As-Salamu Alaykum from Doha, Qatar. I still have another four hours to wait before my flight for Kathmandu is scheduled to leave. For those of you that don't know, Qatar is a small emirate nestled in the Persian Gulf that is rolling drunk on petroleum. Like Bahrain and the U.A.E., Qatar has used its tremendous energy wealth to create a modern, westernized, and wholly capitalist oasis of sorts amongst the rolling sand dunes of the Arabian peninsula. Behind the facade of skyscrapers, five star hotels, palm tree shaped islands, and per-capita GDP figures which eclipse those of Monaco and Lichtenstein is one of the largest human trafficking operations in the modern world. Anyway, the Doha International Airport would be largely unremarkable were it not for the Mecca to shit that is the Duty Free Qatar shopping mall. $400 bottles of scotch, hundred foot-long walls of nothing but cologne, netbooks, ipads, candy, cigars, DVDs, a Porsche, a Mercedes Benz, and more! Here's to Johnny Walker Blue Label and Toblerone!
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