We're going to visit two of the richest
and most sophisticated places in Qatar.
One is a series of beautiful and well-designed man-made islands,
and the other is a brand-new city built from scratch.
Although there are some man-made islands in the other as well.
I'm talking about the Pearl and Lusail,
as both are places that deserve a visit in the evening.
Today, we see one, and tomorrow, the other.
Where do we start, baby?
- Um...
- You don't know where you are?
- The desert? - [laughs]
- No. - We're at the ocean.
We're in Lusail.
Welcome to Qatar,
the host country of the FIFA World Cup 2022.
I'm Renata. This is my husband Gordon.
And we're here to see what's it like to visit the capital Doha.
In the previous videos,
you saw some of the most famous neighborhoods
around the City Center.
Are you enjoying Souq Waqif?
And in this video, we're going to show you
what's North,
and it happens to be some of the newest
and most modern areas in the entire country.
Need to add more credits here.
There's a lot of receipts here. Which one is mine now?
[music]
Oh, look at this.
Nice and modern stations everywhere.
Wow, if we thought there was a lot of construction in Doha,
here in Lusail, things are at a whole different level.
An entire city is being built.
- One, two,
three, four, five,
six, seven, eight,
nine, 10, 11,
12, 13, 14, 15,
15 cranes in visual site.
Amazing.
And it was so easy to get here.
Metro in connection with the light rail.
You know what that's for?
- This? - Yeah.
- For what? - Put your foot in there.
It's a trap. - [laughs]
- It's for watering plants, I think.
Doesn't it look like it? - I guess.
[music]
It's still a little bit too bright for this sign over here.
It'll probably be much nicer when it's dark.
How do you know you are in a safe place?
People left their bags over here,
and they're taking pictures all the way over there.
This will cool you down. - Yeah.
- You're going? - No. I'm too much of an adult.
- You're too much of an adult.
Oh.
Here we are at the Lusail Marina Corniche
which is a nice promenade, too.
You can come for a walk.
It is a really beautiful place.
This is the most iconic building here,
the Katara Twin Towers.
The busiest place along this promenade here
is right in front of the Twin Towers.
Look at this. Everybody here taking pictures.
Can you believe that there was nothing here?
It's amazing, right? - No. There was desert.
- There was desert? - Lots of sand.
- In the early 2000s, Qatar had this plan
to build this brand-new modern city north of Doha.
And with the World Cup, it became a reality much faster.
They estimate that a quarter million people
will live here.
[music]
- Prayer room.
- Oh, wow.
That is beautiful, huh?
The shape of these two buildings here has a meaning,
represents Qatar's national symbol: the two swords.
The building is almost done, look at that,
but still closed here in the bottom.
They're gonna have the luxury hotel over here,
residences, offices.
It would surprise me if there's a restaurant up there.
This building is really huge.
when you see from up close, like this.
Look at this grand entrance.
[music]
Look at how fancy the entrance of this pier here.
You need a magnetic key to access the pier.
And over here, even more ultra modern buildings
Wow, I love this one.
Remember the building in Mexico City like that?
You said there was an earthquake.
- Look at the last earthquake did.
It moved the whole floor.
- What's your explanation here?
- There was an earthquake, July 2nd...
- Ah, come on.
- ... in Iran, and it was felt here.
Look how much damage it did.
- You know the Qatar is considered the safest country in the world
in terms of natural disasters.
- Oh, really? - There are no natural disasters here.
- There's only heat and dust.
[music]
Oh, how interesting.
Another street food place over here
that everyone comes driving.
But here, some restaurants and cafes
have a place for you to sit down inside.
- This is big. - Yeah.
- Lots of shops.
- Shall we stop here. - No.
Let's get to the mall in the air conditioning.
- Oh.
It's so funny.
Every single car is busy with people inside eating.
We're the only ones walking over here.
Where are we?
- In the air conditioning. - Yes. [laughs]
Look at our situation here.
We were not like this during the day.
- No.
- We had to come inside the light rail tram
just to cool down a little.
I think it might be worse than during the day right now.
- We can take the tram to the next station.
It stop right in front of the mall.
- Oh, really? - Yes.
- Oh, okay. That's a good find.
- I'm doing that. - How fast would it be to walk?
- I don't know. I don't think we can.
[laughs]
We should've brought another shirt.
Look at that. - [laughs]
How you're going to the mall like this.
- Exactly. - [laughs]
[music]
This is beautiful, huh?
Look at how luxurious this is.
You need to tap in and tap out here.
This is a brand-new mall in Qatar,
inaugurated this year, a few months ago.
[music]
- Look how high the ceilings are.
- Yeah.
And it is so fancy.
Welcome to Place Vendome.
- It's so big.
I just walk in and I'm lost.
- [laughs] It is.
And so fancy. Look at all these shops.
Louis Vuitton, Dior, Gucci.
- Gordon. - Gordon.
- He has store, too.
- Beautiful.
- He sells very high-end shoelaces.
- [laughs] - That's it.
- Absolutely beautiful place.
It's a homage to Place Vendome in France.
- In Paris. - The Sephora.
- Yes. - Remember that you mentioned
is the flagship store. - The flagship store.
- Yes.
It's like another mall inside the mall, right?
Wow.
The mall is brand new.
So there are a lot of open spaces, right?
This is a good one for you, baby.
- No, I've got blue. - Yeah, but not dark blue.
And this light, you know.
- Yeah, I got blue. - Yeah.
- On top of it, I'm not a beginner.
- [laughs]
That's bigger than the other.
- Is it? - Yeah.
- Crusoe?
Or Pink Panther? No?
- It's a little bit big.
Extra large. It's only large.
- Look at that.
We've come to a mall, and then we'll go shopping.
We'll go shopping at Place Vendôme
Place Vendôme. - Yeah.
- The most expensive store in Doha.
- Most expensive mall.
Canada.
- Canada there, Canada here.
Here and there, everywhere.
- Well, the camera needs to see you.
- Oh, yeah, but that's okay.
- He's just learning how to vlog.
I make wild movement, camera everywhere, you know.
Action everywhere. It's very busy, you know.
It goes everywhere. Be careful, pay attention.
But seriously, there's Tim Hortons here.
They also have a beautiful and enormous food court.
[music]
For tonight, Greek food.
Look at this, how beautiful.
Kebab, pita bread
with yogurt, tomato sauce, and onions.
Mmm.
Wow. I...
Love this.
Wow.
- There's a whole lot.
- Oh, yeah, that is huge. Wow.
- Its got lamb.
- It looks really good.
[laughs]
Huge, huh?
Wow.
- It's good. - So big.
- We've been eating so well here in Qatar
because of the immigration.
You know, we have people from all over here.
You also have cuisine from all over.
You can choose whatever you want,
and you'll find here.
At Place Vendome,
They also have a dancing fountain show.
[music]
Whoo-hoo!
It's a short five-minute show
every night on top of the hour.
When you hear the word "Lusail",
many people immediately associate it with the World Cup.
Here, you also find the stadium of the Final.
And look at how different this whole area looks
when it's totally dark.
That's the best time to come here.
We're now back at West Bay.
Let's see if the Pearl will live up to the expectations tomorrow.
- Ola.
We're off to the Pearl now.
They have a first class here for the train.
But with this card, you can only access the standard card,
which is already amazing.
To go to the first is not just buying a separate ticket,
you need a brand-new card.
Maybe next time.
Okay, Gordon, where to now?
[laughs]
- Here is a sign that tells you the bus you need to take
to go to the Pearl.
- Porto Arabia.
You just need to find where.
[music]
Shukran.
- Thank you.
Wow, we just arrived, and I'm already in love.
Look at this, its a totally different style here.
It's like permanent Christmas over here.
[music]
- This face you see everywhere are Arabic new friends.
Can you tell us?
So you came all the way to eat Texas Chicken here?
- Yeah. Do you think they import the chicken from Texas?
- I'm not sure. I don't think so.
The Pearl is known for the Mediterranean-style architecture
and it is everywhere.
Look at this, all over.
And it's not just one section, it's the entire thing here.
There are lots of hotels, cafes, and restaurants.
Everything really nice.
What do you see?
Two pearls. [laughs]
Perfectly designed, huh?
And it's so cool because you see this from the plane.
[music]
The Pearl is a fascinating man-made island
on 4 million square feet of land.
It is huge. So much bigger than I expected.
This is one of the largest real estate developments
in the entire Gulf.
And one of the few places where foreigners can buy properties.
I can't imagine this area here during the World Cup.
They could set up giant screens and everything.
It'll be a mega party.
I thought Al-Jazeera was television only.
But here, you actually see this name in a lot of shops.
Interesting. This one here is perfumes.
Okay, just for you to have an idea
of the kind of shops you find here.
[laughs]
Porsche, a Ferrari.
[music]
Wow, it keeps getting better and better.
Look at this place right now.
There's a marina here, a promenade all along.
It's amazing. So beautiful.
Oh, they have those fancy marina gates here, too.
That is amazing.
Hey, isn't that all you need right now?
Si. Si.
Perfeito.
- Let's see your state here.
There's a sweat. [laughs]
You know what the good thing is,
whenever you're feeling too hot outside,
you just can come inside one of the air-conditioned buildings,
like malls and restaurants all over.
[music]
Here outdoors, it is really hot during summer.
But you see these restaurants with outdoor seating over here,
a lot of them have outdoor air conditioning.
That's why everyone is over there just enjoying.
Air conditioning in the open.
Dinner, outside or inside, Gordon?
- Inside.
- They have air conditioning here outside.
No? - Inside.
- [laughs] I know you.
Being in the Middle East, we chose Middle Eastern food tonight.
- [inaudible] - Okay. [laughs]
- Shukran.
- Here you go. - Thank you.
- Thank you so much.
Mmm.
This is so tender.
Perfectly seasoned.
That's so funny because I ordered chicken escalope,
I had no idea it would be basically chicken Milanese with fries.
I'm loving it.
- It's like a gravy.
- Oh, yeah? - Yeah.
Mmm. - Good.
- And what did you get? - Lamb.
- It looks amazing, too.
What is that on top of the lamb?
It's like a pita bread. - Mm-hmm.
Good. - Amazing?
- Mm-hmm.
It's amazing how this sauce totally changes the food here.
So you got two options, with or without.
They both are fantastic.
This is how good it was. Look at this.
And here.
- Some dessert for you on the house.
- Oh, that's so nice. - Thank you very much.
- Thank you so much.
Wow. - Nuts on top...
Pistachio. - Pistachio.
Mmm.
It's like a rice pudding.
- Oh, come on.
[laughs]
Mine.
- Come on, give it back.
[laughs]
- Oh, yum. - Mm-hmm.
- Very tasty.
Like the perfect level of sweetness,
not very sweet.
Perfect for dessert.
- Thank you so much.
- Thanks to you, Muhammad.
- You're welcome.
See you again? - Yes.
- Tomorrow, same time.
- Tomorrow. - [laughs]
Look at this, how clever.
Regular boat trips around this area here of the Pearl,
and there's a QR code over there,
I scanned to see, you know, more information,
I thought it would be price and everything,
but no, it gives you the exact location of where the boat departs.
See, I can see that I am here,
I don't need to walk all the way to this end.
That is so clever.
[music]
Christmas. [laughs]
Not.
Oh, look how interesting.
Even at tourist places like this, they have prayer rooms.
This is the female prayer room.
And over there, the male prayer room.
Wow, look at this.
This is how much they want foreigners here.
"Buy a property and get your residency in 1 day!"
- How much do you think it costs?
- I have no idea, but I think it's expensive.
- I say 1.5 to 2 million.
Probably like New York and L.A. prices.
- Maybe. - That shows how much they want
foreigners here, huh? - Yeah.
- I saw online that there are gondolas here.
Not today, it's probably too hot.
But when you come here for the World Cup,
keep that in mind, it might be really cool.
Hard to choose a favorite,
both Lusail and the Pearl are amazing,
and these are must visit places when you come to Qatar.
Gordon...
were you in the rain?
[laughs]
- No, it's raining Gordon.
[laughs]
Look at that.
[laughs]
And when we got back to the hotel,
surprise!
Gordon's bag had finally arrived after six days.
- Yeah.
That's okay.