Thursday, September 07, 2006

Driving in Q@tar

I have been seriously occupied nearly the whole day, every day, this week. I am driving my kids to school. I hope next week things would be much better. But looking at Haziq's schedule, I can see things might even get worst. Oh my online chatter friends, I miss you all.

If you think Malaysian drivers are bad, you should really come over here. It is easily ten times worst. You see queue cutters there? Over here nearly half of the road population cut queues, dangerously at that. Some would get on the kerb and happily drive on it. Some even get on the road dividers whenever possible. They overtake dangerously. Some overtake and even beam at you for being in their way. Hmmpphhh.

Most cars here are of big engines with hundreds horse power. Imagine these people with fast cars and big mean machine on the road. Scary youuu..If you are driving on a fast lane and you see those mean machines coming behind you, and you drive at only 120km/h, I suggest you give way.

D0ha is a city of roundabouts. This node must be the most dangerous place of all. Some goes speeding without even stopping at roundabouts. People here also seem to fail to understand the basic lane rules to approach roundabout. They take lanes whichever is convenient to them. Make sure you use all mirrors at the roundabouts and have eyes all around your head. They lurk just about anywhere. You want to go to the left (remember it is right hand drive here), then someone on the left wants to go on your right. And these are all at a fast speed. And because traffic is horrendous, do expect to perform stunt now and then. Otherwise you'd be stuck there at the risk of being stuck for ages, honked at and glared at.

And talk about honks, everyone honks here. Sometimes I just can't tell who the honker and the honkee, if there is such a word. Ha ha ha. So too bad if I don't even realise that it is me who was honked.

And now I am driving the kids, I see the worst of drivers attitude right here. The road to the school is practically jam packed. People start getting on the kerbs. They start taking over the opposite lanes. Parents fighting among each other. Honkings. Beamings. Absurd parking. Road hogging.

I think it is the heat. Its killing you and you can lose your senses under the fuming heat. Even in air conditioned car, the glare is unbearable.

Sounds like road bully on the road eh? People honk. People beam. They shout at you in the car. They use hand gestures like Karam Singh Walia to show that they are angry at you. But I have never heard people stopping you, blocking your car. No baseball bat. No guns. It's like hi and bye here. No grudges. That's what ar@bs are like. Impatient and argumentative lots, but it stops there. fight and kiss and make up. At least that's what I see lah. No kissing though.

Having said all that, do you know that people here would stop for pedestrians? Particularly the locals. I find this really surprising. I have seen them on the road. And this stopping for pedestrians amazes me. However they probably don't stop for males but they are very likely to stop for woman and even so if you have children tagging along. Anything with children, they would stop. Unfortunately I still find Asians not stopping.

You know in Mid Valley, people even speed up when they see you trying to cross in the car park. Over here a man halted his car with a screech when he sees me and the kids waiting to cross the road to my car.

There are things we can learn everywhere eh?


27 comments:

sare @ syah said...

Wow, diaorang ni lagi teruk bawak kereta...but at least they'll stop for pedestrian to cross the road. kita pun slow down gak sometime, bila ada accident...hehe

Anonymous said...

min... dal.. ro'.. sinn haa. (haa ker taa tuu) amender nii. Laa, mad-draaa sahh..

My jawi is soooo bad..

"Honker ker Honkee.." that's beautifull. :-)

Lollies said...

sare - ha ha ha. kat sini pun sama.

tj - lawaklah you ni. madrasah-sekolah.

eh adaker such a word tu honker-honkee. :D

Jill Yusoff said...

Ack! Where did my comments go? But who can you blame them with road instructions reading 'direction to be followed, 'follow this direction', 'this direction to follow' when they all mean the same thing. Fonkius babe, fonkius!

anggerik merah said...

Ehh...chaotic betul the drivers there. But amazing when it come to pedestrian crossing. Kat Msia taku nak cross..silap hari bulan mati katak kita.

Nazrah Leopolis said...

signboard dia cool ah, ,pakai jubah!

Sya said...

lollies.. kat mana-mana pun ada yg baik ada yg jahat ek. Memang kak sya amazes with the Arabs ounya attitude, Depa kalau cakap memang mcm nak gaduh .. very loud gitu but after that they all ok balik.

Pernah sekali ada seorang kawan dr Jepun complain kenapa driver Malaysia tak stop at zebra crossing. kak sya cakap

"it is zebra crossing.. so the drivers only stop when they see a zebra not human."

Lollies said...

jill - ha ha ha. pastu signboard tu pulak dah senget direction kena langgar.

AM - ish takut kat mesia tu. kena marah lagi adalah

nazrah - heh heh. kan? ada banyak lagi. nanti i ambik

sya - kan? bising aje. pastu baik. hebat betul. ha ha ha to zebra joke.

dlt said...

hahaha... kak sya, good answer. :)
lollies, can't imagine me driving over there. sure kecut perut. but if u passed driving in Qatar, sure u will have no problem driving anywhere else in the world, kan.
Drive safely.

Idham said...

dulu ada driver ..eksen kunun nak bawak sendiri....now dah ada lesen bawak sendiri baru goddess ni tau ye...di jalan raya sana macam war zone tau...hati2 ye ...

:)

ada dak depa dok picnic kat tgh2 round about tu mcm di jeddah?

idham

Lollies said...

dlt - ha ha ha. the test ah? that was nothing compared to the real drive. But I think if you have driven in the mid of KL and has gone through roundabouts, you'd be ok. Stay away from them aje

idham - bukan pasal eksyen. Pasal I had to pay them to two different schools. And dari I bayar dia org, I can buy my own car. Pastu haziq didn't like it sebab driver dia tu sumbatramai orang. Dia balik selalu muntah muntah. sampai sekolah pun muntah. They all prefer me to drive them you see. Don't worry about me. if you know me earlier, you'd know that I don't mind driving. I like being behind the wheels.

ha ha ha picnic kat roundabout? tak da pulak kat sini. u shud take pics. he he

Anonymous said...

kat qatar lagi ganas eh driver. mesti pengaruh f1 since bahrain ade track sendiri. sah dah tak lama lagi kua middle east f1 driver.

berhati2 dijalan raya selalu mummy! daa.

Nazrah Leopolis said...

i used to teach a big class of students from the middle east. and gosh, with them towering over me, with attitudes to boot. ada satu kali i had to threaten nak panggil police when one of them pushed me to the wall, just because i had asked for his assignment a little too adamantly. tapi yang baik tu ramai...those who treat you like teachers and friends...so sweet. and they are so helpful. mmg depa drive laju2 lah lols, sejak umur 14-15 dah bawak keter mahal-mahal laju2. some of them so manja, i need to call their housekeeper to get them out of their beds and come to class. crazy lot they are, but i miss them every now n then. and oh how they can eat!! brought 2 large pizzas to class once, sekelip mata dah abis, muka masih lapar.one thing abt the arabs, they really know good perfume, and gosh, their voices can turn ur legs to noodles.

*haip, ingat nazrah! awak tu dah kawin*

simah said...

bad drivers everywhere heheh..so this is ur new occupation? unpaid chauffeur?? :0) ..cant imagine the fuel bills..mahal tak minyak kat qatar?

Jangan lupa baca doa sebelun start driving..

they stop for pedastrians? caya la..i always tabik those who do that...good luck with the driving... sabarrrrrrrrrr

rad said...

Erm..cudnt complain much coz I'm one of the 'Malaysian drivers'..
So, I wonder how you handle the stress of driving your kids to schools - let say, one car cut into your lane/queue or whatsoever, what say you? Takpe... or Biarlah... or Maybe dia dah lambat kot... OR!#@@$%^#!? Heheheh

Lollies said...

wan - memang lagi teruk. entah drive laju2 tak da pulak produce f1 driver. malaysia pun ada alex yoong aje. beehhhhh

nazrah - heh heh heh. and their eyes. those deep set eyes

simah - minyak? hmm 75dirham (lebih kurang 75sen) per litre for preniun abd 82dirham for super. which is cheap actually. yalah negara produce minyaklah katakan. tapi saudi lagi murah. 60 sen kot. ya ya saya akan belajar bersabar

rad - heh heh i was one of the malaysian divers too. berhati-hati di jalanraya. amalan hidup kita. what do i do eh? hmm ada time tengok cara i kasi aje masuk like masa merge kan. usually i bengkak sikitlah tapi i choose to be relax about it. kalau tak kang..haru

UglyButAdorable said...

120km n still give way...good lawd!!! accelerate on a zebra crossing?? i still think why to get a driving license we need to go foir theory class that last 8 hours??

maklang said...

maklang kat KL je dah takut nak drive...kat sana apalagi..

atiza said...

we have those sign on the malaysian roads..just that not everybody is that civil enough..

rad, i normally call those people who cut queues as 'desperate nak terkincit..ta*k dah kat ujung b*nt*t'-kind :)

Lollies said...

uglybut - yes to some of them 12km/h is slow.but tengok kete pulak horsepower sampai 300 or even more.CC sampai 5. gilos.yang zebracrossing tu malaysisn aje yang speed. the people here would definitely stop

mak lang - heh heh. jangan datang sini mak lang. tak best pun

atiza - heh heh. tapi kat malaysia sign tu tak pakai jubah kan?

BTB - oh i so heard. those yg stayed in iran first before coming over pn kata doha is a relief. :O

Halley said...

Same thing here in Dubai especially bila the big four wheel drivers. Seram bawak kete sebelah.

Halley said...

Eh lupa nak cakap...suka lagu...apa title

Ordinary Superhero said...

I found out in many places, drivers like to honk and be honked. Manila, Ahmadebad, Hyderabad, Bahrain and some other gulf countries, you name it.

Kalau kt KL, silap2 haribulan kena belasah dengan road bully.

Anonymous said...

Hi lollies,

Everybody honks there...ha ha ha! It reminded me of my visit to a few cities in India. They honked happy there..really really honked happy, at every single thing especially when they are about to overtake you. Gosh! I felt it was such a great big noise pollution there, but after awhile we get used to it. I learn something about road culture in Doha from you and thanks. Take care and cheers.

Lollies said...

halley - hmm crazy road drivers in doha, iran, dubai, alkhobar, jeddah and riyadh. i think we can safely say it is the whole of the gulf countries. Heat perhaps eh? sebab sesungguhnya saya pun dah terbakar ni. tajuk lagu is masih by flop poppy. you want the mp3? i have given it to nenek oredi. :D. ni asal blog takleh access ni?

ordinary superhero - itulah kan? tu yg i amaze jugak tu. tak da pulak orang kuarkan baseball bat ke apa.

S - you know what? There are so many indians in the gulf country as well. so I am not surprise eh? They prolly start all thiese honking in the first place. Just a hypothesis.

maklang said...

sampai hati tak kasi maklang gi sana....ingat nak jumpa lollies mesti best...tapi orang dah tak kasi nak buat camana????sob...sob...

Lollies said...

eh eh eh mak lang. janganlah gitu. bukan saya tak kasi datang jumpa saya. kecik tapak tangan satu stadium saya tadahkan. saya drivekan mak lang kat sini lagi. sila sila datang mak lang. dgn syarat sbb nak jumpa saya aje. senyum ya mak lang.