Friday night first week in doha done. I decided to take myself out for dinner to celebrate (and to eat of course) after i got home and there isnt a hell of a lot of choice within walking distance (and not having to cross major freeways to do it!) there is a burger king (ughh) macdonalds (yes i will provide a photo one day with the golden arches with arabic writing! Astheticaly declined due to being a mcdonalds and being double uggh) a hardees (what ever one of those is) and a place called applebees which seemed the most likely of the candidates to sit down to eat.

Meal was great, had a great pudding called a blondie (think a white brownie!) but what i wanted to say was i was the only british person in there (and im not talking qataris here) must of been 50 yankies & cannuks munching away, i was sat nextto 3 american service men (dont ask which service i dont know) and the rest were oil/gas workers and familys all of them loud. The waiting staff were either korean or from qala lumpor (qualalumporian? Qualalumporeese?) all lovley.

Im not sure what im trying to say, i guess im shocked in a word, as most of the people at work are distinctly NON American (in hindsight i should have noticed)

appologies some of you may have seen some of theese before a few photos (sadly not mine still having upoading issues) to give you the flavour of the place







theyre building this stuff at the bottom of my road (2 mins walk!)

as you can see the theem of large public silly object continues

the corniche - the bay which doha is centered

the money - which hopefully i will be earning lots of.

a typical road scene
more large silly public objects

last silly object for today i promise

finaly the main mosque

its friday today: for most of you that means your at work looking forward to the weekend: however for most quataris it means its the weekend and holy day: the immams are out in force cranking their sound systems to 11for the early morning call to prayer,

4/30 or 5am in my case, its a lovley thing at any time of the /day/ however as ive now been woken by them for the 4th time running i may invest in some heavy duty sleep ear plugs. that combined with sunrise at that time too, leads to the behaviour thatim finding im living at the other end of the day getting up early and enjoying a leisurly breakfast/iftah then working through till 6 and heading home then going to bed at 10!

thats partly to do with the fact there is nought to do around the hotel flamingo apart from hang around the 'Dream Palace' photo shop, in the mount of olives tailoring shop, or the chill juice bar that seems to be destinctly lacking in juice or chilled nature.
yours from your forign corespondant

alister cook sorry wrong persona
\Michael.

jeeeez ive just had my first time dilation thingmy bob. it feels like a lifetime since i left, i know i left monday night and i know its thursday, ive spent 2 days at work but a lifetime has occured., an entire new life has occured, loose friendships have been formed, houses obtained bank accounts opened, mobiles cnnected to telephone systems, new dietry habits formed, cultur e shock formed and broken,

as a foot note does anyone know about 4x4's does anyone know if the nissan pathfinder rates against the land cruiser? just working on trying to work out which one to get. no a prius is not an option, i dont think they even import them into the gulf.

. my thinking at the moment is that the asian games are over at the end of dec. its going to take me at lest a month or month and a half to get my local driving licence (beaurocuracy innit) and after pick up a cheap xpat 2nd hand sale, then make some mullah/loose less on resale in 2 years. both are pretty popular out here.

also hadto hack my mobile today to get it to work with a qtel sim. astonishingly easy website.... imei number + OLD + phone type = unlock code for free.

just had my photos taken and i dont lie at the 'dream studio'
taken on a oldschool 35mm camera. 16 passport photos .... 20rials about 3 pounds!! half an hour wait tho.

home again home again, thanks to mr taylor.
the hotel flamingo. strange floor layout. nice hardwood furniture, i now have a hotel flat mate a nice chap from qalalumpor (sp?) who is in prettymuch the same burocratic state that im in.

i think were going to go get photos from a local photo booth thats on the corner will take a photo and post it eventualy!

other than that all ok, afternoon getting into tech stuff, starting to realise the mammoth task, and some of the massive hurdles before we get there, both technical and logistical.

.M.

day two, quiet work wise, hectic on a beurocratic level, bank account half done, cash advance claimed (should help me survive the next few weeks)Local Sim Card bought, mobile phone unlocked,meeting with manager scheduled in laterExternal Affairs meeting scheduled next tuesday for blood (Aids & Type), & Xrays for TB, and anything else they feel they want to screen me for.
I need to: 1) work out where my stuff (shipping) is 2) get 16 photographs 3) go shopping for stuff for the house.
all before lunch - it feels like i need breakfast at the resteraunt at the end of the universe!

getting news from AP of a plane crashing into a highrise on the upper east side in NYC, hoping its going to be ok

also appologies for lack of photos . blogging from my pda and its having issues interfacing with blogger's photo upload tool

will try to do a few from work tomorow

it looks like im goiing to have to rent a car for a while, or until
xmas as there is a real shortage
until the asian games are over and all the expats related to that go home, should pick up a bargain too!

tv here is dire, mostly trashy tabloid stuff along with badly
dubbed us movies, looks like i wont bother with a tv here either.

i will look to move to the villa on the weekend i hope to have a mobile number by then as there is no phone/ broadband at the houses yet.

other than that the villa has 3 bed rooms and a pool! so im in luck.

it looks like im goiing to have to rent a car for a while, or until
xmas as there is a real shortage
until the asian games are over and all the expats related to that go home, should pick up a bargain too!

tv here is dire, mostly trashy tabloid stuff along with badly
dubbed us movies, looks like i wont bother with a tv here either.

i will look to move to the villa on the weekend i hope to have a mobile number by then as there is no phone/ broadband at the houses yet.

other than that the villa has 3 bed rooms and a pool! so im in luck.

Its now midday, time is traveling quickley, we have a serously multinational office so far i have met a jordanian, a lebaneese guy, a kiwi, a 2 brits, some ozzies, a guy from denmark, a couple of arabs, and a gentleman from pakistan. All working in english, there is a great atmosphere here we are going to do good.

afternoon spent chasing paperwork and stuff, bank and mobile phone will have to wait till tomoro, as will a list as long as my arm

up point of the day i found someone who is suffering from stones, will email to find urologists details.

Well im here at work, in the newsroom, its all very new, the building is still being built, pretty much like the rest of Doha, the newsroom is just about finished and im installed in my new office ‘home’, ive met my boss, and one of my colleagues, Ive met guy, whom was the first person I met getting into the building. It all strange an new, only downside is that there is shifts, unlike discovery they don’t think its going to be 24hr.

There are rumors of a party on Saturday which should alleviate some of the Ramadan blues.

There is a canteen here which is running during Ramadan which means I should be able to get something proper to eat in the mornings after I wake up properly.

First impression. This place is like tatoween but 25 years on its mad
no cantena band tho

! Not as manyu 4x4s as i thought, there are even people riding bicycles! My driver informs me that the traffic jam is due to ramadan, and buisness here staring at 8am and working till 1!

Sat here with a heavy heart, heathrow terminal 3 the ugly bastard sister of airport terminals. 4 layers of security and i havent even got to the gate yet, my appendix scar/wound hurts, and im missing blighty already. On the upside i had a creamchease bagel and that was yummy, but i dont think it willl keep me going till tomorow evening . Its ramadan innit!

Mum and dad dropped me off got a little teary, but otherwise a fine send off.

another note on airport nazi's . There was this woman , i cant dignify her as a rent a cop as she didnt have a uniform just a cheery yello tshirt with the slogan can i help, making people randomly empty their bags. This was posibly the most pointless exercise ive ever seen, given that people were basically in the cue to have thier bags, shoes, coats & for some bizzaree reason belts, xrayed again.

just got my full 2 year visa thru Whoop! no tempory visa for me!

Looks like im departing for doha tomorow (monday 9th october) night. t3 red eye flight at 9.30 get in at 6.30am local time. looks like im going to be dog tired, however the luggage restrictions have been lifted! yay! so i can take my beloved jack wolfskin get back

also taking my balistic nylon suit bag (Americal Airlines branded) and trusty rucksac (non branded) all the rest of my stuff is out there already.

see you on the sandy side - and dont forget - skype or email me please its lonley being out there on your own.

M

just rediscovered an old photo blog i used to read about tokyo - hunkabutta.com - some beautiful photgraphs

also found the original cash of the JT anti smoking images - its the motherload of japanese crazy images and engrish! nice - here

the USC (University of Southern California) center for public deplomacy's lecture podcast is rocking my world at the moment, first lisened to chairman bruces' lecture on publishing and tech, then cory doctorow set top cop fullbright lecture series then i found the John Brown, Ann Wright and Brady Kiesling lecture - a must listen

then i found the journalism ones (whoop - finaly some people looking at the ideas ive been thinking about for the last few years.
“Reflections in a Bloodshot Lens: America, Islam, and the War of Ideas” with Lawrence Pintak)

but i will just give you the back catalogue address