“We already have premium economy!”
- Akbar Al Baker - The CEO of Qatar airlines commenting that his economy class is so nice that it doesn’t need an upgrade.
“And the money kept rolling in from everywhere…”
- Tim Rice (Evita)
Why the hell are you in Qatar? I thought you were going to Africa?
Good question.
The answer lies in that in order to be able to afford to travel to these countries Colleen has to perform a kabuki dance in planning what airlines are the least expensive, where can we use points, and what times are available. She is a wizard at this stuff, but it often takes us on a curious pathway.
For this trip, in order to get to South Africa we needed to obtain a connecting flight through Doha, Qatar. Part of the package is they allow for a three night lay over in the city before continuing on your journey. So it is good opportunity to take a look at this little country, which happens to be the richest country in the world. This country is so wealthy that every citizen (Between 2 and 3 million people) make makes per capita at least $129,000 annually. It is 1/40th the size of California.
It wasn’t always this way. Up until 1971 Qatar existed as a British Protectorate. There was nothing here. It is almost all desert. There was a small population that tried to make it by fishing and pearl diving in the Arabian sea. It was subsistence living at best. Temperatures in the Summer routinely reach 120 degrees or more along with high humidity. It is like living on Venus.
Oil was discovered by the Shell Oil company. But even that news, with little infrastructure, the fields were dormant mostly . It was too much work to be profitable.
Then the ‘North Fields’ were discovered. The 3rd largest natural gas reserve in the world was on Qatar’s doorstep. The son of the the first ruler, Mohammend bin Thani overthrew his father and reached out to the West for help with development.
The problem with natural gas is it needed pipes to transport. No pipe in the world would go there. But, if they could liquify it, then it could be put on ships. It was new technology then. In order to do that you have to freeze the gas to 250 degrees below zero and keep it that way to transport it. Thus the race for the LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) connection was born.
Qatar financed the largest facility in the world for this technology and with it, the flood gates of money and development opened to them. In a staggering 40 years, Qatar went from a nomadic fishing shiekdom to a global superpower. No country in the world, per capita, is as wealthy.
It has so much money that it managed to secure being a site for the World Cup of Soccer coming up In 2022. In order to beat the heat, they have put technology in their multiple open air stadiums that have air conditioning on the field so the players and fans are comfortable. All of this while the desert sun shines directly overhead!
The landing on the moon was cheaper. A lot cheaper.
Doha, Qatar’s capital, is also facing controversy. It is currently facing a blockade with other Gulf states and Saudi Arabia. The main reason for this blockade is Doha is the headquarters of the Al Jazeera network. This is the only ‘open’ journalism source in the region and often reports critically on it’s neighbors. This freedom of the press is a particular source of contention for Qatar’s opponents. The press is not as free to report in their countries. The largest US military base in the region is also here, paid for entirely by Qatar. The other countries also accuse Qatar of financing terrorists and being too cozy with Iran. It’s a mess.
I am not sure how much of this is true Even a basic review of the situation looks like Qatar is trying to play all sides in a very volatile region for it’s own benefit. And that is what ever other country is doing also.
At any rate, the embargo appears to be failing and Qatar’s money keeps rolling in.
Almost half of this market we visited tonight is just pets, particularly high quality birds of all kinds. Qatarians, (Sounds like something from Star Trek -- "Captain the Qatarian commander is waiting to greet you") - anyway, they prize pets in their homes and they sell everything here from Chickens to parrots of unusual size or ‘PUS‘ for short. They also have a bird hospital just for falcons!
We will be here for 2 more days. We will explore more tomorrow and hopefully get some better pictures. Our goal is to catch up on jet lag and see a few sites before leaving for Johannesburg, South Africa.
The economy class on the Qatar airplane was pretty good after all. We also flew over Bagdad which is as close as I would like to ever get.
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