Visit to the Middle East: A Tale of Two Cities

So how would I sum up my very first visit to the Middle East? I can only say, that it was a visit to two cities which are very different in nature and character.

If Dubai were a company, it would be Richard Branson's Virgin Group. It is audacious and innovative in the projects they are implementing. Besides the highly publicised "The World", ie the islands being reclaimed in the form of the world, there is also the famous 7-Star Hotel, The Sail, and the ski slope in the middle of the Mall of the Emirates. Yes, a ski slope in the middle of the desert! The people here say that, any thing is possible. They believe it because they have seen it happen.

Doha, on the other hand, is like a stable MNC making considered, deliberate moves, one step at a time. Perhaps it is like Shell? It is also growing, but at a less frentic rate than Dubai. And it is more planned in nature. They are also (I think) aiming to fill a different niche than Dubai. Instead of a ski slope, they are building a Museum of Islamic Art. The other big difference is that Qatar has large resources of LNG whilst Dubai does not. So they can afford to take the time to plan, and have a longer lead time to see investments in their economy bear fruit. Dubai, on the other hand, has had to diversify quickly.

So which city will eventually grow faster, or become the shining city of the Middle East, the entrepreneur or the strategic planner? That's something only time will tell. Inshallah, both will prosper, grow and contribute to peace and stability in the Middle East.

Dubai: Desert Wanderings

We were making only a short stop in Dubai but everyone had told me beforehand that a Must Do was to take the desert safari. Safari may be a bit of a misnomer; the adventure consisted of a drive up and down the dunes, followed by a pit stop at a compound in the conservation area where we had dinner and watched a belly dancer perform. There was an option to take a very short camel ride; aside from that the only live animals in sight were two big birds (turkeys? They ran off before I could take a good look).

How can one describe the desert? When we first arrived, it was about 3pm and the sun was blazing in the sky and reflecting off the sand. The wind swept the tops of the dunes - blurring the sharp lines of the ridges in my photos. So I needed my sunglasses both to shade my eyes and protect them from the flying sand.

We set off in our land rover to do our dune-bashing. Up and down, and around the slopes of the dunes we went. Jerky, jumpy, there were some uneasy moments especially when we saw other land rovers had gotten stuck in the sand or had problems in getting round the dunes. Fortunately our driver (Nasser) tackled the dunes aggressively and got us over without any difficulties. We stopped at a point in the middle of the dunes to take photos. Changing and unchanging, one dune looks very much like another but somehow as the wind blows, as the shadows shift with the setting sun, the landscape does seem to shift. On first impression, it appears to be two distinct types of sand, one yellow and finer and one redder and a little coarser. So the colours of the dunes seem to shift as well depending on which type of sand is more apparent.

We arrived at the camp for dinner and the bellydance after our dune bashing session. It was somewhat anticlimatic. There was a very short camel ride (one small round) and then we were invited to smoke hashish, wear Arab robes, or get a henna painting on our hand. This was followed by dinner and a performance by a belly dancer. Here, I am sorry to say that the gentlemen in our party held back and did not go near the belly dancer at all. They were reluctant to become the audience participants in her routine. The good sports who took up her challenge were (some of them) most capable. There was this Indian gentleman who really had the moves. I am not sure that what he was doing was the belly dance but he definitely had style. Reminded me of my Indian classmate who persisted in doing what I call the bangra-cha. By the way, there is a video of the belly dance on my Multiply site. I think it does her more justice than does this picture. Its the motion which is important after all.

People I meet here in Dubai tell me that they go out into the desert every now and then, to think and to reflect. I seem to remember reading somewhere that Pierre Wack, one of the early scenario planners, also believed in going to the desert to think. Hmmm.... I must admit that I have not had much opportunity to reflect today. Perhaps an overnighter would be better.

On another note, I recall a silly story which someone told me during our visit to the Middle East. A man went into the desert and got lost. So he walked and walked looking for civilisation and looking for water. Finally he found an oasis and there was an Arab there in traditional clothes with a tie rack next to him. The man said, "I need a drink of water"! And the Arab said, "you need to buy a tie". The man said, "I need a drink of water! I don't need a tie!" And the Arab said, "You need a tie". The man gave it up as a bad job and went on his way. He got to another oasis and there was another Arab man wearing a tuxedo and with a huge bar behind him. The man said, "I need a drink of water!" And the Arab said, "Sure, we have water, we also have coke, sprite, margaritas, etc etc. But there is a dress code - you need a tie."

Anyone want to hazard a guess as to the moral of the story?

Qatar - Taking Off

In Arab culture, it is polite to accept the hospitality offered - so whenever we have visited an organisation here, we have been asking for mint tea. Here, tea is served not with milk or lemon (though both are typically available), but with mint. The hotel buffet served the mint leaves in a little glass bowl on the side of the hot water dispenser and tea bags. At other places, the mint leaves are cut up finely and a strainer used to prevent the leaves from entering the cup. Either way, the sweet, hot, mint-flavoured tea, is both refreshing and invigorating to drink. Traditional Arab hospitality in modern buildings.

Qatar is modernising at a rapid rate. New buildings are coming up rapidly especially in the downtown area, and UK and US brands can be found in its spanking new shopping centres. In fact, we were (or maybe I was) most excited to find Applebees in the City Centre shopping centre. [Applebees is a US chain which has got excellent desserts, including my favourite Maple Butter Blondie, or a white chocolate brownie with a scoop of ice cream on top and maple butter poured all over.]

How far are the changes external, and how far have they changed the way of life of Qataris? There has not been substantial change in the way people dress. Men are in their long white robes and white/red-and-white checked headgear. The long robes are crisply ironed and immaculately white. Makers of detergent, bleach products must see this as a major market. Women on the other hand wear black, and their robes are made of soft flowing material. Whilst everyone covers their heads, some wear the veil over everything except their eyes and a few cover their heads completely. But I am told that 15 years ago, women would not have been allowed to drive. Today, they can be seen behind the wheel on the roads.

Incidentally, talking about driving, Qatar was the first country I'd ever been in where I could not read the car numbers. They are in Arabic, appropriately enough given that I believe the Arab numerals were the basis for the modern numbering system anyway. The "normal" numerals are included in a smaller font size, just below the Arabic numbers.

Al Jazeera is perhaps another sign of how Qatar is changing. The station has just launched a new English channel, in addition to its well-known Arabic channel. Of course it is not possible for me to make a comparison between the English and Arabic channel content. But the English channel was indeed far from what I had anticipated Al Jazeera to be. First, it seems to be a strange mix between CNN and BBC. Whilst I did not have many opportunities to watch the English channel, the coverage appeared to be on developing countries and development issues. There were features on crime in Guatemala, Siberian tigers in China, poor farmers in Kenya. Plus a feature on Saddam Hussein. I thought the coverage fairly balanced and objective; but obviously the fact that it covers developing country issues shows its editorial direction. Al Jazeera broadcasts out of a number of countries now, not just Qatar. In fact it broadcasts out of KL! But of course we in Singapore don't get it on cable. (I was to be quite disappointed in Dubai when I realised that I couldn't watch Al Jazeera in the hotel there).

The changes in Doha can also be seen in its downtown area. We were staying in perhaps a more sedate part of the city. But I had dinner with an ex-colleague down at Signal Ramada and realised that it was a far more exciting part of town, at least at night. There were two or three strips of restaurants including the Beijing Great Wall restaurant, Le Notre Restaurant, Pondarosa and Chilis'. Prices are not cheap but at least there are some places to meet up for dinner at.

On our last day in Doha, we finally found some time to go to the Corniche. It was a short visit and perhaps not to the most picturesque point of the waterfront. We did not see the old dhows, the traditional boats which used to ply the waters. Rather, a large container ship, small modern sailing boats and the occasional sight of an aeroplane flying ahead were the order of the day. The city skyline could also be seen from where we were. But at least the water was bright blue in colour and there was not a cloud in the sky.

We flew off from Doha on 24 Jan, after 5 quick days here. Next stop: Dubai!

Journey to the Middle East - Qatar

We arrived in Qatar on 20 Jan, on a work trip. It is the first time I have been in the Middle East and thus this visit was indeed much anticipated.

Our first morning was spent mostly in the hotel - settling in. We were staying at the Doha Marriot and our rooms overlooked the bright blue waters of the waterfront, called the Corniche. The Marriot is a modern hotel but it is telling that our car had to manoeuvre roadblocks and that we had to go through a metal detector upon our entry into the hotel. One of our party was also not too reassuring when she informed us that her hotel in Jordan had been bombed two weeks after her stay. In fact, when I got back to Singapore there was a report of a suicide bomber attacking the Marriot in Pakistan. Thank God we had a safe stay at the Marriot and in our whole time in Doha and Dubai.

After lunch, we spent the hot afternoon hours in one of the newer shopping centres of Doha- Landmark. It was interesting to see the mingling of US and UK High Street brands. There was Marks & Spencers, Zara and Mango, Mexx and many food chains such as Dairy Queen, Starbucks, Pizza Hut etc. The amusing thing about the clothes was the slightly different range offered - more long flowing skirts and caftan-type tops then one would get in Singapore :-) Guess this is what the women wear beneath their black robes. Sales people were largely foreigners - Filipinas mostly. There was also a decent supermarket in the building, with an aisle dedicated to international foods - Japanese, Thai and Filipino. Just goes to show what a large foreign population there is in Doha. What was really interesting was the large collection of sweet stuff including a goodly range of chewing gum.


After Landmark, we visited Souk Waqif, a more "traditional" shopping area. However, it had been newly renovated and hence had this slight air of unreality about it. The Souk is essentially a series of shops on either side of a wide pedestrian mall. The shops on either side of the mall were selling crafts, leather - there was also a fruit and nut shop. We went in the shop and there too was a large selection of chewing gum. Well, they certainly are attuned to the Singaporean market :-) Behind the first row of shops is a labyrinth of corridors with smaller shops; there were different sections for food, spices, hardware, etc. I liked the spice area best - their fragrant aroma wafted out of the shops and filled the air. However, the Souk was fairly quiet - wonder whether we were there at the right time? It was late afternoon but we were told that the Qataris generally come out in the later part of the evening. The merchants were not terribly excited about our presence either. Perhaps they recognised that the likelihood of making a sale was low.

Dinner was at Bukhara, a North Indian restaurant. Now I have been to Bukhara both in Delhi and in Hongkong. Perhaps it is a chain but the Delhi and Hongkong restaurants were both in the Sheraton Hotel whereas this one was standalone.

In general, it was a quiet day.