Two tweaks have been implemented onto ILQ recently and I just wanted to share them.

1) The menu bar on the left is now compact! We’ve added a cool accordian menu style that shrinks after 2-3 seconds of being expanded. If it detects that you like clicking around on links that are usually hidden, it’ll stay expanded. What’s better? iPhone friendly!

2) We’ve added a new list on the main page that shows you what the current events, latest news, latest threads, and guides are in Qatar! Now you can go clickity click and you’re there in a …. click..

If you’ve got your own ideas, share them with me! Now get going to http://www.iloveqatar.net

I miss Palm Tree Island. I remember paying QR 10 for a Dhow trip from the corniche over to the island and even getting a bag of chips and a coke!

Ah how it was easy to please me. I remember hanging out, seeing children playing in the public pools, families chilaxing on the beach, and eating at a Pizza Hut that was open while seeing the ‘adults’ enjoying themselves at a coffee shop. It wasn’t big at all. To me , it was a perfect little island. I wish I owned it now in fact! I’ve got this perfect project!

Where IS Palm Tree Island you ask? Alas, ’tis no more. It’s the island with the lone tree on it in the center of the corniche. Although it used to be add to the view, its now just a place for stupid Tennis marketing and launching fireworks.

Why was it torn down? There’s a number of stories going around. The one I hear most often is that it was supposed to be the spot of the ‘World’s Largest Water Fountain’ and it was supposed to have been created for the Asian Games. Well the Asian Games were in 2006 so I think we can pretty much say that’s not going to happen.

What makes me sad is the fact that they didn’t even have a plan in place before getting rid of it. Why not raze it once you KNOW something’s going to happen.

Ah well…. enjoy some piccies I found from around the internets. (Various sources, Getty images, Qatar embassy, and Mary Steel)

Making friends in Qatar can be difficult. Most people only make friends with people at work because it’s that hard. I just thought I’d share some quick pointers when it comes to making friends with Qataris.

Some people may not realize this, but the reason why Qataris don’t just chit chat with strangers usually, is because it’s out of respect. We believe in respecting personal boundaries (some are just shy despite the occasional serious look). However, many will find that once you kick start a conversation, it’ll be as if you’ve been friends for ages! I’d be surprised you didn’t end up BEING friends for ages.

Some people are naturally cautious though. In all honesty, there are many people who want to get to know you… for a short while… As I read from a post about a young boy who told a girl in his class [from one of my favourite blogs (Gaijin Smash)] ”I’ll love you only for today”.

You’ll want to stay away from those types of people.

As for places to go to meet people. That’s a tough one that even I haven’t been able to answer. However if you’re looking for online communities, of course there’s ILQ’s forums as a start, then there’s QFriends. I’d recommend QFriends for people who want to participate in Language Exchanges, find PenPals, or just make friends from all over!

That’s the beauty of Qatar. It’s a melting pot of nationalities!

Tags: Making friends in Qatar. Making friends with Qataris. Finding friends. How to get to know people.

Someone dropped me an email today and I thought that a lot of people might want to benefit from this.

Here are the names of some fish and their arabic names

Grouper – Hamour
White Sea bass – Karoos
Red Snapper – Nahash Ahmar
white Snapper – Nahash Abyadh
Red Tuna – Tuna
Sea Bream – Shiboot

Other tasty fish are:

Chanad
Safi (delicious but small)

What are your favourite fish in Qatar?

Fish in Qatar – Species and Names in Arabic (Original Thread)

One of the biggest questions we get at ILQ is ‘How do I get a job in Qatar?’; which is then usually followed by ‘Can you help me get a job?’ or ‘Know of any vacancies in Qatar?’

At the moment, a couple of ways of searching for jobs on ILQ is through our Beta Classifieds or through the forum (Job Hunting). (That’s all changing to something fantastic).

However, I wanted to take the time to mention a great start-up Qatar Visitor Jobs. It’s still building up, but it’s growing at a great rate and I thought I’d share it with you.

Also, don’t forget that ILQ has some great quick guides.

See: Working in Qatar and Moving to Qatar and The Ultimate Expat Workers Guide

Tags: Getting a job in Qatar, Searching for a job in Doha Qatar, finding a job in Qatar

Well I’m back! I wonder how many people missed my posts!

I have to admit that HongKong wasn’t as great as people made it out to be. I had a number of issues; a few of which were poor service and rudeness in shops. (I met some wonderful people too of course).

I had passed by Macau as well and stayed at the Wynn and to make a long story short, the lock in my room didn’t work, they had to fix the lock, the lock’s problem turned out to be bigger than they thought, I had to change my room, the room I was changed to was smaller, the lights stopped working at night, the ‘Tree of propserity” (which is one of the reasons I booked the Wynn), was down for maintanence, staff in the hotel were amazingly rude, and all I got at first was an apology and a bowl of fruit (two apples, an orange, a banana, and a guava….).

I told them that an apology means nothing and that I was going to write a letter to the management in US. After going out and coming back in, service was tremendously great… I was upgraded to an apartment suite, and even the managers carried my bags….  I was grateful… but still….

Having been upgraded on the final night pissed me off since all I got to enjoy was… well nothing much really since I went straight to bed.

HOWEVER, I have to say that the best hotel I’ve ever stayed in in my life is called The Mira. It’s amazing. Staff are fantastic and the design is gorgeous. It’s like the W Hotel, but it’s more stylish and you feel more personal. The staff go out of their way to make you feel at home. I wish we had a Mira in Qatar.

Anyway, going back go to Hong Kong. I had wanted to view some great fireworks and enjoy the new years, but sadly Hong Kong isn’t the place to go for new years. They don’t really have that much going on despite what some sites say. I’ve had first had experience (and so did a few others last year), and it’s nothing special. There are three places that have anything going on 1) The Harbour 2) TImes Square, and 3) Some park I forgot the name of.

The place to see fireworks is the harbour, so I went there to check it out. So I went ‘two hours’ in advance to get a good spot and the roads were already packed. As I was trying to pass through a mall entrance, staff stopped me and told me that I needed tickets… I asked how much and he told me $1,500. What?! No way! Then he told me they were sold out. “Screw that” I thought, and I decided to take another route. I asked a police man (from the many police there creating blockades) what was going to happen. He mentioned there would be a fireworks show that goes on for 4 minutes…..

Wait… 4 minutes… $1,500 dollars for 4 minutes. When I asked if I could go through, he said no because people have to pay. I was disappointed that it seemed that new years in HK was only for those willing to throw away money. New Years should be for everyone to rejoice…

“Screw that”, I thought again, I’m going to find another view since I don’t need to be so close to see the fireworks. Nope…. I was wrong.. Police had blocked every area where people could get a view of the fireworks. The streets were packed and full. It was an amazing sight. However many of them were very angry and I was worried for a moment there would be some sort of rebellion.

My lesson? HK is the last place to go for a New Year in Asia…

All in all though, I had a good time.

I’ve been wanting to do this for a while now. Qatar Happening dropped us a line to let us know that ILQ was ranked number 8 on  xmarks’ top 10 sites about Qatar. That’s pretty awesome! ILQ’s been going strong for a year and 11 months now and it’s become one of the fastest growing sites related to Qatar! It really is an honour! I hope that with the development and changes to the site, we’ll see the forums grow even more and become one of the best websites about Qatar!

However I thought I’d go and create a list of the top 10 websites in Qatar based on our opinion and general knowledge. However this Top 10 list isn‘t going to be in any particular order! I know I know, how can it be a Top 10 if it’s not in order. I’ll leave it up to you to decide

1. Qatar Shares - It’s an arabic website, but it’s community is probably one of the most well known for Qataris

2. iLoveQatar.net – I had to include iLoveQatar.net in here. It’s a community that has the latest developments and skyscrapers, latest events, latest news, and so much more! Help it grow!

3. Qatar Visitor – I really love Qatar Visitor. The admin is honest, tries to remain unbiased and really tries to provide great insights into Qatar. It’s definitely a gem of a website.

4. Hukoomi – Pay your speeding tickets, renew your visa, check the govmn’t calendar, and more. This website has made tedious stuff so much more simpler.

5. Qatar Happening – Looking for some great interviews, photographs, events in Qatar then you’ve got to visit their site. Qatar Happening also has a magazine which you can pick up in stores now!

6. Qatar Living – Qatar Living has been going for 4 years now? It’s a great website for it’s bustling Classifieds and a very awesome photographic community.

7. The Qatar News sites – Gulf Times, Peninsula, Qatar Tribune, Al Jazeera, Al Raya, Al Sharq.

8. Qatar University - This site gets a ton of traffic and is the source for many students to debate, talk , and just roam the halls of the internet.

9. DSM – Another site that I visit regularly. It’s now called the Doha Exchange and it still needs a bit of a face lift but I check the site regularly when updating my portfolio.

10.  MOI - I don’t really have much to comment, but it’s just another useful site like Hukoomi.

Qatar Visitor also wrote their own Top 10! Click here to view their opinions

What are your favourite sites? Which blogs and sites do you visit most often in Qatar?

I was thinking of that song that has the line ‘Chikity Chinese the chinese chicken’ (What is that song again?) and tried to play with that for this blogpost but Blackity beeery the blacky berry didn’t sound right.

I’m not a blackberry fan. Most people in Qatar only get it because they want BBM. I don’t know why people don’t realize that you can get your email  If there was one reason to get a BB it’s because of the data packages they give you.

Now, you’ve probably found this page because you’re searching for information on BBs. You heard Hassan at your local Sheesha joint talking about BBM, or you were at a meeting and whipped out your measly Nokia only to notice that everyone else had a BB on the desk right? Maybe you noticed that all the ‘cool kids’ were talking about that great new fruit?

Providers:
Qtel and Vodafone both offer BB services (Vodafone’s services are to be launched very soon).
Each network has it’s own advantages and disadvantages. What you should be looking at is Roaming charges, data charges, data bundles, device support, and any packages they may have going on.

http://www.vodafone.com.qa – http://www.qtel.com.qa

Roaming is a BIG one. There are tons of stories of people traveling with their blackberries, roaming the net and coming home to a 4,000 QR bill. So read up on that or switch roaming OFF.

But what IS a Blackberry?
Put simply it’s a mobile device that’s primary focus is ‘real-time’ email. Thanks to the BBM service, you can use an application which is similar to MSN Messenger but it is always on in the background.

So what Blackberry should I get?
Personally? I would go for the new curve. It’s nice, light, small, and is priced well.

Not convinced by BB? Want something a bit better? GET AN IPHONE!

Disclaimer: Yes I am an iPhone fan (I used to switch my phone every 2 months to have the ‘latest’. This device is the ONLY phone I’ve stuck with, except to upgrade). It does everything most phones can do and more. Worried about touch screens? This screen is better. Worried about service? Vodafone is the official network to distribute the phone. Want a device that you can deal with emails quickly, add applications, send photos, and generally look cool with? Then you know what to do.

I get quite a lot of emails asking me the same questions regarding weight, rules etc… especially when people are traveling from their home country to Qatar. (I guess ILQ provides faster answers )

Here’s a quick quide

Qatar’s Airport

Qatar’s airport was updated from it’s old one, but even now it’s called the ‘old airport’ because of the new airport that’s being built and which is said to be one of the biggest in the world. At the moment though, Qatar has a Premium Terminal for people flying business or first class. It’s pretty nice because there’s games, good food, massages, etc…

Visas

There’s a total of 34 countries that can get visas at the airport (Japan being one of them and it annoys me that as a Qatari I have to go through a huge visa process to visit Japan, but that’s another story). Check out ILQ’s visa section for more information: Qatar Visa

Feeling lost? Then use Al Maha Meet and Greet Service

You can request that Qatar Airways arranges this for you. They’ll handle everything from you from the moment you land to your exit

E-gates

I’ve written about these a lot. I love them. Makes my life easy and smooth. Expats can also apply for an e-gate pass with their residency permit which means that you don’t need to cue in immigration. If I remember correctly, the card costs QR150 a year for expats or QR350 for 3 years. All you need to do is get one from the Airport Immigration Office with your ID card (Qatar ID). It’s very close to the Airport.

Online Check-In

Again I explained my adventures in another blog post, but you can check in online through Qatar Airways website which means you only need to be there 30 mins before your flight and there’s a fast track for you.

Baggage Allowance

The biggest question of them all. I have to admit, on Qatar Airways website it’s not that very clear, so here I am clarifying it all!

First there’s the standard baggage allowance. If you have  buy a ticket with them, you get 20kg for economy, 30kg for business  and 40kg for first class.

However, if you apply for a Privilige club you get extra weight. I seriously recommend getting one because even burgundy (the lowest level) get’s extra weight. It’s 10kg for Burgundy, 15kg for Silver, 20kg for Gold.

So if you’re a Burgundy traveling economy you can get 30kg

Here’s the Vodafone Qatar 3G and MMS settings for the iPhone just in case you need.

To enable MMS with Vodafone, within your carrier settings section just input these settings

APN : web.vodafone.com.qa
Username :
password :

MMSC : http://mmsr.vodafone.com.qa/mmsc
MMS Proxy : 10.101.97.102:8080
MMS max message size : 307200
MMS UA PROF URL :

For the Qtel settings, click here