Educational Content Producer
So it goes on… wanted to check the web site for the French Photo magazine (www.photo.fr) and it is BLOCKED by the government!!
Quick fact – Qatar is the country that has the most natural gas in the world… even more than Russia. By 2010 they expect to have tapped into these reserves and be the world leaders in natural gas. They are currently building 70… yes 70 processing plants at the moment.
To start off I must say that I am glad to leave Doha… the prices here are absurd!
I had one clean t-shirt left in my bag so I had to do laundry. I searched town for a laundry but found none. Had to do it at the hotel. Came out to be USD 100!!!!! I complained and all I got was that I should have asked before hand.
Then at the the airport my bike was in excess weight… fine… it was 25kg over the 30kg allowance. Turns out that I would have to pay USD 500!!!!! I complained and complained saying that I did not have to pay anything to come to Qatar – mind you – it is the same ticket!! Paris to Hong Kong via Doha. They reduced it to 10kg of excess leaving me without an option but pay USD 325!!! And hey were pissed off that I was complaining.
At least the WiFi is free here at the airport. Ufff…
So… drove around some more and went to a fort about 20km outside of Doha called Umm Salal Mohammed Fort – as per the guide’s description it was built during the late 19th century and has high thick walls and an “impressive” facade. “Inside the fort, you will find several examples of architectural and decorative elements.”
Well… couldn’t go inside anywhere.
In any case, took some more pictures of all the construction that is going on around town. Very impressed by how much of it is going on… I also lost track of how many bridges are already erected with no roads on either side.
Here are the pictures:
Tonight is going to be another hassle… have to check out of the hotel at 4pm… could be worse – a 12pm check out – and then hang around waiting for my flight which leaves at 1am!! Guess I am going to be able to finish my book “Guns, Germs, and Steel – The Fates of Human Societies” by Jarred Diamond. An interesting account of how agriculture, language, politics, and the spread of civilization occurred in the world, focusing on why it developed faster in some areas and not in others.