I just got off my flight on Qatar Airways from London to Doha and will save my thoughts on the actual flight for the trip report. This is my first trip to the Middle East (great timing, eh?), so it’s a whole new world for me. I remember the first time I went to Asia,…
Continue reading: My first real exposure to the Middle East
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Doha indeed looks a bit boring. Curious how they will entertain the WC crowd in 2022. Having been to Dubai twice, in can concur with your opinion that the ME is very modern, but mostly the rich in the big cities who have travelled alot and can buy western stuff.
Very interesting regarding everyone's change of clothes -- cant wait for the full trip report and pics!
Great report! Keep up the great work! So I think Middle East also has its uniqueness as there is "old" and "new." Dubai has a very different feel than say a Cairo or Jordan. Enjoy the trip!
Loved the story.
That said, the Gulf States are *totally* different from the rest of the ME. Qatar, Bahrain, UAE and Kuwait are predominantly non-Arab: tons of Asian guest workers. Syria and Yemen in particular, and Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Oman to a lesser extent, have what strikes me as the particular Arab feel.
Nice story!
Its very common for wealthy Middle Easterns to dress in Western clothing upon departure, and then change into tradition ME clothes prior to landing back in their region.
If one is close friends with a member of a royal family. You can call them by their first name outside of their country, but within their home state you must address them by full or partial title always!
This is one of the paradoxes of life as a member of the wealthy elite in the Middle East: Islamic standards of conduct and dress aim to de-objectify women in the eyes of men, and yet the way these girls dress (and sometimes comport themselves) in the West puts some of my more libertine friends in Beverly Hills to shame. It's an interesting reflection that confirms my suspicion that there really is one universal human nature, and it just happens to find expression in different ways, conditioned by cultural circumstance. (I remember reading a really interesting in the Atlantic Monthly on homosexuality in Saudi Arabia recently -- the Kingdom in the Closet or something.)
Anyway, the worst is when the women buy up everything in sight at Chanel and Dior on the Rue Royale/Rue Saint-Honoré in Paris while still wearing the niqab (and paying cash). Do they not realize that conspicuous consumption ("la consommation ostentatoire") is meant to draw attention to yourself?
This is why we need more people to support Obama. These crazy oil people are out of control and need to be stopped and Obama saw this from day one. All they want is money, riches, and control. Profit are everything to them and all they think about is oil. This is why Obama's moves to stop drilling and drive pil prices high is the right thing to do. These rich people need the price of their product so high that no one can buy it and then their fortunes will crumble.
Great report so far- color me jealous regarding the Krug!
Keep it up- can't wait to see pictures of the Royal Suite
I've never been to Doha so I'm looking forward to your complete review. Have a fantastic trip!
I really don't understand why Qatar is not keeping first class, at least on London and Paris flights. Any time I've flown LHR-DOH, the first class cabin has been full. Amusingly, I flew back on one of the flights that have been switched from 3-class A340-600 to two-class 777-300ER (albeit with an enhanced business class) - half the people on the minibus I took from the premium terminal to the aircraft were moaning about being bumped out of first.