society that fast.
After being impressed the whole day with all these experiences, we retreated to Papa Jones for a very non-italian pizza. We were joined later by an old friend of mine called Hassan. Hassan was originally from Sudan, but we met in elementary school in Saudi Arabia looooong time ago. The last time we saw each other was 26 years ago, and we found each other again thanks to Facebook! We had a lot of catching up and summarizing how we spent the years growing up and still staying the same. It was such a nice late evening meeting. I need to mention that Hassan joined us at 00:30 after midnight. Some shops were open and Papa Jones was full. After many more conversations about life in Qatar and about the situation of workers that built the stadiums, we went home and agreed to meet again and do more things on the following days.
At the end of the day, Morad and I agreed, this is a very liveable place.
