Its hot in the desert, mainly sand storms and dry arid air.
I visited Doha in July 2018, this was my 3rd trip there having had some business in the last 2 years and I was there for a followup visit. The last 2 times, I came it was first in winter, and then in early spring. The weather was cool in winter, and in spring it was about the weather we would experience in Singapore, about 30 deg C.
This year, in July when I went, it was a scorching 50 deg ! The air was dry, arid and even at night, the temperature felt like 40 + degrees, like living in an oven ! The population of Doha is made up roughly 25 % of locals and 75% foriegners. There is alot of construction going on, in the light of the upcoming 2022 World Cup being held there in 4 short years !
Dining Al Fresco at the Corniche, Smoking Shisha, Downtown Financial Centre.
During the winter months, like Nov - January, it is pleasant and cool, sometimes going down to mid teens in the evening. When I first visited Doha, my host was gracious enough to invite me to try the Arabian food, and we also went down to the Corniche (resembling an English fort by its architecture) which was by the waterfront. The waterfront itself was lined with numerous dhows - something from the old days when the only industry of Qatar was from pearl fishing. My driver and I managed to get a tourist visit on a dhow which brought us from the harbour section and we sailed onto the new downtown section, with all the modern buildings aglow in the night.
The Corniche (English fort) houses many shops, eateries, and art galleries for tourists and visitors from the region. It is a nice first stop for the new visitors to the country. Currency is the Qatar Riyal which is converted roughly by USD 1 = QR 2.5.
Janoos and I dining Arabian style ; from the floor
The country's largest export is Natural Gas, having the world's largest reserves of natural gas under its desert. Thus, the GDP per capita for Qatar is practically the highest in the world. The total population is only 2.5 million, with less than 1 million being Qataris. The rest are expatriates or foriegn workers involved mainly in construction and infrastructure projects. There are many nationalities working in Qatar, and during my 12 days doing some project work there, I met people, mainly specialists from more than 10 different countries.
Our finished product proudly functioning and providing valuable data for the research scientists.
For Asians, the 2 most populous citizens are Filipino and the Indians. Filipinos are mainly engaged in the retail and services sector and I saw plenty working in the malls, the hospitals and food establishments. Indians are mainly from the state of Kerala, apparently it is only a 2.5 hour flight from Kerala airport to Doha, and they are mainly engaged in construction projects, such as the upcoming Mass Rapid Transit train lines, the new stadia (for the upcoming 2022 World Cup) and maintenance of their many municipal facilities (water desalination, parks, waterfront and general maintenance).
I view the country as opening up rapidly for foreign investment and the time is ripe for investors to cast their nets for the myriad of opportunities in this rapidly developing region.
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