The Qatar Natural History Group will be holding its first meeting of the year at 7.30 pm at the Doha English Speaking School on Wednesday 2nd January. The meeting will feature a speech by author, explorer and President of Rivers of the World, Ben Mathews, about his work in remote river basins.
The Qatar ExxonMobil Open will be starting on the 31st December and running to the 5th January at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha. Once again some of the top names in tennis are competing, including the two finalists from last year - Andy Murray and Ivan Lubjic. You can see this video of the final play between the two on our website.
The purpose of internet censorship is presumably to distract attention from certain issues. If so, Qatar censorship is currently failing miserably with a certain small and rather cute pig.
The issue arose with pictures in a Winnie the Pooh book. The images of poor piglet had been blocked out with a black marker. Images of the book were posted on Qatar Living several months ago.
The offending books were being sold in Saudi-owned Jareer book store, and it was widely assumed that the books had been censored in Saudi Arabia en-route to Qatar. The pictures aroused some rather light hearted banter, but few believed that moderate Qatar was the source of the censorship.
The matter had been forgotten. At least, until a few days ago, when Qtel decided to censor the images of the censorship of the images.
This was despite the fact that the page did not fall into any of Qtel's official censored sites' categories: "pornography, political criticism of Gulf countries and anti-Islamic sites”.
Far from drawing attention away from the story, Qtel seems to have put the spotlight on internet censorship, with the matter being reported and discussed on local websites and newspapers.
The story was initially reported on Qatar Journal, which reported the administrators of Qatar Living saying that they would not appeal the matter to Qtel as there was little chance of a change of mind.
Since then the issue has reached the Gulf Times, and continued yesterday with a letter from well known and long term resident Frances Gillespie. (Note - the letter has since been removed!)
While this current censorship is being viewed with amusement by many people here in Qatar, it could make Qatar a laughing stock if it got into the international press. The censorship also gives a false impression of Qatar, a country which is usually very moderate and tolerant.
Nor is the censorship consistent: in Virgin Megastore you can still buy children's books about pigs complete with authentic pig noises.
What's more, Qatar is not very good at internet censorship, and many seemingly innocent sites have been blocked. Q-tel suggests we email them if we think it has made a mistake. However, I know several people who have emailed the censor who have not had a reply or seen any change in censored sites.
Here are some listed more sites which have been blocked (listed by Nigel at Qatar Journal):
http://www.vkontakte.ru/ - Russian social networking site
http://www.yourfilehost.com/ - File hosting services
http://www.anonym.to/ - Link anonymizer
http://www.torrentspy.com/ - Bit Torrent search engine
http://www.flurl.com/ - Video sharing
http://www.o2.pl/ - Polish web portal
http://www.newgrounds.com/ - Flash gallery
http://www.wrzuta.pl/ - Polish video/image/audio sharing
http://www.broadcaster.com/ - Videos and webcams
You'll be sure to find many more as your surf round the internet in Qatar!
In one place in the Qatar desert it is possible to walk among trees and over a flowing stream, watch brightly coloured birds of paradise flit about and listen to bright yellow Golden Conules chattering away to you.
It’s not a mirage brought on by thirst but the superb wildlife reserve of Al Wabra.
Founded as a hobby farm, under its present owner, Sheikh Al Saud, and his team of European vets, the reserve has been transformed into a world renowned centre for the conservation of endangered animals.
With a collection of over a thousand animals and seven hundreds birds, all of them with different dietary requirements which are provided as far as possible by the farm itself, the reserve is a huge undertaking, requiring a staff of nearly two hundred.
Despite this, the reserve goes far beyond just keeping animals. The reserve has had success breeding animals which have never before reproduced before in captivity, and is without a doubt the only thing preventing several species from going extinct.
In our latest article, the Al Wabra Reserve, we look at the reserve and its activities before focussing on several of the species which the reserve is trying so hard to save.
Today is both Arafat day and Qatar's National day.
The name Arafat is taken from the mountain of Arafat in Saudi Arabia. It's an important day for Muslims, as this is the day when Mohammed gave his farewell sermon the last year of his life.
Many Muslims in Qatar will be fasting, although unlike Ramadan the fasting is recommended rather than obligatory.
Muslim on the Hajj in Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, will spend the whole day on the plan of Arafat, praying for God's forgiveness.
Meanwhile, Qatar is celebrating, for the first time, its national day, which celebrates the accession of Sheikh Abdullah Jassim Al Thani in 1878.
Sheikh Jassim's father was still alive when he handed over power to his son, although he wasn't very happy when his son invited the Ottoman's into the country. However, Sheikh Jassim made up for it later by defeating the Ottoman's in battle. (See the Rise of the Qatar Ruling Family for more details.)
Tomorrow is another even more important day, for it is the start of Eid Al Adha, or the feast of sacrifice. On this day Muslims celebrate the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son, and the mercy of God for allowing him to sacrifice an animal instead.
Muslims also sacrifice animals during this festival, so a trip to the wholesale market today will see many peoples with sheep slung over their shoulders and goats in the backs of pick-up trucks.
Also see: Holidays, Festivals and Important dates in Qatar
Drive to Al Khor, make your way along main street towards the sea and follow the road round to the left and you'll come to Al Khor's Corniche. Unlike Doha, below the Corniche is a sandy beach, dotted with play areas and a mock ship for children to play on and shaded areas provided for barbecuing.
The play areas could be in better nick, and the thatch on the beach shades are wearing a little thin, but in our opinion this is still one of the better beaches in Qatar. Unlike many other beaches, the sand seems relatively free of glass, and on Friday the beach is busy with residents playing football and volleyball or having a barbeque.
The promenade also makes for a pleasant walk, and has plenty of flowers to admire - Al Khor is proud of its gardens. Walk to the far end and you'll come to a small area of mangoves - great for the children to play in, and to see the small fish and crabs that inhabit the mangroves.
Also see:
Qatar beaches: news
At the beach: Qatar style
Swimming in the sea in Qatar: Is it safe?
The Gulf Times announced today that the bid to win Qatar's second mobile licence has gone to Vodafone.
Qatar Telecoms perssonel expressed surprise at the result, as GCC companies usually bid more aggressively than European countries.
The product manager of Qatar Telecoms suggested that the decision to choose Vodafone could have been influenced by the government "to get some more economic dynamism in the market with a European country."
This was in contradiction to what the regulator said i.e. simply that Vodafone had submitted the highest bid.
Unfortunately, Qtel will still remain the sole provider of fixed line services.
Also see:
Qtel and Telephones
Qatar Visitor e-store (U.S.)
Qatar Visitor E-store (U.K.)
Find the best deal, compare prices and read what other travellers have to say about Qatar
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Life in Qatar: What Qatar needs but doesn’t have...
I usually write about what Qatar has, so for a change I thought about what Qatar doesn’t have. It’s not quite as full a list as it would have been when I first came here (Virgin has come, with a decent range of books, as have apple computers, a decent forum (Qatar Living) and a decent online newspaper (Qatar Journal)) but Doha is still far behind many other international cities.
1. An ice-cream parlor. On the Corniche, with decent ice-cream (not the rubbish they sell at the cafe near the Sheraton), air-conditioning (of course) and comfortable seats with views overlooking the bay.
2. A theatre. And I mean a theatre where productions are actually put on, not the National Theatre where nothing ever seems to happen.
3. An opera house. Not that I like opera personally, but if Doha is ever going to become a respected international city it needs an opera house.
4. A decent supermarket. Carrefour is just not as good as a British supermarket. (Why on earth do you have to queue to weigh your vegetables, when you could do it at the same time at the checkout?)
5. A leisure centre. And I don’t mean a five star hotel where you can become a guest to use the facilities, but a facility provided by the government with reasonable prices, where people can swim, go down slides, play badminton e.t.c.
6. Public swimming pools. Same again - why do I have to join a club to go for a swim?
7. Swimming courses for young children. I asked for my daughter in one of the hotels and the instructor laughed. “You can’t teach children younger than six,” he replied. I didn’t tell him that my wife and daughter attended a course in the UK when my daughter was just a few months old. (Now available - see update below.)
8. Better libraries. If you go to the National Library you’ll find that most of the books on Qatar are just not there. That said, you can find the odd gem there.
9. Mother and toddler community. (My wife’s suggestion – she misses hers from the UK.)
10. Maintained beaches. You shouldn’t need to own a landcruiser to get to a decent beach, and you shouldn’t need to keep sandals on your children’s feet so they don’t cut their feet on glass. And you should be able to buy an ice-cream or rent a beach shade while you are there. In fact, there is probably a killing waiting to be made for some business minded person...
In fact I was in Spain over the summer, and every morning they had the beaches cleaned. If Spain can do it, Qatar, which despite being incredibly rich has no minimum wage, can certainly do so.
11. Amusement park. Yes, I have been to Aladdin’s Kingdom, and no, I won’t be going back. The good news is that Qatar will have a theme park – several in fact – when Entertainment City is finished. The bad news is it’s going to be some time before it’s finished.
12. A decent postal service. Why do I have to join Aramex to get my goods delivered on time?
13. And a postman to deliver the mail.
14. And an address for him to deliver it to.
15. An island with palm trees. Wouldn't it be nice to have a beautiful island in the middle of the bay, which you could visit by dhow, where you could relax under a tree on a beach ... You could call it something like Palm Tree Island... What? They had one and demolished it? Nooooo.....
16. Solar power. How can they have all this sun and not make use of any of it?
Anyone, that's all I can think of now. I am sure I'll be adding to this list, though. Please leave a comment if you think I have missed anything!
Update: One of the comments left below suggested an update two years on from the original post. To be honest, not a lot has changed, and some things have got worse (with Al Wakra's beach being demolished.) One thing that has improved is swimming - there are now a number of swimming clubs where children can learn from a young age.
Image by Robert Baldwin
I’ve always found getting my hair cut in Qatar a bit problematic.
Essentially, there seems to be a choice of getting your hair cut in a luxury hotel or in one of the street shops.
In the street barbers, whatever you ask for, you generally seem to get a short back and sides. This is also often accompanied with a massage. I may be backward, or homophobic, but I have never felt quite comfortable with receiving a massage from another man.
I did go to a young Lebanese hairdresser for a while. He was superb, giving me a decent modern haircut with no fuss. Unfortunately, he had a row with the owner of the shop and left the country in a huff.
I have also tried the Intercontinental. Although on the expensive side, they gave me and a friend a decent cut. However, the two barbers looked so unfriendly we felt no desire to return.
However, my search has now come to an end with the discovery of Patrice Salon in Villagio.
This little shop is hidden down the side of Carrefour, in the corridor parallel with Virgin. Within two minutes of entry, they had sat me down in the chair, squirted my hair with water and were whipping it off.
For QAR 70 riyals I got a decent haircut with no fuss – just what I wanted.
If you are from England, a farm may be a place with green fields, white sheep and pretty black and white cows. However, Qatar’s first camel farm will be radically different from this.
The camel farm is to be established in one of Qatar’s most arid areas, and will be powered though solar and wind power – and possible also from camel dung.
One of the aims of the farm is to prevent or reverse the process of desertification. Ironically, the cause of the desertification is overgrazing by camels. However, the key word here is overgrazing – camels in the right number form a key part of the eco-system by both fertilizing and pollinating the desert.
Having a camel farm makes a lot of sense – in fact, in Australia it makes so much sense that there are fifty of them, although tourism makes up a fair proportion of their income.
Unlike the Middle East's pampered cows, the indigenous camel does not require air-conditioning. Furthermore, camel milk contains three times as much vitamin c as cow’s milk, and is also high in iron, vitamin B and unsaturated fats.
It is also very popular. Many people in this region believe it is an aphrodisiac, while across the world it is regarded as an effective medicine for many ailments.
Despite this, there is a serious under supply of camel milk, and people in some countries have to trek hundreds of miles to buy it. In other words, as Anthony Bennet, of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, said: “Milk is money".
Also see:
The Next Thing : Camel Milk (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation)
Qatar Plans First Camel Farm (The Peninsula)
Camels: God's Gift to the Bedouin
Qatar Camel Racing
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