Where the streets have no name

[qatarperegrine]

This morning we were referred to an organization located on a certain street in Doha. We made several attempts to figure out where the street was, but no one we asked knew, and Google was (of course) no help. We called to ask for directions, but the directions they gave ("it's next to the petrol station") weren't quite enough.

Finally, we looked on a map and discovered... it's the street we live on.

That's what Doha's lack of signposts will do to you. I don't even know the name of my own street.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

No street numbers or names. Wow. :-D.

So I guess the phone book just gives...well...phone numbers, huh? :)
What's the rationale for that anyway?

Ann
http://mobaydp.blogspot.com/

[qatar.livejournal.com]

Phone book? What's that? :-)

The rationale is easy: Western countries developed a systematic address system in order to allow mail delivery, and here there is no home mail delivery.

Lots of streets do have names, but people rarely use them. Directions are usually given by roundabouts, not streets. (I won't tell you my current address, but to give directions to my former compound, I would have said "From school, turn left at Sloped, and then make a U-turn at the second roundabout after Stone Roundabout; it's the pink compound right there on the right." That street definitely has a name -- Al Khafji, I think? -- but nobody would have a clue what I meant if I told them that.