Abandoned Qatar, May 13, 2006

[patgund]

(Cross posted to my LJ and abandonedplaces)

Well, despite temps into the 103 range, I decided to take a look at an abandoned housing / business complex in the Rayyan district, west of Doha.

Only to find it may not have been as abandoned as I thought. Up until recently, companies in Qatar did not have to provide shelter or housing for their expat labourers from India, Pakistan, etc. Now, you see large "tent city" labour camps which are provided for the labourers. I suspect this may have been, more a time, one of the shantytowns that the expat labourers used.



Front gate. I have seen this for a few days, and thought it was a typical abandoned house or business complex in Qatar



This is the western room at the front gate



And this is where I got my first surprise. Because all along the inside of the complex wall and around the main building, there were clusters of little one room shacks built out of whatever scrap materials they could find. At this point, I wasn't sure if it was all that abandoned....



Room in the main building, just inside the front entrance



Calendar on the wall. Someone was here as of 2004 at any rate



Inner room. I saw these pallet frames and thin foam matresses everywhere inside and in the small shacks



Stairwell up to the roof. Very strong fecal smell, I suspect one of the small shacks built inside was a makeshift privy



Picture taken outside the stairwell window. You can see the shacks in the courtyard



Small window in the main building that has been turned into a breezeway into the shack built outside it.



Front/side patio of the main building



West side of the main building. You can see another shack built on the patio



Here you see more of the little shacks built around and on a patio



More shacks, these by the main gate



And this was a sign at least some of these shacks are still occupied - because I doubt these tomatoes would still be this fresh after more than a couple days in the desert sun.

Comments

Have I been programmed?

[ismarc.livejournal.com]

I don't know if it's the result of media programming or what but...

These pictures stike me on some instictive level as a bit frightenting. These images fit what I imagine the worst parts of the Middle East to look like. I literally feel frightened for you becasue I can clearly visualize Muslum zealots hiding in the ruins, waiting to capture and behead any Americans they happen upon.

Intellectually I know that this isn't likely to be the case so I'm wondering if my reaction is due to our propoganda machine or if I've just conjured this fictional environment on my own.

Re: Have I been programmed?

[patgund.livejournal.com]

You know, that's a tricky question to answer.

I know I don't tend to see it as such, to me, it's a building I drive by on the way to work.

However, I can see where one might react that way though. See where people would see possible danger in these ruins.

I suspect if there were zealots in that area though, they'd attack the McDonald's a block away.

Re: Have I been programmed?

[ismarc.livejournal.com]

Truthfully, I imagine that the occupants of those buildings are just poor people who want to make a living and carry on with their lives. Which is in a way more tragic than the "Sacred Allah's Rectum" sect or some such. Nevertheless, looking at the architecture in those photos brings to mind the worst my imagination can conjure.

Alternatively, for some reason, the idea of ski-mask wearing Allah nuts invading McDonalds is not only funny but disturbingly appealing. Of course, our executive office would respond more effectively to a threat against American capitalism than to a threat against American citizens.