This is a small country on the western shore of the Persian Gulf. I read somewhere yesterday that Qatar actually only has 140,000 nationals. At first I baulked at this having googled Doha and seen lots of skyscrapers and other material achievements, but upon driving away from the airport in a cab chauffeured by an Indian fellow, it dawned on me: even the Qatar Airlines flight that I'd flown in on was staffed by a striking mix of nationalities, the airport staff was also an ethnic mix and even the janitors were not Arabic. I'd described to the Indian cab-driver that I was just on a stop-over and that my next plane was leaving that evening, so I just wanted cafés, restaurants and shopping facilities (a.k.a. public safety for this my first time in this region of the world). Laptop low on battery, but the short of the long is that it seems that the entire Qatari blue-collar work force is comprised of Arabs and Asians on 4-year work visas, and to quote the Filippino lady in the Levi's store: " [Qataris] are born rich, so now they never work. They don't do anything!"
But it is quite a sky-line nonetheless!
Picture illustration here
11 November, 2010
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