An eerie, empty walk through Doha, Qatar

[NelsonG]

“What are these? Screenshots of the Matrix?” a friend asked — looking at a few of the first pictures I’d taken in Doha, Qatar, on my 4th visit in about 10 years. My dad is an airline pilot and moved to Qatar in 2007. The first time I saw the glittery skyline of Doha, I had just turned 15 years old. As a Brazilian kid who grew up in a gated community in the suburbs of São Paulo, I was no stranger to contrived and controlled spaces, an entire life taking place where nothing bad could ever happen to you

Shopping malls and gated communities were my stomping grounds, and Doha was, in many ways, a hyperbole of places I knew very well. Unlike Brazil, there was no crime. My dad marvelled at the fact that people would carelessly leave their cars in the parking lot with the keys in the ignition and the AC on. I was told that because of the summer heat, nothing could be built outside. The streets had no sidewalks and every avenue was practically a highway. There wasn’t much to do in town other than going to the mall.  Read more...

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