Do you think you’ve got a good blog? Are you down to earth, honest, and feel you can relate to readers (and/or vice versa)? Then leave a message on this blog post with your blog. I’ll be scouring the net and listing my top 3 favourite blogs in / on Qatar.

Those top 3 will also receive a nice goodie bag!

Update: I think I’ll leave this open for one more week and then get to posting my top 3 favourite

Think Pink was a great success yesterday. iLoveQatar.net has been seriously involved in ensuring that the event received as much coverage as possible. It’s all about Breast Cancer awareness. Over 400 people showed up and the event was fantastic. Karen did a great job (the founder).

I was slightly disappointed that the media did not even bother to mention ILQ’s involvement (although you would have thought it would be clear with the ILQ banners). I think that they don’t realize the importance of mentioning sponsors. It encourages sponsors to actually ‘sponsor’. *sighs*

I sponsored this event because I felt it was important. My grand mother, God rest her soul, died of a rare form of cancer. She was the only one awake when I went off to uni and travelled to the UK for the first time many years ago. She was the best. I also sponsored the event to show that it’s not something people can take lightly. Many people suffer from it and we’re inching ever closing to finding a better cure.

Updated: 25/10/2008

Right so I’ve gone and got my E-ID, electronic identification card, henceforth known as an EID card. It really a wallet space saver due to the fact that it’s your ID, License, Medical card, and e-Gate pass in one.

What I was particularly excited about was the e-Gate pass which uses a QR Code. I was happy that I wouldn’t be standing in cues any longer with my frequent trips. Then comes along Qatar Airways online checkin, which is another time saver.

It was now time to see if the airport experience has been simplified to the extent that I could breeze through.

1. I purchased my ticket online at www.qatarairways.com. Easy.
2. I attempted to Check in online on the website (maximum 36 hours before departure).
3. It worked and I was also able to select my seat. I chose the one closest to the exit.
4. I went to go print the boarding pass (or copy it to my mobile phone) however since I paid with my card, I could only print out a confirmation pass which I had to display at the Quick Check in.

So that was my first stumbling block. Yes its still faster since they just print it out for me, and I guess I had to go to the Quick Check in anyway IF I had some luggage, but I just had carry on. Also note that if you don’t purchase the ticket with a credit card (at a desk or travel agency), you can print out your boarding pass and can skip this (if you don’t have luggage).

Updated: So I entered and went through to the quick checkin desk. The man looked at my paper and issued my ticket. To my left I heard security guards asking “Do we accept this?” while looking at printed out tickets. The airport had obviously NOT bothered to let the whole staff know about the new method.

I walked through security, swiped my egate pass, took a finger print digital scan and thats it. I was lounging around the airport

Verdict? Online check in’s the way to go!

Qatar is definitely a unique country, while driving to work I got to thinking. Qatar’s like a university campus. Think about it. You’ve got the lazy slackers who do nothing and do not even contribute to the class, the rich guys who pay the teacher to pass, the geeks who either act like they know more than they do or actually do have some intelligence, the cool guys, the revvers who’s cars are their number one priority, the people who think they’re cool and just moan about everything, and the list goes on.

Look at campus life itself. Everyone wants to stand out so they’re all trying to do their own thing. You might want to try and open your own little business on the side, but you’re in Uni now, the Uni owns everything and wants a cut of everything if its on campus, even then, you don’t really own it.

You work hard to pass, but it seems like the people who don’t put any effort end up with higher grades than you.

I’m sure you can think of some other similarities, but it’s quite funny how a whole country can feel like a campus.

The Urban Stars night was fantastic. For one of the first events of it’s kind, it truly did end up being a unique experience for a great number of people. The main people who showed up included DJ Woogie from Shadyville/G-Unit, Scola from Dru Hill, and Horace Brown.

ILQ both participated and sponsored in this event (as well as others mentioned in other posts) and I have to say we all went all out in doing our best to ensuring that people enjoyed their time. I’ll be working on editing a quick video for everyone’s please.

Time to use some strong words here… I… LOATHE… Lexus Qatar.

So I went to them to fix my front bumper and hand in some documents. They told me they’d order the bumper, spray it all up and then call me so they could do it on the spot. Wow! That’s pretty good!

So I called up the next day to see what was going on (it was a Monday). The man tells me “give it three days, you kow what, in three days it’s Thursday, just give us the weekend too and we’ll call you on Sunday”. Wtf? Fine, I’ll give you until Sunday. Sunday comes.. nothing… I call… I get the typical ‘tomorrow, the bumper hasn’t been sprayed yet’. Wtf? Next day comes and I get a call 15 minutes before they close telling me to bring the car in. Read the rest of this entry »

I was being driven to my home by Dr. A, yes yes, Mr. Q and Dr. A, Questions and Answers, Qatari and…. Axpat… ok that doesn’t work; and was marveling at the huge sky scrapers in westbay and wondering when they’d start building a bit out of westbay and into other areas when I suddenly started to think about what we don’t see.

Qatar is indeed a land of variety. You get a variety of nationalities, ages, religions, and classes. On one end of Doha, you’ll find broken up roads with holes large enough for the ozone to fall in to; on the other end, you’ll find luxury apartments, amazing roads with greenery and trees, and shopping malls underneath towering cranes. Alright, you’ll find this everywhere, however what makes this food for thought is that this isn’t caused by natural evolution.

Laziness from people who can make a difference causes lack of maintanence and degradation. Rich tyrants use labourers as slaves to make them richer. Authorities are complacent about enforcing some of the more basic but fundamental laws.

I was thinking about the labour camps of Doha. I visit a couple of the hidden ones behind high walls. I felt as if I was walking into a prison yard. One of my most prominent memories was when ILQ participated in aiding the fire victims. We walked into the camp and looked around to see faces emerge from the tiny streets, from their windowless windows and from behind scraps of metal. They all looked at us as if we had found them in one of those huge shipping containers you see on tv when the smuggle Mexicans or Chinese in the US.

How difficult or costly would it be to set up a microvillage made OUT of those shipping containers? Steel costs too much? Fine, how about using those temporary office spaces as accommodation? They’ll last! You want them to take care of it? Here’s a plan, how about giving them a little speech telling them how they need to take care of the home they live in. How about giving them some basic farming tools and tell them that a bonus will be given to the best garden in their unit? See how productive thinking works?

Forget the expensive Barwa project, this environmentally friendly and quick alternative could create an amazing labour village. The difference? It could be finished in months.

It’s all about education. Educate the public as well as the labourers. They’re smart enough to build a skyscraper, I’m sure they’ll be smart enough to start a productive community.

As I sat in the Majlis with a bunch of my friends, we got to talking about the way that Qatar is shaping.

I just thought I’d share a couple of the comments from the different Qataris (translated from Arabic)

“It’s great that Qatar’s investing in different countries, but how about Qatar invests in fixing up our roads?”

“Why do we need so many rules for something that’s so simple to do?”

“I tried to talk to this woman the other day who was waiting in a cue, I was just trying to have a normal chat and practice my english but she just ignored me like I was trying to hit on her…”

“I think they’re handing out licenses like they’re candy now, when are the traffic police going to start actually making sure people deserve it?”

“They’re tearing down things faster than they’re building them up. Rather than spreading things (entertaining places) they’re putting everything in one area. I can’t handle the traffic!”

Just thought I’d share how some Qataris feel.

I just thought I’d mention this for all you party people. Urban Night’s is this new night set up at the Qube by some hard-core and dedicated people who are all into entertainment.

Nope this isn’t an advertisement, it’s something that I think there should be more of in Doha. ILQ’s bringing you some of the greatest Hip Hop and R&B stars all under one roof.

There you all go ILQ’s there for you.