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.