Happy St. Patricks Day

Worked from home yesterday. Had a settlement on a home equity loan. The bank is around the corner from my favorite Irish Pub - Sean Bolans in Bel Air, MD.

I love the bag pipes, except for the constant tone from the bag.

March 16th - The world is small

Once again the world has shrunk.

Two days ago the Chief Operating Officer of the Florida Rail Enterprise announced he is leaving his post to assume a similar post in Qatar.

A long time client of ours, Nazih will be a familiar face in the region.

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2011/03/rail-enterprise-leader-is-leaving-florida-department-of-transportation-.html

Day 22 – Thursday, March 10th

Happy day today.  Going home.  I am so excited, but not anxious.  I have a fourteen hour flight, a funeral and a managers meeting to look forward to.  I think the flight will be the best part.  I arrive in DC at 2:30.  I figure with customs, baggage and transport to my car I’ll hit the DC beltway and 95 right at rush hour.  I’ll just keep focused and think about a Sean Bolans for dinner.

As always there is a story to tell at the airport.  In Doha and Dubai when you get to the airport you have to have your checked baggage x-rayed and the zippers tapped.  OK, line one and passport check number one.  I went to the US flight counter to drop my bags.  Large bag overweight, 3KGs.  Can’t open my bag to shift the weight.  Zipper is sealed and would require going through x-ray again.  Pay the overweight charge of 60 bucks, but not here sir you have to go to the cashier.  After you pay your bill, he’ll give you the boarding pass.  Yes, I’ll take your bags now, but you have to pay over there.

Next stop passport control.  Lovely lady in a burka, no personality.  Third check of my passport.  Go through security, no sir you don’t have to take your computer out, or your shoes off.  Just remove your jacket please.  Go through scanner, fourth check of passport.

You have to pass through the duty free shop on your way to the gate, similar to Disney, but before the ride.  Why is everyone around the booze and electronics?  Nobody is looking at jewelry or the perfume.  Must say something about the world.

Stop to call the wife, have to make sure she is ok.  She’s watching American Idol and I’m keeping her from it.  Ok sweetie, love you.  I’m getting something for breakfast, hmmm.  Food court has a nice sign, but the food looks like lunch.  Go to another food court.  It looks like a school cafeteria.  Ok we’ll have a muffin, banana and oh the coffee looks like instant coffee – I’ll have the Lipton tea, no milk.  I’ve got plenty of time.  Eat breakfast, enjoy the tea, watch planes take off and land.  Boarding is at 7:20, its 7:05 better go find my gate.  Where is gate 15?  Sir, you have to go down past gate 14 and make a left.  Ok.  OMG.  There is a second security screening.  Of course, I get in the slow line.  Will I make my flight.  Wait in line, another passport and boarding pass check.  Fifth check since I got to the airport.

Drop bag on conveyor.  Sir, please remove your computer from the bag, take off your shoes, coat and belt – I’m heading home, I’ve got to take off my shoes.  Sixth passport check.  Get pat down after screening.  Get in line at the end of conveyor with the masses to collect my stuff.

Get in another line.  Observation 90% of the people in this line is Indian.  I know most of the workers in Doha are Pilipino or Indian, but damn.  Seventh passport check.  Down escalator to the bus.  People coming faster then the bus could fill.  People starting to stack up at the bottom of the escalator.  Mass confusion.  Finally get to the head of the line, another passport check – eight times in all.  Bus to the plane.  Go to my seat – hey this isn’t the one I selected when I checked in on line last night.

Oh well, I’ll be home today.

Day 21 – Tuesday, March 8th.

I went to the office in the morning in anticipation of seeing the “new” office.  Our local office is moving in to a modern facility in a couple of months.  The visit was supposed to be part of the executive tour, but it didn’t happen.

As luck would have it I was able to set up a last minute meeting with a local telecom company manager.  As with the other meetings I got a lot of advice on how to approach business and living in Doha.  The meeting was at the Four Seasons hotel.  This seems to be one of the common locations for folks to meet.  He agreed to look for ways for our two companies to work together.

While I was at that meeting I got a message from the PM from our airport project.  One of the contractors wants to move his scope from one PM company to our company.  I got a ride from the Four Seasons to the Intercon where he was having his meeting.  Amazing two back to back meetings at two different hotels.  It was a good meeting and another opportunity to meet others working in the region.  At the meeting two of our senior executives joined us.  At the end of the meeting, our regional president asked me how I was doing.  I’m fine I said.  He asked again.  I told him I’ve spent the last three weeks getting my feet under me and absorbing as much as I can.  He asked me to be patient and told me it took him two years to feel like he had hit critical mass in the region.  Two years, this is really going to be interesting.  I’m heading back to the states tomorrow.  Should  make for an interesting conversation with Mrs. You know who. 

The day was spent in the office day.  Caught up on expenses and spent the day compiling notes and preparing for the trip home.  The biggest issue was the overhead proposal.  Our production numbers are way down from the projections for the current year.  I think the recession has finally hit our business.  We are going to have to make cuts in areas that only hurt the business in the future.

I called the Siemens manager to find out what he knows about the Education City project.  No news.  He did tell me he was closing the deal on his Porsche and would be taking me for a ride when I return to Doha.

Back at the office I cleaned up some last minute stuff and went to the hotel to pack.

I went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant.  I ordered the shrimp fajitas.  They musta been tiger prawns, complete with the head.  The damn things looked like baby arms laying there.  It was good.  No complaints.

Day 20 – Monday, March 7th.

The focus today is to get the proposal done.  The team has too many people and they still don’t have focus, too many cooks in the kitchen.  We are making progress, but it is slow.

The big event today was lunch with senior executives visiting the region.  Of course, we ate at the Intercontinental hotel  - this time it was the Greek Restaurant.  Our office manager ordered the food.  Bring us some appetizers, lamb chops, kabobs, potatoes and desert.  OMG.  They brought one of each appetizer for three people (there were 12 people in total), 8 healthy lamb chops for each four people, same on kabobs (chicken and beef) a bowl of potatoes – we had to tell them to stop bringing food.  Finally, they brought desert.  Everyone got a cup of ice cream, piece of baklava and there were several plates of cut fruit put on the table.  No need for dinner tonight.

I had several Monday routine calls with the office in DC which extended the day.  In between calls my mother called to tell me my step father passed away.  She seemed relieved.  When you don’t know what the future holds in that situation it becomes very stressful.

Since there is no dinner tonight I thought I’d help the digestion by going to the gym and spending some time on the treadmill.  It felt good.

Day 19 – Sunday, March 6th.

Sunday is the beginning of the work week in the Middle East.  I spent the day at the office, nothing of real significance. The usual conference calls with the proposal team.  Sunday is quiet because the US is not working.  Actually with the 8 hour difference in time the Middle East works two days before they hear from the US.  Not that folks aren’t available, but if you want to have a meeting access is limited until late on Monday.  Something to get used to and keep in mind as we move forward with the assignment.

Another dinner at the Souq Waqif, another grill, but this time I sampled the hammour.  Hammour is a white fish common to the area.  You can find it on every menu.  It was nice to get out of the hotel for dinner.

The day has had its drama.  My step father has had cancer for the last 18 months.  It seems he is in his final moments.  He is home with home hospice care, but he is having anxiety attacks and apparently has tried to get out of bed several times, but in his weak state needs help to stand.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t there to support the family.

Day 18 – Saturday, March 5th.

Having nothing to do today I decided to sleep in, eat breakfast late and go in to the office.  I finally caught up on the reading I’ve wanted to do since I arrived.  Only wanting to be in the office for a couple of hours I ended up working half a day.  Oh well, I hope my wife decides to join me.  I don’t think I can survive like this.

Every business trip I pack gym clothes.  It has only taken 15 days to get to the gym.  I wanted to walk on the treadmill, but they were all taken.  The trainer put me on the elliptical.  The biggest challenge was figuring out how to change channels on the built in TV and adjust the volume.  The trainer saw me struggling and helped me sort it out.  I must have looked awkward doing the elliptical and trying to figure out the TV.

Another manager in the region arrived today so we sampled the hotel wine bar.  It is a tapas restaurant.  If you spend a certain amount (which I don’t recall) you can get a bottle of wine at the market price.  Eat up fellas we need the discount.

Day 17 – Friday, March 4th.

Made friends with the HR guy sent to town to troubleshoot our issues with hiring and getting visas for our ex-pat employees.  It is amazing how bad it can be when you don’t have the right person driving the process.  Our current HR guy has no motivation and paperwork apparently doesn’t move.   Hopefully this guy will make a difference.  We need it.

I had a breakfast meeting with a business man who is the son of a former Ambassador and a cousin of a fellow employee.  It is interesting to get the perceptions and thoughts of people who do business in this country.  Nothing is straight forward.  Everything requires patience a in many cases the right partner.  As with the other meetings everyone is helpful with business and personal questions.

After the meeting I took a cab to the Intercontinental hotel and looked at the apartments. One and two bedroom apartments are available there.  I’m convinced it’ll take a two bedroom to provide enough space to keep my wife and I from killing each other.

Met up with my friend from HR and went to the City Center mall.  I picked up a few things including a “top up” card for my phone and walked most of the mall.  It is truly a very large mall.  It has multiple Starbucks stores, so you know it is big.  Not as big as the malls in Dubai, but impressive non the less.

We went back to the Intercontinental for dinner.  The hotel has a nice Mexican restaurant, the food was good and the beer better.  Damn it’s expensive though.

Day 16 – Thursday, March 3rd

Spent the day in the office compiling my notes from the last two days.  Nothing of significance to talk about today.  It is the end of the week and I’m looking at my second full weekend in the country.  I have a meeting in the morning, but I will spend the rest of the day looking at apartments and living options.

Day 15 – Wednesday, March 2nd

As I mentioned earlier we have a team in Dubai putting a proposal together for a project in Doha.  The team has limited understanding of the project and what the site conditions are, etc.  We flew them in to Doha and rented a van to tour the alignment.  Basically, we walked the whole 10KM alignment.  A lot of construction is currently going on and we wondered in to areas we weren’t welcome.  One site on the alignment was next to the UAE Embassy.  As we were poking around a guard with an AK 47 started to walk towards us, whoops.  Sorry sir, we really meant to walk in the other direction.  Seven white guys with engineering drawings, cameras and note pads.  I wonder what he was thinking.

Took the boys on a short tour of the other project sites in the city and had a meeting over lunch. 

Two days in the field just took it out of me.  I’ll sleep well tonight.

Day 14 – Tuesday, March 1st.

Can’t believe it is March already.

All day meeting and tour with a US construction firm assessing the market in Qatar and their entry strategy.  Good meeting, tour was capped with a site visit to Lusail.

Lusail is a planned community north of Doha.  It will house 200,000 people with hotels, entertainment and retail businesses.  They are going to create a main road that will be the Champs D’Eleysee of Lusail.  It will have a marina for 250 boats, its own Light Rail line, etc.  Today it is a barren desert.  The construction is all utilities and excavation.  It was a great tour.  Much of the work is being done by Qataridiar/Vinci Construction and a Chinese Contractor.  I understand the Chinese brought 25000 workers to the project.  Much of the excavation is being done by back hoe.  I don’t know if it is efficient, but there were rows of equipment.  In the distance it looked like a scene from Star Wars.  Wow.

At lunch we went to the Souq.  We all got meals made in a clay pot.  The food was much like stew.  Some got beef, lamb and one guy had to get the camel.  On the menu it was labeled as “baby camel”  I don’t know, but from watching him chew it looks like they were using the camel that lost the camel race.

Day 13 – Monday, February 28th.

Tomorrow is a meeting with a potential contractor partner.  Meeting appears one sided, but the paper today has the following article:

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/qatar/144146-take-part-in-2022-projects-pm.html

This meeting could be very important.

Spent the day preparing materials for the meeting.  Presentation, tours, I think we are prepared.

Office boy (40 year old man) is learning.  Plain tea, no sugar, no milk.  Water too, please. Nice.

Day 12 – Observations

People always say Sir.  Welcome Sir, Yes Sir, Can I help you sir.

There is always a box of Kleenex (or Queenex) on the table at the restaurant.  There is always a Napkin and flatware wrapped in a napkin placed at the table after you are seated.

You are asked if you want water at the restaurant, if yes, then its still or sparkling, next question is “room temperature or chilled”.  They bring a liter bottle and pour it and come back and keep pouring it until it is gone.

There is a garden hose (so to speak) next to the toilet with a spray nozzle.  It took me a while to figure out why.  I’ll let you figure it out on your own.

Regardless of the garden hose there is a bidet – haven’t and probably won’t figure that one out. 

The toilets don’t flush clean the first time through.

The switches are “European Standard”.  Didn’t know that until an Architect explained to me that the switches are outside of the bathroom and the only outlet in the bathroom is a low voltage “shaver outlet”.  The hair dryer is in a drawer in the bathroom and you have to turn on the electric from a switch outside of the room.

TV is limited to news – Al Jazerra, CNN, CNBC – Arabic and English, some channels like MTV, E and random network shows.  Everything else is in Arabic.  Some have told me it depends on the hotel or cable package you buy.

Day 11 – Saturday.

One of the guys rented a car for the day.  The plan was to look around.  His wife gave him a list of things to check out and report on.  So we got together at 9am for our adventure.

First lesson on Doha – make sure your arrangements are clear. The guy delivering the car came to the hotel, called the guys room and of course we were sitting in the lobby.  No answer, no delivery.  Everything got worked out and we were on the road at 11.

First stop was to look at furniture.  I think I’ll stick with the furnished apartment idea.  The furniture is either cheap and gaudy or expensive and gaudy.  There is an American furniture store.  Too expensive.

Next we went to the Giant grocery store.  Saturday morning is a busy day (Friday is the Muslim day of prayer so the day starts out slow).  The store seemed fairly normal.  Similar to a Target or WalMart there were household goods and groceries.  They had all the brand name groceries you’d find in the US.  We made a matrix of the prices.  It appears to be a little more expensive then the US overall.

From there we went looking for a Villa to get a feel for the housing options.  Not a good idea.  We were told to just ride around and talked to the guards.  If something was available they would let you look.  Of course, everywhere we stopped nothing was available.  I think the best thing for our staff to do is lock in with a realtor.  We went to look at apartments (my option).  They can be pricey, but very easy.  Just move in.  Price includes maid service everyday, linen service twice a week, discounts in the restaurants, laundry, pool, weight room, internet and cable.  We also looked at a club (Four Seasons), the club provides a gym, spa, pool, and beach.  Pretty pricey though.

One of the villas we looked at came from an advertisement in the paper.  Nice place, but what the hell.  It was a couple renting the villa and they lived on the third floor.  They were trying to rent the first and second floor to whoever would take it.  No private entrance, no private passageway.  Two of us wanted to leave right away, but one guy insisted on talking to them to find out how to make it work.  Let’s go guys this won’t work.

We stopped at a car dealer.  As a point of reference there is only one dealer of each type in Doha.  You want a Nissan you go to the Nissan dealer and get one.  You don’t like the price – tough.  When you walk into the showroom you look at the car and the price.  If you are interested you go find a salesman, who may or may not be there at that time.  Not like the US for sure.

Went to the Souq Waqif for dinner.  As I understand it the souq was run down and small a few years ago.  The government knocked it down and rebuilt it.  Now it has the same look and feel of a souq, but it has several modern restaurants.  We went to another grill and guess what? Kabobs on the menu.  One guy wanted to order the camel dish.  When he asked I heard one of the funniest lines I’ve heard since arriving.  The waiter responded “Sorry sir, the camel did not come in today”.  I guess the camel gets to live another day.

Day 10 – Friday.

This is my first weekend in Qatar.  Actually, the first day I wasn’t feeling the drag of jet lag.  What a miserable feeling.  My sleep cycle was pretty messed up the first 2-3 days and the trip to Dubai, although worth every minute of it was not as enjoyable because I felt like I wanted to lay down and sleep most of the time.

Our office manager took the group for a tour of Qatar, actually Doha.  Most of what there is in the country is Doha, the Corniche, West Bay (downtown business district) and new developments like the Pearl and Lusail, well Lusail is still undeveloped desert.  More on what is going on with Lusail later.  We went to a mall called Vellagio.  If you’ve been to the Venetian in Las Vegas you’ll know what Vellagio looks like.  Beautiful modern store fronts with a ceiling painted like the sky.  We had lunch at the Lebanese grill, all appetizers.  There are kabobs on the menu.  There is a theme here.

Left there and went to the Pearl.  What a beautiful development.  Mixed use residential and retail with a man made cove.  Only about 50% of the buildings are completed.  I wonder what it’ll cost to live there.  It is on the other side of Doha from the office, but it might just be worth the commute.

Went to the City Center Mall.  It is the largest mall in Doha.  Carrefour is located in this mall.  Carrefour is a French chain much like Wal-Mart.  I got a pay as you go phone and now I have a local number.  Later in the day I sent the number out to folks and a manager in Dubai welcomed me to the region.  When I asked him about his comment he said getting a local number is like changing your status on Facebook.

That night we were invited to a house party of an architect our firm has used in the past.  It was a young couple about to have their first baby.  When they moved to Doha they lived in an apartment.  Now with the family coming they wanted more room and the amenities of a compound (all houses in Doha are behind a wall that isolates and protects the community.  The villa is a three bedroom semi detached villa.  It was a very nice house and ready for the baby.  They were a lovely couple, but interesting.  He is from New York City and she is half American and half Japanese.  They are giving the baby a Japanese name and working to create the character that will represent his name, oh yeah it’s going to be a boy.  Another point of note – I had my first beer in Doha.  As I have learned the way you buy alcohol is to either go to  a hotel or get a liquor license and go to the one package goods store in the country.  Your annual allowance is equal to 10% of your salary.

Day 9 – Back to Qatar – almost feels like home.

Seems odd to say, but in a way I was glad to leave Dubai and get back to Doha.  That is where my work is and will be for the foreseeable future.  I got to the office around 12 and found I had a meeting back at the hotel with the boss’ brother.

Meet the boss’ brother.  He has a company that provides engineering services and currently has people working on the New Doha International Airport (NDIA).  With the economy in Greece having its difficulties he is thinking he will concentrate on building his business in the Middle East (like who isn’t).  On the plane back from Dubai a guy from Egis was announcing to the airplane (talking to an associate on his phone) that he was heading to Doha to look into opportunities at the airport in Qatar.

It was a good introductory meeting.  Nothing significant except his son, recently completing his Masters at the the London School of Business offered to go to Doha and build his father’s business.  It will be his business one day, but the son may need some time to mature in business before coming in to the family business.   We’ll see where this goes.

That night I was invited to dinner with the new General Manager in Doha for Siemens.  He had been “commuting” to Doha and will now take a permanent residence.  He has been with Siemens for several years having lived in China and I believe North America.  Used to work with one of our engineers at Knorr Brake.  What a small world.  I am starting to build my local network.

Our local manager loves buffets.  I guess they are ok, never been a fan myself.  They are dry restaurants, so when my new German friend asked for a beer the best he could get was the non-alcoholic type.  Next time we’ll go somewhere else…

Day 8 – Off to Abu Dhabi, or looking for Nermal

You’ll have to look up Garfield to find out who Nermal is, but he agitated Garfield to the point that Garfield shipped him to Abu Dhabi.  You’d have to know my son Gavin to enjoy the question.  “Did you look for Nermal?”

Abu Dhabi is our regional headquarters.  I went there to meet the power base and check in with our President, who it turns out resigned from the position that day, only to leave the outgoing President stranded in country.  Oh well, such is life.

One of the amazing sites in Abu Dhabi is the Sheikh Zayed Mosque.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheikh_Zayed_Mosque  Sheikh Zayed is the founder and first president of the UAE.  He is buried at this site.  My first reaction when I saw it was a modern day St Peter's Bascillica in the muslim world.

One thing that came up in every conversation was the uprising in Libya on the heels of Egypt and Bahrain.  Many people in the UAE and Qatar feel safe that these countries are stable, but the whacko in Libya is finally getting his due.  Both the UAE and Qatar have very small indigenous populations.  In Qatar the speculation is that only 30% of the 1.7M people are locals.  The rest are here to work in the oil fields, design and build the infrastructure that they are spending the oil money on.

The drive between Dubai and Abu Dhabi is a 90 minute drive.  On the drive back to Dubai the road was severely congested.  I understand the road was full of people who live in Dubai and work in Abu Dhabi.  During the downturn people had to go to AD to find work.  Another observation on the way down the road, there were cars pulling off the road so the folks could pray.  They were pulling off and laying the prayer rug in front of the car to pray – ARE THEY CRAZY.

The drive back was pleasant and other then the traffic not much to talk about.

I went to dinner that night to the Iranian Grill.  I think every restaurant in this region has kabobs on the menu.  I learned that Kofta is ground meat.  So if you get Lamb Kofta it is ground meat on stick and grilled.  The food was good.  We had a smorgasbord of food, appetizers and conversation.

After dinner we went to the Mall of Dubai to see the fountain show, unfortunately we were too late.  I did see the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building and known as a vertical city.  The building has restaurants, offices and apartments.  Wow.  The location has a building called The Address.  The only trivia I was told about the building is it has the highest priced hookers in town.

Day 7 – Proposal efforts

I spent today working with folks sent to the region to work on proposals.  Meeting with local staff I quickly realized they had no direction.  We spent the day to understand the proposal requirements who is doing what – and thank God we received a 21 day extension.  The reinforcements are coming.

Later in the day I was invited to dinner in Old Dubai with a friend.  We met at the Arabian Courtyard and took a quick walk through the Souk, looked at Dubai Creek and returned to the restaurant for a feeding frenzy of some of the best Indian food I’ve ever had.  I’m typically not a fan of the food, but this place does it right, complete with musical entertainment by a sitar player, replaced by a larger group of musicians, female singers and dancers.  The voices were incredible and you would think they were singing through some sort of synthesizer.  I didn’t understand the words, but the music was great.

I'll post some pictures on this blog in the near future.