No single men allowed

Pix credit: http://www.terrace22.com/

Are you a single man? Sorry, no entry!

The debate came up again. Should bachelors be banned from shopping malls on Friday?

All the shopping malls in Qatar has a family day policy on Friday. This simply means if you are a single man, you are not allowed into the mall. Doesn't matter if you have a marriage certificate at home, a wife and child waiting back in the car or sitting at home. You are still single if you are alone. Sorry, no entry.

Over the years, the policy has became lax and many malls close an eye as there were accusations of gender and racial discrimination since most of the blue-collar workers including construction, technical, domestic and drivers were mostly men without their family in Qatar and hence were unable to enter the malls on their only day off. A good proportion also happen to be darker skin South Asians and Africans. Stopping single man at the door and having arguments was also simply not good public relations.

There were also many arguments at the malls door as newcomers and visitors who were not familiar with Qatar end up arguing with security guards as no one has ever heard of such a rule anywhere else in the world.

Of late, there has been a resurgence among Qataris and Qatar municipal council members to enact this rule as a law; hence legally ensuring the malls has to strictly enforce the no-entry law. Apparently, a large number of female Qataris and their families are not comfortable with the large number of single men in the malls. Or maybe, the queue at checkout was getting too long...

The big debate is how is this no-entry for single man policy going to fit into Qatar's plan to host the 2022 Football World Cup when large number of visitors will simply ignore this no-entry rule since a large segment of football fans will simply be men without their families. What happens then?

We'll find out in 6 years.

There is no bluetooth technology in Qatar

Have you seen anyone using a bluetooth earpiece in Qatar?

I like to joke that there must be no bluetooth technology in Qatar. Why?

Because every driver I see on the road is holding a mobile phone. No one seems to be using the car's bluetooth or a mobile ear bluetooth device. Everyone holds a mobile phone while driving; even a policeman. No wonder no-one gets busted for using a mobile phone while on the road.

Many of these cars are top, premium brands which surely must be equipped with all the latest technology goodies including car bluetooth. But no one uses them leading to many close calls on the road because the drivers were too busy jabbering or texting while driving.

You also tend to see Qataris in the malls, at Starbucks or Chocolate Shoppe holding more than one mobile phone. You often see them juggling with one or more wired ear piece; but never a mobile bluetooth device. Again, I wonder why? Surely it cannot be due to cost?

Incidentally, a Qatari friend of mine says he holds 7 mobile phones. I wonder why does one need so many mobile phones? Or how does one manage to keep track of all the address books? I can't even cope with one.

A Arabic friend of mine gave the theory why the locals do not like using bluetooth technology in the car but prefer to struggle with the handset. He believes that using bluetooth technology in the car leaves a archive tail of calls made and received on the car console which means a suspicious spouse will be aware who their husband has been calling and talking to. This make things a bit touchy when he needs to be seen to be giving equal attention to all 4 wives...

If you have any theory why the locals do not seem to like to use Bluetooth technology on their phone, please let me know :-)

Impact of Ramadan for non-muslims

Pix credit: http://ramiismail.com

What do Non-Muslims do during Ramadan?

Ramadan comes about once a year and last for 29 or 30 days depending on the sighting of the moon. Muslims will fast in the day for the month and general social and economic activities will tend to slow down. Ramadan occur in the Summer month of June which is amongst the hottest month of the year.

A good proportion of the Qatar's population is non-Muslim. How does Ramadan impacts the rest of the population that do not need to observe the holy occasion? How much do they need to adjust their life to accommodate their Muslim's neighbours, colleagues and friends?

Meal time for non-Muslims during Ramadan

Muslims will fast during the day. Hence, all restaurants are closed and no food, drinks or smoking is allowed during the day for Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

This is not difficult for breakfast as most people can still carry on to have breakfast at home. Lunch is a little difficult as no public eating places are opened except for selected schools, companies and hotels. Where eating places are opened, they need to be cordoned and discreet so that casual passerby will not see any food nor people eating.

If your workplace does not have an operating eating place during Ramadan, most companies will designate certain pantry or corners for non-Muslims to take their packed lunch. Some places will not even have such discreet eating places and you may just have to fast along with your Muslim brother.

Drinks will no longer be served during meetings, there are no more water-cooler gossips, and coffee breaks need to take place behind closed doors.

Eating places will start to open for dinner after 6:30pm. There will be long queues outside popular eateries. Some eateries will start selling take-away food discreetly after 5pm.

Working hours and business tempo during Ramadan

The law dictate shorter working hours during the month of Ramadan. Hence, people who starts work at 7:30am find themselves on the way home at 1:30pm instead of the typical 3:30pm.

Civil authorities, banks, offices, worksites and schools will all have adjusted working hours. These allow Muslims to go home early to rest as most people who fast tend to be lethargic during the day. Non muslims certainly benefit from the shorter hours too.

You will find it difficult to make work progress especially if your work require you to liase with external bodies as you'll find your fasting counterparts lethargic during the day or not being available due to the shorter hours. Most business pitches, sales call, meetings, seminars will tend to go slow during this period. Conversely, you may see engineering, roadwork and infrastructure activities go up to take advantage of the lesser traffic and distractions.

Road behaviour during Ramadan

Qatar road is congested and difficult and most of us strategise what time and what route to take to avoid traffic congestion. All these strategies come to nought during Ramadan as traffic pattern change completely during Ramadan.

Roads are a lot quieter as generally Ramadan coincides with the Summer vacation when school is out and a lot of expats are away for Summer vacation. There is less social and business activities during the day which again lead to even lesser traffic. Hence, instead of always being late, you now find yourselves being early as a typical 30 mins journey may now only take 10 mins.

What you do need to watch out for is the witching hour just before the breaking of fast which is the 6:30-7:00pm period. This is when many fasting Muslims go for their first meal of the day and they are impatient after a day of fasting and woe to anyone who gets between them and their first meal! They drive fast, cut traffic and put up reckless manoeuvres; much more so than what they would do during normal months. Traffic is much lighter during this period and allow even more speeding and weaving in and out of traffic. Avoid driving during this period if you can.

Traffic congestion starts after 7:30pm and builds up very badly around shopping malls, restaurants and hotels with people and vehicle going in and out for dinner. This will continue up to 10pm as Iftar dinner give way to the Suhoor crowd.

Avoid the next peak traffic period which is typically 12-2am as the Subhoor crowd leave and go to another location to eat, socialise or relax.

Social occasions during Ramadan

Some restaurants and pubs in 5-star hotels in Qatar serve alcohol but all such activities stop during Ramadan. Restaurants will go dry and most pubs will stay close for this period.

Hence, drinking and entertaining activities slow down during this period.

On the other hand, you'll probably get invitations for Iftar or Suhoor meals from your workplace or business associates. Iftar is the first meal after the breaking of fast and Suhoor is the last meal before dawn for fasting to take place again.

Iftar and Suhoor has become very much a social occasion not unlike Christmas or New Year occasions. Many restaurants and hotels will light up and offer tents or ballrooms for hosting such dinners.

While Iftar is the first meal on breaking fast and is supposed to be a light meal consisting of dates, fruit juice, nuts and bread, it has now become a buffet galore with sushi, pasta, grilled lambs, curry and everything in between.

Suhoor is the last meal before dawn fasting starts and is supposed to be 3-4am but to befit it as a social occasion, Suhoor dinner in restaurants and hotels start as early as 8pm and last till midnight where an even more lavish buffet galore awaits.

You are likely to get multiple invitations from friends, colleagues and business associate for Iftar or Subhoor dinners. For the busy socialite, it is not uncommon to recieve a few invitations in one week alone. 

Cost of Living in Qatar

Cost of living depends on your lifestyle

Stay in a flashy place -
Pay for it or get your employer to do it

How much does it cost to live in Qatar?

When two expats in Qatar meet up, three subjects almost always come up on the table.
1. Challenges of driving in Qatar
2. Cost of living in Qatar
3. Where is the best place to eat

We have discussed driving in Qatar and where to eat in Qatar a couple of times. Let's talk about cost of living in Qatar.

It all depends on which part of the world you come from. And also what kind of salary that you draw. And what kind of lifestyle you lead.

Here's some basic guidelines:

Housing in Qatar (Estimated monthly rental including utilities)

Villa - A stand-alone house either occupying it's own land or in a common gated housing compound. Usually 2 levels of 3-5 rooms. Small to medium garden.
- US$3-8K
Apartment - An apartment in a building of 2-6 levels. Usually 1-3 rooms. May have common facilities such as security, a pool and gym.
- US$1-4K
Shared rooms - Occupying a room in a shared villa or apartment. Share a kitchen and common hall.
US$0.8-1.5K

As a general rule of thumb, you tend to see expats with family living in villas when housing is covered by employers, in apartments when they are individual or couples getting a housing allowance and single bachelor individuals sharing apartments or villa who pays out of their pocket.

Transportation choices in Qatar

Here's a rough guide to new car prices in Qatar.

Car - Honda Civic (@US$20K), Honda Accord (@US$28K), Honda CRV (@US$40K), Nissan Tida (@US$17K), Volvo XC60 (@US$50K), Audi Q5 (@US$65K)

You can deduct roughly 10% a year for used cars dependent on the brand and model. European and American brands depreciate the fastest with Japanese and Korean cars hold on to their value best.

Car rental is not advisable unless you are staying less than a year. In that case, estimate US$600 for a Honda Civic to US$1800 for a Audi Q5.

Buses: One can forget it. The bus service is almost non-existent as it serves only few roads and buses are far and few in-between. Waiting at bus-stops during Summer is simply not tolerable.

Train/Subway: Non-existent.

Taxi: Impossible to find one on the road. Found only in airports and major shopping malls. Expect to pay US$5 for a short trip to US$20 for a longer one. You can also book taxis on the phone but horror stories abound of bad experiences including no-show, delays, lost directions, overcharging and other bad incidences.

Private taxis: Most expats who do not drive depend on private 'taxis' arrangement. This is illegal but a common mode of transport which is much more reliable than taxi service. Expect to pay about US$5 to US$15 per trip. Some residents hire 'private taxi' on a long term on-call basis and this can cost US$800-1000 per month. The driver is not exclusively yours but you get immediate priority as the host owner.

There are also a few private chauffeured car hires when you can book private cars with a driver. The popular one is Fox Limousine and but there's probably another 100 smaller ones out there.

Uber is now available in Qatar and has risen fast in popularity due to it's reliability, friendly drivers and good quality cars. It can only go up in popularity despite being being more expensive than a taxi.

Eating out in Qatar

You can get a simple Chicken Bryani with a coke for US$4 at a simple roadside restaurant. The same meal will cost US$10 at a good Indian restaurant to US$20 at a hotel cafe. Use the same scale for quick takeaway food such as Sharwama or a Chinese noodle.

A 2-person complete meal in a restaurant will cost US$20-40 with a hotel being US$40-100. In my opinion, at this point in Qatar, even if you go to a fancy brand-name restaurant, the food and service just simply does not match up. I really see no point in spending top dollars on restaurant food in Qatar.

Groceries in Qatar

Grocery shopping in Qatar is estimated to be slightly more expensive than one's own home country for common goods like coffee, cooking oil, pasta, ice-cream, tooth-paste, shampoo, etc

Some supermarkets like Lulu and Careefour produces housebrands for common popular items and that may bring prices down to a level even cheaper than your own home country.

Exotic items like organic food, specialty goods and others are estimated to cost 20-100% more.

Petrol in Qatar

This is one area where Qatar shines above every other country in the world when it comes to cost of living. Octave 95 Petrol cost US$30c per liter or US$15 for a full tank for a regular saloon car.

Education in Qatar

Unless your native language is Arabic, you are unlikely to send your child to a local public school. This means sending your child to a private international school and this is likely to be an expensive affair ranging from US$20K a year for junior school to US$45K a year for tertiary education.

Obviously, this is an amount beyond most individuals and will require your employer pays for it. You may want to ensure this is covered in your employment contract especially if you have many children.

I have friends who realised belatedly that their employer does not fully cover education and they have no choice but to send family back to home country for education.

Healthcare in Qatar

Healthcare is next to free if you qualify for public healthcare insurance in Qatar. Anyone who has a residential ID in Qatar will qualify. You need to pay only a small token amount when you seek treatment at Hamad Hospital and it's subsidiaries.

Most employers will pay some form of private medical insurance that qualifies you to visit selected or all medical clinics and hospitals. Most private insurance will require that you co-pay a token or nothing when you seek treatment.

Make sure your employment covers insurance for your family too. Making a trip to a upmarket private hospital like the Al Ali will cost a bomb.

Airline ticket to and from Qatar

Qatar is not an attractive end destination airport and hence, has set itself up as a transit hub with Qatar Airways expanding quickly and serving many parts of the world. 

If you are flying direct from your home country to and from Qatar, one can generally estimate the flight to be 20-50% more than if you have an alternate airline on the same flight. 

Conversely, if you use Qatar as a transit and fly beyond Doha, you may find that with the additional leg, your ticket may cost the same or even cheaper than if your end destination is Qatar itself. So, if your lifestyle or your job allows you to plan your vacation easily, you may find this an attractive option to explore the world!

Alternatively, many people transit via another airport such as Dubai airport in order to qualify for transit flight with another airline. This also bring cost down substantially.

Like everywhere is the world, cost of living is on the rise all the time. At the same time, cost of living between yourself and another person in the same country is also different simply because of your way of life. You pay for the kind of lifestyle you want to lead and that is no different even in Qatar

Smart Elder Care Technology

How does a sandstorm feel like?

Pix credit: nricafe.com/

A lot of sand

Most people in the world has never experienced a sandstorm. Well, maybe in movies.

But all the high pixel resolution, surround sound and 3D effect will never ever replace the experience of a real sandstorm. So, how often do we get sandstorms in Qatar?

Well, maybe a few small ones a year and a biggie once a year. And then, there is the mother of all sandstorm in 1 April 2015, this year. All old-timers in Qatar will tell you this is the worst sandstorm in living memory.

You get local sandstorm all the time because Qatar is low lying, is windy and there is plenty of sand. The wind is blowing all the time and you see tumbleweeds and small swirling sand storm right outside your door or in the next empty lot. These are local 'storms', harmless and usually die down after a few minutes.

The bigger ones typically originate from a desert in a neighbouring country and travel across borders to reach you. Of course you are on low land and do not see it but satellite or airborne photos will show a sandstorm moving across the land; just as any decent Hollywood movie will depict a sandstorm.

Start of a sandstorm

You feel the sandstorm presence by increased wind velocity, the howling of wind and decreasing visibility. If you are home, you are likely to stay home. If you are already outside, you'll notice a decrease a traffic, more cars turning on their hazard lights, decrease in visibility and basically, sand flying everywhere.

Most of us sit out a sandstorm at home or in the office. Most sandstorms die within a few hours and you step out to find sand everywhere, debris from your neighbours dumped on your doorstep, everything looks sandy or brown and your car coated in dust and fine sand.

The once a year biggie or the mother of all sandstorm we had in 1 April can be quite frightening even if you are at home. 

Mother of all sandstorm

This mother of all sandstorm originated in Saudi Arabia and reached Qatar near midnight. You can hear the howling wind through double-glazed windows and feel the rattle throughout the night. You wake up to find a fine layer of sand within your home, look out of the window to see visibility down to almost five meters and almost unable to open the door past the howling wind and 6 inches of sand dumped against the door.

Many of us received messages that schools and a number of offices are closed. Visibility is almost zero on the road, schools are closed and many flights were diverted. The entire Qatar was almost in a shutdown mode.

Social media went into a frenzy and you read news and watch pictures of a massive sandstorm rolling across the land captured off aerial cameras, of houses and basement carparks dumped with a layer of sand, of zero visibility on the roads, of fire alarms going off mistaking sand for smoke, of aircrafts grounded or diverted at the airport, of massive cleaning up of roads, shops and offices.

This sandstorm was so massive that it travelled all the way to India's West coast and dumped sand there. Qatar was lucky that the storm gathered in the late night and there were no reports of major accidents nor casualties caused by the storm. Had the storm started during the day, it is likely to cause major accidents on the road.

Like earthquake, there are apparently after-sandstorm as well. We continue to have sandstorms for a couple of weeks after that massive sandstorm although they were all of a much smaller scale.

Why am I writing this blog a couple of months after 1 April? Well, we had a small sandstorm these couple of days and the sand outside my door reminded me of that massive storm again.

Welcome to the world of sandstorm.

Top 8 activities to do in Qatar

Relax at the hotel

Relax at the beach

What does one do for entertainment in Qatar? 

Ask a different person and each will have a different story to tell you.

I guess what one sees as entertainment is largely dependent on whether you're a swinging single, an aspiring artiste, a family person, a sporting person, a sociable person or a dead bore.

Here's a list of popular social/entertainment activities; not necessary in any particular order.

#1 Visiting a shopping mall

As much as I say this list is not in any particular order, I think shopping safely takes the No 1 spot by any mean of measure.

Going to the mall seems to be Qatar's residents' favorite activity. At last count, there are 4 large malls that seems to take in half of Qatars' residents every weekend. They are Villagio, CityCentre, Landmark and Hyatt Plaza. In the last 1 year, Ikea and Ezdan Mall join the list of malls.

Shopping malls are where everyone goes to do grocery and household shopping, to watch a movie, to eat at a restaurant, to people-watch, to window shop or simply to kill time. Most malls typically has an anchor supermarket and some has cinemas, bowling alleys and ice skating rinks to bring in the crowd.

Try not to go to a mall after 1 pm on a weekend; it's impossible to find a parking lot. One goes to a mall to relax; not to fight with the next person over parking lots.

#2 Visiting a Hotel

I find it strange but hotels are packed on weekends; both with local residents on staycation and day visitors. There are hardly any tourist and business visitors would likely to have left Qatar on weekends.

Many hotels; especially the 5-star ones offer sport clubs, private beach access, restaurants, spas, boutique shops, hairdressers, swimming pools and many other amenities. Hence, they tend to pack in the Qataris and well-to-do expatriates.

Dress codes are a little loose, so you get to see Bikinis at the pools. Alcohol is served and the weekend brunch and buffets pack the crowds in at US$100 or more per person. Jazz bars, pubs and spas attract alike their niche clients who cannot enjoy them anywhere else in Qatar.

#3 Going to the desert

Going to the desert appeals to certain segment of Qataris and expatriates and you do not fail to see them heading to the desert every weekend especially during the cooler months. They bash the dunes with large 4 wheel drive SUVs, noisy off-road bikes and carts and set up large tents; complete with electrical generators, air-conditioners, water tanks, electric BBQ grills and water mister out in the desert.

#4 Going to the beach

Qatar has some very nice beach complete with clear, unpolluted turquoise sea. You need to drive an hour or so from Doha and some beaches can only be accessed using a 4x4 SUV.

The beaches are packed once the cooler months start with colourful tents lining the popular beaches.

#5 Brunch and dinner buffets

Every restaurant, from the economical to the high-end, is offering some kind of buffet ranging from US$15 to US$150 over the weekends and it never fails to bring in the crowds. Food offering tend not to change nor vary very much but still is adequate for some residents to make it a point to restaurant-hop to add some variety to their weekends.

#6 Parks and playgrounds

Qatar encourages family outings and there are surprisingly a good choice of parks and playgrounds. Some like the Corniche has been around for some time and is popular with families, cyclists, joggers, single men and tourists and is packed even till the late hours.

Newer and larger grounds like the Aspire park, Katara Cultural Centre and the Islamic Museum park come with water features, performance area and even restaurants and never fail to attract families and visitors.

There are also many smaller parks all over Doha city and are always popular especially with families as these parks always tend to have children playgrounds and refreshment kiosks.

#7 Hanging out at a coffee cafe, fruit bar and shisha lounge

There are coffee cafes everywhere and popular in Qatar are Starbucks, Costa Coffee, Coffee Bean, Coffee Culture and a whole host of other similar cafes. Whenever you meet someone for a chat, the appointment is likely to be in a coffee cafe. They open late and are likely to have wifi, sports channels and basic food offering.

I heard about fruit bar when I first came to Qatar. Fruit juice cafes are popular in Qatar and they serve nothing but mixes of fruits; often with exotic cocktail names. I guess the combination of fancy cocktail names and where youngsters can hang out gave rise to the term fruit bar.

Shiha lounge is the other popular outlet for people to hang out especially the expats of Arabic origin. Some Shisha lounge simply serve tea and Shisha, while others are restaurants cum Shisha lounge. The outdoor lounges are particularly popular during the cooler months while the popular indoor lounge seems to pack in the crowd regardless the hour of the day.

#8 Staying at home

You may be surprised but staying at home is popular with a large segment of the population especially during the hot Summer months when temperature goes up to 50C.

You can get everything at home.

Air-conditioning. Satellite TV. 4G internet. Grocery home delivery. Laundry home delivery. Food home delivery. Car wash; home delivered. Why even bother to go out and fight the traffic and crowd?