Jobs and Competitions

Our partners, Bayt.com, are running a competition to help them find a visual style for their movies.

To enter the competition you have to create a video showing your use of an original creative design.

The winner of the competition will win the contract for all or part of the videos they are creating.

For more information check out the movie below or visit the Bayt Jobs I Can Draw site.

Remember you can also see a list of current jobs in Qatar and the Gulf provided by Bayt.com on our Qatar Jobs page.



Also see:

• Qatar Job Vacancies
  
• Getting a Job in Qatar
  
• Qatar Labour Law
  
• Working Women in Qatar
  
• Qatar Jobs Forum 

Qatar Open

"It's funny," said my friend. "Tennis matches used to be free here, yet the tennis courts were half empty. Now they charge, and the courts are packed."

Maybe tennis is coming of age in Qatar - just like, it seems Murray, is. The first time I watched him in the finals, he was defeated. (We caught the last play of the match in a movie you can watch at the bottom of this post: Qatar Tennis.)

Last year he won, but it seemed a scrappy victory. This time his victory over Roderick, the world number 8, seemed smooth and almost easy - raising barely a grunt out of him until the final set. (See the movie below!)

If it was packed, though, it was packed with expats rather than Qataris. Qataris were present, and it was great to see young children enjoying the match, but despite the efforts of the Qatar Tennis association, who are encouraging young children to start playing, tennis has a long way to go before it even starts to match the hold football has on Qatari hearts! (The international match being held next door certainly didn't help Qatari attendance!)

So why is tennis so much more popular now? Perhaps it is because there are just so many expats here now - the official population has doubled since we started Qatar Visitor. Or perhaps it is just because until you put a price on something, people accord it no value.

Qatar Visitor Friends


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Souq Waqif Hotels

Souq Waqif is one of my favourite places in Qatar. It makes me wince to use such a cliché but a trip to Qatar really would not be complete without a visit to the Souq.

So it was a pleasant surprise during a recent meander round to find that there are now three hotels serving the needs of guests.

All the hotels also have the added advantage that they are in easy walking distance of the Islamic Arts Museum, the Corniche and the harbour with its traditional wooden dhows.

Hotel Souq Waqif

Tel: +974 4433030/ 4432288
Fax: +974 441 9292
Website: www.HotelSouqWaqif.com

This is the plushest - and the most expensive - hotel we looked at. Standard rooms started from QAR900/night.

Located closest to the Corniche, in front of the main car park, a large and airy restaurant is located to the front. First impressions were good and the staff polite and helpful, although unfortunately when we visited every room was occupied. We will return for further inspection!

Al Khariss Hotel

Address: PO Box 23618, Souq Waqif, Doha, Qatar
Tel: +974 4310786/4354323
Fax: +974 4324345

I think this hotel has a fabulous location. Standing on the central street of the souq, interesting shops crowd to either side and just opposite is one of my favourite shops: Al Ghalaffa. The hotel itself is situated above the Khariss cafe, which I am also fond of, despite (or perhaps because of) the weird items that you find on their menus.

Yet be warned that the hotel has the slowest lift in the world. (Fortunately it only has to go up one floor.)

The rooms are also decorated in the traditional style - which was a bit bare for my liking. And at QAR800, they were only slightly cheaper than Hotel Souq Waqif.

Bismillah Hotel

Tel: +974 4374417
Fax: +974 4374417
Address: PO Box 16919

This hotel is the oldest of the bunch, with photos going back to the 1960's. (You can see an old photo of the hotel here and a nightime image here.

Although slightly more expensive than when we first blogged about the hotel, Bismillah still makes it into our list of Budget Hotels in Qatar with a single room starting at QAR400 and a double room at QAR500.

A faint musty smell, which reminded me of my backpacking days in Asia, put me off the rooms a bit. The smell seemed to come from the ceiling, which looked a bit too traditional for the more discerning of guests.

On the plus point it is actually affordable, boasts another great location and has great view of the souq (see below).

The View from the Bismillah Hotel

Also see:

Doha Luxury Hotel Guide

Qatar Hotel Directory

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Doha Daily

Nigel, former owner of Qatar Journal, is now working via the Doha Daily to deliver a condensed pdf version of the Peninsula newspaper to subscribers.

The idea is based on the premise that many of us are too busy to work our way through an entire newspaper: hence a small pdf version with the most important stories of the day.

To sign up for the news summary just visit Doha Daily and enter your name in the box - you will have the option to unsubscribe should you wish.

The Sharq Village and Spa - Revisited

It is some time since we wrote our review of the Ritz Carlton Sharq Village and Spa, and when they contacted us to request an update we jumped at the chance to view the hotel again.

My reasons were partly selfish - I already know by reputation and experience that the hotel is excellent. However, the chance to be shown round the hotel in person was too good an experience to miss.

We visited on one of Doha's few dull and grey days. I was warned that the day would not do the hotel justice, but the courtyards still looked superb.

Origins

According to the public relations manager, legend says that the Sharq village and Spa lies on the remains of an ancient village.

In a story she said they had got from the Emir himself, an ancient souq was founded by a noble Sheikh.

According to the story, the village first prospered as traders settled, building ornate homes around courtyards and furnishing them with treasures brought back from their travels.

Then, after some centuries, the village was abandoned - until recent time, when it was rebuilt as the Sharq Village and Spa.

Style

The Sharq Village maintains the village-like athmosphere, with ornate villas or 'beits' built around courtyards each functioning as a separate hotel.

Each villa is attended to by its own personal butler.

In the center of the complex lies one feature the original hotel did not have - a large and intricate swimming pool, floodlit at night.

Dining

On our trip we ate at the Al Liwan, a restaurant that is also a favourite of the Emir.



A Lebanese starter of delicious cold salads and olives was followed by sushi, prawns straight from the open grill in front of us, sea bass and lamb cooked in the Qatari style - all topped off with the traditional Om Ali*.

The buffet is varied from day to day, so there is no guarantee you will have the same selection! The chef is currently planning to have both Indian and Greek style buffets.

Negative points?

For the sake of balance we always try to look for negative points as well as positive points, although it is harder than most with the Sharq Village and Spa.

There are two small points.

Planes flying directly overhead could get annoying, although the sound is muffled in the main area of the hotel.

And having to walk outside between the buildings is fine now, but would be unpleasant during the hottest summer months. Partly because of that, there are golf carts ready to whisk guests between the buildings.

And finally...

The verdict remains the same as our first visit - absolutely fantastic!

Agree or disagree? Remember, on our Doha hotel page you can rate Doha hotels, or even leave your own review.

Also see our full review of the Sharq Village and Spa

Om Ali: an Arab dish which can best be described as a sort of cross between rice pudding and bread pudding (and tastier than both!)

QV Man Turns to Cheese, Meets Royalty

Ex-Qatar Visitor man Mathew Harris has made good with cheese - cheese so good it has had the royal stamp of approval.


Matt was the man behind our interactive map of Qatar, and the designer of our Qatar Today ad, as well as a number of the website's other features.

Now he has turned his back on the busy life of the city and headed off to the rural bliss in Devonshire.

Taking his chance to get away from a computer screen, he has also started his own Devonshire Deli.

And at Qatar Visitor, we have no doubt that it was the superb and unbeatable taste of his cheese that attracted Prince Charles to the market this day.

So, if you are heading towards the UK and fancy some rather special cheese, be sure to check out his website!

Twitter Qatar

The Peninsula recently ran a story on Twitter: Small Talk is the Next Big Thing. (Unfortunately, this was on Oasis, which is not published online).

The article predicted that twittering, or micro blogging, will be the next online networking craze.

Admittedly, the article was from the Guardian rather than a home grown piece. And in fact, Nigel, writing directly for the Peninsula, predicted a surge in community websites like Qatar Living rather than in new fads like Twitter.

And in Qatar, Twitter, though already being used, has yet to take off.

One huge advantage

However, in this modern day Twitter may have hit on the key to attracting today's time-starved audience:

It's quick.

In fact you are forced to be quick. Each message has to be written in 140 characters or less.

Which takes seconds.

In today's world of information overload and of people trained by television to have a miniscule concentration span, that's a work of genius.

How to Use It

How you use it depends on your purpose.

It would be ideal for keeping up with friends. However, currently a majority of users seem to be webmasters and online marketers.

(Which is another reason it will be successful. Connect with the key players on the internet and the rest will follow!)

They are using twitter to disseminate ideas, follow industry specific news and to network with the movers and shakers of the internet.

Whether you are keeping up with friends or networking, it is usually best to ignore the question looming over the box: What are you doing?
Most users are not likely to be interested in your current activities unless, as happened to one twitter user, you happen to be in a plane crash (or other interesting event).

Instead, users point to interesting pages on the web (not always their own), keep up with news and have quick fire conversation.

Followers

To get in the conversation you have to follow and be followed.

Follow a few people and soon people will start to follow you back. But if you are boring, over post, under post or spam you will soon find your followers shrinking.

A host of services are already following twitter to make it easy for you to search and connect with people.

One is Mr Twitter, which looks at you, your followers and who you follow and identifies people you may wish to connect with.

There is also TwitterHolic, which handily lists twitter users in Qatar.

Qatar Twitterers

Twitter may not have many users in Qatar, but those that do use it are major players on the internet.

Al Jazeera and Qatar Airways both make heavy use of twitter, as do a number of bloggers: Mohammed N , Julie Lindsay, the e-learning blogger, Abdurahman Warsame, who runs No Longer at Ease and former Qatar Journal owner Nigel can all be found twittering.

Qatar Living and I love Qatar are examples of those who joined earlier and then, after a brief dalliance, have stopped using it.

I have a feeling, though, that they will be back.

Qatar Visitor on Twitter

Update: 7/01/08 I notice Qatar Living is active again on Twitter!

Qatar Visitor Friends


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Virtual Job Fair

As desperate job seekers from the West and elsewhere flood Qatar with job applications - even Qatar Visitor has been receiving daily emails by job seekers requesting help finding work - Bayt.com has announced that it will holda virtual job fair in Kuwait. 

Bayt.com has held job fairs in other countries, but this is the first one to be held in Kuwait. (When is it going to be Qatar's turn?)

At the job fair employees and employers can connect and interact online, and job hunters can also check out companies virtual booths. 

Job seekers will be able to upload their cv at the fair and to apply for jobs advertised at the booths.

Check out Bayt.com job vacancies or upload your CV

Virtual Job Fair

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Last Glimpse of the Oasis Hotel

The last remains of the Oasis Hotel stands against a murky sky before the bulldozers move in for the final time.

Doha Hotels

Websites for Qatar?

In a recent post on Qatar Living we asked what websites people thought Qatar needed.

Food and Friends

British Expat felt that Qatar needed a Looking for Friends website - but only so that regular Qatar Living users could have the forum back to themselves!

Other people were thinking about their stomachs rather than their hearts: Bahrain 83 wanted a website where people could go and order food online from the most popular food outlets - and for an example pointed at this website: Feedme.

Maps and Shops

Onemakikomoto wanted a Qatar Mapquest, updated daily, to help commuters plan routes and avoid local diversions and road construction.

Steve and Kim pointed out that there were already interactive maps on Qatcom, and that people could find businesses on the websites power pages. Big Boi also mentioned the interactive Doha Map site.

Steve and Kim were also looking forward to another website, Qbay, an online Qatar auction and market which would combine shopping online with a delivery service.

Websites for future?

Already there has been huge growth in the internet in Qatar. Qatar Living is huge, Qatcom has come from nowhere to provide an online directory of over 25000 Qatar companies and Araboo has provided the first e-commerce site.

This could be just the beginning. What websites do you think we will see in Qatar in the future?

Also see:

Qatar Internet Bubble
Qatar Internet Directory
Qatar Internet: Web Access
Qatar Facebook Group

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Qatar Book Fair

There is a huge and very impressive book fair underway at the Qatar Exhibition Center.

While most of the books from the 741 stalls in the center were in Arabic, there were enough books in English to keep book fans happy. This included one section where all books for sale cost ten riyals.

The Qatar Authorities had promised not to censor any titles, and with books with names such as "The Courtesan", not to mention other titles with raunchy sections, it was clear that they had kept their word.

Booksellers may, of course, have exercised self-censorship, which is really the preferred way of doing things round here!

Reading

As we mentioned before in Whatever Happened to the National Library of Qatar, the number of books pulished in Arabic is a tiny fraction of that published in other countries.

Book fairs like these at least give a very positive push towards cultivating a love of reading among Qataris and Qatari residents - and it was especially nice to see bus loads of school children leaving with bags full of books.

With a booksellers coming from 21 different counctries, it is also an opportunity to see a greater range of books than is normally possible.


Closing soon!!

The book fair will remain open until the third of January. So if you want to stock up on reading material it would best to head down there shortly - or you might find yourself waiting till next year for a similar opportunity.

Also see: Qatar Books Reviews

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Qatar Visitor in 2009

These are our new year's resolutions for the Qatar Visitor website.

• Have our website redesigned.

I've long been unhappy with the look of our website. Now it is time to get the site redesigned, and looking more professional. (Which means paying somone to do it instead of doing it ourselves!)

• Speed the website up

The original Qatar Visitor website was a clone of another, older website. As a result it used antiquated code (tables e.t.c.). In 2009 we want to rebuild and optimize the website - and hopefully speed download time by up to 50%.

• Invest

We want to continue putting our revenue into making Qatar Visitor a better website, with more articles and more features.

• Forum

We will move the Qatar Visitor forum to a new address, www.QatarChatter.com, after a code failure brought the whole website down in December. We will also be adding new features to the site.

QatarChatter used to be a website, but the domain dropped and it was bought up by regsite.com We loved the name, and thought it perfect for a forum, so we bought it from them in turn.

We'll also reluctantly be adding Google ads to it. Unfortunately, our bandwidth costs are increasing every month, and ads have now become a necessity.

• Newsletter

We plan to maintain our new newsletter, apart from the summer months. We'll be putting in news which would affect travelers and residents (visas, regulations e.t.c.), putting in links to what we think is the best of what's new on the website and holding a monthly competition for subscribers.

Qatar Visitor Friends

Qatar Jobs

Doha Hotels



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