Ladies and gentlemen, I live in the dullest place on earth, at least according to the Lonely Planet website:
Around the Gulf, Doha has earned the unenviable reputation of being the dullest place on earth. You will be hard-pressed to find anyone who’ll claim the place is exciting. That said, there’s nothing wrong with Doha – you’re unlikely to get shot or mugged or die from cholera.
AAAAIEEE!!! Take me back home where I belong!
Fair Enough! To be honest I was a little surprised at how much Qatar started to pick up after the new Amir took over, what with the Qatar Open and of course Al Jazeera TV.
It’s fun though to find something to rib it with though…
And by no means is living in Doha hell; reserve that for when the air conditioning goes out in mid August!
Its boring, but its not hell. Have any of you lived in communist countries? I have – as in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1981 where even the rain seemed to cry from boredom.
Oh, don’t knock Canada. Van rulez!
Well, Desert Island Boy, to be fair to the place I have to say that it is improving. They do have discos and bars here but they are all restricted to the boundaries of hotels.
Also last year they opened a huge movie theatre at the city centre, so it is not as bad as it used to be. As Qatar will be hosting the Asian Games next year, many new projects are on the way, I guess to make this country more tolerable.
Ahem,
Qatar is the Least Densely Populated Arab Nation, Ever. Social life has always been very traditional which makes things difficult for progressive types. Unlike Bahrain the Desert Island just some 100km to the northwest where you have clubs discos and bars. Not to mention a world class Grand Prix Circuit which has brought the gearheads out of the woodwork.
My first and last trip to Doha was in the summer of `92. The door of the airplane swung open and WHOOSH you were hit with the heat rushing in. You see Doha International Airport doesn’t even have walkways to the terminal, you have to walk out onto the tarmac like the middle of nowhere airstrip that it is. At least in Muscat, you can turn your head and see the ocean.
Qatar is a great place to be if you’re related to someone there. They’re rather quiet but friendly folks who lead rather simple uncomplicated lives. But beyond that, Doha’s a most unimaginative city with unimaginative architecture and unimaginative history. The only significant events in Qatar’s history were the arrival of the Al-Khalifa in the north who found the place so unimaginative that they sprung for Bahrain at the first instance, and the Wahhabis into the south from the Najdi hinterland. From their descendants originate near every single Qatari. They’re just one big happy family.
Oh yes and the coup in `95 which meant that Qatar has used up its excitement quota for the next century and a half.
Oh Yes Qatar, the Canada of the Gulf!