Still Touring in Riyadh

   

We spent our first full day driving around and seeing more sights and Jesse wanted to take me to the old market souks which he found without too much difficulty. Unfortunately with it being the Eid holiday, the gold selling stalls weren’t open, but most of the other shops were and they were packed tightly all next to each other selling fabrics, curtains, really ornate giftware, fake pot plants, and even baby furnishings.

The items in the picture below really caught my eye and I thought I must snap this for a nursery/mother decorating idea for Anne :P – It’s a bit hard to see because of the glass reflection but it was all in pink satin & lace with tassels all round the edge of cot comforter – but wait for it……. there was also a queen sized comforter in same fabric to complete the ensemble for Mum’s & Dad’s bed, as well as a matching dressing gown & nightie. I’m sure that Paul’s heart would melt at walking in and seeing the room decorated in such exquisite style :P

MAIDS UNIFORMS AT SOUK :D – Lots of different styles and many stands that had these lovely stylish uniforms for your live-in Phillipino  maid – and these were the nicer ones.

For some reason (must be his European heritage & culture background coming out), Jesse has really taken a shine to the obscene as far as decorating goes and it has become a MUST HAVE on his list for decorating. He keeps asking me which I like and which would I pick, but I find it hard to choose :P – Maybe you can all help me in deciding…….lol. I have weakened and am buying him one from our local shopping centre for Christmas and will post the picture once it comes home so I won’t spoil the surprise by describing it, but just let it be known that it will be jugs and bowls decorated with plastic jewel inserts on them – alas they don’t have tassels like the lager one below if they have jewels, but tassels are cheap here so I might yet add to it.

Well our second night in a really SOFT bed was just as good as the first, and with check out not being until between 2-4pm and nothing else opening until 4pm we didn’t feel too guilty having a late sleep in.

After checkout we started to drive around for a last look at Riyadh and came across some tumbling down mud brick houses from the original settlements, but unfortunately they don’t have heritage listing on things here and really don’t appreciate or like the history of these old buildings, so they have just fallen into ruins and will probably be gone in a few more years.

We then found by accident after a wrong turn to get back to freeway a really nice water park attached to King Abdulaziz Museum. It was really strange that we were the tourists but I was the one that everyone was staring at as we were the only white people to be seen. It was a very nice walk around looking at the old fort and through the paved walkways alongside little man made streams all through it. This is one of the main paths and YES I have my hat on – the one that everyone is laughing at me for wearing on Facebook.

 

 

We decided after a visit here that we had better start on our way back home, so after a few wrong turns and being on the wrong highway, we found our way to a guarded checkpoint on the road to somewhere (we could see the freeway we wanted just a few streets over) and after going past and doing a u turn and coming back on wrong side of road Jesse asked them how to get back to Al Khobar. They were most helpful and pointed us in right direction and after a few more wrong turns we found our way back on the road to our home away from home.

We stopped about 20 km up at one of the carnival type servo’s to fill up and went in to see what they had – It was more like, what didn’t they have. Tents, gun holsters, knives, it was like an army disposal store cum supermarket – you name it they had it. We weren’t quite game to eat from the truckie Indian type “restaurant” so Jesse contented himself with a couple of rolls, I wasn’t quite that game so got a sealed packet of nuts and once again were on our way to arrive back home about 10’ish.

All in all it was a fabulous trip and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the new sights, and and even coming back being whizzed by on the shoulder wasn’t quite as scary as what it was going – mmmmmm am I becoming used to no road rules????

Riyadh Sojourn :)

Continued………….

Before I start on Riyadh, I might just go back to the freeway getting there :)

As I mentioned previously we arrived in our capital city just after nightfall. We had our nearly empty tank tank filled up by an attendant - yes every service station here has someone to fill it for you :p - for the grand sum of less than $6 aus dollars at the beginning of the freeway so as not to run out (petrol is a really great price here :p), but we didn’t really need to, as unlike Jesse’s experiences here 10 years ago there are quite a few service stations along the way, and approaching them as night was falling was like looking at a carnival on the side of the road with the amount of coloured fluorescent lights they had along the side leading into and out of them and also all over the roof shaped like tents – very hard to miss :)

Another thing I noticed that was really interesting was all along the highway cars pulled over onto the sand slightly off the road and wondered why – then I realised it was time for last prayer. I must admit that I was really impressed with the devotion to prayer that would have someone who was hurtling down the freeway at or in excess of 160km in an obvious hurry to get where they are going to take the time out to stop for 30 minutes approximately to face Mecca and pray. Not all cars pulled over mind, but there were sufficiently enough that it was very noticeable.

There were 3 major checkpoints on the way to Riyadh. This involved all cars slowing very rapidly to 20km, but luckily all cars put flashing warning lights on. We weren’t pulled over as we went through, but it was still a very serious matter approaching these points. The guards were armed and a jeep type truck parked by guard house with fixed machine gun ready to do serious damage.

We found  the exit from the freeway (quite by accident) to get into the main downtown area, and Jesse was then swamped with memories of where he used to go, live, etc etc. He then drove down to the computer souk that he had visited the week before to show me how many guys there were out flogging software, and then found a nice Holiday Inn right in the middle of the city. After checking in, it was then FOOD time so he asked directions to a Al Sayira, a Lebanese restaurant he used to go and eat at all the time. He was delighted that it was still in same street, same place, but was hard to find coz it had a huge facelift, lit up like Xmas, but inside it was still the same with individual booths complete with curtains, many of them closed with families inside, and the same waiter that used to be there all those years ago. For the grand sum of $100 Riyals ($30 aus) we had a fatoush salad,large dips entree complete with 2 huge loafs of Turkish bread, olives, dips etc etc. Then main of mixed grill, grilled fish, pepsi’s, lemon juice and mineral water :)………. Well I shouldn’t say, but Jesse ate most of it :p

Curtained booths for female privacy                Front Entrance :D

              Me deciding :D                        Fatoush Salad & Tukish bread

After finishing our delicious meal, it was back into the car and driving to see all the sights. We drove up the main streets which had the nicest light displays in the centre medium strip. The palm trees were all net lighted totally up the stems and into the fronds and overhead were starbursts and different kinds of light displays. It was then off to see his old compounds where he used to live and I’ll let him fill you in on his thoughts on those. We drove past the satellite & electronic souk and when we pulled in looking for a particular sort of audio cable– it was very like the computer souk with guys immediately swamping us with cries of “you want satellite???? We Cheapest….come….come” then back to Holiday Inn to lovely SOFT bed as it was now about 1am.

Next day we didn’t get up until about noon as room was VERY dark and bed VERY soft and we were very tired. It was then back out to drive around in daylight and take in the sights once more. Riyadh is a major city and would compare favourably with any major city in the world. I was very surprised after being in Al Khobar as this looks like a regional country town in comparison, but it was nice to get back to our own familiar town.

By this time it was evening and the quest was on to find parking for the Kingdom Tower. We found the shopping mall that was attached to the tower & hotel and parked. The shopping mall there only had brand shops in it, and we walked around looking at and in designer name shops like Chanel, D & G, Saks 5th Avenue to name a few – and people were really purchasing things from these stores :) and I actually saw a baby in bootees from Burberry.

After Jesse was told by a security guard in no uncertain terms “no photo in here sir” we then asked him if you could go up into the tower and he showed us where lifts were. Lucky for us it was prayer time, so the line wasn’t too huge and after only about a 10 minute wait we were let into the elevator, which was totally blacked out and had lights twinkling as stars & planets. All the ladies were herded into the back of lift first, and the men were let in after. Needless to say I towered over most of their heads. The trip involved the first lift to the 75th floor, where we changed and went in second lift to the 98th floor.

The views were breathtaking and it was well worth the trip. No cameras were meant to be used, but lots were so we did as well. We had our picture taken by photographer up there, and then the security got tough on cameras, so we then had to use the phone for pics, which was allowed.

Now for the REAL holiday :)

After using the first 2 days of our holiday as a practice run for getting used to driving around in our own city and getting used to being on the wrong side of the road etc we both agreed it was time to take the plunge and head of as planned to Riyadh the capital of KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia).

Lucky for us, with it being Hajj, the roads weren’t very crowded within our city environs, so it was reasonably easy to find our way to the freeway. We were both surprised at how far reaching the buildings & industrial section stretched out of Al Khobar. We got onto the Freeway proper after about 45 minutes or so and then as far as one could see was a sort of rubble as well as sand filled desert with many tent filled areas complete with 4wd vehicles next to them all along the highway. Jesse told me that it was a really big deal with the Arabs of getting back to their Bedouin ancestry and that it was very common to get out camping. I still find it hard to believe that they would camp so close to to roadside but I came to the conclusion that one patch of sand is the same as any other patch of sand :)

We were haring down the freeway by this time and I was still watching out my window hoping that the scenery would become a little more interesting when all of a sudden Jesse exclaims………. There it is…….There’s the sign for Riyadh & Mecca!!!!……. so without further ado and without any warning, the car goes screeching to a rather abrupt halt a few metres past it. So then it was a rather scary few minutes whilst he reversed back up – keep in mind that the freeway was chokkers full of trucks and cars all heading in the same direction that we were and all doing in excess of 120km per hour. Note in picture below that they spell Mecca a bit different to us. Then the honking started when I got out of the car from the passing motorists because I was a female with uncovered head on side of road :) lol

After our photo shoot for posterity, it was back into the car and on our merry way once more :) It is a very good system for the Freeway here, the trucks all keep into the far Right lane only pulling into the middle lane to overtake and they are also very courteous as well. The cars are a totally different matter – we were cruising on 140km and tried to stick to the middle lane as the Left lane was go as fast as you like (reality they have a 120km limit), just don’t whatever you do put your foot on the brake for any reason other than an accident right in front of you, and it is totally ok if there is already someone overtaking a slower middle lane car to also overtake you on the shoulder with a honk & flash of the lights to get out of the way. Made our car seem extremely small and fragile and I would say we must be the only people in KSA wearing a seat belt…….not much of a security blanket I know, but at least a small feeling of safety – lol

It was about a 41/2 hour trip, and as you can see in the background in the pics above there isn’t much to look at along the way, so it was actually quite interesting to see the different camping plots, the odd herd of wild camels, and the different real Bedouin sites complete with pens for goats or sheep and their camels. The real Bedouins have a different tent to the white canvas ones, they are usually black with a white stripe around middle and a large opening in the middle.

We made it safely to Riyadh and arrived just as night had fallen. I will fill you in more on this visit in the next day or so :)

A Holiday When I’m Aleady on Holiday :P………

 

The holidays for the Hajj, which is the traditional pilgrimage to Mecca for muslims began two weeks ago - but Jesse not being part of the Academic staff only had 1 week and begun his hols in the 2nd week.

We started off the first night of the weekend very excitedly making our way down to the car rental souk (this is the word for market) on the main drag. We trekked around many of the rental shops and funnily enough we got the best car for the best price in the shop that Jesse had previously taken a picture of and posted on an earlier post - the one with orange writing & privet driver available :) It was a very small (by Saudi standards) Hyundai. The number plate was very fortunate as it had English as well as Arabic lettering and the letters were NNA which made it very easy for me to find whenever we left it,  as it is Anne's name backwards :P

It is very lucky that I had been going on the  bus the compound provides for daily shopping jaunts as I was then able to find our way from the car rental place, firstly to Rashid Shopping Mall, then back to our glorious home away from home – Jesse would have had no idea how to get back as he is really directionally challenged – I am constantly amazed that he has managed & very ably, to find his way around the world :P and he is constantly amazed that I seem to have an inbuilt GPS in my head…..

Roll on next day………….  Jesse excitedly says “ I can finally take you on a drive to see the university”. So into our freedom machine we get and away we go. I spent the next 3 hours terrified out of my mind which is very funny now, but not so funny at the time. Jesse for some reason decided when in Saudi do as the Saudi’s do whilst driving, so that means in car, foot flat down to floor, which in itself isn’t so bad, but he didn’t take time to get feel for LH DRIVE on WRONG SIDE OF ROAD, and he was very used to being driven around for past 2 months and being able to either look freely (my words were gawk) at everything or snooze.

We made it safely to the Uni and drove all around the main entrance. It was closed because of holidays but still very well policed. After pulling up

at main gate so I could see where he works, we drove down to where they are building new sports ground and female part of campus where hopefully (Inshallah) I will be working in the New Year. We were then pulled up by police on the way out, and luckily Jesse had the presence of mind to bring his ID’s so after a bit of chat and wishing them a Happy Eid (Eid is the period of celebration) we were on our way once more.

It was then along the coast for some way and we pulled into the Holiday Inn resort for a much needed caffeine & cake hit. Would be a lovely place to stay for a weekend. Then we took the long way back into Al Khobar along the coast road and took in the many tents that had been set up along the beach front. You will notice in the pic below the structures behind me – this is what they have all along the beach front and they are great as they provide shade. Most of them were occupied and had canvas strung up at the back and specially made fake grass type picnic carpets with Arabian motif on the floors. We will most likely buy one to bring home as they are a great idea.

It is amazing how many of these older style canvas tents as shown below, that were everywhere over the holiday break. There are  just no modern style tents here and they were set up all over the dunes & fields (of sand) along the edges of the road – both opposite the university, here at Half Moon Bay and all the way along the freeway into Riyadh. What also had me amazed was the fact that they were set up in clusters all close to each other and only about 150–200 metres from road. When you look and all you can see is 100’s of kilometres of desert I was thinking that to get back to their Bedouin roots which is what their camping is all about, they would at least get out of sight of the road over the back of the dunes :)

You will notice as shown below that there is no such thing here as conservation of the foreshore like in Aus. The cars are allowed to go literally right to the waters edge on the beach front and there was a sort of road where they had all driven to get there. I think it would be great to have a 4 wheel motor bike and really get going along there – but being a woman I wouldn’t be allowed to do it anyway :( as it is not allowed!!!

Back to Riyadh….

Riyadh, the Garden city. When we left as a family at the end of 2000 I really wondered if I will set foot in this city again. I really did not expect to even though I hoped to be able to do so. I know that tourism is not something that is high on the Saudi agenda so the only hope was to work here again. And so it is.

When we arrived in Al-Khobar 2 months ago I was constantly hoping to have a chance to go to Riyadh. The first opportunity was when I was invited to attend an IT conference. Unfortunately it was going to be a one day only event. I flew out of Dammam 3 weeks ago and landed in Riyadh 45 minutes later. It is amazing what emotions are evoked when confronted with familiar scenes from the past. The airport is of course the very first thing that confronted me. This was it!

I remember it so clearly, the night that we arrived here as a family. It was late and everyone was so tired. There were a couple of Jumbos that landed before us with about a 1,000 Indonesian maids that needed to go through the passport control.

Ebony was almost asleep on her feet, snuggled into mum, Julian was inconsolably distraught and Daniel and Darius were just fascinated with everything. I was my usual optimistic self, just happy for everyone to be together again.

The guards singled us out from the long line and shepherded us through a VIP passport control point and we were on our way to the compound.

All these memories had re-played through my mind so vividly upon arriving here once again. I stepped into a taxi and we commenced a long drive into Riyadh. The exit road from the airport leads to a big curve where the road doubles on itself and goes between the terminal and the Grand Mosque. It was when we were rounding that curve that it really struck me. I was really back in Saudi.

The taxi was the standard Riyadh variety: exterior that looked as if it was raked by machine-gun fire, spider-web cracks all over the windscreen, original plastic covering still on the seats, headrests and visors, export and shipping stickers still stuck to all the windows, a non-functioning trip meter, a CD and some tussles hanging from the mirror, non-functioning speedo and a clueless driver. I was truly home.

When we got to the Imam University I knew exactly where we were. Its as if 9 year absence had had no effect at all. Every landmark was coming into sharp focus. But there were so many changes as well. The amount of building and constructions is enormous. Between the airport and the Imam Uni. They are building a new University. I have never seen a construction site this big. We drove for about 10 minutes past hundreds and I mean hundreds of cranes. The site was lit up like MCG at night. The ground could not be seen as there was a 10m thick cloud of dust covering the entire site. The activity was 24-hours-a-day.

There were so many new buildings in Riyadh. It is like walking into an architectural competition. The designs are so clever and futuristic. I can almost see it as a great setting for a sci-fi movie. But amongst all of them rose a truly grand structure. The Kingdom Tower. To approach it from any side is breathtaking. That hole in the middle is such an incredible feature. When we left they were just starting to do the foundations. It is so good to come back now and see it completed. I managed to take few photos the next day:

It is far better in real life than the pictures convey.

Unfortunately I did not get to visit the Tower as my conference went from early morning to about 4 in the afternoon and I was booked to return to Dammam at 6 that evening. However me and Jill did visit it on our recently completed break and that is post that is coming soon.

Of course one is not to forget the other Riyadh tower, The Faisaliyah. That too is an outstanding building which was completed before we left and we were able to do some shopping there. Here are some photos: (not the best as they were taken from a moving car.)

What I did manage to visit was the our old computer souq. There nothing had changed. It is a 3rd world experience to go there. Hi tech stuff stuff being sold in a grottiest possible environment. As soon as you arrive you are besieged by pirate software sellers offering you everything under the sun. They are pests, like crack dealers, relentlessly shoving bundles of DVD's in your face. I did buy a "2009" bundle of 9 DVDs for 40 Riyals ($12) just to try and get rid of them but that re-energised them somehow and they started coming from everywhere, Just like the un-dead in the B-grade horror movies. I tried an old technique of mine consisting of removing most of the money from the wallet and only leaving a few riyals so that you say "mafi falluce" (no money in arabic). Big mistake. they saw the WALLET. They started to push me physically towards an ATM saying "lots of felluce" take it from ATM. Silver bullet, stake through the heart, garlic, sever the head, exposure to sunlight, what is one to do here. I dived into a small coffee shop and shut the door to try and save myself. The barista smiled and offered me a "2009" bundle of DVDs.

Other than that all the shops are exactly as they were years ago. Absolutely no change.

Even the Olaya St. Kingdom Dates shop was still across the road from the souq.

These places have such an incredible range of dates for sale. Will try and get some photos later.

All in all it was a very brief visit of no more than 2 hours. I did manage to catch up with my friend Fahad for a coffee the evening before. and it was just so good to sit on the sidewalk with a bad coffee and reminisce. I am lucky indeed.

Luckily for all of you we have just returned from our Hajj break where we did visit Riyadh for a few days. It was a great. A post is coming up shortly.

Our Compound in Al Khobar…

I guess I have been lax in posting any information about our compound. We have alluded to it here and there but nothing consistent. Here then goes:)

We are situated right near the Holiday Inn which is on the edge of Al-Khobar. The main road for us is the "Sports Centre" road which is one of the main arterials. Al-Khobar is a smallish coastal city with a substantial shoreline "The Corniche" as is locally known on the Arabian Gulf. It has a provincial feel to it but is nonetheless equipped with everything for good living. One of the big advantages is that we are only a few kilometres from the causeway which leads into Bahrain. It is less than 4 hours drive to Kuwait and Qatar. Dubai is about 8 hours drive whilst Oman is is about 12. Riyadh is 400 km or 2.5 hour drive (Saudi driving habits used here)

Our compound Al-Bilad 1 was built in the 70s and is still considered to be the better one around since it has a lot of open space. The only one as a matter of fact that has grass and open spaces. It comprises of blocks of units and some stand-alone villas. We live in a 2 bedroom unit which is really spacious but rather basically furnished. We are working on making it more a home that we are used to.

This Compound was temporarily used by U.S. Forces (7th Transportation Group, U.S. Army) in 1990 during Desert Storm.

This is the aerial shot of it:

http://wikimapia.org/1663024/Al-Bilad-Compound

This is what the outside looks like:

Looking from our balcony	View from stairwell
Units on our left	Units across the fieldd
Our units the front	Looking out of the corner

We are on the second floor. We have a double sized swimming pool that has been recently renovated but are now awaiting the completion of the Gym and the recreational area. The compound has been let go in recent years but PMU is now investing a lot of money in re-furbishing the whole lot. It should be a very good place in about a year or so.

The interior is typically a Saudi one meaning that everything is tiled. The floor is just a huge tiled area which keeps things cool in the summer.

This is some of the interior:

Kitchen	Front entry
Lounge 1	Lounge 2
Above is the lounge with the new carpet that we bought in Qatif Market.	The place is lot bigger than what it looks like in pictures
Hallway to bedrooms	This is our "domestic staff" Hussein who comes on a weekly basis to assist Jill with her domestic duties :)

We have just recently got new appliances, Fridge, washing machine, microwave and dryer. The television is a big disappointment of course. 22 inch CRT. Blah. However that gives a chance to look at the new 65 inch LED TV's. :) Who knows.

As we furnish the place more and more we will post more entries for your enjoyment.