Expat Community > Qatar

Amir
Joined 2012
Posts: 1

A fall from heaven to the unknown

12 years ago

Hello guys and gals,

I am from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a land of beautiful and friendly modern chicks. The Malay is coy but friendly, beautiful. So is the chinese, open minded and beautiful, the thai.. hmm, the indian.. some of them.. the sikh, the Eurasian.. phew

But.. the point is we all live happily with each other. Like on the dance floor.. we have no skin color.

a country with a relatively low cost of living, ample joins and clubs, and entertainment parks, hi quality cheap or branded item, with a lot of social and income opportunity.

Night life is a merry venture. Food is great. The city never sleeps. With a pay of USD1600 I live quite happily.. with some constraint of course

Now I am being ask to go to Doha. In an unknown Arab country who is too rich for their own good. For like 3 years at least! Bonded in contract!

So i am gonna leave my beautiful, eye pleasing city with beautiful girls and friendly people to this unknown city of Doha.

Can you see my predicament?

So, I am an architectural and interior 3D artist. My pay is only MYR5000 equal to USD1600

With that kind of pay in Kuala Lumpur, you can say i can live comfortably but not well off. That amount is kinda equal to entry level salary of managers.

Bar tenders earn like MYR2500 basic. A senior account exec like MYR3000

A good apartment is as low as MYR1200 with security, gym, pools and retail shops. Flats like MYR600. Our salary is low, but cost is not too high especially food. We are all in general, middle income earners, while the rich is the people who have the capital to run a business. Typical capitalist country.

So my company said, name your price if you agreed to go over there. We'll give you accommodation and a driver to transport you to office and fro. And once a year return flight. No bonus. All inclusive. Insurance covered. No family.

SO MY DEAR WOULD BE FRIENDS, HOW MUCH SHOULD I ASK?

USD10,000?? I can imagine my boss choking to death.

USD5000??. I will choke to death. With the inflation, the rising price, the car that I need to buy, the extra air fare thrice a year, the uncovered medical bills due to tricky insurance coverage, the comfort that I enjoy in eating all the exotic asian and western food and the weekly shopping of reasonably and unreasonably priced attires and items. The clubbing and getting loose on the floor.

I fear the uncontrolled price hike in Doha. I fear of asking too low.. yet I don't know what is too much.

We are not only talking about the currency exchange only but also the life I am going to miss so much. I got to put a price on that as well, don't I?

So please dear fellas.. give me solace, give me peace.. by telling me, how much do I need to live comfortably, to have some keeps and yet is a reasonable amount to smile in Doha in spite of my unhappiness.

Thank you. I love you all

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