We spent our last night in Doha at the Souq, but getting there, driving through town at around 5:00 PM when laborers were leaving work, was quite an ordeal. The size of some of the construction sites is just astronomical. They are building an underground rail system, so some of the sites are huge holes in the ground right now with tens of power cranes on every portion of the site and hundreds of laborers.
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A typical site in Doha. Men getting off work getting on the bus to take them to the camps where they sleep. Traffic congested and inching along, power cranes lit up at night, some so they can keep working.through the night.
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This is a bit blurry, but it captures something about Doha. Stephen says there may be a million workers here constructing all of the projects going on in Doha. There is international concern for their safety and for their living conditions, but the paper here reports that Qatar has the least construction injuries of any location.
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The Souq Waqif is always a busy place. In this area women set up small grills and sell food they have prepared.
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| Another merchant at the Souq. He was hammering and shaping the bracelets.His turban I think is more for tourists. I rarely see anyone wearing a turban on the streets |
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| Another part of the Souq with a Mosque in the rear. |
At dinner last night with two of Stephen's co-workers - Leah, from Omaha, and Sandro, from Venice, Italy - I got to hear more about the challenges they face on the completion of the hospital they are working on. There is so much construction going on here that subcontractors can and do walk off jobs. With so much work going on in this town, it is a monumental challenge to coordinate all of the details in order to get the jobs done.
We leave tonight, but plan to return.
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