I was there in April for a couple of days. Apart from the brutal heat obviously, it's quite pleasant and much quieter than Dubai for example. The 'Corniche' is a very pleasant beachfront road surrounded by top hotels (Four Seasons, Sheraton etc..)
It's still quite traditional and conservative (again at least compared to Dubai), but Qatar has a reputation in the region for being somewhat independently-minded on global issues (the Al-Jazeera channel started there for example, and has annoyed many of its neighbours, especially Saudi Arabia). Qatar Airways is a terrific airline meanwhile, and they invested a ton of money in the sports infrastructure for the Asian Games a couple of years ago.
It is arguably the wealthiest country in the world (on a simple per capita basis) given that it has the third largest hydrocarbon reserves in the world after Saudi Arabia and Russia, yet only has a few hundred thousand Qatari citzens.
They are incredibly ambitious, even launching an Olympics bid for 2016 (patently ridiculous but anyhow), and there are a ton of modern buildings going up. They have also just bought a huge stake in Barclays Bank, amongst other Western investments.
Check out details meanwhile of 'The Pearl' development - somewhat similar to developments in Dubai that are also on reclaimed land, but on a far larger scale. http://www.thepearlqatar.com/
I have an English friend that lives there and apparently the locals turn a blind eye to expats and their pork-eating and beer-guzzling behaviour! Talal el Karkouri lives there too as you may recall.
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I am moving to kuwait end of August, with the family coming end of the year.
I will be visitng Qatar and the surrounding gulf states a fair bit.
I would suggest you get the book, Qatar Explorer it will tell you everything you will need to know (i have the kuwait version).
As Kuwait is a dry country no doubt I will be popping over the boader for a few beers!
It's still quite traditional and conservative (again at least compared to Dubai), but Qatar has a reputation in the region for being somewhat independently-minded on global issues (the Al-Jazeera channel started there for example, and has annoyed many of its neighbours, especially Saudi Arabia). Qatar Airways is a terrific airline meanwhile, and they invested a ton of money in the sports infrastructure for the Asian Games a couple of years ago.
It is arguably the wealthiest country in the world (on a simple per capita basis) given that it has the third largest hydrocarbon reserves in the world after Saudi Arabia and Russia, yet only has a few hundred thousand Qatari citzens.
They are incredibly ambitious, even launching an Olympics bid for 2016 (patently ridiculous but anyhow), and there are a ton of modern buildings going up. They have also just bought a huge stake in Barclays Bank, amongst other Western investments.
Check out details meanwhile of 'The Pearl' development - somewhat similar to developments in Dubai that are also on reclaimed land, but on a far larger scale. http://www.thepearlqatar.com/
I have an English friend that lives there and apparently the locals turn a blind eye to expats and their pork-eating and beer-guzzling behaviour! Talal el Karkouri lives there too as you may recall.
Oil it makes the world go round please use more.