Our Last Days in Qatar -- Points of View

HSBC Bank has a great set of ads that are posted in airports around the world. They are prominent at Heathrow. Each features photographs of two objects repeated but with with contrasting captions. The ads make you think about your own personal perspective or point of view of the world. Here are a few examples:

My personal favorite is one depicting cricket players and ballet dancers, with the captions "tedious/riveting/riveting/tedious".

I'm reminded of these ads as I look at the last few photos from our trip to Qatar. On our last full day in Qatar, after going to the local zoo, we went to the new fancy shopping center and then to the very traditional Arab shopping bazaar in the heart of the city. Your degree of enjoyment of each place depends significantly upon your point of view...

The Shopping Experience:



At the shopping mall, you saw the same stores that you would see at any US mall/UK High Street, but with signs in both English and Arabic. The shoppers were a cross section of cultures -- robed Arabs and westerners alike. At the Arab bazaar (or "souk") it was tiny stalls with goods (like spices) on display in the stalls and in the alleyways between the stalls. The shoppers were almost exclusively robed Arabs.

Entertainment at the two different shopping locales:


The new fancy shopping mall offered gondolier rides through the mall's indoor canal; at the Arab bazaar it was robed men outdoors playing traditional drums and chanting -- and there were separate seating areas for men and women.

Here are a few additional photos of the souk. You would see old men with wheelbarrows at the end of the alleyways -- you could hire them to follow you to haul your purchases around as you shop. That might be handy at the malls, too! (As always, click on any photo to enlarge it.)