Welcome to Qatar: a meter of 2060, 'killer' traffic lights and the shadow of a beer

• Calendar Times and dates of all matches

• The crossroads of Qatar Football, gas and human rights

An advice if you are coming to Qatar.

Check, at home, that

, lest any problem arise with your date of birth and since, already at the airport, the said card is not downloaded, you waste two hours in Check-in desks waiting for a call from a Qatari lady who has promised to fix it but won't.

In fact, the issue is not resolved until a man with glasses, from Madrid, says: "Have you tried putting the

day where the month and the month where the day?" And, then yes, the Hayya card is downloaded and an even fun adventure begins.

To know more

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Ignoring, which is a lot to ignore, which

Landing in Doha at night is a show.

It looks like a Scalextric with orange lights where you can see, bordering the Persian Gulf, small stalactites that turn out to be, in the morning, some beautiful skyscrapers.

Taking into account that

it is better understood that life on the street is little.

Or not.

The operators of the innumerable works await orders stuck in their cars with the air conditioning on.

All except two gardeners, who, suffocated with pants and long sleeves, do what they can with a green, very green, strikingly green lawn with which it falls as the morning progresses.

That contrast is curious.

.

The same is that here the plants grow with gas.

Namely.

AFP

The state of Qatar has spared no expense, that has already been counted.

But, what is it noticeable?

Well, for example in the

, which connect all the stadiums and in which the Qataris themselves hardly travel, since they are more than going in their private cars (total,

).

With some huge, bright, very clean stations, and some trains that seem to come out of 2060, the presence of volunteers of those who sometimes confuse more than help is also obvious.

There are many, they wear blue or purple, it depends, and in an Englishman like that they smile (little) and nod (a lot).

The subway, to all this, is free, because it is not that it is necessary to amortize it.

It's hard to think what will happen to such a brutal work when football is over.

In any case, the metro is always better than dying of dehydration waiting for

.

The guy who synchronized those in Doha went out of hand with the time for cars to pass (three or four long minutes) and the time for people to cross (maximum 30 seconds) through a place that does not have to be a crosswalk.

No no, it can be a zebra crossing or not, but it crosses the same.

AFP

also to arrive

, enabled as the main press center, and where the selectors and players will offer the press conferences on MD-1 (a pretentious term that means "the day before" the game).

Quite far from there, life bustles in Msheireb, Doha's downtown, adorned by very attractive restaurants and bars where men and women alike eat (good pasta) and drink (water, soft drinks or cocktails topped with a strawberry). some with hijab and others without, many delivered to Instagram.

At night, apparently, it's even better, but that will come later.

At the moment, during the day, and in that area, no alcohol, not even a beer, although the shadow, the one with the beer, is swarming around there.

PS If you're not coming to Doha, forget blissful Hayya.

PS2 Soccer, the World Cup, pervades everything.

Qatar Airways' delicious chocolate mousse is topped by a white chocolate ball.

The subway decorations are balls.

.

It is what it is.

And it is still not little.

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