Picture source: http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/asia/qa.htmThat plan fell through as he had to work over the weekend as well and so I ended up spending quite some time in one of the malls. You shouldn't really go sightseeing in the Gulf region without having a look at their malls - not only are most of them quite extraordinary, they have also become an integral part of the culture as hordes of locals (and expatriates alike) flock to the malls on Thursday and Friday evenings for dinner, shopping and entertainment (this is true for Kuwait as it is for Dubai and Qatar - and I am sure the rest of the Gulf as well). I wrote about some of the malls in Dubai in my previous post Mall-O-Mania.
The Villaggio Mall on the outskirts of Doha has really made an effort to stand out from the rest of the malls: according to their website the aim has been "to transport every visitor to an Italian village by the sea". Throughout one end of the mall runs a canal with gondolas resembling Florence, Italy. Although the canal isn't too long, I saw a lot of families taking a ride - the gondolier had an easy time as the gondolas actually have motors and sail smoothly through the water - no need for rowing (and no singing either).
They have painted the ceiling a sky-blue with clouds to give the imagination of being outdoors in a real Venetian canal...
(Villaggio Mall, Doha, Qatar - the lagoon at one end of the canal and the tip of a gondola waiting for passengers to be sailed under the blue sky with clouds to the other end of the canal)
(Lagoon at one end of the canal - the decor built resembling houses along the canals)
Adding to the experience, they have constructed the mall in a way that it is possible to experience all the different times of day - from broad day light to sunset and night time with lit streetlamps. I personally found it a bit annoying as the bluish light used to make the 'night time experience' is hard on the eyes and because I find the lack of light/day light quite depressing but it also made me think that maybe it's just a cultural thing: when I feel the light change from day to night an instinct tells me it's time to go home because it's getting dark and the day is over. If you expose me to late afternoon/evening light in a mall I am less likely to start shopping and more likely to think about going home.
However, in this part of the world where the days can get unbearably hot, it is quite normal to wait until darkness to go out - actually the busiest times of week are Thursday and Friday evenings from around when the sun sets to about midnight or 1 am. Families (including their young children) as well as young people will go out for dinner, coffee & cake, walks along the beach, meet up with friends or have fun in the malls. In that sense I suppose that the lighting might actually attract people to come into the mall during the day - although for me it had the opposite effect. Quite interesting how the place we grow up affects the way we react to different lighting.
(Section of Villaggio Mall - with the street lamps on and some bluish light resembling night time - although the 'sky' is still blue)
(Another section of Villaggio Mall - with international luxury brands and a Porche on display)
Of course the mall has an Olympic sized ice skating rink as well and lots of restaurants, cafés, cinema and an amusement park. I didn't actually go there myself but K says that they had a proper roller-coaster in there!
As I said before, because the malls have become such a big part of life in the Gulf, it is also a great place for people watching and for an insight into the lifestyle of that particular country.
What quite surprised me was that in many ways Qatar seems to be more conservative or more traditional than Kuwait (which is already considered conservative compared to Dubai for example). In Kuwait the shops are not required to close during the 5 daily prayer times - or for the big Friday prayer. They just have to turn off the music so that the calls for prayer can be heard without interruption. In Qatar, however, the shops in this mall (and I would assume in the rest of Doha as well) are required to close for an hour on Friday - from 11.30 to 12.30 in honor of the Friday prayer (the most important prayer of the week for the Muslims).
I was also quite surprised to see that more Qataris seem to dress traditionally (this is of course just my observations) - even the very young boys mostly wear the dishdasha (also known as thobe - the long, white shirt-like robe I have mentioned before - see the picture below) and many of them the ghutrah (head scarf) and aqal (black rings holding the scarf in place) as well - this is not to say that they don't in Kuwait but it is more common to see the younger boys wear western clothes until they reach early puberty (and many continue to wear western clothes even when they are grown up).
While women in both countries generally wear the black abbaya (the long black long-sleeved 'coat') and the hijab (headscarf - typically black and matching any pattern on the abbaya) there were quite a lot of the Qataris that covered not just the hair but the whole face - not by wearing the usual niqab (piece of black cloth that covers the mouth and nose) but by pulling one end of their black headscarf down over their face to completely cover it - a method I had not seen elsewhere.
(The white long shirt is dishdasha, the head scarf is ghutrah and the black rings holding the head scarf in place is agal. The dishdasha comes in many different shades of white (and occasionally darker colors in winter) and the head scarf is typically white or red and white (there is a guy in the background wearing it but he can almost not be seen). The dishdasha is worn over white cotton trousers as the man in the foreground kindly shows...)
Picture source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_the_Arab_States_of_the_Persian_Gulf#Dress
(To the left an abbaya which can be plain black or with more or less elaborate decorations. In the middle the hijab - the black veil usually used to cover the hair and neck. To the right a type of niqab used to cover the nose and mouth. There is another type as well that only leaves a small crack for the eyes but this one is the one I most often see here)
Picture source: Wikipedia and http://www.hijabnow.com/webshop/images/Golden-border-abaya.jpg
Before this turns into a post about clothing in the Gulf region let me return to the topic of how I was surprised to see the closing of stores for Friday prayer and the more conservative clothing. The reason why I was surprised about these things is that I had heard the rumors that Qatar wants to be the next Dubai, because they have hosted big international events like the Asian Games 2006 and are bidding for the soccer World Cup 2022, because they are home to the controversial Al Jazeera television station and because alcohol is served (in a limited number of locations). I thought these things meant that it was a less conservative society - but it seems I was wrong. It is always nice to get one's perceptions challenged.
Speaking of alcohol, it is actually a quite strange set-up. You will not find regular stand-alone bars/pubs or nightclubs in the city of Doha, rather it is some of the hotel bars that have got a liquor license (I believe resident expats are allowed to buy and consume alcohol at home as well) and alcohol is also sold at the airport. I don't know if pork is available as well - as it is in Dubai. In Dubai the alcohol is surely intended for the non-Muslim expatriate population and of course all the tourists but I have seen local Emirati enter those bars with no problems - I guess it is left up to them and their own conscience whether they choose to drink or not. In Qatar it is different, though, as you need to show your passport if you want to enter one of the places that serve alcohol (regardless of whether you actually order any or just sit there for a cup of tea or to get some food). Not only do you show your ID they also take a photocopy of it at the door of the hotel bar - in order afterward to be able to prove that they have not let any Qatari nationals into the place (I know for sure that Qatari women are not allowed to enter but am not sure if they let Qatari men in).
I went with K to a nice hotel bar at La Cigale hotel - it is a really nice outdoor lounge area located on the 15th floor with beautiful views of the Doha skyline. I felt like a criminal when I had to show my passport and have a copy of it taken but it is more strange to imagine what it must be like for the Qataris. I am not saying they would like to enter the bars in order to drink alcohol but just think about it for a second - how weird is it that there are places in your own country, in your own city that you are not allowed to enter because you are a national of that country? I can't imagine that there would be a place in my home country where I was not welcome because I was not a foreigner. Apart from the psychological feeling of being unwelcome in your own country I imagine the awkwardness for Qataris who have expat friends but cannot go with them to the bars - or who have business visitors from abroad and can't meet them at the hotel bar (as I said - not even if they just have a non-alcoholic drink). 'Mr./Mrs. Western businessman/woman welcome to my country, I look forward to doing business with you and to see you tonight for dinner. Just for your information we will have to eat at a local restaurant with no liquor license and no, I cannot meet you at the hotel bar for a quick chat and to pick you up as I am not allowed in!'
(View of the Doha city skyline from the 15th floor of La Cigale)
I will be uploading more pictures from my sightseeing in Doha soon.
Another interesting experience; thanks for the insight :-) A theory on the "not-serving-alcohol-for-locals" (Ezels): Slleing alcohol (and earning money from it) to another muslim - the earnings would be haram, whereas selling it to someone who is "allowed" to drink it (at least not leading the person to do the deed as it is supposedly a normal thing for that person) would be ok. That should explain why it is not allowed (or wished) to sell to locals. As to why any local people isn't allowed into the bar ... well ... that I can't see an explanation for (unless it's to avoid them taking a sip from the neighbouring drink) ;-)
ReplyDelete