Alchemy of Oil in Doha

Fabricated. I’m going to choose a word for each city. Every place, every person has a word (Thank you, Eat, Pray, Love), and I’m going to offer my take on it. Doha is fabricated. I don’t mean that as a critique or even negatively, it’s just the thought that occurred to me time and again as I craned my neck in awe at their fantastically shaped and illuminated skyscrapers, bending and twirling their way up from the desert, surrounded by vibrant grasses, flowers and palm trees. The charming Souq Waqif is a trip through time, wandering through the crooked lanes of Arab markets, the smell of sheesha and distinctly Middle Eastern notes filling the air, with men dressed in Thobs and women in abayas and niqabs filling the streets. It’s pristine, white, and beautiful, and less than a decade old, a modern and faithful reconstruction of the old Souq, fantastically fabricated.

I ran the Corniche in the pleasant January mornings, a wide stone promenade with an awe-inspiring view of the city center on one side and jewel green waters of the Arabian Gulf on the other. But you don’t have to drive far to be reminded that all of this is rising out of the desert, something from nothing, the magic alchemy of oil.

I was apprehensive traveling for the first time to a Gulf country, not sure how I would be received as a Western woman. It was winter, thank goodness, so dressing modestly wasn’t an issue, but I was concerned that I’d be expected to cover my head or face (a proposition that made my egalitarian blood broil). I quickly relaxed at the surprisingly diverse mix of ethnicities and cultures coexisting, with at least in my observation, no one seeming to mind what anyone else was or wasn’t doing. I marveled a bit actually at the surreal mix of traditional and modern culture. In Qatar’s race to establish influence in the world, it’s fabricated openness to the outside world that I hear other Gulf countries lack.

It’s interesting to me that Qatar touts its preservation of traditional culture and values, but I wonder how that could really be possible when the influx of nearly unlimited money has revolutionized their lifestyle in a single generation.  Desert to luxury, camels to Ferraris… You can’t help but wonder if it’s all a house of cards. It’s fascinating, really. But I do know that I enjoyed my time there and would be happy to return. I wish them all the best, and I hope their women are happy.