I arrive in Doha at 0900 via Abu Dhabi on an Etihad flight departing Islamabad at 04:00. It is my first time flying Etihad, and all is well. On both flights I score an aisle seat with an empty seat in the middle.
As I emerge from passport and customs control at my destination, I spot a row of booths from the wide range of hotels operating in Doha. I have booked a room at the W, and find their booth almost immediately, make my way over there and make myself known to the smiling young woman sitting across the counter. She speaks a proper, international English (with a tinge of a British accent). She politely informs me that there are two options for getting to the hotel, a limo which she can arrange, or a metered taxi. I opt for the latter, and she escorts me to a taxi outside as we engage in the normal banter of how long are you here for and where are you coming from, etc... I tell her that I'm here until Saturday to watch the tennis, and she tells me that the finals have been sold out, as everyone is expecting a showdown between Federer and Nadal. Within a matter of three minutes we are at the taxi, she gives the driver instructions and bids me farewell.
Despite the fact that I am bleary-eyed and foggy-minded from several hours of overnight travel, I am alert enough to appreciate the skyline of Doha through the window of the taxi. I see tall, modern buildings on the skyline. More importantly, I see water, and I see boats, and I am happy. Even though I have no intention of necessarily riding on a boat or swimming in the water, I am comforted by their presence. Islamabad, where I have been residing for the past six months, is the only place I've ever lived in that is not situated upon a mighty river or expansive ocean. Doha is perched upon the Persian Gulf.
We arrive at my hotel, and I pay the driver 40 Qatari Royals. A valet appears and assists me with my baggage, leads me to reception where another young woman behind a counter greets me and briskly processes my check-in and issues me two plastic key cards. Another woman appears and introduces herself as the Social Media Executive of the hotel. Just yesterday I had "followed" the W Doha Twitter feed. I am intrigued. Thus far Doha is living up to its billing as a five-star city.
The quarterfinal matches don't start until 15:30, so I have some time on my hands. The first thing I do is book a massage. The masseuse is from Serbia, and she tells me I'm super tense and recommends that I detoxify. What does that entail? She tells me to eat fruits and vegetables and drink lots of water. Okay, I tell her, but only after gorging on a half-pound cheeseburger at the restaurant upstairs, which is exactly what I do about an hour later. Despite the recent arrival of Hardee's in Islamabad, a burger that sits as well as it tastes going down is hard to come by. This burger is the real thing. The meat is fresh, high-quality, and appears to have been flame-broiled. For dessert I order a cheesecake, which as a petite, round portion, accompanied by a tartine of raspberry sorbet. I am starting to feel like I am on vacation.
Whenever I stay in a European or American city, I am in the habit of walking out of the hotel after breakfast and checking out the neighborhood. Part of the appeal is getting out to walk and get some exercise, while the other draw is the prospect of finding a decent cafe or bakery to duck into for a spot of tea or a cookie. If you do that in Doha, like I did on Friday morning, you are likely to find yourself traipsing through patches of dirt mounds on non-existent sidewalks and staring up at a crane in the midst of some construction site. To get anywhere in Doha, it would seem, you need to a) know where you're going, and b) have wheels to get you there. Like many cities that are younger than I am, pedestrian-friendly is not a quality I would use to describe Doha (though in that sense it is oh-so-LA).
If, however, you are transiting through the region or just looking for a couple days to enjoy high-end service and haute cuisine, it is a fine place to go. If you have the opportunity to come here in early January and watch the likes of Federer and Nadal duke it out with lesser opponents and potentially each other, then Doha is the place to be.
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