Qatar: Inside the Land of Oil, Football, and Unbelievable Luxury | Tech, Money, and Shopping
Friends, we're in Qatar, one of the richest countries in the world. Qatar ranks 4th in the world in terms of GDP and 2nd in terms of national income per person. Artificial islands are being built here, and skyscrapers appear in the middle of the desert. They held the most expensive football world championship and are striving to be known as new Dubai.
Just recently, it was only a village of pearl divers, and now it's a large political and economic center. Let's see if everything is that good in Qatar and find out where all these miracles came from. Insane luxury. They made the most complex lattice out of stone.
We were kicked out of the luxury car. You can sit here and watch. And modern slavery. - The average salary is 1000 riyals per month.
- We thought that when we come here, we'll do something so that we can help them back. But since we came here, we have never saved even a dollar to send back to my country. Arab traditions and European landscaping.
It's just like in Europe! The only problem is that it looks like a decoration. There is no tram, there's bike parking, but there are no bikes. The bus stop is a luxurious pavilion. Voila! Air con doesn't work. There we go. It's hot here
and it smells of urine. Gorgeous architecture and empty cities. The only person that lives here is the guard.
Welcome to Qatar, a country of contrasts and a lot of money. They can still make more bans. I am now at Doha International Airport. Opening was planned for 2008, but construction continued until 2014. And this is one of the best airports in the world. According to various ratings, it competes with Singapore Changi Airport.
And sometimes even wins. Let's see what the Qataris have built here. It's beautiful, spacious, and there are a lot of people. By the way, Doha Airport competes not only with Singapore for the title of the best airport, but also with Dubai Airport as the main transit hub in this region. And people who fly to Asia from Europe often have a transfer here. By the way, just like in Dubai, sometimes it's nice to opt for a long transfer to go out to the city and enjoy a day out.
And it's the same here, in Qatar. If you fly via this country, you can also opt for a long transfer, to go out to the city and see all the local miracles. When you're filming a video here it's important not to bump into some passenger. Because there are a lot of them here. And there's also a huge number of shops here.
You can even buy an iPhone! There's a craze for gold here. Before departure, people buy gold. The queue's as big as it normally is for sandwishes or something. But no, they sell gold jewelry here. Also at Doha Airport there's this unusual playground for children. This is a sculpture of the famous New York sculptor: Tom Otterness.
He has a very distinct style. He sculpts people in lots of differents sizes. From giant sculptures to tiny figurines. There are a lot of his works in New York. Tiny scultures hide in subways, and there are also some in public parks. And here at Doha Airport there's such a playground.
It's metal. And here are the characteristic features of his work. First we see a giant man, that makes up slides and ladders.
And here in the corners there are these tiny people. And they are hiding everywhere. There's a giant person lying here. And here are these small passengers with suitcases. It's amazing! A combo of two great things: Children will play and have fun before the flight and sleep better on a plane, and adults can admire this amazing modern sculpture. And now we're going to explore Doha itself.
Well, its new suburb, to be precise. The architects of Lusail decided not just to cool the buildings, but also the streets. I think they're planning to lay pipes with cold water underground. There's also a pneumatic garbage collection system here.
That very fashionable and expensive one, when you throw garbage into a bin and it goes straight to the distribution station. It is believed that with the help of such a system the city is getting rid of bins and containers and therefore there'll be less litter scattered along the streets. They also want to clean sewage water here and then use it for watering plants. There will also be eco-transport here that'll run on solar energy. And there'll be a small metro here. It should be lovely.
But so far, it's all still being constructed. Nothing is ready yet. These two main Lusailian skyscrapers are empty. The people who live here, are and odd few workers that run round building stuff, and security guards. But what you have to understand about all htis smart cities, is that almost every month one or another country announces thier ambitious project of building a smart city. Everything is always eco-friendly, very energy-efficient, and sustainable to attract investors' money.
Unfortunately, it's rare that any of these projects are completed. And even more so, rarely do they look like what's been promised to the investors. It's worth remembering the smart super-futurustic city which was built not far from the capital of the Abu Dhabi emirate. They drew some futuristic pictures, and built the central core, but none of the miracles they promised came true. I think, in the end, this will just be an area with office buildings, with some kind of housing, cafes and restaurants. The only question is when it'll happen.
Because, the Qataris have built so many real estate projects, including commercial and residential properties, hotels, and everything else, for the World Cup that it seems to me that it'll take more than a decade before they actually start using it. Or they'll need to somehow change the policy of the county. For example, like Dubai did, when it became more democratic, more open, so that foreigners come there, and feel more comfortable. For example, in Qatar there are still quite strict prohibitions in terms of alcohol and entertainment. And they don't seem to be keen to lift them. And without this, for Western tourists, for people with a different mindset, Dubai is more attractive.
People usually say that in Dibai there's more entertainment, more freedom, it's more pleasant, but Qatar is very calm, and is better for a stable and calm family life. Sunshades from the heat. They're perfect in the local weather. That's interesting. As you can see, there's not a single person here. It's completely empty.
There probably should be a fountain here. Here is a sign, 'I love Qatar'. The only person here is the guard, who sits here, scratching his heel. Everything is empty.
Yes, there's construction going on. Perhaps they'll complete is someday. But now everything's still closed. But during the World Cup it was a very lively boulevard. There were many football fans here. There were different flags.
And here are the tram tracks. Not that there are tram tracks, but no trams run here yet. Perhaps someday there'll be a tram here. Trees will grow.
Shops will open. All these buildings will be open. These fountains will probably also work.
Remember I told you that they promised pneumatic garbage system here? Looks like an ordinary bin to me. They're lying! Maybe it exists somehwere. But I've not seen it yet. Here's another bin. It's branded.
But it's an ordinary bin. You need to go to Finland for pneumatic garbage pipes. They have them there.
Toilets. I don't know what this means. How do I translate it? Maybe... Typical toilets? Maybe they mean there aren't any accessible toilets or something? But yeah, there are toilets.
- Some sort of toilets, yeah. This is interesting. Someone is trying to do business here. It's some sort of a cafe, but there's not a single person inside. This is all decor.
This is not real. This is fake! Do not touch. This is for Christmas. Look, here we have some routes. We are here! We can go there.
There's a stadiun. How beautiful! I'm sure someday, they'll finish building it all. What's cool is that they created a unique design code for this area, all of street furniture, infrastructure...
For example, even road signs. you see, they have the logo of this area on them. Here are the road signs, and it says Lusail on them. It's good, that it's empty! You can cross the road anywhere you like! I hope I won't be fined for it. Manholes. And again, we see both the pattern and the logo of the area.
We have to wait for trams to start running here. And here's a special guard, who apparently makes sure that no one enters the non-working metro. There are more tram tracks here. Look how beautiful.
Let's see where can we go on this tram. I don't understand. And this is what the tram stop looks like. There are separate waiting rooms here.
With air-con in. One is for men and another one is for families. Behind me is a board with prohibitions on this embankment. Let's take a look. On the embankment you can't have open fire, you can't litter, touch any electrical stuff, pick plants. No motorcycles, no bicycles on the walkways. You can't set up tents, you can't smoke shisha...
No commercial vending, no pets allowed. No swimming... You can't feed the animals. The signs contradict each other. If there are no pets here, then who can't you feed? It's not clear. You can't dive into the water, you can't make noise, you can't climb on rocks, you can't fish, you can't ski... Wow.
You can't feed fish. So, fish is not an animal. You need to dress decently. No commercial video allowed. You can't skate, you need to look after your children. They monitor everything on CCTV. They've mentioned you can't skate, but just in case, they've added that no rollerblades are allowed too.
Any violations shall be punished by law, and they also left some blanks spaces... They haven't thought of any other rules, but left some space to intoduce new bans later. What did they forget? They forgot to ban smoking and throwing out cigarette buds. That's why people use this stand as an ashtray. That was an amazing stand listing bans. Well, we are on the Qatar embankment.
It's beautiful here. There are these amazing bins. The street lights on the sidewalks are quite interesting here.
They look like a sky full of stars. So, in some places, especially near the benches, there are these scattered lights, which look like stars. An offender! Stop! Where are you going on your bike? There was a sign saying that this isn't allowed! Just now, literally in front of my eyes, an offender cycled by, and broke the rules of this embankment. But security guards are keeping order here.
Remains of the World Cup. There are still decorations in the city. The embankment is quite nice. And they also have, these stylish benches. There is a backlight underneath, and the benches themselves are in such a cosmic design. The only thing is that initially they were all chrome, but now, in some places they're still chrome, but in others the colour has faded.
Oh, there's a cycling lane there. Nice. To be honest, public spaces here are more pleasant than in Dubai. They look like a city. There is a place to walk.
Because in Dubai, you can't go anywhere without a car. Here's an entrance to one of the underground stations. In terms of design, the subway is very similar to the Dubai one. Behind me is one of the most famous buildings in Doha.
Katara Towers. There are two towers there, with an expensive hotel in each of them. And for some unknown reason, these two very mediocre and scary towers in terms of architecture, they became a symbol of Doha. Everyone takes pictures with them.
They are in all the ratings of the most amazing skyscrapers. Though I don't understand what's amazing about them. In my opinion, they look very scary. I wouldn't even take pictures of them, if I haven't accidentally noticed that they're listed in the ratings as an architectural landmark. In terms of architecture, they belong to a SimCity. They belong in a computer game.
I realised what it reminds me of! It's that main tower from Sauron's Mordor. But double of that. This is what the architects were inspired by. Maybe that's why everyone likes it.
So that the eye of Sauron does not notice how we criticize Qatar architecture, let's move on. What do we have here? We have exhibits of the automobile museum here. They are right on the embankment.
And in Qatar, like in Dubai, they know a lot about luxury, so they use old cars as decorations on the embankment. They look beautiful. They're not the most expensive cars, and many aren't in their best condition, but there are quite a lot of them. Here is Chevrolet. It looks nice.
There's something else here. I don't know what that is. Looks just like Cuba. And these are the restaurants where they serve alcohol.
They made such a small reservation here to show what Qatar is capable of. Here's another beautiful vintage car. So, what is interesting about it all? As you understand, alcohol is prohibited in Qatar. But they issue licenses to some restaurants.
Basically, these are mostly the restaurants that are in hotels. But here, on these embankment, there are also a few restaurants with licenses. They're all lined up here. And they do it, to demonstrate what Qatar looks like today. What's interesting, is that during the World Cup some of the restaurants that don't serve alcohol today, were serving it back then, during the championship.
Because they eased the rules for the World Cup, some of these restaurants used to serve alcohol. Another interesting point. If locals come to one of these restaurants, then the staff usually ask for their ID. That is, if a person potentially looks like a Qatari, they will be asked to show their documents. And if the staff sees that this is a local resident... If it is a man, then they'll probably sell them alcohol, But if it's a girl, a lonely local girl, then most likely they won't serve her alcohol.
Because if a lonely local girl comes to a restaurant, that has a license. they serve her alcohol, she returns home, and her husband, will feel that she's drunk, he'll ask her, where did she get alcohol from, and if she names the place, that restaurant will probably be shut by tomorrow. Such are the rules. This rule isn't stated anywhere, but everyone knows it. They live not according to the rules, but according to the concepts. So, secret alcohol consumption is when they bring you alcohol in a teapot, and you seem to be drinking tea, but in fact yo're drinking alcohol.
Before, locals secretely drank alcohol from these teapots, so that no one sees them. Now serving alcohol secretly is banned. So, if you want to drink alcohol you can, but you have to do it openly.
But drinking is considered shameful here. So, of course, the Qataris don't really drink. But, if you're a tourist, if you are a foreigner, you can drink alcohol without any problems, The only problem is to find a place where they serve alcohol. Like in Dubai, in Qatar there are several parallel worlds. There is a world for tourists who come here, live in some cool resort hotels, go to restaurants anf shopping centres..
There's a world for wealthy expats, who have good jobs, get good salaries, live on their artificial islands, and also visit places like restaurants and sports clubs. There are locals... though not many of them, only 10%... They live in their villas, in their posh residences.
They have their own places that they go to. And there are immigrant workers, builders of all this Qatar miracle, who work for a penny and live in completely different conditions. And all these worlds do not intersect with each other. It's like a caste system. People from different worlds rarely meet, communicate and intersect with people from another caste. And in this regard, Qatar is very similar to Dubai, and other neighboring countries in the Persian Gulf, which, thanks to their resources, develop very quickly.
But, of course, there's also a different side to this success. Qatar is also similar to Dubai in terms of the abundance of guards. Sometimes I have to hide from them to film content for you.
Here's 'I love Qatar' sign. And here's the guard. Let's set up the tripod. It's amazing. The guard doesn't stop me from filming, but someone' already called him.
And I'm standing on the embankment, where the boulevard leading to the main stadium begins, where the ceremony... That is the closing ceremony took place. And a few months ago there were a lot of fans here.
Now there are no fans, no one at all. Construction continues. Perhaps someday this area will come to life.
In Qatar, a lot of things were built for the World Cup. Expensive hotels, expensive restaurants were opened. But now almost everything is empty.
If you come to some cool restaurant, then it is quite possible that you will be the only visitor there. Despite the fact that restaurants are open, there are a lot of staff, managers, cooks... Everything functions as it did before. But there are no people. And it is not very clear how Qatar will survive this decline in tourism and interest, which wast there just recently.
Because from the point of view of the economy, it's quite difficult for the business to adapt to all of this. It's time to add a little luxury to the video. What do you think? Let's go to the local shopping center. By the way, the most beautiful building here is this parking lot. It actually looks like the main facade.
So far, it looks like people aren't mean to come here on foot. There is the main entrance. In front of the main entrance there is a multi-lane road without a crosswalk, which you need to run across.
A luxurious entrance to the mall palace. Like I said, people do not walk here, so the sidewalk is under repair. And now, again, very symbolically, as we are climbing up the stairs to the main entrance, we go straight into the back of a car.
While you are climbing, you can look at the parked cars. Very 'convenient'... Central core, pond, fountains. This is what the local shopping center looks like. We will not go shopping today, but we will explore the local grocery store.
Watermelons cost 17.75. It's written here that they are delivered by air here. From Morocco. Tomatoes.
Oh, local tomatoes! 13.75. And there are Dutch tomatoes. Small cherry tomatoes for 36 riyals per kilogram.
There are a lot of Dutch tomatoes here! Here are some green ones for 43 riyals. Let's see what's with the eggs. There are eggs for every taste. I don't even know what to compare it with.
Here's meat. There is Australian beef. It's 100 riyals per kilo. There is angus ribeye for 279 per kilo. It's hard to judge anything by beef because much depends on it quality.
What they don't have here is the alcohol There's a huge department with organic products. But in general, the layout is the same as in a Soviet food store. It looks like there is a lot of stuff, but you see, everything is the same. In Europe and America there's more variety.
It'd be weird for them to have a full shelf of beans for example. And here's the variety of water. This is actually what I came here for. There's a whole huge aisle for water here. And there is water for every taste.
For example, there is Evian. For half-litre bottle, the price per litre is 8.85. For 1 litre bottle it'll be 7.75. In these bottle, 1 litre of water is 1.70. This one seems to be very cheap. 2.50 per litre.
The prices don't seem to be right. I don't understand how they make them up. And here is some expensive water. Firstly, there is Evian. A 750 millilitre bottle costs 20 riyals. 8.75. This is sparkling water.
Sparkling water is almost twice as cheap. 100 riyals for 750 ml. Swiss water for 100 riyals. It's water from the Alps. Well, the thing with water here is very simple. Due to the fact that in Qatar people do not drink alcohol, and it is almost impossible to buy alcohol here...
Of course, you'll be served alcohol in a restaurant at the hotel, where they have a license... but, in heneral, it is difficult to find it here. So water compensates for alcohol.
So here, instead of an expensive bottle of wine people buy a bottle of expensive water. Therefore, in Qatar there's an incredible choice of drinking water. And here we have a choice of non-alcoholic drinks. Including non-alcoholic rum. These are vodka-like bottles.
All this is non-alcoholic wine. Non-alcoholic champagne. You can't really drink them.
They taste like bitter-sweet pop. But, if you want to have something on the table for a special ocassion, then you have this choice. Human rights situation is difficult here.
For example, the Internet is strictly censored here. Political criticism is prohibited. And so is information about LGBT, s*x education, dating sites and information about VPN services. Everything is censored not only on the Internet. In 2013, the scandal between Qatar and Greece almost broke out Due to the fact that the ancient statues of naked athletes were covered with fabric.
As a result, the statues were sent back to Greece. in order not to embarrass the residents of Qatar with nakedness. It is interesting that Qatar is a base of perhaps the most famous media company in the Arab world: Al Jazeera. It is often accused of propaganda. The channel does not hesitate to influence neighboring countries.
For example, Al Jazeera supported the events of the Arab Spring in Egypt. And opposed the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Its interference in their affairs often makes the neighbors of Qatar unhappy.
Many countries condemned Al Jazeera during the Qatar diplomatic crisis of 2017. Then the coalition led by Saudi Arabia accused Qatar of supporting terrorists. In particular, Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. As a result, Qatar was in a blockade. Neighbors banned it from using their water and airspace and closed ground borders.
In total, 13 Islamic countries opposed Qatar. And only Turkey and Iran supported it. The crisis was resolved only in January 2021 with the help of the United States. - Is there any independent media in Qatar? - No-no. All media here are government mouthpieces. It's pure propaganda, so you can't really trust any media coming out of Qatar on Qatari issues.
Al Jazeera is of course a Qatari network. They do a great job in many places, but not in Qatar. - You're a Norwegian journalist and it's not your first time here. You already made some reports about workers' rights here, about conditions, about what's going on here.
But now you're here again, and there's no problem with the Qatari government. So how do they react to criticism in international media? - They don't like criticism, and they don't like journalism. They don't like free speech, because... you don't have free speech in Qatar. And Qatar is the only country I've ever been to where there is no opposition, visible opposition, no activism at all.
So the majority of population inside Qatar, they live in fear. - But we can work here as journalists, independent, nobody around, nobody controls us. And we can make interviews, we can visit labor camps, and we can make our reports.
So it's also unusual, because if they don't like any information that can be bad for them, for their image, why don't they, for example, deport you? - Well, me and other journalists have been arrested before. So a lot of journalists have been arrested in Qatar for doing journalism. But it's true, we are here now, outside Doha, doing this interview without getting arrested. And I'm not sure if we can do that in places like Saudi Arabia or the Emirates. So we are allowed to do it, but it's not without risk.
So you can basically get arrested at any time. Censorship and violation of the rights of migrants are not the only problems in Qatar. Human rights activists accuse the country of forced labor and the restriction of women's freedom, violations of LGBT rights and human trafficking.
Here, according to the law, you can be punished with whip and there is a death penalty. Recently, the rules have softened a little, but Qatar's legislation is a mixture of secular and Islamic laws, which means that many things that are customary in the Western world are limited or prohibited here. What about the prohibitions here? How strict are they compared to Dubai? - I think it's a little stricter here, because this is an Islamic country. If we speak from the point of view of non-Muslims, who we are, then there are some restrictions, but we got used to them, so we don't notice them so much. But, of course, you can't show your romantic feelings... - So you can't kiss, in public for example.
- Wait, so you can't kiss in public? -Yeah, in a restaurant or somewhere like that you can't. - Will someone make a comment? - I think that when you come to a restaurant, where there is, for example, alcohol, and where there is a chance that you will do studd against the rules, at the entrance, they'll take a copy of your ID, they'll take a picture of your ID or passport, so that if you, for example, drink too much or do some other wrongdoing, they will just quickly report it and you'll most likely be deported in the next 24 hours. - Do you know such cases when someone you know was deported? - I've heard about such cases, but it didn't happen with anyone I know. It was more like a friend of a friend, that this happened to. But no, personally I don't know anyone.
- It all depends on who will complain too. If it's some other expat or a security guard that doesn't like it, it's one thing. But if it's a local resident, and maybe even some respected person, and they choose to complain, I think the consequences will be vey bad. They have influence, they own this place, so they can do anything they like, And they don't like it, of course.
- Anything, they want, yeah... - What else is banned? - Certain clothes... - You probably saw the rules in the museum, right? You must cover your shoulders, knees, even with a man. - I probably wouldn't be allowed to wear shorts. - You have to cover décolleté. They won't even allow you to go to some institutions, if you're dressed inappropriately.
I've heard of such cases. - It's like in Dubai. - Well, yes... - They have dress code there too. - I heard that it's stricter here than in Dubai.
- In Dubai, you can't go to a state institutions in shorts too. If you go to sign any paperwork, get a residence card, or anything else, they also have a dress code. And it's pretty strict in restaurants, too. You can't go into a good restaurant wearing shorts. That is, it is very strict.
Because tourists passed all bounds there. I arrived in the area of Msheireb, not far from the airport. Qataris position it as, I quote, "the first project in the world of an ecologically sustainable city center, and one of the smartest cities on earth." The construction of this area cost Qatar more than 5 billion US dollars.
There are five-star hotels here, there is a district of historical heritage, and even a new tram. Let's go an explore it! Here everything's new, we've not reached the historical part yet. There are tram rails here! It's 10 o'clock in the morning, but it looks like tram doesn't work today. And so we enter a new city center where everything is done according to European standards.
Look, there are a lot of flowers, fountains, and the streets are narrow. They've got some pictures here, and there are trams on them. It seems that the tram has disappeared somewhere. And here, all these streets, due to dense construction, they're in the shade are well-ventilated and it's not even that hot. I don't know how it is in the summer, but now, when it's 37 degrees outside, it's quite tolerable.
There's no tram. It's not here. Stop.
Wait. Oh, wow! The tram is coming. Wow. Dude with the phone, go away.
It'll run over you! Get out of here. Get out of the way. Please leave. Why do you just stand there? You'll get run over. Step aside, don't spoil the frame. Please leave.
You're spoiling my frame with the tram. Leave! That's it. And here's the tram.
It's fully automatic! Oh, no, it's not! There's a tram driver there. The tram looks very funny from the back. They stuck stuff on it, added some lights, and even wrote a sign, saying it's a tram.
Look, at this strange design. They added wheels stickes here, which you can't actually see. We've found a tram, but that's jus one of many miracles of Msheireb. There are also special chairs for the guards. Despite the fact that in the new center of Doha there are quite a lot of CCTV cameras, and generally, everything is safe here, it seemed to them that this was not enough.
And there is a chair at every intersection. This chair is for the security guard. They sit at every crossing, and watch so that nothing bad happens. I don't really know why the need to behere, considering there's a CCTV camera just above the chair, There's his water and a cushion. These guards are at the corner of every block. I'm walking right through a modern European city! Yes, with local and climatic architectural features, but still! First, the architects did a good job with the sun and the local climate.
Note how along such a large street, all the passages are under a canopy. This shade protects you from the local climate. Secondly, the buildings are all built of white stone.
In some places it's marble, in other, I think's it's another stone. But it doesn't get too hot. And then look at the architecture itself. These are these small windows, these huge cornices on top. Again, all this is to create a shade, to make it cooler.
There are little squares at intersections. There are always trees on them. In this case, they planted acacia trees. Now these acacia trees are still growing, but soon, there will be something beautiful.
There are cafes. In the evening, these street cafes are full of people. Here is some kind of a statue left from the World Cup.
See? It actually looks like a real, lively, European city. Here, using the example of the new center of Doha, you can clearly see what you can create in a city, what you can do with it, and why in some cities we feel comfortable, and in some cities we don't. Where do we like to walk? We like to walk in some old town centers. Prague, London, et cetera. There is a variety of architecture, a variety of styles, streets... Especially if the city is old, then there are various elements, different architectural styles, different monuments, details...
All this is interesting to study. That is, we see some kind of layering of centuries, and this adds value to the space. We all once left the cave, and still, despite the fact that we decided to move from green jungles to concrete jungles, our soul, our heart, is still drawn to nature. And what is nature? In nature, you rarely find something the same. We're not comfortable walking through some area like Parnas in St. Petersburg, filled with the same houses. This is not typical of the human environment.
Because in nature you rarely see the same things. Nature is diverse. And in nature you rarely see some kind of a wide street or avenue. Instead there are paths, mountains, trees, where everything is different.
And the old towns are about crooked streets, and a better scale for a human. It's about a variety of architecture, we need greenery, details. And it's nice and comfortable to be there. And now we are in the old center of Doha, and it's incredibly cozy here. You want to walk here, you want to explore this city.
Usually such spaces are formed over time. You first have a house, then it gets destroyed and something else is built in it place and it goes on an on for centuries. Then sooner or later, it becames a little chaotic, and chaos then turns into some cozy places. It is difficult to do this in a new city.
But in this case, it turned out a success. All the streets here are paved. In this case, it is granite pavement. Unlike asphalt, this type of payment heats up less. Look at the beauty, look at the streets.
In addition, we see very high-quality, expensive street furniture and elements of infrastructure here. It seems to me that this is a unique design because I've not seen it before. Lampposts, road signs, and everythig else is made of very high quality and in a single unique style. It's also worth mentioning how accessbile this is.
There is pavement everywhere, different types of granite. Everything is perfectly fit. It's practucally seamless. The post is made of metal with some kind of pattern on.
The lampposts are beautiful. I really like them. There are flowerpots. Pots with some bushes in. And it's not just any ordinary pot. It's a very beaituful flowerpot.
You enjoy looking at it. And the lamppost itself... this is painted metal.
And here we see a metal panel of a different color. And we see the same pattern that we saw earlier. All the elements of this street are in one style. And it seems to me that they were designed especially for this street, because I've not seen them in other places. The facades are very interesting. There are display windows in some places, and you just go and enjoy looking at carpets, but if there are no display windows and some technical buildings or walls instead, they are still not just some kind of a blank facade, but a facade with some interesting details on, That is, there is, for example, this very stone, from which the buildings are made, and several types of processing.
Here it is polished. Here we already see some kind of texture. Again, note this. There is just an electric shield. This electric shield could also be some kind of primitive, grim, technical thing.
Why bother making it look nice? But here, again, they made a special decorative lattice with some kind of print. This is all closed. And even this electric cabinet looks nice. Look how the shutters are made.
They are made of three grilles with a different pattern, which create an interesting pattern. Well, let's go explore an alley. Just like in a real city, there are large streets, some entrances and passages, amd there are very narrow alleys. Such a variety of streets, creates a feeling of a real city. But again, everything's built close together here. This is not typical for new areas, because in new areas, instead of building everything close together, the buildings are further apart.
But here we see a rather dense development, that's typical for some old city centers. And due to this dense development, there are these cozy alleys, formed, where you can rest, and sit in the shade of trees. Let's go on exploring. There should've been a fountain water here. A beautiful water fountain, but it is broken.
Parking lot, crosswalk. As I said, there's an accessible environment. There are tram lanes.... And bike parking. And we seem the same pattern here, the same diagonal notches, which we've seen on the other elements of this street. We really areg going through some old city.
There are gardens here! You just walk and suddenly see these allotments. They only usually have them in Europe. Just look, some vegetables grow here! There is cabbage here. It's crazy! I can't believe this. That is, the things they do here, it's like it's a European city! For real.
This is not Dubai, with its wide roads, everything full of cars, showing off, and so on. Yes, people show off money here too, but in terms of the urban environment... They have allotments! Potatoes, lemongrass, lettuce, onions...
Look, here's probably a school. Here's a school terrace with a small playground. Again, greenery, lighting, a lot of attention paid to details...
There's a sunroof. There's decorative lattice. It's very difficult to make this kinf of lattice out of stone. There is a branded bin here. There is lighting everywhere. For example, even the handrails illuminate the steps.
Look, even this street, which is one of the main ones here, it is curved, and the buildings form a gorge. They form such an interesting pattern. I enjoy looking at it all! Look at this amazing square surrounded by buildings. They made these, I don't know what\s this plant called...
but it's thick multilayered greenery over cozy gazebos that create the shade where you can hide from the local heat. And in the center, of course, there is a fountain. As there used to be a well in the center of a counrtyard, now there is a fountain. And you can sit here under these pergolas in the shade of this incredibly lush plant and enjoy yourself.
Why do I walk around and admire all this landscaping? It's because for it's all quite unique for Middle East. Remember how Dubai developed, and unfortunately, many still follow its example. Dubai is a city for cars.
In theorty, Doha is also more of a car city. But if we look at how Dubai has developed, and how many other cities develop, they develop them so that it is convenient to drive a car. They assume that because of the bad climate, the heat, no one will walk around, everyone will drive air-conditioned cars, sit in offices, cafes, so why make public spaces? And Dubai, like other cities, is a city for cars, where there are roads, parking lots, so your lifestyle's that you just sit in a car and go to work, and if suddenly you don't have a car, well.. It'll be a nightmare.
Try to live in Dubai without a taxi or a personal car, and you'll go crazy. It will be an endless pain and suffering. Yes, there is a subway, but, for example, to get to the subway, you will have to run across the road, walk along a dusty overpass, in this awfil heat, where absolutely no one thought about comfort of pedestrians. But you need to understand that cities like this are very unfair. Because a car is still expensive, not everyone can afford a car, and you will always have residents who won't have a car.
A good city has to be comfortable for everyone, regardless of how much money you have. The uniqueness of Doha is that even despite all its climate, despite the presence of an infinite amount of money, they make a city for people. They make a city where it's not that easy to travel by car. This whole historical center is pleasant for pedestrians.
And I see a huge number of people here now who walk around the city. And it's not some kind of a separate area, like CityWalk in Dubai. No, this is right in the city centre. Sidewalks, beautiful entrances, incredible facades, with some kind of carved patterns. Look, a full tram! It's full of people! A tram is more like entertainment here, not a transport, but it's still a cute detail that makes this space better and more interesting.
Again, we see an alley, a very narrow alley with some technical rooms. There could be empty walls here. But they made nets, and they planted some bushes on these nets, which have already covered them. And soon you will walk here, and you'll be walking among green walls. Look how much more pleasant and cozy this alley has become.
It's wonderful! And despite the heat, due to the fact that there is a very dense development, and such an interesting architecture, it is not hot here. And again, there's a fountain. There's another yard where everyone can come and sit. You see, there are benches everywhere.
There is greenery everywhere. There are fountains everywhere. This is all open. What else is the importance of such spaces? Because they allow you to make the city fair. What is a fair city? It is clear that in any city there are rich people and there are poor people. And the rich usually live either in private houses, with good landscaping, or in some expensive residential complexes, with swimming pools and beautiful courtyards.
They have a good life. They have access to good public spaces. In the end, a rich person can always go on a holiday. Today they're in Doha, Qatar, and tomorrow they'll be in London walking around Hyde Park, or admiring the Buckingham Palace. But a poor person doesn'r have this pportunity. A poor person can only benefit from the things that the city provides them for free.
If there are few parks in the city, few public spaces, then this poor person walks and understands that they don't belong here. There's segregaton. They feel uncomfortable, they feel oppressed.
This is where social conflicts arise, social inequality, tension, which, in the end, doesn't lead to anything good. And in a city like this, any person, an employee of a company that works here, a cleaner, a guest worker, they can come here, and no one will kick them out. And this is right and wonderful. So that people, regardless of their wealth, they always felt good. There's no need to hurt anyone. Hi - Is it a private camera or company? - Private, private - Private? - Yes Can I make pictures here? - It's fine - Okay. Where are you from?
- From Unganda - Uganda? - Yeah - I've been there! So, probably for commercial filming you need a special permit. The only thing that is not very clear to me here is the huge number of security guards who sit on chairs and guard something. In this case, he guards a tram stop.
By the way, what is interesting, is that in addition to modern buildings, several modern mosques have been built here. That is, even mosques that seem to be made in line with the traditional canons of Islamic architecture, but here they are modern, they also have a very stylish, cool, simple design, and fit perfectly into the architecture of the new center of Doha. Of course, in the evening, when it is already getting dark, when the lights are on, it's the best time to watch all of this beauty. The area is in all its glory at this time. And now there is some unknown thing behind my back.
On the map, it is signed as a cooling system. And here, behind this wavy concrete screen, we hear the sound of water. That is, it's really something to do with cooling. Perhaps this is some kind of huge air conditioner that works like a cooilng tower. I hoped that they would make some kind of information stand for this miracle.
But there is no stand. Well, here is a little tip for cities. If you are doing something cool and interesting, add information stands, so that people understand what you've built. Otherwise, imagine, a father is walking with his son, and the son asks the father, "what is it?" And the father says, "I don't know" What will their child think of them? It's affecting the authority of the parents. And this is what the city center looks like in the evening. There is navigation everywhere.
The streets are winding here and there. We've been everywhere here. Are you already excited about Doha? I'll show you the local subway now. They organize space with the help of fences. Just what we love.
Well, now into the subway. Some people didn't manage to get in, but oh well. The Doha subway opened on May 8, 2019. It was built together with the Germans. At first it was some kind of a partnership story. Then the Germans just consulted them.
The subway was opened for the World Cup, so that when fans came here in 2022, they could comfortably move around the Qatar capital. If we're to trust the advertising leaflets, then everything should be just great here. Trains run every three minutes. Everything is clean, futuristic.
And most importantly, it is fully automated. Let's test it! First you need to buy tickets. New travel card. New travel card.
Let's get two. Oh, it worked. This is what the transport card looks like.
They didn't synchronize the information speakers. There are bins at the station. Fashionable benches.
And here comes the train. By the way, the train is unmanned. Everything is as promised by the advertising. It's a shorter train, so these doors are shut.
Wait, I don't understand. It's luxurious. They've checked our travel cards for some reasin.
- You are not allowed to sit here. You need to move to the other side. - Okay, I got it. We were kicked out of the luxurious car. This is what the train looks like.
It's all automatic. Of course, there is no driver's cab. And look what's cool. There are two seats here.
You can sit here and watch how this whole thing moves. Here you can see that the intervals are really 3 minutes. And the subway is not as deserted as it may seem. There is a standard car, there is a family car, and there is a golden car. So it's similar to the Dubai subway, where you can also buy a golden ticket and go in a separate golden car. Only here the golden car looks like a good intercity train.
With armrests, soft upholstery. Just like business class in an airplane. It's nice! However, something tells me that people who are ready to pay for the golden car do not ride the subway in Doha. If you want to feel successful you can ride the subway in Doha in a golden car.
As you can see, the design of all stations is approximately the same. Everything is in the same style, maybe with some exceptions. But I haven't seen any exceptions yet. Everything is so modern, but with national motifs.
Yes, the subway is surprisingly crowded. In contrast to the city, there are a lot of people. But basically, judging by the clothes, it's all service staff. One trip in s standard car costs 2 riyals.
And if you want to go in a golden car, it's 5 times more expensive. 10 riyals. For those who buy a golden card, there is a separate pavilion. And the subway also has bicycle parking and even a few bikes.
These are the new wonders of Doha. But there are also plenty of old ones. If Mshireb is Doha's new center, then its old center is the Corniche embankment, where I am standing now. It's overlooking the skyscrapers. The embankment stretches along the Persian Gulf for more than 7 kilometers. Next to it is the business center and important tourist places, such as the Museum of Islamic Art.
However, Doha is not a city for walking, so the embankment was separated from the city by a high-speed highway, which is quite difficult to cross. The famous clock, where there was a countdown for the 2022 World Cup. Now they just show the time. There is a commemorativestand here. Most of the ships that stand here on the embankment are just a decor. They specially built these wooden ships in the old way and put them here.
They aren't functional, They just stand here looking beautiful, to somehow diversify this rather deserted and gloomy embankment. So when you walk here, you get the feeling that you are walking along some kind of old harbor. It's quite an interesting solution. I've not seen this in other countries.
At the same time, they are quite well done. They are wooden, apparently with a reference to the original ships that used to stand here. Here, some of the ships are used as tour boats. In the evenings, when it's less hot, people sail along the local bay. We all know that one of the attractions of Dubai is bus stops with air-cons. They appeared quite a long time ago, and everyone who came to Dubai was delighted to say that they even have bus stops with air conditioning.
Of course, they have them in Qatar too. Naturally, if there's air-con in Dubai, they must have air-cons in Doha too. Let's see.
The bus stop is a luxurious, beautiful pavilion with some kind of golden print. You press the button, and voila! Welcome to... Damn, the air-con doesn't work! Can I turn it on? It really doesn't work. Wait, let's turn it on. No, it doesn't work.
Oh, I don't know if we broke any rules. So, we've had to turn on the air-con so that Qatar doesn't dissapoint me. But actually, it's pretty hot here, and it smells a little like ur*ne. Let's assume that no one has used this bus stop for a long time, and it's not ventilated properly.
Here... The bus stop doesn't work. It says here, you see? 'Currently, there are no arrivals'.
That's it, this bus stop doesn't seem to work. There are these things, but it's all left from the World cup. The screen looks like liquid ink. That's it, there is a weather forecast... And, well, I don't know if any buses come here or not, but there is no schedule. Okay, thanks to this house, let's go to another one.
Yes, it looks like this bus stop just doesn't work. But why is it here? There are not only these fancy bus stops on the embankment, but also luxurious architecture. And this is the Museum of Modern Art, buuilt by the Pritzker Prize winner, Ieoh Ming Pei. He built the famous Pyramid of Louvre in Paris and the Hall of Fame of Rock'n'Roll in Cleveland. This museum was built when the architect was almost 100 years old.
Another example of modern architecture in Doha is the National Museum of Qatar. It was also built by the laureate of the Pritzker Prize: Jean Nouvel. The shape of the building repeats the mineral Rose of the Desert, which is formed in the sand. The museum was being built for more than 10 years and opened in 2019. There are almost 3 kilometre of expositions about the history of Qatar. By the way, Jean Nouvel is also known for the fact that he built a branch of the Louvre in Abu Dhabi.
Since UAE and Qatar compete, sometimes they even invite the same architects. The museum is fantastic. This is concrete where they made these slits which form a drawing. It looks amazing! In fact, the building of the museum is a huge sculpture, and you can see Jean Nouvel's style.
It's very bright architecture. Architecture you want to take pictures with. Architecture that you want to photograph.
This person creates landmarks, new attractions. Buildings that become a symbol, a face of the city. And the National Museum of Qatar is no exception. The building is just fantastic.
I absolutely love it, guys. Interestingly, they sell these minerals in a souvenir shop. So you can buy a desert rose and have it a small statue.
They are all different, and you can see what the architect was inspired by. And this is what a modern museum looks like. It tells how our planet developed, how continents were formed, how it all moved and formed.
Bugs. Spiders. - Scorpions. - These are the halls.
There is not a single flat room. There is a sloping floor, sloping walls. And the exhibits are on this stone, and they demonstrate local cultural features. These are all sorts of accessories for camels. They tell you about the Bedouins who lived here.
How the caravans traveled here. And many walls have images projected on them. These sloping concrete slabs are also screens. For example, here is the sand. Here are the carpets.
And this hall shows the Bedouin night camp. So this is what it used to look like. Cool! Here, for example, is a modern teapot, and here is a teapot that they've had here before.
Here, for example, is a car, and there will be some donkey. Ah, a camel! A coffee maker, and here will be a jug. Ah, pestle and mortar! Instead of a phone, there's something... I don't know... - They wrote on here, and then sent it off with an arrow. You pull water up here, and, in theory, it's meant to show how much water you need to fill a bath. And here you can milk a goat.
The important hall, which tells about the events that changed the history of Qatar. They found gas. It's a very beautiful hall. It beautifully shows oil and gas.
In fact, everything we see, including this museum, all this appeared in the desert, thanks to gas and oil. If Qatar did not have the richest reserves gas they would not have the money to build such buildings, to host the World Cup, to invite the best world architects, designers, cooks, the top world companies, so that they would come here to Doha, and build, develop this city. It looks absolutely beautiful! This is the oil hall.
There should be a gas hall too. A sea platform. And here they've started delivering cars. In 1949, they started to export oil. They've done it for the first time on 31st December, 1949.
Right before the New Year. And here you can see how Doha was developing. Here is this Sheraton Hotel. Do you see over there? And this is the entire embankment.
1975, 1976... Here is the counter. And then all of this was built in the 90s. Yes, it started with this old city. And here is the hall, explaining where they spend their money now. Here is a traditional house.
This is probably some kind of a monument, but it looks like something from the underworld. Some kind of grave. The hands are pulling towards you. Look, there's someone's leg! - Fortunately, not. It's an amazing place to take photos.
Amazing. Cycling paths! Cycling paths go from nowhere to nowhere. Well, in fact, it's all a bit ruined. The royal family can afford to build such a luxurious museum, and even place there a restaurant of the famous chef Alain Ducasse This is where we're heading to.
This is what the restaurant looks like. Phew, it's hot here! And such an amazing view of the city opens from the terrace of the restaurant. Forget the restaurant, look at the lights here! Note this very interesting lampposts. They are made in the form of palm trees.
I don't really like it when lampposts are designed to look like something. It turns out vulgar. But here is a rare case when it looks interesting. It's a rather elegant palm tree. A distinctive feature of local landscaping is that almost no one uses it.
People do not walk here. And, so, they often simply do not look after sidewalks and public spaces. They've included it in the project, drew it and and forgot about it. This is how the landscaping around the National Museum turned out. There's a motorcade coming.
Made of red Audis. It is not very clear who's in there, but apparently it's someone important. Let's get back to the landscaping.
The bench needs repainting, the paint is very dull and cracked, The bin is bent and rusty. The tile is wonky and partially destroyed. And they were probably meanto to have trees here, but now there are just weeds. No one seems to care about it.
But the lampposts are nice. Yes, they completely forgot to plant trees. Everything is falling apart. There are weeds, but no trees.
It looks rather sad here too. I don't know why. Pavement here is cracked. They are trying to fix these cracks somehow.
But it's clear that no one will see it. Because people do not walk here. I'm the only one here looking at the landscaping around.
Here was ... Ah, this is a sign. The sign is also sad.
This is how they repair stuff in Qatar. They had a granite paving. It probably started to fall apart, and they patched it up with any materials they could find. The tile clearly doesn't belong here. And all this is right next to the main museum.
We are clearly not walking along the sidewalk, which we should be walking on. I just wanted to say that there are no people here, but there's a man here. Perhaps this is an electrician.
Why did the electrician turn on the lights? Let me mention something I've read on Wikipedia about the desert rose, this famous mineral, before I forget. It inspired the architect Jean Nouvel to create a national museum, and here are two other interesting facts. The first interesting fact is that nomads used to think that the rose of the desert is formed by the ur*ne of camels. That is, the camel wees in the sand, it all crystalises and turns into the rose of the desert.
The second interesting fact is that this rose of the desert, in some countries is given as gift on Valentine's day. I don't know how these two facts are related. But they are close on Wikipedia. In Qatar, even playgrounds are luxurious.
Luxurious and empty. Wow! The playground looks like some kind of space station. Of course, there are no children. Because it's hot.
This playground generates electricity. And this thing shows how it all works. So, there are solar panels on the parking lot. There are wind turbines here.
And all this still collects energy and powers the batteries. Here children can learn road signs. Yes, you can open them like this.
And they are even a little interactive. Wow! We need to find a ball. There must be a ball here.
It's some kind of super labyrinth. And, in theory, if you launch a ball it will somehow roll down. But I can't see where the start is.
We probably have to press something here. This thing probably doesn't work. The next room. Something to do with water, apparently. I can hear water pouring. Wow! Guys, this is a playground.
I found myself in an amazing playground. And I'm alone here! The playground really looks like some kind of space station. Well, I'm not going in there, but it also looks interesting. You can climb everywhere you want. There are different levels. There's water down there, slides over there.
What can I say? If I had such a playground in my childhood, maybe I would've grown up to be a normal person. But I didn't. In my childhood, there was a rusty rocket, and slides where you could tear your pants. Therefore, we played on construction sites, on garages, and other dangerous places. Now children have some state of art playgorunds. The only thing is that there are no children in Qatar.
Here you can go down to the lower level. Look at all this variety! It looks so cool! It's really interesting. As with many places in Qatar, it is not clear whether it's temporarily under repair, or it was just made for some important occasion, it was part of the local show, and now no one needs it, so everything's turned off and doesn't work. Because most of the objects that are on this playground do not work.
And there are no children here either. I'm the only child here. It looks like the
2024-08-30 22:55
