WhatsApp

When I was in hospital I would give a daily update to my parents in Arizona, my sister in California, Claudia in Berlin, Natalie in Wellington, and Kája.  I couldn't use iMessage because Nat and Kája are Android users and everyone is on Apple.  I couldn't use WhatsApp because my parents and sister don't use it.  So I had to go old school and use SMS (text message). 

SMS is Short Message Service but in the USA we call it a "text message" and we use "to text" as the verb.

The USA is one of the few big countries where SMS remains the usual way to chat.  SMS/Text message travel over telephone lines rather than over the Internet.

If you use an iPhone then and you want to message someone else who also has an iPhone then you send them an iMessage.  The message goes over the internet.  If you want to message someone who uses an Android phone then you send them an SMS.

The benefit of SMS is that it works with any phone.  However, there are security flaws, you don't get notifications when the recipient has read your message and you can't start a video call from a text message.  SMS messages are up to 160 characters.

WhatsApp is a free instant messaging and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service that was purchased by Facebook in 2014 for $19.3 billion.  It's the most popular way to message people in most of Europe, Africa, Latin America and most of India.

It's heavily used across Europe.  Mainly because it's free.  In the USA, SMS is usually priced at a flat rate and most carriers include text messaging as part of your mobile package.  In Czechland, a single SMS is usually around 1 Kč (5¢) which over a month can add up to a good chunk of change.  On the other hand, most U.S. mobile providers charge a heavy fee for international text messaging.

To use WhatsApp you just need an internet connection.  With WhatsApp you're not limited to 160 characters per message, you can send images, videos, audio files and documents, there are read notifications when the recipient has seen the message, you can use it to video call, group chats and calls are no problem and it uses end-to-end encryption which means that only the sender and the recipient of the message can see its contents.  Plus, it's free.

Spain uses it the most.  Something like 90% of mobile users use WhatsApp.  In the USA, only about 1/3rd of users have downloaded the app.  I bet that a good chuck of the users have it to communicate with family and friends in parts of the world where SMS is expensive.

In China, WeChat is the go-to messaging tool while in Japan, Line is number one, and Telegram is popular in Russia.  WhatsApp is banned in China, North Korea, Syria, Qatar, and the UAE.

Here's a short video I found on YouTube that talk about why Americans don't use WhatsApp.

©Digital Trends

Doha, Qatar

On the way back from Bangalore, I had a ten hour layover in Doha.  I took advantage of a visa on arrival to check out the city.  However, sightseeing in 46℃ (115℉) heat was a bit tough.

Doha, الدوحة, was established in 1825 and it became the capital of Qatar in 1971.  With over 1,3 million people it's the country's biggest city.  More than half of the entire country lives in the greater metro area.

The Corniche is the seven kilometre (4,25 mile) waterfront promenade.  It's the best spot to view the city's skyline.




The Pearl Monument represents the Doha Bay's history of pearl diving and the pearl trade.






The Museum of Islamic Art opened in 2008.  The five-story museum documents 1400 years of Islamic art.




The National Museum of Qatar is currently under construction.  It is scheduled to open in December 2018 and it will replace the Qatar National Museum.



Souq Waqif is more than 100 years old.  This is where Bedouins would trade goods with locals.  In 2006 the government began to restore the souq.  Along with a few restaurants, this is the place to buy traditional garments and spices.



The Qatar National Library opened its new facility in November 2017.  It collection contains over 1 million items.





Katara is the city's cultural village.

Katara amphitheater

It is home to an open amphitheater, an opera house, cinema, mosque, an auction house, a maritime museum, and a beach.





The arches of Interchange 5/6 on the Lusail Expressway opened in December 2017.




The Abdulla Bin Zaid Al Mahmoud Islamic Cultural Centre opened in 2008.  It is the tallest mosque in the country and prior to 2009 it used to be the largest mosque in Qatar.




The Amiri Diwan of the State of Qatar is the Emir's palace.  It also serves as a government building and hosts the prime minister.



Imam Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab Mosque is the Qatar State Mosque.  It opened in 2011 and can accommodate 30,000 people.

2018 India Trip Summary

Last week was my whirlwind trip to Bangalore.  On Tuesday, I had Qatar Airways flights from Prague to Doha to Bangalore.  I was ready to drop by the time I got to my hotel at 4 am on Wednesday.


Thursday was the Out & Equal LGBTQ India Forum.  The first of its kind event in India.  It was awesome to meet with executives from so many top Indian companies.

On Thursday night, the hotel held a drag show at the roof top bar.  I can't remember the last time I saw a drag show.  The headliners were Maya The Drag Queen, Rimi Heart, DJ Summer Camp, and Lady Bai.  The show was great!

We couldn't make it too of an evening because we had an IBM leadership workshop that started early Friday morning.

Another excellent day with IBMers from all over the world.  It really is a small IBM world sometimes.  For example, one of the participants from who recently transferred from Australia to Singapore is someone that I knew back in Atlanta.  We hadn't seen each other in probably 12 years.  Well, except for on Facebook.

I also got the chance to catch up with Mirek who used to work in Prague but is now in Singapore.  It's kind of funny that the Czech guy came to India to represent IBM in Singapore while I, the American, was here representing Czechia.

We were so busy that our first chance to even leave the hotel was on Friday night.  Several of us headed out for dinner and to get our first sight of India beyond the hotel lobby.

Rather than fly back home on Friday night, I paid for an extra day so that I could fly out Saturday night (actually super early Sunday morning).  This gave me the chance to see some of the sights in Bangalore during the day on Saturday.

On the way back I had a ten hour layover in Qatar which gave me a few hours to check out Doha.  But sightseeing in 46℃ (115℉) heat was a bit extreme though.

State of Qatar

The State of Qatar, دولة قطر‎  is located on the Persian Gulf in the Middle East.  Qatar is a little smaller than Connecticut.  It borders Saudi Arabia, and is across the sea from Bahrain and the UAE.  Saudi Arabia just announced a bid to build a canal on the border which will basically turn Qatar into an island nation.

Qatar is home to 2,6 million people but only 12% are Qatari citizens.  There are 2,3 million expats, mostly non-Arab, living and working in the country.  You're a Qatari citizen only if your father was a citizen.  It takes at least 20 years for a foreigner to get citizenship.

The Al Thani dynasty has ruled Qatar since 1825.  Once a part of the Ottoman Empire, it became a British protectorate and gained independence in 1971.

The country is an absolute monarchy and Islam is the official religion.  Qatar has a mixed legal system blending civil law with Sharia (Islamic law) when it comes to family and personal matters.  Political bodies and trade unions are not permitted by law.

This is not a place to be if you're gay.  Homosexuality is illegal and is punishable by fines, up to 7 years in prison or even the death penalty.  

©Test Tube News

Arabic is the official language.  With so many expats, English is a common foreign language.

Until 1966, the Indian Rupee was used as the country's currency.  It briefly spotted the Saudi Riyal before adopting the Qatar and Dubai Riyal.  In 1973 the Qatari Riyal became the official currency and it is pegged to the U.S. Dollar.

Due to having the world's third-largest natural-gas reserves and oil reserves, Qatar is a very rich country.  It has the highest per capita income in the world.

Qatar is home to the Al Jazeera television station which opened in 1996. 

Qatar Airways is the state-owned national carrier and it began operations in 1994.  Hamad International Airport opened in 2014 and is the airline's hub which provides routes to more than 150 international destinations.  In 2013 the airline joined Oneworld.  The airline is using Doha to compete with Emirates and it's Dubai base.

Qatar is probably the most open country in the Middle East when it comes to travel.  Citizens of more than 80 countries are able to visit without needing to arrange a visa in advance.

©Al Jazeera

In 2017, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt broke diplomatic ties with Qatar.  This included closure of their seaports and airspace which makes flights in and out of Doha longer.  The countries have accused Qatar of supporting terrorism which Qatar denies.  Here are a couple of YouTube videos I found that talks about the 1-year anniversary of the blockade and the impact of the economic blockade.

©France24

©Al Jazeera

The Middle East

There are no hard rules about where exactly the Middle East is.  Some consider it to be a geographical term and others consider it a political one.  The term "Middle East" began as a Eurocentric term for the area separating Europe from the Far East.  Most agree that the area consists of the transcontinental region from Turkey to Central Asia, plus the Gulf Area.  Many also include Egypt due to its territory in the Sinai Peninsula.  Others consider North Africa to be part of the Middle East as well.

Definite Middle East countries include: Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

North African countries that often get lumped in are Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, and Sudan.

Middle East history goes all the way back to ancient times.  It is the birthplace of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  Many other ancient belief systems such as Zoroastrianism were also established here.

Islam is the largest religion in the area.  Almost every country, except Cyprus and Israel, have Muslim majorities.  Iran, Iraq, and Bahrain are mostly Shia while most of the other countries are predominately Sunni.  Islam plays a huge role here as the legal systems in most of these countries are influenced by Islamic law.

©Test Tube News

It's a scary place for gays.  Being gay is illegal and punishable by imprisonment in Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the U.A.E.  In Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen, it is punishable by death.   Most of these places aren't high on my travel bucket list anyway.

Arabs are the largest ethnic group in the Middle East.  The five most spoken languages are Arabic, Farsi, Turkish, Kurdish, and Hebrew.

With such a large region there are of course many problems.  One of the biggest problems is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  One of the biggest mistakes lately was President Trump, going against years of U.S. prescient and recognising Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.  Almost every other country in the world recognises Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem as illegal which is why all of the foreign embassies are in Tel Aviv.  Here's an NBC video I found out on YouTube showing some of the reaction to the U.S. action.

©NBC

There's currently a big regional power struggle in the Middle East between Iran and Saudi Arabia.  Each wants to be calling the shots in the region.

©Test Tube News

Update 2025:  Here's a short YouTube video about why didn't the Arab world unite.

©History Matters