Oasis in the Desert

Qatar (pronounced closer to Cutter) is a small, wealthy nation in the Middle East. It is a vast desert land except for its capital city of Doha, a true oasis rising into the sky with shiny high rises and lush green gardens watered profusely. None of this green would be here without the wealth of this country as this nation averages less than three inches of rain per year. 

The city rises out of the sand with the modern extremes you picture in Dubai or Tokyo. Gleaming skyscrapers of unique designs sparkle and flash, often with vivid light displays and even huge screens portraying virtual advertisements. It’s magical and feels other worldly. The street lights are large metal palm tree fronds, stretching out above the streets in a graceful manner. The streets of the business district are concrete tiles rather than unattractive pavement. The taxis are a calm sea-foam green. All signs are in Arabic and English. Every detail was well thought out and carefully chosen in the planning phase of this modern city.

Qatar was once wealthy because of pearls found off the coast, but then in the 20th century when the country found oil, their status in the world was raised higher. Thus began the draw of this tiny country. Today, Qatar is made up of a much larger percentage of expatriates than citizens. It is a business hub for the world, and it is a large employer for Asian countries, particularly India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Many men leave their home and come here to work sending money back home to their families. This is why the population of men in the country far exceeds the number of women. Citizenship is only granted if your father is Qatari. Being a citizen provides you with a vast number of benefits including the right to own property and a share of the wealth that the country earns.  There is little to no crime in the country because people are there to work. If they are caught committing a crime, often the punishment is deportation without the opportunity to return. While the rights of women and acknowledgement of the LGBTQ+ community are practically nonexistent, it is a country that felt safe, clean, and culturally diverse.

Did we encounter homelessness or anyone begging on the streets? Nope. In fact, it is illegal. If you are Qatari, you receive enough benefits from the government to live. If you are not Qatari, remember, you are there to work. So, if you are not working and are homeless, well, you are deported.

We only had one full day in Doha. No, it is not enough to see the city, but there was not much on our “must see” list for Doha, so it was enough time for what we wanted to do. Jessica and I prefer beautiful places to big cities. And in big cities, we often just prefer to wander to get a feel for a place. It is fairly common for us to accumulate 10-12 miles each day during our trips as we wander. That was not the case in Doha. On a Friday in June, the temperature neared 110. Sure, it was a dry heat rather than the humidity that I’m accustomed to, but there’s no way around it, that is oppressive heat. 

We took an Uber, an incredibly reasonable way to get around. There is public transportation in the form of a metro, but it is fairly new, so it is not all over the city. It was not in the part where we were staying, nor two of our destinations, so Uber was our best bet.

We started by visiting the Pearl, a man made island at the northern part of the city that feels very planned. High rise condos surround white beaches, swimming areas and paddle boats adorned with flamingos or dolphins. Small walkable streets with restaurants and shops along with large green lawns for dog walking made up this area. There is even a replica of the Rialto Bridge, the famous one in Venice, in the heart of the Pearl. 

We took another Uber on a short drive to the Katara Cultural Village. There’s a huge amphitheater here, a golden mosque, beach access and a gallery. Both of these areas, in the middle of the day on a Friday (equivalent to our Sunday, the holy day that is a day off) were absolutely dead. Eerily so. Vast open areas were empty; stores were closed. We found out later that we believe it wasn’t just the holy day, but instead the heat. The locals are much smarter than we are, so they avoided the heat and instead spent their time in the well air-conditioned indoors.

If Doha is an Oasis in the desert, the malls are the Oasis in the city. If you know Jess or I at all, you know that malls are not high on our list of ways to spend our time or money. But a friend had described the malls in Doha as the national past time, so we knew we had to investigate. The malls are huge! No, probably not quite as big as the Mall of America in Minnesota, but they do compare. On the evening of our arrival, we walked to one just down the street from our hotel. The bottom floor atrium was FULL of the largest bouncy castle conglomerate that I had ever seen! On Friday, the mall we went to was very reminiscent of Las Vegas’ Venetian. There was a river inside with gondola rides and an ice skating rink and of course, a theme park. While the outdoors were empty, the malls were full. They certainly provided entertainment in a much more manageable environment!

My highlight of Doha was the food tour we did with Colleen and Hashim. Colleen, a Canadian who had lived in Doha for a decade, loves to travel and like ourselves often participated in food tours. But she realized that Doha didn’t have anything like that to offer, so, she and Hashim, a friend from India who has lived in the city for a dozen years, decided to start their own. A fellow cat-lover and adventurous traveler meant that we had plenty of conversation topics to fill our time together!

As the city is a true melting pot of cultures, the food is as well. There are only a few things I remember the names of, but all that we ate was divine and unique. All of the places we ate were holes in the walls or street food vendors, places we would not have found on our own, nor known what to order had we happened upon the place. We had chai tea with some Indian appetizers that included a spicy snack, crab-cake style chicken and some sort of fried banana. There was Pakistani food with different meaty stews for dipping breads and spicy chicken. Dosa, an Indian crepe of sorts took up most of the table as we broke it off and dipped it into a variety of sauces and chutneys. We watched three men make dough and throw it onto the sides of an underground oven creating a Pakistani bread that resembled naan or a pizza crust. Our shawarma wrap was delicious with slaw and freshly carved meat. Another taco-style creation with chicken, egg and potato chips with a slight kick was delicious! We had Qatari rice and stews, Egyptian noodles, Turkish tea and Jordanian falafels and humus. Saving the best for last, our Pakistani dessert of semi-melted cheese topped with layers of crispy strips of phyllo topped with a sweet syrup and pistachio crumbs was the perfect way to end the night.

Not only did we enjoy every delicious bite, but we thoroughly enjoyed learning from our guides who eagerly shared about their lives in Doha, information they knew about the country and traveling stories about other countries. It was like a night catching up with friends. It was perfect!

Our time in Doha was very short. Was there more we could have done and things we would have liked to do that we did not? Absolutely. Was our short time enough, particularly in the heat? As Goldilocks would have said, it was just right!