Death by Hospitality in Dhahran

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The lobster, I swear, was staring me down (despite its missing head), daring me to take one more bite, just one more. But so was the stuffed crab, the oysters, the prawns the size of my head, the calamari, the various forms of fish…the whole crowd of seafood sitting in front of me. But how could I eat anymore? The entire day, our first full one in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, had been defined by exuberant hospitality, which invariably meant being plied with more food and drink than possibly could be consumed. Fragrant, cardamom-laced green coffee; stuffed dates; sweets of endless variety; a buffet lunch that included some roasted gazelle-like creature; now a mind-bogglingly huge four course meal at a seafood restaurant perched next to the causeway to Bahrain. I had consumed enough calories to last me the week. And dessert had yet to be served! Welcome to Saudi Arabia, where they feed you to death…

One would think with the all this hedonistic socializing that we would not yet have studied or toured in our study-tour thus far. But one would be wrong. Somehow we managed to accomplish the following in our first day in Aramco-land: A visit to the Saudi Aramco Exhibit, complete with a 3-D film on energy and a geology lesson made simple for science-challenged social studies teachers (I did learn that oil doesn't just sit in big, underground pools ready to be sucked to the surface); a tour of EXPEC - or the Exploration and Petroleum Engineering Center - the research heart of the Aramco universe, where we were awed by technologies that allowed for things like real-time drilling data collection (I am sure the guys were checking Facebook when we weren't looking); a look around the private collection of Saudi handicrafts of a wealthy Saudi woman whose husband used to work for Aramco; and an overview of the history of the company at its Heritage Center. Only then did we get to the dinner of death. In a daze we returned to our hotel on the compound around midnight.

Dhahran and the Aramco compounds are a surreal, Twilight Zone-esque world. While the use of Arabic on signs is ubiquitous and there are some men and women walking around in thobs and abayas, respectively, the rest is pure Americana. The homes in the compound are straight out of a Florida or Arizona suburb, the commissary looks like an American supermarket, kids in baseball caps bike down the streets, most non-Saudi women walk around uncovered and unconcerned about being uncovered. Only after the first day was nearly over did it dawn on me that I had not heard the edhan (call to prayer) in this staunchly Muslim country. Dhahran is quite the bubble, a law unto itself. And the Aramco employees, no matter what their nationalities, seem to like it that way. For example, the company has ambitious plans to build a major, state-of-the-art cultural center that will house art exhibits and provide space for lectures and performances, along with serving as a library and learning center. Yet the Aramco team we met with about this project seemed unconcerned about the legal and social restrictions it might face. Outside of Dhahran, how would such a venue be perceived? Here, in a country where magazines and books are frequently marked up and censored at random? It's as if Aramcons exist in a parallel universe to the rest of Saudi Arabia. I am most curious to see the differences in Jiddah, which we head to Monday evening, and later - and most especially - Riyadh, the capital and supposedly most conservative of the cities we are to visit.

I will have to save our second day in the Dhahran area for another entry. But just a hint: it involves deserts and camels. We couldn't come to this country without experiencing those!

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Comments

[Ami]

awesome post
love your travel posts! glad you are there safely (well, safe from regular dangers, but not from death by food) and able to access the internet. more stories and pics, please.

[DAD]

Hi Jame, We enjoyed your pictures. Not sure about that Bambi thing. That Fed Ex picture looks like you're sitting beside a bunch of pizzas. Love, Dad

[Pranjal]

Love your posts
Waiting for the real thing... its interesting to know that there are places in Saudi which are free from opression