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Published: March 28th 2010
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Doha
Arched view of Doha
Qatar for some reason has always fascinated me, mainly because of its name I must admit. It is the only country in the world that starts with a Q. This in itself already heightens my esteem for the little Emirate and its inhabitants because at least you can say they did something original. I always thought the country could have easily featured in one of Gulliver's many travels. I could envisage him meeting the strange race of Qatari's, who dwelt near the sea, diving for pearls without the use of air tanks. He would have surmised that they could breathe underwater, giving them gills like fish and turning them into mythical beings.
But of course Gulliver never made it to Qatar; he was last seen tied down by Lilliputians I think. So in his stead and in his spirit I will write about my adventures in this strange land. It goes something like this...
As I travelled the country I discovered it to be a flat and featureless place, except on two spots. In the far south enormous rolling sand dunes crash like waves onto the plains, and due west of their main city of Doha, on the opposite Doha
Museum of Islamic Art
coast grow strange, huge mushrooms of stone whose purpose I know not. The Qatari's grow nothing of significance, because nothing can grow in the dry and rocky dirt that makes up the soil. Instead they have set up big mechanical contraptions that bore holes into the earth and makes it bleed black liquid which they themselves call black gold and has made them wealthy beyond imagining. In other places they collect a colourless and fiery gas from under the ground, which they store and ship out to who knows where.
It is the strangest fact that with this money they brought in peoples from countless of countries around the world to reshape their capital, and build exceedingly lofty towers that glow in the dark and have a myriad of shapes and sizes. Roads and houses those newcomers are building, but the Qatari's themselves do not seem to live in them. Instead this new city seems to be built and used by those same men that were brought in to build it.
I stayed with one such man from Croatia, who graciously hosted me in his apartment. I asked him about the Qatari's and if he had seen any
Doha
Reflections
of this strange race of men that dwelt in this land, dressed in white robes. He told me that often they could be seen down south riding the desert waves in their ships of the sands, big four-wheeled vehicles. Dune bashing they called this sport and it was popular with the locals. And after the sun had set they would retreat to big tents set up for them inbetween the dunes, light a campfire and sleep under the stars. But why had they ever built this city if they preferred the tents, I asked him? For this he had no answer, to him it seemed strange as well.
I decided to further my investigation and for this I needed to go to what was considered the most important historical monument in the country. I was directed to a place called Al Zubara, where stands a small fort of dirt, which would seem trivial in Europe with its mighty castles. How could this be their most impressive sight? Was this all they had to show of their history? I was more puzzled now than I had been before.
To my great fortune, I was welcomed by an archaeologist from
Doha
Souq area
England who was living together with some colleagues in tents next to the fort. He told me, they had found the remains of a walled city, not far from their camp. From the remains they had concluded that the Qatari's had once grown dates, kept poultry and camels and had made their living on collecting the jewels in the sea that we call pearls. But than the town had shrunk and eventually it had been abandoned by them along with their lifestyle. Instead they had turned to their black gold, which had brought them all this fortune. They had built a city for the foreigners, to marvel at, but they themselves still felt the draw of the desert and the simple life and so every weekend they would go back and live in tents...
Or so Gulliver might have written, though in much better prose and he would have made a much better tale of it as well. But maybe my pictures can compensate for my lack of good writing this time.
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TouristTim
Timothy
You can't have cushioned seats in a Souq! unless of course it was an a furniture souq, then forgive my sentiment. I dare you to go and put 12 cussioned seats in the Souq's of Damascus, or even try and find space for 12 cussioned seats. Apart from this comment, a splendid read, are you using your CS contacts?