Fatman Scoop, a New York city hip hop hype man, will be playing in Doha on Thursday June 7th. He will be supported by DJ Nelson from France, DJ Joe from American and DJ Ledz from Qatar. Tickets are available from Virgin Megastore and cost Qr195 or Qr 395 for VIP seats. For more details ring 5463533/5543975, email afifkhan@vivapresents.com or check out their website vivapresents.com .
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Thursday, May 31, 2007
Hip hop concert
Film festival
A five day film festival of French films is being held at Cinema Land in Landmark mall starting today. Each day will feature two films: one feature film and an animation film. Films will be shown in the evening at 5pm and 7.30 pm respectively. See the link above for more information and a schedule.
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Desert heat party
An all night desert heat party will held at the singing sand dunes on June 7th, with the BBC's Judge Jules DJ'ing. Tickets are available from Virgin, Movenpick and Crepaway and cost QR100 and QR150 if bought in advance or Qr 150 and 250 if bought on the day. Ring 5498760 for details.
Directions to the singing sand dunes
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Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Travel insurance in Qatar
Also see our 2009 Qatar Travel Insurance Update.
It can be hard to find online companies that insure Qatar Residents. One company that do provide insurance are Columbus Direct, who are affiliate to Qatar Airways.
I found their prices very reasonable compared to the Lonely Planet’s insurance service. I also found them quick to respond to email s (although not, unfortunately, to my email requesting to become an affiliate!)
I was initially suspicious when I couldn’t find the level of cover on their site. In fact, this only appears after you have put in your details, and their medical cover is very good.
The company has had both good and bad reviews – check them out here.
My wife’s company also recommended Qatar Insurance. I rang them, and when I finally managed to get through to the travel insurance section I found them friendly and helpful.
Their premium was substantially lower (more than a quarter of the price) than Columbus Direct, but so was their cover. When I rang them, Qatar Insurance offered $250,000 of medical cover compared to $5,000,000 worth of cover from Columbus Direct. However, when I actually visited them at their building they only offered me $50,000 of medical cover.
I couldn’t find reviews of Qatar Insurance on the net, although like I said they came recommended.
If you do book with them, make sure you give them the correct dates. After you have paid, they will not adjust the policy – your only option will be to take out a new policy.
If you have any good or bad experiences with travel insurance from Qatar, please leave a comment or email us!
Columbus Direct
Email: admin@columbusdirect.com
Tel: Tel 0870 033 9988
Qatar Insurance
Enquiry form
Tel (Operator): 4490 490
(After office hours)
Tel (Operator): 4490 491
Location Al Dafna area close to City Centre Shopping Mall.
Also see: Information for Expats and Qatar Life Insurance
Qatar Tour Agencies
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Monday, May 28, 2007
Rising cost of living in Qatar
Year on year inflation reached 15% in the first three months of this year according to a story in the Gulf Times today.
Many residents will be surprised – sometimes inflation here feels a lot higher. Furthermore, in terms of rental prices Doha has now overtaken many international cities including Brussels, Dallas and Toronto. Rent now averages over Qr8000 ($2,200) for a three bedroom apartment.
Food prices will also be hurting people on lower incomes – some foods seemed to have doubled in the last few weeks. I was shocked to see imported beans in Family Food at QR30 (eight dollars) a kilo.
With all this inflation you’d expect interest rates to be high. I visited QNB’s central bank’s website and found the benchmark interest rates as below:
Qatar Central Bank Rates
Previous Current
O/N Deposit Facility 4.90% 5.15%
O/N Lending Facility 5.25% 5.50%
Repo Rate 5.85% 5.55%
So if you have money in a saving’s account in Qatar, you are currently losing in the region of 10% a year!
The low rate of interest may be related to the desire of Qatar to join a currency union, and the consequent pegging of the Qatar riyal to the plunging dollar. Coupled with frantic growth and the huge amount of money flowing into the country, inflation is inevitable.
I still remember Black Wednesday in the UK, when our country were forced out of the European Exchange Mechanism by currency converters. Our Government estimated it cost them ₤3.4 billion – other estimates put the cost at ₤24 billion.
On the other hand, by staying out of the currency union we retained control over interest rates. Sensible interest rates by the Bank of England has lead to a decade of low inflation and economic stability.
With Kuwait recently abandoning its currency peg, the possibility of Qatar doing the same has to have increased. In the meantime inflation is increasing and less affluent Qatar residents are starting to suffer.
The saddest part of all this is the departure of long term Doha residents. An example of this was a long letter to the paper last week. A family who had been in Doha for thirteen years, and who are very fond of the country, were finally having to leave because of the increase in rent. The writer warned that it was getting increasingly difficult for companies to afford to employ people with families, and the result could be a more transient population of single men in the future. This would be a sad fate for a country where families and children are valued so highly.
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A walk along Doha’s Corniche
Doha’s much vaunted Corniche is indeed easily the most
attractive part of this capital city, and where I take all my guests when they first arrive in this city – normally on the way home from the airport. In the day, you can admire the incredible colour of the Doha’s bay, in the evening you can appreciate one of the region’s superb sunsets, and at night the city lights up in an array of colours.
The Sheraton at the far end of the Corniche is one of Doha’s most iconic buildings. Until recently, this pyramid shaped hotel stood alone; now it is beginning to be overshadowed by the buildings shooting up all round it. Next it is Sheraton park. In addition to a childen’s play area, and cool green lawns where you can sit back under the shade of palm trees, free wireless internet is now available here.
This is where Doha’s Corniche starts. There’s a large parking area too – be careful to stick to the marked area or you may return to find a parking ticket slapped on your vehicle.
This is a popular posing place for Doha’s ultra cool motorcycle crowd – you can sometimes admire the not-very-Muslim angel of death painted on one bike. These lads are part of the macho risk culture that exists among some of the younger Qataris here, and often leave the parking area with an impressive wheely.
There’s a popular little cafe here, where you can buy snacks, ice-cream and drinks. Unfortunately, it’s a little shabby, and doesn’t match up to the rest of the Corniche. It also serves awful coffee - but its range of fresh juices are great. (Tip – you have to tell them if you don’t want sugar in your juice.) In the car park opposite, drivers too lazy to walk the sparse few metres to the cafe sprawl in their land cruisers and blare their horns until waiters attend to them.
Tourist dhows will take you on a trip of the bay from here and several other locations scattered along the Corniche. They used to take you to Palm Tree island, until the resort was mysteriously demolished just before the Asian Games. The jetty here is a great place to watch small fish swarming in the clear water, and there’s also a tiny little beach where you can paddle (no swimming allowed, I’m afraid).
Further on along the Corniche you’ll come to Bal Hambar
restaurant. This place sits right on the sea, so you can sit on cushions and enjoy traditional Arabic food as the waves lap along the wall below.
Walk on until the next roundabout, and on the other side of the road, you’ll come to Al Bidda park - also called Rumeila Park. This is a real oasis, frequented by numerous species of birds who are drawn by the grass, trees and water gardens. At one end of the park is a children’s play area, where you can also buy refreshments. Beyond that is Doha’s heritage village, which showcases traditional Qatari life during festivals and special events.
Continue along Doha’s Corniche, and you’ll pass an imposing concrete structure – this is the Emir’s palace, though it is used more for receptions than as a place of residence.
Nearly opposite is the parking place for a large number of traditional dhows. It’s well worth a
walk around, looking at the traditional fishing traps and admiring the wooden boats. This is also a popular place for fishing, which is forbidden around most of the Corniche. Rather than casting lines, most of these fisherman use long rods to get the bait to the small fish which they usually catch.
This used to be the location of the superb dhow restaurants, now sadly demolished. From here you can see across to the Museum of Islamic arts, which has been constructed on its own artificial island. Although, like most of the museums in Qatar, it is currently closed, its opening is scheduled towards the end of 2007.
On from the museum is a huge commercial harbour. On the other side of this, fishing boats congregate, and sometimes you can buy fish fresh off the boats. There’s also a little cafe where fisherman like to congregate to drink strong Turkish coffee and smoke tobacco through long water pipes while playing dominoes.
On the other side of the road is another park, barer than the other two but again with a children’s playing area. This park backs into Qatar’s National Museum – although this is under renovation, you can still walk around and look at the displays.
The restaurant Ras Al Nasa and Doha club are at the very end of the Corniche and bring our walk to an end Overall, the Corniche is clean, well maintained and popular, and offers a superb view of Doha’s beautiful bay. If it only had a couple more cafes and some ice-creams parlours where we could rest our weary feet and soothe our parched throats, it would be perfect!
Also see: The Corniche Virgin (posted on www.greeker.blogspot.com)
Things to See and Things to Do in Qatar
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Friday, May 25, 2007
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Renting outside Doha
One answer to Doha's exorbitant rents can be to live a little out of town, and I know a number of people who commute to nearby Al Wakra. Villas advertised in the Gulf Times today were in a price range of QR5500 - 6500 ($1500-1800) for two to three bedroom villas in a compound with a swimming pool and fitness club.
Unfortunately it means having to live in Umm Slal, which, after you have seen its forts, is about as exciting as watching paint dry. Still, the equivalent in Doha would get you a one bedroom flat (if you're lucky), so it could be well worth it.
Umm Slal is close to Doha, although traffic could be bad in rush hour. If you are interested get down to the Exhibition Centre before the end of today or check out the advertiser's website: www.almourouj.com.
Also see: Umm Slal Mohammed: forts and streams
Qatar Visitor's Resident's Guide
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Emir's cup finals
The finals of the Emir's football cup will be held on Saturday evening on the 26th May at Al Ahli football club (venue changed from Khalifa Stadium). The match will see a face-off between Al Sadd and Al Khor - with Al Sadd being the hot favourites to win.
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Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Qatar Today
I spotted this magazine while shopping in Food Palace this morning, and bought it along with the nappies and baby milk. I have to admit I expected it to be as bad as the Qatar Business magazine, which I occasionally buy to keep up with things, and which has yet to discover paragraphs let alone decent writing.
However, a glance at the articles revealed both a writing style which is readable and proper use of paragraphs.
Content in the first section of the magazine focuses on Qatar news – not particularly interesting, to be honest, but then they don’t have a lot to work with. It then goes on to look at regional and world issues. There’s a distinct but not exclusive focus on business news.
The magazine then has some features (far too long for me to bother reading) and some shorter articles: The Manager Effect, Mastering the art of Communication, Quest for our roots and so on.
What I liked, though, is that the magazine has not adopted the standard sycophantic style of some other publications here. That’s despite the cover title (“A vote for democracy”) which at first I thought would a sugar coated description of Qatar’s “democracy”.
In fact, in addition to emphasising the “half-hearted” nature of the debate concerning democracy, the magazine goes on to criticise the lack of press freedom in Qatar asking:
“Though official censorship has been lifted, has the pen really been uncapped?”
Overall, the magazine wouldn’t replace an international publication, but at QR10 it’s a bargain for anyone who wants to keep up with what’s happening locally.
Right, I’m off to change the baby’s nappy. I forget to get baby wipes, but luckily I have a copy of Qatar Business which should be up to the job...
Also see:
Qatar Media & Newspapers
Qatar Books
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Monday, May 21, 2007
Comments
I received this comment on my blog today. The original comment was made on my Adhan post (which I thought was inoffensive!) Rather than respond to it, I thought I'd just leave it up and see what other people think of it. Comments welcome!
You clearly know nothing about the country. How long have you been here? One, two or three years…still u know nothing…One ppl do not try to convert you...Two it is advised to wear conservatively here and not to provoke the other gender, and by means to other gender male workers who are mainly Indians or low labors ..dont know if you heard about the rape ratio here, thanks to the disrespectful those who wonder around in tiny mini skirts with half of their bum showing off and sleeveless tops… At least have some RESPECT to the ppl…ur staying in their country…enjoying the leisure of fancy beaches, hotels, clubs…earning ten times what u used to earn in ur home country..So the very least is respecting the ppl of the country!! And if u do dress disrespectful ppl will eye at u at a very shallow manner and will think you’re a prostitute and workers will have easy access =) Thanks for having no respect to my country , and for your blog. If you dont like it...I suggest you book at ticket and fly back to your home country.
I have responded to another comment, which I think is by the same guy. You'll find that on my Alcohol post.
There's also an excellent post on conversion on one of my favourite blogs, Clockwork Orange -the post is called Crescent over Cross.
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Kuwait changes dollar peg
The Gulf Times announced today that Kuwait has changed its peg against the dollar. The currency is now linked to a basket of currencies.
Despite all the fuss being made (destroying chances of monetary union e.t.c.), the appreciation today consisted of a mere 0.37%.
Never-the-less, it sets a precedent that could be followed in Qatar. That would be good news for expats, many of whom have seen the value of their salary in non-dollar currencies steadily eroded by the decline of the dollar.
It could also lead to a decline in inflation, as prices of imports in non-dollar terms decreases.
Currently Qatar remains committed to a currency union. Whether this is such a good idea remains to be seen. Not only would Qatar lose control over interest rates (and therefore a major weapon against inflation, a real problem in Qatar), the likelihood is that the currency union's economy would be dominated by Saudi Arabia's huge economy.
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