AirBender

Ok landed Doha yesterday and turned up at work. Colleagues took me around showing areas and few apartments after work.

One thing which is really frustrating me is that all addresses are like "behind that shop", "next to that hotel", etc.

There is no system of postcode. Plus google navigation also doesnt work in Doha, so I am stuck with Sygic with Doha map, but its pretty useless as I can only use names of main areas but not to a specific building of address on street.

How did other British expats managed to learn to get around the place?

Oyibopeppeh

Same with any city in the Arab world - get up and drive around early on a Friday morning, get lost a few times and start to recognize a few landmarks.

Millhouse

I did that in AD. By far the best way.

In Dubai, that method is hard as it's such a sprawling mess and one missed turn takes you 25km out of your way. I now apply technology to the problem. Use wikimap to find what you want, get the GPS coordinates off the map and use the 'puter in the car to take you there... I use it for literally everything, from bars to little garages buried in the industrial backwaters of sharjah. Sadly, you learn nothing by doing it this way.

Desert Dubliner

Jeddah is reasonably easy to navigate for a city of its size. Has couple of main roads arranged in the grid and whatever you do you hit one of them after a while. Navigation works reasonably well but don't expect to be able to find something by street name / number. I look on google maps and then find the nearest familiar spot on satnav.

britexpat76

Your maps on Blackberry and Iphone work, thats what I used. You are fortunate that Doha is a piece of piss compared to Dubai though harder than AD. As the others say, go out and drive as much as you can and remember that Doha essentially runs along 4 semi circular ringroads A-D so as long as you can find one of them you will know roughly where you are. Took me a couple of months then hey presto It clicked.

MaserMan

Welcome to the middle east.

Buy yourself a Garmin or Tomtom GPS unit and work on geo-coordinates from wikimapia, as the street names can have different spellings.

Driving round and getting lost is the best way to learn. Have been down in Jeddah for two and half weeks and the roadworks really screw up any satnav device, but you do get there eventually.

AirBender

What a nightmare.... thanks for the GPS coordinates trick. It can be a lifesaver. Will start driving around Friday mornings once I get the license.

Appreciate all your help.......

Meow

Foreign country not just like the UK shocker!


You soon get used to it and to directions that have instructions like 'turn left at the 2nd mosque and right at the 3rd speed bump'. Better to drive around and learn the city rather than relying on navigational systems that aren't ideal for cities where the roads keep changing. People are usually pretty good at giving you directions when you need to find somewhere new.

co durham boy

Doha is piss easy . just get a map and look for the A.B.C.D and E roads they all interconnect and you'll not get lost .

Ive had a go at Jeddah today , now that's a bit more challenging !

AirBender

thanks durham. Yeah I am slowly getting the hang of it. Still a bit afraid to drive, I have been travelling with colleagues now and so far have been involved in 2 accidents.

1 - The land cruiser in the front on signal just reversed - the woman driver said, she put on R instead of D by mistake.
2 - Some idiot decided to take a U turn without indicator while parked on right hand side.

Anyway....

One more questions please. Which bank account/exchange provider/money transfer/etc company is best in Doha for transferring money back to a UK bank account?

I can suffer a bit on the exchange rate, as long as it is convenient (ie, login on their website and transfer using my swift code and IBAN etc) and how long does it take before it shows up in UK account?

britexpat76

Do you mean to send money home before you have your own account or which account to open to send money home?

AirBender

The latter. The company is going to open an account with QNB initially, but I have heard that QNB is a "go to branch, fill a form" kind of thing and not really good with exchange rates either. So simultaneously I would like to open another account in Doha which allows me to send money back home the British way (ie, login, send money, simples).

Millhouse

Never, ever, use a bank to send money home. Any bank.

Go to the mall on a friday morning and look for the 100 deep queue of Indians at a money shop. Use that same shop on a Saturday when there is no queue. Don't forget to negotiate.

or use a proper broker - although the money shop rates are not that far off (read the same once you have negotiated) - but you can probably do a broker over the phone.

Meow

If you are sending back decent amount you can use a currency exchange house and get far better rates than your bank offers. All online transaction so minimal effort. PM me if you want me to send you details of the one I use personally and for my clients.

Desert Dubliner

Why? Rates or some other reason?