Right ... there is one big difference in all of this.
Recruiters are telling westerners that a western style lifestyle is available for them here. Whilst it is available (to some extent), in order to have it, it costs much, much more than in the west. I am not saying that it shouldnt, I'm just saying that is the way it is. Recruiters dont tell people that fact. They are being brought here under false pretences.
THAT is my problem, it is unfair to set peoples expectations incorrectly.
Personally we are not in that situation so dont think this is "jealousy" or any such thing, my partner earns a lot. He doesnt have a "normal" job though and can he only do it in 6 locations in the world.
If you said to potential western expats *especially with familes* that in order to live with the same costs you will have to "go native". 80% of them are going to put the phone down faster than you can say Insha'allah!
@ Nadia .. you are also failing to mention that as a personal assistant for example I can earn 20-40k pounds a year in the UK, here I can't get a job offer of that position for more than 8k QR a month and work 6 days a week (most people are offered half that) and yet I still have to pay similar prices. Salaries for locals may well have risen, I saw the 40% pay rise announcement but salaries for educated expats .. relatively speaking have been falling for years. Let's not even go into what the legalised slave labour is payed in this country and the conditions they live in. There is a price for no income tax and they pay it ... It makes me sick!
A lot of the Brits that go to Australia and NZ also moan that it's a bit "backwards" so I do agree with what you're saying there but as far as high end consumer goods and choice goes, you are wrong. I can't even get my camera gear here let alone be prepared to pay what it would cost if it was. Same with PC equipment. We can sell a second hand 2 year old Dell Inspiron for more than we paid for it in the US. Wii's and PS3's have not been available at all(I know theres been supply issues with Wii's but all my friends back home have got them, we ship stuff in).
It's hardly surprising, Doha is a city of 1.5ish million people, it has it's qualities, just don't make it out to be something it isnt.
We have already covered the fact that Souk shopping for westerners does not yield the same prices, neither does car rentals, quad rentals etc etc etc, so Im not going to argue that point again.
@ Amnesia
It IS improving here, and I can see that and I dont deny that but its got a long way to go before it lives up to the prices its demanding, particularly in rent. Many things are creeping past the cost of Dubai and the infrastructure, quality of life and available facilities over there are considerably beyond Qatar.
I have been here over a 2 year period now and I've eaten in many different places. I have also watched the prices rise from what was "cheap" to what is very comparable with the US and even the UK.
My local Shawarma restuarants were 3 now 5, spitroast chicken was 12 now 18 one of the best value options here I do love roast chicken and cheese bread. The Beijing, The Royal Tandoor etc etc really no cheaper cost than my local curry house or chinese at home. Be it Indian, Thai, Lebanese or whatever and if I want to sit in a licensed restuarant I have no choice but to pay WAY over the odds for both food and alcohol. Unfortunately our favourite local Thai and Lebanese places have recently been shut down =(
I do also know of places I can go in London that are far less expensive but I dont feel comfortable sitting in a restuarant as the only white person being looked at like what are you doing here??
I completely understand that you can live the way you want to in your own country for less than you can do it in provincial England. I would expect nothing different. But I dont see legal employers recruiting from the middle east promising a lifestyle that doesnt actually come off. By there very description expats are not locals it takes considerable time to adjust and learn where is good/bad or cheap/expensive. You also have to be honest with people about what the early months are going to cost. I know quite a lot of people who have arrived here and been totally and utterly screwed over on rents and stuff. The life and needs and realities of an expat, particularly shorter term expats are not that of a locals and cannot be compared as such.
I have just done a big shop at FFC and the MegaMart (I try to buy as little as possible there), in order to be helpful rather than just critical I just did a price comparison for goods of equal weight/quality with Tesco.com online. It was a mixed shop including what I feel a UK/US family would want to live on. Over 80% of what I bought was cheaper in Tescos. Not unexpected but information that needs to be available. I also find it depends when I shop, things come and go here, there doesn't seem to be many gauranteed supply chains or price points. One day broccoli can cost me 18QR KG, for a couple of months 10QR and then sometimes 30QR.
Winter is better for me here as vegetables and fruit can be produced for a short time locally come down to much more comparable prices. The shopping bill in the summer rises noticably.
I have also compared our last QDC receipt to the same or comparable products and everything is more expensive ranging from 10% on bottles of alcopops to 100%+. Garveys and the Rugby Club are similarish to pubs at home (inner city ones) but the licensed restaurant options are about 3-4 times the price. This is a Muslim State .. I do understand why it's more expensive but people need to realise what its going to cost them if they want to drink.
I will get the details down in a spreadsheet and send it to you if you like.
Right ... there is one big difference in all of this.
Recruiters are telling westerners that a western style lifestyle is available for them here. Whilst it is available (to some extent), in order to have it, it costs much, much more than in the west. I am not saying that it shouldnt, I'm just saying that is the way it is. Recruiters dont tell people that fact. They are being brought here under false pretences.
THAT is my problem, it is unfair to set peoples expectations incorrectly.
Personally we are not in that situation so dont think this is "jealousy" or any such thing, my partner earns a lot. He doesnt have a "normal" job though and can he only do it in 6 locations in the world.
If you said to potential western expats *especially with familes* that in order to live with the same costs you will have to "go native". 80% of them are going to put the phone down faster than you can say Insha'allah!
@ Nadia .. you are also failing to mention that as a personal assistant for example I can earn 20-40k pounds a year in the UK, here I can't get a job offer of that position for more than 8k QR a month and work 6 days a week (most people are offered half that) and yet I still have to pay similar prices. Salaries for locals may well have risen, I saw the 40% pay rise announcement but salaries for educated expats .. relatively speaking have been falling for years. Let's not even go into what the legalised slave labour is payed in this country and the conditions they live in. There is a price for no income tax and they pay it ... It makes me sick!
A lot of the Brits that go to Australia and NZ also moan that it's a bit "backwards" so I do agree with what you're saying there but as far as high end consumer goods and choice goes, you are wrong. I can't even get my camera gear here let alone be prepared to pay what it would cost if it was. Same with PC equipment. We can sell a second hand 2 year old Dell Inspiron for more than we paid for it in the US. Wii's and PS3's have not been available at all(I know theres been supply issues with Wii's but all my friends back home have got them, we ship stuff in).
It's hardly surprising, Doha is a city of 1.5ish million people, it has it's qualities, just don't make it out to be something it isnt.
We have already covered the fact that Souk shopping for westerners does not yield the same prices, neither does car rentals, quad rentals etc etc etc, so Im not going to argue that point again.
@ Amnesia
It IS improving here, and I can see that and I dont deny that but its got a long way to go before it lives up to the prices its demanding, particularly in rent. Many things are creeping past the cost of Dubai and the infrastructure, quality of life and available facilities over there are considerably beyond Qatar.
I have been here over a 2 year period now and I've eaten in many different places. I have also watched the prices rise from what was "cheap" to what is very comparable with the US and even the UK.
My local Shawarma restuarants were 3 now 5, spitroast chicken was 12 now 18 one of the best value options here I do love roast chicken and cheese bread. The Beijing, The Royal Tandoor etc etc really no cheaper cost than my local curry house or chinese at home. Be it Indian, Thai, Lebanese or whatever and if I want to sit in a licensed restuarant I have no choice but to pay WAY over the odds for both food and alcohol. Unfortunately our favourite local Thai and Lebanese places have recently been shut down =(
I do also know of places I can go in London that are far less expensive but I dont feel comfortable sitting in a restuarant as the only white person being looked at like what are you doing here??
I completely understand that you can live the way you want to in your own country for less than you can do it in provincial England. I would expect nothing different. But I dont see legal employers recruiting from the middle east promising a lifestyle that doesnt actually come off. By there very description expats are not locals it takes considerable time to adjust and learn where is good/bad or cheap/expensive. You also have to be honest with people about what the early months are going to cost. I know quite a lot of people who have arrived here and been totally and utterly screwed over on rents and stuff. The life and needs and realities of an expat, particularly shorter term expats are not that of a locals and cannot be compared as such.
I have just done a big shop at FFC and the MegaMart (I try to buy as little as possible there), in order to be helpful rather than just critical I just did a price comparison for goods of equal weight/quality with Tesco.com online. It was a mixed shop including what I feel a UK/US family would want to live on. Over 80% of what I bought was cheaper in Tescos. Not unexpected but information that needs to be available. I also find it depends when I shop, things come and go here, there doesn't seem to be many gauranteed supply chains or price points. One day broccoli can cost me 18QR KG, for a couple of months 10QR and then sometimes 30QR.
Winter is better for me here as vegetables and fruit can be produced for a short time locally come down to much more comparable prices. The shopping bill in the summer rises noticably.
I have also compared our last QDC receipt to the same or comparable products and everything is more expensive ranging from 10% on bottles of alcopops to 100%+. Garveys and the Rugby Club are similarish to pubs at home (inner city ones) but the licensed restaurant options are about 3-4 times the price. This is a Muslim State .. I do understand why it's more expensive but people need to realise what its going to cost them if they want to drink.
I will get the details down in a spreadsheet and send it to you if you like.