Qataris bennies

My driver was regalling me today with all the benefits associated with living in an oil rich nation. Petrol here for the car is running around $0.76/gallon (crunched the numbers 3 times from what he told me and that's what I got. But I was using 4 liters roughly to a gallon and I think it's more like 4 1/2 or 5 liters to a gallon). There isn't any tax on the cars they buy and no tax on the petrol. As a result of this development, most Qataris have a car if they are old enough to drive. There are sooooo many cars on the road and most of them are very nice cars and a lot of SUV's and trucks and luxury cars. Rolls Royce had an article in the paper just today that they will be bringing the "Ghost" here. This translate to if there are 6 people in the home, there are 6 cars in the drive. I know some homes like that in the deep south but those cars usually haven't been driveable for 10 years or more.And if that wasn't enough, they also get free water (which is amazing because buying bottled water costs more than gas), free electricity, and several other "free items" for bountiful living as well. The rub is, these freebies are just for Qatari citizens. If you are a foreign worker, you are paying for your utilities and paying taxes and such. Gosh, who has ever heard of such a thing.Mentioned that I have not met many Qataris but I did see some today in the souq. Some of the shopkeepers are still Qataris and there were some men and women in the souqs shopping for various items. I was in one shop looking at the beads The men all carry the prayer beads and some can be beautiful. Learned that they can laser amber beads to make them darker. Or you can find some that are around 150 years old to get that darker color as they have absorbed skin oils to change the color. A man came in with his son who was wearing a white hat, the kind that I had always been told that Muslims ONLY wear after they have been to Mecca. Wow, I thought this boy was quite young to have gone to Mecca already so I had to ask. A notion tumbled. There is a shop down the way from where we were standing and you can buy these white hats for the kids. No Mecca involved. Two men stalked through the souq today with falcons. I missed the first one because he came up behind me and was gone before I could whip up my camera. My driver saw another coming and warned me and I got a shot. Hopefully I'll get out to the falcon center tomorrow and see some more birds. Another rather short day for touring but it was fun although I have to say that the souq is rather sanitized. It's just not the same as Turkey or Egypt or Syria or countries which haven't pulled down much of the old to put up the new

Pictures
falcon on arm - phone on ear