Blogs from Saudi Arabia, Middle East - page 16

Yes... we are in Saudi Arabia. Crap... I can't beleive it. This tour has been a long time in the works.... and I truly am finding it hard to believe that we are really here. WOW WOW WOW. I have had a tour to Saudi planned in my head for ages.... and finally got it rolling a year ago. All the planning and plotting... staring at the map... reading ... and now I am in Riyadh. Chilled in Dubai for the morning... including the always mandatory mall visit... and then headed out. Met with the group for an orientation meeting before leaving for the airport. Spent an hour prepping them for what to expect and what not to expect. So much is contrary to what one usually experieces or is prepared for when travelling. Can't do ... read more

Well, I've been here now in Saudi Arabia for just over six weeks. It feels like such a short time ago that Jamara and I stepped off the plane here in Riyadh only to be dropped off at an empty villa at 10.30pm with no one to direct our questions to and no idea of where we were to go the following day or how we were to get there. Over the last six weeks we've managed to take a trip into the desert to look at the beautiful red sands and amazing landscape that surrounds it. We've attended parties within the Australian and American Embassies. We've done LOADS of shopping in countless shopping malls over here. We've gotten into trouble off the Muttawa (religious police) for having our hair uncovered. We've gone desert diamond hunting, ... read more

A view of "The Kingdom Shopping Centre/Four Seasons Hotel"... read more

Hi this is my camera on desert.... read more

Adapting to the Arab custom of napping at midday, Aramco had a two hour lunch break. Americans working outside the fence close enough to return home for lunch needed to pass through the single gate into our fenced community. In my dormitory was a nurse who had been in Dhahran during the early years. She told of the public executions that were staged just outside the gate at noon, making those passing through a captive audience. Theft was punished by cutting off the hand of the offender. The blood was stanched by thrusting the stump into sand. She told of standing by to substitute sanitary treatment and binding for the sand treatment. Someone convinced the Arab authorities not to use this site for executions, and the gruesome show stopped long before I arrived there, but it ... read more

In the Persian Gulf, offshore from the village of Qatif, is Tarut Island once occupied by Portuguese. The people occupying the island in the ‘50s made their living primarily by fishing. Our tour began when we boarded the company launch from a dock in Qatif. The island is surrounded by a large area of very shallow water. As our launch slowed to a stop and dropped anchor, the land was still distant beyond bottle green water over a visible white sand bottom. A number of flat-bottomed boats were rowing toward us. They pulled up alongside of the launch and we boarded them, 3 or 4 people to a boat. The price was one ryal per passenger. That was about a quarter in US money. When we reached a point at which the loaded boat would be ... read more

Untitled Miguel Abadie La verdad que no me quedo demasiado tiempo para pasear porque este fue un viaje de trabajo, aunque algo pude ver y me resulto muy interesante lo que vi. No era cuestion tampoco de salir mucho en parte por la barrera del idioma (aunque me sorprendio el porcentaje de gente que habla ingles) y porque tenia cierto temor de encontrame con algun fanatico al que no le gustan los occidentales “infieles”. Aparentemente le paso a varios extranjeros (unos turistas franceses inclusive fueron asesinados - los hombres, las mujeres no) y tambien hubo episodios de bombas en complejos de expatriados. Aunque esto no es tan extremo en Arabia Saudita, pasa bastante en Yemen). (en realidad, hasta donde se estos episodios son raros y las probabilidades de sufrir algun crimen violento en Arabia Saudita ... read more