As the host country of FIFA World Cup 2022, the State of Qatar decreed that issuance of regular tourist visas would be suspended for entry into the country from 01 November 2022 to 23 December 2022. Instead, World Cup tickets would serve as entry visas. My wife and I jumped at this singular opportunity to visit our two sons who are working in Doha.
Having secured our World Cup 2022 tickets, Hayya Cards, and Entry Permits, we booked our flights. My penny-pinching wife insisted that we search for the cheapest airline tickets. I had the sneaking suspicion that she wanted to conserve our precious dollars for her shopping sprees later. Keep your powder dry, so to speak. We ended up booking a two-way flight on Emirates Airline, with a 3-hour layover at Dubai International Airport either way and a connecting flight to and from Doha by its sister airline flydubai (yes, it’s all written in lowercase).
(Editors’ Note: The author’s account of his World Cup experience appeared in the February 2023 edition of DATELINE IBALON.)
Beautiful and Modern Infrastructure
We landed at Doha International Airport on 11 November 2022. The first thing that struck me was Doha’s beautiful and modern infrastructure, especially the striking architecture of the buildings. The city’s skyline is dominated by gleaming and iconic skyscrapers of various shapes and sizes. The Zig Zag Towers literally zig-zag their way into the sky. There is the Katara Towers with its curving design inspired by the crossed scimitars on the country’s official seal. This iconic building houses Fairmont Doha, a 5-star luxury hotel overlooking the Arabian Gulf. Many of the buildings, mostly designed by award-winning architecture firms, are lined up along the Corniche, a seven-kilometer promenade overlooking the city’s waterfront. It connects the West Bay business district to the southern part of the city and Doha International Airport.
On the ground, SUVs and 4WDs whiz around newly constructed highways and skyways. There are no tollways in Qatar. The country’s extensive and modern road system is free for public use. At night, the streets are well-lighted. As the world’s largest producer of liquified natural gas (LNG), Qatar enjoys an abundant power supply. Doha is a veritable city of light.
Excellent Transportation System
The state-of-the-art Doha Metro has three lines (Gold, Green, and Red) and 37 stations that connect the major sections of the city. Operational since May 2019, the mostly subterranean rapid mass transit system runs along a 76-kilometer network. The fully automated and driverless trains are clean and spacious and are fully equipped with CCTV and Wi-Fi systems. Passengers can even charge their phones and tablets on USB ports while in transit. The 60-meter trains run every 3 minutes and can cruise at up to 100 kilometers per hour. A passenger can travel the whole length of a line for the equivalent fare of PhP30.00. As World Cup ticket and Hayya Card holders, we were able to use the Metro for free until 23 December 2022.
The well-lighted Metro stations are architectural marvels. Curved forms and illumination are major elements of the design. The exteriors are solid sandstone and the interiors have a mother-of-pearl luster that references the country’s long pearl-diving and trading history. Courteous attendants are everywhere to assist travelers. UNStudio, a Dutch architecture firm, collaborated with Qatar Rail to design the stations.
I could not help but wonder how the Metro Manila subway system that is undergoing construction would compare.
Uber is uber alles in Doha when it comes to going around the city. Karwa Qatar operates taxis, buses, and a premium limousine service.
Food and Dining
Qatar is a huge melting pot. There are 160 nationalities living in the country. The Filipino community is some 250,000 strong. Of the country’s 2.8 million population, only 8% is native Qatari. The multi-ethnic population is reflected in the food and dining scene. There are Turkish, Lebanese, Yemeni, Afghan, Persian, Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Nepalese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, and European restaurants and American fast food chains scattered all over Doha. Not to mention the many local and international hotels.
Being new to Mideastern and South Asian cuisine, we were instantly enamored of Turkish lamb chops, Yemeni lamb haneeth, chicken tikka, beef shawarma, and chicken and lamb kofta, with biryani rice pilaf, naan, and papadam on the side. If you are a pork lover, Qatar is not for you. Islam proscribes the eating of pork.
For dessert, we just love kunafa, a combination of crispy fried kataifi pastry with a creamy filling, doused with lemony sugar syrup, and topped with ground pistachio.
Casual Shopping
The iconic Souq Waqif was our go-to place for dining and casual shopping. It is Qatar’s version of our “Divisoria”, but bigger and more dazzling. Not only are there eateries offering regional delicacies, but the market is also full of shops selling mounds of spices, oud perfumes (“amoy Arabo”), strings of pearls, colorful fabrics, RTWs, hanging lanterns, and artisan crafts. It was here where we bought spices to take home – cardamom, nutmeg, paprika, and black pepper. Nearby is the Gold Souq, where beautiful traditional yellow-gold jewelry is sold. The gold rings, earrings, necklaces, and pendants are famous for their quality craftsmanship. One unique jewelry piece that tourists take home is a pendant with your name engraved in Arabic. Prices are calculated based on the day’s gold market price. So, they can go up and they can go down.
The Gate Mall, City Centre Mall, Mall of Qatar, Lagoona Mall, and Ezdan Mall are some of the many shopping malls scattered around Doha. They turn into shoppers’ paradise when the sale season comes around. Branded items like perfumes, watches, clothes wear, and footwear go on sale at up to 70% discount. Needless to say, that’s where we did most of our shopping.
Luxury Shopping and Living
For luxury shopping, one goes to Place Vendome, Villaggio, and Galleries Lafayette, where the world’s premium brands are sold. These are the places where we simply window-shopped and took in the scene. We noticed that the designer shops were relatively empty. Only some petro-dollars-rich Qataris were seen inside.
The Pearl, a man-made island that rivals Dubai’s The Palm, is where luxurious residential villas and condos, supercar dealerships displaying Ferraris, Bentleys, Rolls-Royces, and Mercedes Benzes, and prestigious designer shops are located. Super yachts are moored in a nearby marina. This is where the young and rich Qatari style set hangs out.
Everyday Living
We spent two months in Doha. Our eldest son Carlo, his wife Ella and son Patrick, and our youngest son Hans were very generous and caring hosts to us.
We tagged along as Carlo and Ella went about their ways of everyday living. My wife Wynz and I especially enjoyed the trips to Lulu Hypermart, Carrefour, and Monoprix where a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, meat and poultry, fish, and groceries that are mostly imported from the Middle East, Europe, Asia, South America, and Africa abounds.
We enjoyed vegetables, fruits, and berries that are either hard to find or expensive in Metro Manila – broccoli, cauliflower, capsicum, aubergine, asparagus, persimmons, pomegranates, grapefruits, aromatic pears, plums, Valencia oranges, blueberries, cranberries, and all kinds of apples and grapes.
Being cheese lovers, we were wide-eyed at the range of cheeses available in the supermarkets. You guessed right, we loaded up on gouda, edam, brie, camembert, and bleu.
Lamb, beef, chicken, sea bass, and salmon are the staples on my son’s dining table. Our meals were either homecooked or delivered from restaurants. Occasionally, we had pork. My son was able to secure a license to buy pork from a special meat shop. Qatar’s government is liberal enough to allow expatriates to buy proscribed items such as pork and alcohol by issuing licenses. We dined at restaurants whenever we fancied it, which was often. On some weekend mornings, we traveled to Ikea for breakfast.
The Qatari Emir’s liberality is reflected in the establishment of a Religious Center where houses of worship of different denominations, Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox, are located. There is a big Catholic church in the Center. The building has no cross on its exterior because public display of the cross is banned. Since Sunday is a work day in Qatar, Wynz and I often heard Mass online. There were two occasions when we heard Mass in person. One was on a Friday evening. Due to some scheduling constraints, the Mass we attended was in Malayalam. Malayalam is a Dravidian language that is widely spoken in the Kerala region of India. I was able to follow the liturgy and responded in English. The other Mass we attended was on Christmas Eve. It was held in a large activity center next to the church and was said in English.
Our grandson Patrick is in his second year at Qatar University. He was granted a full scholarship in exchange for work as a research assistant to a professor. He is studying for a bachelor’s degree in International Affairs. He invited us to visit the QU campus. It is huge and beautiful.
Unfortunately, we were not able to visit the museums and other centers of arts and culture. Wynz was not up to it. When Carlo announced that we were going to tour the National Museum of Qatar and the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA), Wynz demurred, saying that she somewhat felt under the weather. When Ella said that we were going to the malls instead, Wynz immediately rushed to the bathroom to bathe and dress up. Suddenly, the weather went fine. Everybody had a good laugh.
Our visit spanned the months of November, December, and January when the climate is cool. It rarely rains in Qatar. Throughout the duration of our stay, there were only a couple of days when Doha experienced a light drizzle. According to Carlo, the summer months are a different story. The temperature can go as high as the 40’s centigrade. Opening a door or window invites a blast of hot air. People generally stay indoors. Delivery service is done not by motorcycles but by airconditioned cars.
Everywhere we went, there were Filipinos serving as salespersons, cashiers, or healthcare workers. I often heard my daughter-in-law Ella call out in malls, “Ate, meron bang size 6 nito?”, or, “Kuya, magkano ito?” When I needed a haircut, Hans accompanied me to the barber. They don’t call it barber shop, but hair style shop. The barbers were all Filipinos. When my turn came, Hans cautioned me that the barber assigned to me is a Duterte die-hard. Since I am a kakampink, I took care not to engage him in conversation, lest we got into a political discussion. He wielded the razor, not me. But, I must say, he cut my hair nicely.
Filipinos socialize among themselves, often with co-workers. They either take turns hosting parties in their homes, or eat out together. My wife observed that, unlike in the Philippines, she didn’t see any group of “Marites” congregating out in the streets. Of course, only a woman can make such an observation.
All good things must end. 10 January 2023 finally arrived and we heavy-heartedly made our way to Hamad International Airport (HIA). It was named “2021 Best Airport in the World” by aviation rating company Skytrax. It is home to Qatar Airways, also acclaimed by Skytrax as “Best Airline in the World” five times (2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, and 2019). The airport is traveler-friendly with amenities that meet the needs of every type of passenger. We flew out of Doha to Dubai by flydubai for our connecting Emirates Airline flight back to Manila.
I must say that for 60 days, we enjoyed First World living in Qatar, a veritable oasis in the desert.
About the author: RAUL F. BORJAL, “Rolly” to his family and friends, was born in Naga City, Camarines Sur and now lives in Paranaque City, Metro Manila. He is an alumnus of Ateneo de Naga University and Ateneo de Manila University. He held senior executive positions in various domestic and multinational corporations before retiring as vice president and corporate secretary of a Filipino-owned group of companies. He is married to the former Wenifreda D. Parma, a cum laude alumna of AdeNU, with whom he has four children. Rolly is a co-founder and member of the editorial board of DATELINE IBALON.