Exploring Doha, Qatar 3 — Doha Port, National
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- London — Doha Qatar Airways QR16 Flight Report
- Exploring Doha, Qatar — 1
- Exploring Doha, Qatar 2 — Expo 2023
Since there was no events at Expo area at all, I took metro to Souq Waqif to enjoy the night vibe. Souq Waqif (lit “Standing market”) had been Doha’s central market for centuries. After its destruction in a fire in 2006, the souq was renovated with a mix of modern and traditional Qatari architecture.
I first had a cup of chai at this outdoor cafe, while recovering from walking in Expo for the entire afternoon, but the owner said I couldn’t stay more than 20 minutes without ordering a full meal.
I was too tired to have any appetite, so had to get up and keep walking. Souq Waqif is a market for tourists and local people alike. The outer part featured more souvenirs and fancy restaurants, but many stores selling cloth, dry food, and everyday goods to locals could be seen in the buildings. Like the old market in Muscat, Oman, which I visited a year ago, many of the shop owners and workers here were of South Asian origin.
When I explored the souq, a loud rooster crow (and some strong smells) drew my attention. Another category of goods sold in the Waqif were animals — birds and small pet animals that were unfortunately kept within tiny cages. The poor cats and rabbits looked lackluster, bored, idle but not relaxing at all. The poor rooster made some noise once in a while. I wander whether its circadian rhythm was also messed up to crow in the evening?
Inside a bird shop I spotted some 40–50 tiny birds crammed into a cage, a condition that is known to make them aggressive and mad. I was surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands of birds, and their twittering songs. I’d seen pet animals kept in inhumane conditions in Malaysia, Guatemala and some other developing countries. Unfortunately animal rights are still overlooked in many parts of the world.
Alas, Qatar (and many neighboring gulf countries) treats human labors not much better than how they teat birds…..in places harder for tourists to see.
At the time when the Gaza conflict unfolded, many stores had Palestinian flags to show their solitude. Qatar had been a mediator between the West and Hamas for a while; it had stirred controversies by funding the terrorist organization and hosting its leaders even after the attack broke out.
As a tradition I set for myself, I bought a T-shirt with Qatar’s symbol on it. Without much haggle I was able to get a good deal of around $4.
I didn’t really have any appetite for dinner due to exhaustion accumulated so far (In retrospect I was often amazed by how little I ate during many of my travels, easily skipping meals without issues). Initially I planned to just end the night with another cup of chai and some more people-watching, but the kind waiter offered me 2 huge naans for free! Perhaps I really looked like a poor and tired tourist, so I tried to finish the food as much as possible to appreciate his courtesy.
Watching some news on Al Jazeera in its origin, Qatar. Most news were about the recent Israeli troops movements inside the Gaza Strip. It felt as if I, as an audience who was traveling while people suffered, was responsible too. But what could I do?
The next day, I went to explore the area around Souq Waqif again.
The signboards in Qatar (and in Oman) had this pattern —flat signboards with very similar fonts displayed together in a uniform manner. This area looked a bit less touristy, and seemed to cater more to local people (most people around looked South Asian as well). Among a number of stores selling electronics, cell phones and cloths, I saw this big “Kabayan Supermarket,” whose name immediately sounded Filipino to me (in fact, it means “fellow countryman” in Tagalog).
This was indeed a supermarket mainly for Filipino expats here, another important origin of the gulf countries’ labor force, second only to the subcontinent. However the goods here were no way as cheap as I thought it should have been. The prices for instant noodles, for example, were not much different from that in the US. Many fresh foods didn’t seem very affordable to the average salary of expat workers either. Under the exploitation of global capitalism, life is hard everywhere.
There were many Filipino restaurants and butcher shops by the supermarket. I went into one and briefly talked to the waiters there, but the foods there didn’t really look that tasty. So I ended up searching for breakfast in the more touristy Souq Waqif.
This restaurant called “Nablus” looked interesting (it’s the name of a Palestinian city, so I guess it may be opened by Palestinian immigrants?) Unfortunately most of their dishes on the menu were not available for breakfast. So I kept walking through the restaurants selling hamburgers, fries, steaks, and pastas etc….. all very typical and authentic Qatari foods. I really wanted to try something representative of Qatar, so even “the rice and the noodle” was given a pass.
Many traditional Qatari buildings had these wooden poles sticking out, but I am still unsure about their function.
Eventually I decided to just have some fried meat and fries, but with some Middle-Eastern special side dishes to make my dining experience more “authentic”. The waiter was a Filipino guy who was very happy that I knew the name of their capital. After finishing the meal, he led me to the outdoor seats for my special dessert.
The shisha tasted quite light so I kept going, not stopping until I realized I overdid it. Now, tired, jet-legged, allergic and buzzed (one more state added!)), I needed to get my body to the next stop.
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