Life in a bubble

Qatar must be one of only a few countries in the world that have recently gone from having very little to very large amounts of money and are now undergoing massive and rapid development, and we have found that this situation makes living here slightly strange – somewhat like being in a bubble. The normal day is pretty much the same as back in the UK; get up, go to work, come home, have dinner, watch TV, go to bed. Or something along those lines. It's the environment and people around you that makes it odd.

The fact that there was very little here prior to the discovery of oil and gas means nearly everything around you is new. Living in Doha is like living in one of those computer simulation games like Sim City, where someone's found a bit of land and started plonking down brand new roads, housing developments, sky-scrapers etc. Drive a few miles in any direction and you're soon in the desert, which remains fairly flat and nondescript until you reach the next town or village. The fact that you very rarely see a car over a couple of years old just adds to the illusion.
There are older parts of Doha which give a small glimpse into what it may have been like before the money arrived, but we're talking decades of history rather than centuries. And the land itself is obviously old and has some history; there are limestone formations on the west coast and even some rock carvings on the east, but not much to get excited about.

But despite all this new infrastructure going up around us there are only a limited amount of things to do here (especially compared to London!). When we go out during some of the small amount of free time I have most of it is spent in the numerous shopping malls, the many restaurants and the few bars of Doha. While it is not the worst way to spend free time, constantly going to the same places with the same people does make your world seem very small. There are of course other activities around to pass the time with (such as golf, which we spend a fair amount of time playing) but most involve a large investment of money and time so it's only possible to take up one or two.

And within this 'Sim City' approximately 80% of the population are ex-pats*, and they haven't come for the amazing social life, culture or weather. They are here for the simple reason that they can earn more money than in their own country**. This means that the majority of people you see around and come in contact with are ex-pats; Western work colleagues, Filipino waiters/waitresses and shop assistants, Nepalese taxi drivers and Indian construction workers to list just a few. None of these people, us included, are leading a normal, everyday life. You do see plenty of Qataris around; on the roads in their brand new cars, shopping and eating in the malls, supermarkets and restaurants, and socialising in the parks and on the corniche. Perhaps that's all they do so for them it is their everyday life.

The 'bubble' feeling is emphasised by the fact that we don’t have to pay any bills, insure a car or worry about having enough money to pay the rent. All we have to worry about is where we are going to go when my company make me leave the country every 8 weeks and how I will get through the next 8 weeks working 60 hours a week. And when we do step out of the bubble and go on leave, whether it is back to the UK or to another country, seeing people leading normal everyday lives makes our bubble even more apparent.

All this doesn't mean we aren't enjoying life out here. We are very happy in our bubble. But, unlike many of the western ex-pats we meet, we couldn't live this life indefinitely, going from job to job and country to country. And we are very aware that the nature of the project I'm working on means the bubble could be burst at a moments notice and we'd have to head back to the UK almost immediately and return to normality, which is quite a scary thought!


* The Approximate population of Qatar is 900,000, of which approximately 200,000 are Qataris, and Qatar has a land area of ~11500 sq km (~200 by 100 km).

** Although everyone is here to earn money there is a huge difference in salaries, with general laborers earning no more than $1 an hour, and many living in disgusting conditions. Indeed, Qatar was placed on the Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to provide sufficient evidence of increasing efforts to combat trafficking in persons in 2005, particularly with regard to labor exploitation.
The Philippines government has recently started preventing companies in Qatar employing Filipinos unless they pay them an agreed minimum wage.