The long awaited announcement from Vodafone Qatar came on 1 Sept 2009 that they will now be selling the iPhone. This is definately a welcome step in the right direction, but their press release only mentioned the 3G 8GB model which is not so new any more. The price tag of QR2,600 is also not so cheap for an old model of phone. To their credit, I have heard that Vodafone Qatar are already selling the popluar 3GS model in certain outlets.

Also, we have StarLink selling the popular 3GS for around QR3500 (which is around £600 UKP). Not cheap but apparently it's unlocked and doesn't compare too badly if you were to work out how much you would for instance pay in the UK to take out a 24month contract for a 3GS. The last time I worked it out, it was closer to £800+.

For those who are not familiar with the word, 'Iftar' is the name for the meal after opening your fast during Ramadan. I attended an Iftar dinner with a group of migrant workers in the Sana'iya (Doha's industrial area). Although the camp was fairly new looking, it was over-crowded as with many such labour camps in this region. One room would typically house 10 workers (5 bunk-beds) with not much room to put their belongings etc. It turned out that the group of Ghanian workers for which the meal was arranged were a lot less in number than expected. The reason for that we were told is that they were not sure if the meal arrangements would actually take place at the camp so they decided to take a 3 KM walk in the hot sun to the nearest Iftar tent where free meals are distributed. The workers who remained at the camp had to eat on the roof of the building since there was no other space in the multi-storey building. There was a strong solvent type smell from the workshop next to the camp but it didn't seem to distract anyone once the eating was underway. Qatar has a great ongoing tradition of erecting large tents or "Khaima's" which are dotted around different parts of the city and feed a large number of single men living here. Apparently less were erected this year due to construction, I believe Al jazeera English did an online piece on this recently.

Where my tailor shop used to be
From the first time I arrived in Doha almost 3 years ago, I would visit the same shop "Saleem's Tailors' to get my Thobes custom made. It's in the Musheirab area of Doha, near Souq Waqif and sometimes called 'National' by the locals. When i visited there a few weeks ago, they told me the electricity was going to be disconnected the next day and after that the whole area will be demolished. I visited there again this morning and took this picture on my iPhone.