Qatar

Advertisement

Sheraton Hotel, Qatar

Introducing Qatar

When looking at modern Qatar, it’s easy to imagine the great Oriental scholar, Edward Said, turning in his grave. Nineteenth-century Western travellers to the Middle East went in search of an imagined Arabia. When they couldn’t find it, they described an Orient they thought their readers would prefer to the reality. Even today, it’s tempting to go searching for such stereotypes and Qatar has its share: there are rock carvings to testify human endurance pitched against adversities of nature; forts to hint at the ruins of empire; and occasional goat-hair Bedouin tents to suggest the ‘noble savage’ nature of life in the desert.

Advertisement

Qatar has spent its energies (and considerable fortunes) in eschewing this stereotype, however, and showing that these ‘Orientalist’ flights of fancy are more a product of feverish Western imaginations than anything related to the Middle East. To this end, vast vertical ‘pleasure domes’ of the postmodern variety have been erected in Doha as if to demonstrate that the country is as international as any other. At least, that was until recently. Suddenly, wind-towered developments like Al-Sharq Village Resort & Spa proclaim to be ‘genuinely Arabic’; Al-Waqif souq sports ‘antique’ passageways; tented accommodation in Khor al-Adaid comes with air-conditioning. Qatar, in other words, appears to be reinventing itself in the image of Western ‘otherness’ fantasies. For the visitor, it’s wonderful: everything one imagined of Arabia is there in all its sanitised glory. For those who knew the Qatar of hawk souqs and dust storms, however, there’s the suspicion that this country is turning Disney.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009

Tips & articles

  1. Watching football in Qatar

    29 July 2011

    A couple of years ago, if you’d asked any football (or soccer – take your pick) fan to list 50...

    Read more

  2. Doha’s delights: explore Qatar’s capital like a local

    29 July 2011

    Dangling precariously off the top edge of the Arabian peninsula, dwarfed by neighbouring Saudi Arabia and Iran, it’s easy to...

    Read more

  3. Destination at a glance: Qatar

    16 November 2010

    Perhaps tired of living in one of the least known countries on earth, Qatar’s rulers seem determined to put the...

    Read more

See all tips & articles for Qatar

Thorn Tree forum discussion

Recent posts

  1. ahmd avatar
    Re: Follow up to first time.

    by ahmd 13 September 2011

    I don't know about Aussie dollars but I find better rate having US dollars than let say regional currencies "Linked to US dollars" like…
  2. HeatherF avatar
    RE: southern china airlines

    by HeatherF 11 September 2011

    The most direct are Singapore/Silk Air or Thai but they are not the cheapest. Consider Qatar as the connection times are short even though…
  3. Donkeystone avatar
    RE: Airfares to go up on domestics routes in October by up to 8%

    by Donkeystone 09 September 2011

    Well the Paris Air Show and reality are two different things, there are many who will pay lip service to Qatar and other Arab owned airlines…

See all Thorn Tree forum discussions for Qatar

In our shop

See all shop products

Hotels & Hostels

Top cities in Qatar

  1. Doha
Browse more cities in Qatar

Featured property

See all hotels and hostels in Qatar

Travel Insurance

Going to Qatar? Make sure you're covered.

Get a quote

See all travel services

Advertisement