Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Doha
Hello (: just a short post about Doha! Which I visited quite recently for my sailing competition (:
Okay, so we all know that here in Singapore, Muslim men/boys have to go to the mosque for prayers on Friday, and that’s why they get released early from work/school. Well, in Doha, Friday is like a rest day for everyone. I think that’s because like almost the whole population of people in Doha are Muslims, so they all need to be at the mosque in prayer, thus they cannot run their businesses and do whatever jobs they have to do, that’s why it is sort of an official rest day. In Singapore, Sunday is supposed to be rest day, but in Doha, Friday is their rest day. And their rest day is really a rest day, like the roads have hardly and motor vehicles on it at all, all the shops are closed, and the whole town is very, very quiet.
There are many other Muslim countries in the world, but when I go to Muslim countries such as Malaysia, I don’t recall a totally silent business sector or town every Friday. I think the big difference between Doha and Malaysia, and why in Doha, Friday is an official holiday but in Malaysia it’s not, is because almost the whole population of Doha practice the Muslim religion while in Malaysia, not as big a percentage of the population are Muslims. This is because Malaysia has like Chinese (Malaysian Chinese) as well, and there are always many tourists in Malaysia. Whereas in Doha, there aren’t many tourists, (I mean like you hardly hear anyone telling you that they are going to Doha for holiday right?), so it can afford to have Friday as a rest day as they will hardly be losing business because almost everyone in the country is praying at a mosque.
Yup, and I think Doha is a developing country(?) because almost everywhere I go, there is construction, heavy construction work. However, when we went closer to the city, there were many big, and pretty buildings already constructed. The architectural design was really unique and different from that in Singapore, there was this building which was kind of hour-glassed shaped, and another building made of glass. o.O
One time, when we were on a chartered bus, the bus driver decided he had to pump petrol, so we went to the petrol station. And the coolest thing is that after he pumped the petrol, he just drove off, like without paying. And everyone else seemed to be doing that as well. My teammates and I were like incredulous, we were like, back in Singapore the petrol prices are so high that nobody wants to pump petrol and all our parents are trying their best to cut down on fuel usage, and then we come to Doha and see the people getting free petrol. Yeah, we all know Doha is some filthy rich oil country but still, seriously, not paying for petrol! It’s amazing! And very, very cool (:
Okay, let’s side-track a bit…The roads in Doha have many, many roundabouts. Like the first time after we landed in Doha International Airport, and we went on a bus ride to the hotel, I saw a roundabout, so I decided to take it like as a significant landmark, like to get a better idea of where I am next time. But, over the next few days, when we travelled more often, there were so many roundabouts! Like a lot, a lot, and I got confused because I thought like in Singapore we have so few roundabouts, so I thought a roundabout would be rather rare to find and work as a rather significant landmark. But I only found out later that like for every would-have-been-T-junction-if-Doha-was-Singapore, it was instead a roundabout, so that means that there are hardly any T-junctions in Doha, but instead many roundabouts. Which happens to be the exact opposite of in Singapore.
The dressing of the Doha people is like a white dress robe for the men, and a black robe for women. Both men and women also wear a head dress which covers the top part of their head. For some women who are stricter with their dress code, they even wear a veil covering their face, from their eyes downward. So essentially, only their eyes and a little bit of their forehead can be seen, the rest is covered by a black cloth. I did not manage to get any pictures though. ): but I will upload some pictures from the internet (:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alibarrett/2355299864/
http://southafricansinqatar.netfirms.com/images/pics/saudi_dress.jpg
So, after this trip, I found out that Doha is a very interesting and unique country. At first I just thought it was some desert country, with lots and lots of sand (well, yes, it is a very sandy country), but it’s more than just a desert country. It has a unique culture as well.
sailed the boat at 5:00 AM, lingying(: blogged.