I’ve wanted to visit Doha, Qatar since I first heard the name and location. Just a one-hour Arabian Air flight from Sharjah, I had the opportunity recently to fulfill my goal of visiting this up-and-coming Persian Gulf destination. Every step of my approximately 36 hours in Doha took me through a very attractive, modern and interesting city undergoing significant construction. Nowhere but Doha have I met so many people who stopped and posed for me when I asked if I could take their photo. This city struck me as very, very friendly.
Doha is beautiful, but it unfortunately has a massive case of Middle Eastern smog. It appeared to me to be worse than that of Cairo. Doha Bay stands in the center of the city, and an excellent view of downtown Doha and its solid brown air can be had from the corniche – an Arab term meaning paved walkway along a body of water.
Aside from its tainted oxygen, the downtown area is shiny and new. The only downtown building of interest to tourists, though, is the City Centre, an average-sized mall full of nothing of note save an indoor ice skating rink. I rode a very inexpensive city bus from where I was staying across Doha Bay, spent 15 minutes in the mall (malls bore me), then waited one hour for a return bus which never arrived. It was New Year’s Eve day, and for some reason this presented a challenge to the bus company. A taxi back across the bay to Al Waqif Souq only cost a few dollars, though. This souq is the centerpiece of Doha.
Al Waqif Souq is the renovated rendition of the original souq, or outdoor Arab marketplace, which stood in the same spot many years ago. I’ve tried to learn the approximate years that the original souq stood in Doha but can’t find the information on-line, and souqs don’t exactly have souq history literature available for hand-out. At one end of the walled souq are many upscale restaurants and cafes surrounding a large outdoor dining area, popular with locals and tourists. Most of its culinary offerings have a strong Middle Eastern bent, so a Dunkin’ Donuts/Baskin Robbins shop was a comical standout.
I preferred sitting in a different part of souq, though, and chowing down on incredible warm bread stuffed with hot cheese and ground meat which I bought freshly made from a small shop.
The typical Arab sales techiques found in souqs, consisting of men strongly inviting you into their shop or thrusting scarves and perfumes at you while you’re passing through, isn’t much felt in Souq Waqif. Along with Qataris, many Indians and Sri Lankans man the shops. The latter two groups are very friendly people but lack the loud and chaotic oomph of the Arabs, rendering the whole souq atmosphere sort of blah. Its hundreds of shops, along with an unusual outdoor area filled with hundreds of birds and rabbits for sale, make up for the strangely peaceful souq experience, though, and are filled with extremely cool goods – some of them quite bizarre.
Doha doesn’t hold much for the visitor, and 36 hours more than does it. One other facet worth noticing, though, is it large decorative pieces which the city has added here and there to help make it something special. Despite the fact that Doha doesn’t have all that much to see and do, I still think it’s doing a great job of positioning itself to become a major Middle Eastern travel destination.
Very interesting…shame about the smog though!
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
January 31st, 2011 at 19:53
I really liked it. The smog is easy enough to ignore.
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Wonder if it was just a bad time of the year. Maybe a good rain or change of season would clear the air?
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
January 31st, 2011 at 19:54
I wonder that too, Mike. Many, many people were wearing surgical masks on the streets, though, causing me to think the air might always be that brown in Doha.
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You really highlighted a lot of the charm of Doha, despite the smog. Looks like an interesting Souq too, I bet you could find some cool stuff there.
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
January 31st, 2011 at 19:52
Hi Steven – Yes, that smog was blinding, but Doha was still a stand-out city. I’m very glad I got to visit it.
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I love reading the Arabic signs for Baskin Robbins and Dunkin Donuts! Never considered Doha as a place that I would choose to visit (more of a stopover destination) but you’ve changed my mind for sure! I’ll just take a scarf to put over my mouth as a stopper against the smog…
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Sabina Lohr Reply:
February 10th, 2011 at 20:17
Hi Rebecca – I think in future years there will be even more for travelers to see in Doha. They’ll probably get some good desert tours up and running too. And yes, a scarf is a good idea. Lots of locals were wearing masks.
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The souq looks really cool. Makes me want to sit in those carpets.
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Sabina Reply:
February 20th, 2011 at 00:22
It is a very cool souq although too quiet because it’s largely manned by non-Arabs. It doesn’t hold the classic souq chaos. Still, it’s definitely worth a few hours.
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Hello, I’m actually living in Doha right now for my second year and I actually quite like it! Though born and raised in the west Doha is not too bad. The main mall to go to is actually Villagio, which boasts a massive Imax 3D cinema, huge indoor theme park (with Go Karts), Ice Rink, large food court and a variety of shops.
I’ve never really noticed the smog and the only time i saw the people with the surgical masks was during the Swine Flu scare.
Another fun thing to do was go out into the desert area of Qatar with all the dunes and rent a quad bike for an hour. Great fun.
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Sabina Reply:
March 2nd, 2011 at 18:47
Hi Mateo – thanks for commenting. I loved Doha! I didn’t mean for this post to sound negative at all. I was struck by the smog, though, which is the worst I’ve seen outside of Cairo. I saw tons of Sri Lankans and other expats in surgical masks on the side of town where I stayed, near the souk. I’m glad you told me about that mall – no one else did. I think Doha is going to be a very popular Mid Eastern destination some day.
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When I initially commented I clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now every time a comment is added I get four emails with the identical comment. Is there any manner you can remove me from that service? Thanks!
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Sabina Reply:
March 10th, 2011 at 20:10
I’m sorry about that. I don’t know why it’s doing it or how to make it stop. Maybe start marking all of them as spam and they’ll eventually automatically go into your spam filter.
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some great shots! Love the Dunkin’ Donuts & Baskin Robbins
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Sabina Reply:
May 2nd, 2011 at 01:05
Thanks a lot. I thought that touch of America deep inside a Persian Gulf souk was indeed very cool.
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Paolo Reply:
May 13th, 2011 at 10:11
Er, couple of things to point out:
There is no smog in Doha. Sometimes sandstorm, but no smog. It’s sparsely populated desert next to the sea, where do you guys think the smog is coming from??!
Secondly, no Sabina it’s not “cool” to see Dunkin Donuts in a souk, the deep south of America is great exactly where it is.
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Sabina Reply:
May 15th, 2011 at 00:57
Hi Paolo – There is a thick blanket of disgusting brown smog in Doha. Smog hangs over the entirety of Mid East – and Asia. It is everywhere, although it does shift in location and intensity with the wind, etc. If you’ve been to Doha perhaps it wasn’t so smoggy whil you were there.
Seeing Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin Robbins in the souk was kind of cool. At the same time it was a little disturbing. Souks have enough going for them without bringing in American franchises. So I’ll agree with you on that point
Hi
Great blog BTW! Just wanted to know if you had any issues with the locals being a solo female traveller in Doha… I have a stopover in August and wanted to go have a look around but I’m unsure about the cultural conservatism of the Middle East.
Happy Travels
Gardeniashoegirl
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