Wow. I though the shopping centre that's being constructed near the new Carrefour where we went on Saturday night was big. Tonight I got Mr G (one of the drivers who knows where our villas, office and major shopping centres are) to take me grocery shopping after my rather shoddy attempt on Saturday. City Centre's Carrefour was probably the same size if not marginally smaller but this time I had to navigate a live shopping centre (the other one is still under construction like most of Doha).
The drive there was like most of the drives I've been on here. In essence half build roads with no road rules and "assertive" drivers. I've decided to hold on to my drivers license unless they desperately need me to drive somewhere and even then I'll be strongly considering my options. As I may have mentioned earlier Doha feels like someone started a game of Sim City and currently the whole city is under construction.
I was in for my DAE induction (which has half the length of the M2006 one and to be honest more useful) and they mentioned several reasons that traffic is a bit chaotic. Firstly Doha is growing really rapidly. Doha also lacks a public transport system. Everyone seems to get around by ute. In fact the only buses I've seen are the work ones that shuttle us about and some run down American tv show school buses that ferry the labourers to their various work camps around the city. Walking is completely out of the question unless it's a very short distance and at night because (that's right) it's hot. So with the city rapidly growing and no transport there are more and more cars on the roads.
Did I mention the roads are still under construction? One day you can be travelling down the road and the next day it could be closed off. This is another reason I don't particularly want to drive. I've also noticed that if you miss your exit you're likely to have to drive a fair way in the wrong direction before cutting across several lanes of traffic while beeping your car horn in order to turn back in the correct direction.
Roundabouts deserve the half page paragraph in the guide to Doha that I read. The number of lanes changes at random as do the drivers trying to exit. Imagine the Wheel of Death (in Melbourne) as the standard round about. All in all it still doesn't feel quite as crazy as Malaysia but it's not far behind!
Anyhow I digress. My grocery shopping was far more successful this time. Armed with a list I managed to get everything on it (except for the mince because they ran out). I also managed to find a few gems like Mi Goreng (complete with Arabic labels) and Fox Glacier mints. A few pain au chocolate and a couple of kids picture books in French (because they were cheap and one of them's about penguins). Don't worry Mum & Dad, I did buy some healthy food too like fruits and bread etc. A possible point of interest, durians cost about AU$7 each. They still smell bad.
Well I think I've posted plenty for today. Time for bed.
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Pfft, you think it's hot and sticky there? It is always over 90% humidity here in balmy Padang. And the temperature range is between 28 and 38. This next week is looking to be the coolest I've seen- only between 28 and 31 for the next few days, with showers (read torrential downpours which disappear momentarily, making the sun afterwards seem all the more scorching). And I walk everywhere, cos I don't have a driver, and I'm too scared to get in the opelet- mini vans used as public transport.
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