Lots of travel books describe Doha as a kind of Disneyland of the Arab world. The other day, I realized those books are right. I was sitting on a bus outside the Doha Port, waiting to be transported from the Port entrance to a floating book festival (you can see it already, right? Floating book festival?) and I couldn't stop myself from saying out loud, "We're living in an imaginary place. Do you ever feel like we're living in a pretend world, Alex?"
Thinking about it then, we came to the realization that it's true. Life here is like living in a theme park- an expensive one. With a lot of rules. Where lots of exciting looking rides are still under construction. Except you always wait in line for these rides, assuming they are open because the theme park is, and no one tells you otherwise until you get to the front of the line only to find a big sign that says CLOSED! Sometimes the sign isn't even there, the gate is just locked up instead. And the rides that are open are the ones you've been on dozens of times already. It's not that those rides aren't fun, it's just that you've ridden them every day since you've been to Dohaland.
Thus my presence on (and rapid departure from) a ship of books that quite possibly a Mission ship.
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