Internet Cables Go Again

Internet speeds slowed to a crawl yesterday, with a number of users complaining about speed. (At Qatar Visitor we were tearing our hair out!)

The fault, it seems, was due to three internet cables being severed.

Qtel proudly boasted that Qatar wasn't really affected.

“There is no major impact for Qatar’s communication services as we have many cable operators,” said Adel Al Mutawa, executive director of Group Communication, QTel.

They then went on to say that the loss of capacity in Qatar was kept below 47 percent due to Qatar’s robust Internet strategy. (Source: Peninsula.)

Hang on - a 47% decrease in capacity is a major disruption in my book!

Or perhaps we notice it more because the quality of the Internet connection in the richest country in the world is so poor anyway.

The standard internet connection in Qatar is a pathetic 500 kbs - compared to an average of 57 mbs in Japan.

Hopefully we won't see a repeat of what happened in February of this year, when the Qatar internet slowed down to a crawl for a week or more as internet cable after internet cable was snapped - see our post on Qatar Internet then!

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The Abaya: What Lies Beneath

A teacher-friend, when talking to a class of Qatari ladies, tried to explain the word traditional with reference to the ladies' Abayas.

They were not amused.

Image by Ayam Hassan

The innocent teacher was besieged by a barrage of protest - in reality, they insisted, they were extremely fashionable.

A look around, whether in a souq or a shopping mall, soon reveals this to be the case. The material and designs used for the Abayas are often exquisite, and many more colourful dresses for private wear are on display.

Now, in What Lies Beneath, Yousra Abdelaal takes us into the world of Qatari fashion, explaining the different Abayas available, the Qatari sense of fashion - and, of course, what women like to wear below the Abaya.

Image by Ayham Hassan

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Qatar's Yellow Pages

A Yellow Pages Directory for Qatar

Qatar Yellow Pages

Information at Last

Two years or so ago, when I first started writing this blog, I complained about the lack of information in Qatar.



Even as I wrote the post, one website was busy putting all the information they could find about business in Qatar onto its yellow pages site and over the past few years Qatar's new online Yellow Business Pages Directory has increasingly become an invaluable information resource for millions of people all over the world.

Business Directory

Qatcom is a directory of all the businesses in Qatar. Essentially a yellow pages, they include information such as telephone numbers and PO Boxes for 96% of the businesses in Qatar. In total, their site covers over 25,000 Qatar businesses.

When companies upgrade, something users can encourage them to do via the website, tonnes more information is added to the page - including, with the top level advert, their location on a map.

Qatcom Competition

In addition to providing, finally, a reliable source of business information, Qatcom is also running a major competition. The company is giving away a million riyals in prize money to people who sign up as a Yellow Business Pages user.

Just remember, when you win your million riyals, don't forget that you heard about the competition from the poverty stricken writers at Qatar Visitor ...

Update: You can now visit Qatcom's page on Qatar Visitor: Qatar Business Directory, or find more information about Qatar businesses on their companies page.

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Qatar National Day Celebrations

I expected things to be quiet this morning, it being a holiday, but the locals were out in force, purple flags fluttering from their cars and heads sticking out of car tops.

Huge TV screens flickered on the Corniche, Arabic music blared out in the pleasant balmy sun and a regatta made the most of the pleasant weather.

Later that night we passed aspire tower, once again lit up in a blaze of colours and with more huge tv screens, presumably featuring the special National Day TV channel set up for the days events.

At nine we pulled up on the waste ground close to the recently closed Rydges hotel. We waited for an hour, admired the laser show but were finally deciding it was time to call it a day when the huge fireworks display finally went off.


Also see: Qatar National Day on the website, or our photo stream on Flickr.

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Arabic Search Engine

Yamli has just launched its Arabic search engine, allowing Arabic users to search the net with either Arabic script or Arabic transliteration.



The search comes with a number of impressive tricks:

• it will take a search term and expand it to include all possible transliterations
• users with a non-Arabic keyboard can use its interface to type in Arabic
• its optimized for slow connections - which will be a bonus for those of us with slow Qtel connections!

Watch the video below for more explanation!


Yamli Smart Search from Mohamed Marwen Meddah on Vimeo.

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National Day

On December 18th, Qataris celebrates its National Day, and many of its workers enjoy a day off.

The day is not, in fact, a celebration of Qatar's Independence Day but rather of the succession of Sheikh Jassim, regarded by many as the founder of the modern Qatari state.

Although his father was the first to participate in negotiations with Britain, it was Sheikh Jassim who defeated the Ottomans in a pitched battle (see the Rise of the Qatar Ruling Family for more information.)

Celebrations these year include massive fireworks and a re-enactment of The Way of the Messenger - the traditional route taken by messengers on camels. The day is being preceded with three days of camel training and dressage which will take place at the Al Rayyan club on Dukhan Road.

A full schedule of this year's events have been posted on Qatar Living here.

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Qatar GDP: Soaring or Falling?

"Qatar's GDP to Soar 10% Depite Turmoil" said the Gulf Times today, quoting Samba Financial Group.

Or is it?

The statement ignores inflation, which is currently around 15%. If inflation does not fall, real growth would be around 5%.

Inflation is, in fact, projected to fall to 9%. If it does so, the growth would be around 1%, less than both the current 10% projected by Samba Group and the original 19.6% forecast for this year.

However, as the article points out, Qatar does seem to have an advantage in its reserves of Natural Gas.

Natural Gas projects are still coming on line, which should help maintain revenue growth even with falling prices.

Many Natural Gas projects are also sold on long term contracts, which will hopefully provide a more stable source of revenue than fluctuating oil prices.

Also see: Qatar Business

Aspire park

A pleasant place to spend some time away from the crowded Doha roads is Aspire Park. Hidden away behind Villagio, it is a surpisingly large and green park, complete with children's play area, football piches, greenery and trees.


To get to the tower just head up the road between Villagio and Hyatt Plaza and press the button on the gate - the gate will then open automatically. Alternatively park in Villagio and walk round to the back of the mall.

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Filippinos in Qatar

With the president of the Philippines, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, visiting Qatar, Filippinos in Qatar have been in the news recently.

According to their President, reported on Filippino news site Balita, it is good news for them. Instead of potentially losing their jobs in Qatar due to the world credit crunch, she believes that there are a further 37,000 jobs available for them here.

These jobs would be coming at a time when expat workers in other countries are being made redundant.

However, not every Filipinno is confident about the future, as this Al Jazeera video below shows...

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Five Sure Ways to Get Deported from Qatar

Now we don't mean to panic you. Qatar is, in many ways, quite a tolerant country. However, there are a few things that you should really avoid doing.

1. Drink Driving.

There is zero tolerance for Drink Driving in Qatar. Actually, this is something I totally agree with, and has been ever since I read the Ibot blog: the writer, Shannon, was put in a wheelchair at the age of eight years old. Her two young friends fared worse: both lost their lives.

However, many expats do not respect the drink driving laws and I personally know two expat drivers who lost their jobs and residence here as a result. I know many more who drink drive on a regular basis, often assuring me: "I ken handle it," as they fall out of their chairs. Others will have one drink - acceptable in the UK, for sure, but not without risk here.

Obviously, if a death was involved in a drink driving accident, the penalty would be far worse than deportation.

2. Getting Drunk

Well, let's qualify this - it usually means getting drunk in a public place and making a nuisance of yourself. If you have a liqour permit, it's legal to buy alcohol here and drink it in your own home (after concealing it in your car on the way) and it is legal to drink in a bar. It is not legal to drink elsewhere. However, the majority of people who have been arrested for drinking have been those causing problems: fighting and generally being a nuisance.

Muslims who drink should be extra careful. The law seems to be ambiguous here: they can get alcohol licences but they are forbidden to drink by Shariah law, and can be punished with a caning.

See Qatar Alcohol for more information.

3. Looove...Outside Marriage

A number of people have asked us whether it is acceptable to live together outside marriage. The answer is no, it's not. This is a strict Wahabbi country and many people, albeit usually servants, have been arrested, imprisoned and deported for sex outside marriage.

4. Offending Islam

Now let's put this into context here. There are many discussions between Christians and Muslims (and others) here, and many Muslims value the opportunity to put their point of view across, even if you don't agree with them. However, some things are sacred - that includes Mohammed and the Quran.

5. Libel and Slander

You really don't want to annoy the wrong person here. Qataris value their privacy and honour - so watch what what you say about who you say when you are chatting away on online forums here, or you might just find yourself with on a one-way plane trip back home.

These are our top five ways to get deported - let us know if you think we have missed any...

Image of Drunk Driver by Tread

Also see: Qatar Dos and Don'ts | Qatar Culture

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Qatar Visitor Website down

You may have noticed that our website is down. As far as we can work out, this is something to do with the forum. Unfortunately, we have been able to contact our forum expert (why do these things always happen on the weekend?) Hopefully we will have the website back up sooner than later. We will then probably move the forum to a seperate site so this can't happen again!

Apologies to anyone who was looking for information on it - if you need some info leave a comment here and we will try to help you!

Update: The website is now up again.

Qatar Kissing Makes the News

It's some time ago since we reported the story of a married couple landing in trouble after a public kiss.

Things only got worse for the Arab couple, who are from Lebanon, when a Qatar court refused to accept their marriage.

These two were sensible enough to do their kissing outside Qatar.

Image by Patries 71.

A Problem of Faith

The sticky point for the court was the interfaith issue. While it is usually acceptable for a Muslim man to marry a Christian woman, the opposite is not the case.

The assumption is that the offspring of a family will follow their father in religion. It is just not acceptable in Islam for the children of a Muslim to become a Christian.

Still, the judgement raised a stir in the community - if one marriage certificate is not accepted, can any truly be judged to be safe?

Spreading Story

Now the story has reached America, being reported in the Los Angeles Times blog.

According to the blog, the offending action of the man was not a kiss, but to place his hand on his wife's shoulder.

The police simply said that the couple was found in a compromising position.

The penalty? A year in jail. Although, fortunately enough for the couple, they had fled the country before the penalty had been passed.

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