doha qatar top photography

I arrived at the American Air Base at Doha, Qatar at about 8 AM. I proceeded to the Air Force customs counter. Because I was travelling on to Bangkok via commercial air, I had to go through Qatari customs and then off the base to the Doha International Airport. Therefore, I had to “enter” the country through Qatari customs. Qatari customs, when I have gone through it, consists of one Arab sitting at a counter mostly waving you through. He checks nothing. At times, no one sits at the counter and there is the entry stamp just sitting there. The first time I went through this customs stations I had to go and find the customs agent for a friend, Jamaal, who was travelling back to the States. I had already passed through and had my passport stamped. Jamaal had lagged behind and been detained by the Air Force because of something in his baggage. He was always slow so it was no surprise to me when after 15 or 20 minutes Jamaal had not come through the customs stations. I left my bags sitting on the other side of the customs trailer and went to find Jamaal. When I finally got him through, there was no customs agent in the trailer. He had gone off to drink chai or to pray or God only knows. I went out to find him. When I found him, he entered the trailer and looked at the stamp as if to say why did you not stamp it yourself. I just laughed which brought a smile to his face. He stamped Jamaal’s passport and we proceeded through the metal detector which to my knowledge is always switched off.
doha qatar
doha qatar

doha qatar

On rare occasions, there are two or more people in the customs trailer. When this is the case, they will usually run your bags through the dusty x-ray machines while talking to each other. Then wave you through no matter what is in your bags. (I once carried a lighter in my carry on baggage from Afghanistan through several countries–Cambodia, Thailand, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. No one raised an eyebrow. It was not until I arrived in Atlanta and was exiting the airport to fly no more that a security guard discovered it and confiscated it. I questioned the guard fairly harshly. Asking why he would take the lighter when I was exiting the Airport and would not be boarding an airplane. He told me that he was just doing his job. I replied; “Then you have a stupid job with stupid fucking rules.” And walked on. America is a pain. I don’t fully agree with the paranoia that has become the norm in the American government. We are becoming truly byzantine in our rules, regulations and laws. Bottled water?)
By about 9:30, I was at the Airport. I had a ticket to Bangkok. The problem. My flight departed from Kuwait and I was in Doha. I had to get my ticket changed. I proceeded to the counter of a local Travel Agent and attempted to get my Gulf Air ticket changed from a Kuwait departure to a Doha departure. No success. I was told that I would have to go to the Gulf Air office in downtown Doha to get it changed. I asked if there was not a Gulf Air agent in the Airport. There was but it was in the back area. I went off to find it. I had to go back into the administrative offices of the airport. I found the office and walk inside. A woman and a man are sitting in the office. Neither of whom speak much English. The man goes off to find the manager. The manager walks in. Offers me chai and asks how he can help me. I explain my situation and he tells me that I would have to go to the main office in Doha. I ask him if it is possible to help me from here as I have two bags and a back pack with me and I don’t want to drag these bags with me all over the city. He attempts to help but cannot seem to get the system to work.

I decide to blow off the Kuwait flight altogether and to purchase a new flight from Doha to Bangkok. It costs me about $500. The flight doesn’t depart until around 2000 hours that night. So I have about 10 hours until departure and about 8 hours before I can go into the gate departure area.

I feel sticky and disgusting from sleeping in the air terminal at Bagram for two days. I decide to try to get a shower somewhere in Doha. There are airport hotels and shower rooms in Dubai, Amsterdam, Bangkok and several other places through which I have traveled over the years. Nothing of the sort exists in Doha. Qatar is a surprisingly backwards country for being so affluent. I hire a taxi to take me to a hotel. I grab all of my bags and throw them in the cab. And off we drive. After several tries, I could not find a hotel that rented by the hour so that I could take a shower. For some reason, I had no problem writing off a $500 ticket from Kuwait to Bangkok, but, I would not pay 80 bucks for a shower. $80 for a shower seemed offensive. Another scam in another Arab country. And I was tired of Arab stupidity and rigidity.

doha qatar

doha qatar

I abandon hope of taking a shower. But it’s only 11 AM. I still have 8 hours to kill before I can get to my gate for my flight. I tell the taxi driver to take me around and show me the major sights around the city. Apparently, my taxi driver is an idiot. He doesn’t know a thing and doesn’t know how to play it up for a tourist minded person like me. I ask him to take me to see Al Jazeera. I want to get a picture of the evil purveyor of Islamic propaganda and the protectors of terrorism worldwide. It’s a curiosity. He drives on.

We drive for about 15 minutes and I’m getting impatient. I’m thinking about just heading back for the airport when the drivers pulls up outside a place that he calls Al Jazeera. I stand outside of the cab to take 4 or 5 pictures. The idiot then proceeds through to the gate of what I am thinking is Al Jazeera. There are these security guard looking guys at the gate. They stop us. They ask us to pull over and exit the vehicle. Then they detain us. I try to tell the taxi driver to leave. He won’t budge. I get fairly irate. I ask why I am being detained. They tell me because they saw me taking pictures.