Advertisement
Rhone and Nile
Sons of Manir and Rimu. They are 8 and 10.
May 1 Part 1 - Aramco Exhibit: We are Family - Not
Let me explain. Aramco has built a museum to showcase the history of the oil industry in Saudi. One assumes they spent a few barrels of oil to build this facility. One might also assume that they would want people to visit it. Not so much.
Five of us piled into our rental car, which I think is a converted Yugo. We arrived at the exhibit at about 1:00 pm and found out that it is opened from 3 pm to 6 pm on Fridays (the weekend here). So we turned around and made it back through two of the Aramco security gates (“Why doesn’t your car have an Aramco sticker?” and agreed to meet back up at 2:50. We get back into the car (think about the clown videos you’ve seen) and arrive at 3:05. The guard at the Aramco Exhibit informs us that it opens at 3:15, so apparently the 3:00 on the 8 foot sign is a typo. We wait in the car at the gate until 3:10. Another guard motions Eric out of the car.
We can see Eric is looking quite grim. This is particularly bad because Eric is seemingly always happy. Eric informs us that Fridays are “Family Days” and that five guys do not qualify as a family. We head back - again.
Part 2 - Oil Well #7
On the way back (on the first of our two attempts), we stopped at Oil Well #7. This is the Plymouth Rock of Saudi Arabia. It’s where Steineke (no doubt he was named after Steineke Hall where I am staying) discovered oil. Oil Wells 1 through 6 were a bust because they didn’t drill deep enough. Steineke, an American, ordered a deeper well and the rest is history (see “The Beverly Hillbillies” for details on what that is like). Anyway, here are some photos of a truly historic Saudi site.
Part 3 - Dinner with Manir’s Family
This was truly a highlight of my trip here. I met Manir through this travel blog back in February. He is a professor at a local university and had recently moved here from Bangladesh. We ate dinner a couple of times in Khobar and found we had a lot in common despite radically different
backgrounds. The rest of his family was still in Bangladesh when I was here last time, but they had moved here not long ago. Manir invited me to meet his family and come for a “home-cooked Bangladeshi dinner.” What could be more perfect?
Manir, his wife Rimu and sons Nile and Rhone could not have been more gracious or charming. I felt like a very special guest and felt very welcome. Nile is almost 10 (going on 40) and Rhone is 8 years old. Rhone was a bit shy because his English is not as advanced as Nile and well, don’t you hate it as a kid when Mom, Dad, and your big brother don’t pay attention to YOU? It was a scene out of any household.
Nile will be the next Donald Trump and Leonardo Di Vinci all wrapped into one. His passion is comic book heroes (and villains). He showed me these incredible drawings that I assumed must be traced. However, he informed me that they were indeed drawn free-hand and that his friends pay him one Saudi Riyal per drawing, but he charges on a half riyal for tracings. I asked him if I could
by one of the Spiderman drawings and he told me that he would like to give it to me at no charge. It’s the best souvenir I have acquired yet. I brought Nile and Rhone small Aladdin’s lamps and Nile knew exactly how to use it. When I asked him what he would wish for, he told me that he wished he had the knowledge of all occupations. I have the feeling that Nile will be able to follow any dream he may have.
He also told me he wants to go to Iceland and see what it’s like. This led to a discussion of how to build snowballs and snow forts. How can a boy from Bangladesh have such good instincts as to what makes a good snow fort and how to hide behind it while throwing snowballs? Nile, I owe you a photo of a snowman!
Rimu cooked an incredible meal. It was my first time eating goat, and it was very good! Much like lamb. There was also chicken, salads, rice, a beef-filled dumpling, and a vegetable egg roll. The flavorings were amazing. I asked Rimu what ingredients were used in the goat and she
listed about 40 different spices. Sorry, eve, I didn’t get the recipe nor would I have the skill to duplicate any of these dishes. In addition, there was a cheese cake made with ghee and another dessert made from halva.
My place setting included silverware, but when I noticed that not everyone had silverware I was told that they usually eat with their right hand. However, as an American, I was welcome to use silverware. There was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity to eat with my hand. Nile and Manir helped me get the technique down for eating rice. You pick it up with your fingertips and them use your thumbnail to move it into your mouth. Who would have believed that eating rice with your fingers is trickier than eating it with chopsticks (at least for me). They also gave me the tip of using my left hand for holding the drinking glass since your right hand has food on it. Serving spoons are used to transfer the food from the serving bowls to your plate.
I was enthralled listening to Manir, Rimu, and Nile (and the giggling Rhone). The time passed
More of the Oil Well
This is the one that hit black gold, Texas tea. Bibliography: The Beverly Hillbillies. so quickly that I was amazed that all of a sudden it was past 10 pm.
Note to self: Next time, make an appointment in advance with the Aramco taxi company. When I called I was told “call back in a half hour.” I asked if that meant they would come in a half hour and was told that it meant I could ask again in a half hour. That didn’t seem to indicate when I’d actually see the inside of the cab. Manir was willing to drive me back to Aramco, but he had never been out that way. We looked at a map, but unless you were in Khobar or Dammam, the streets were marked with lines, but not cluttered with useless information like the names of the streets.
Fortunately, Manir and Rimu know a Bangladeshi taxi driver who could drive the unwise American back to Aramco. Normally the cab drivers don’t drive after 10 pm because they have to drive their kids to school (since their wives are not allowed to drive cars). Cultural mistake #1.
Cultural mistake #2 didn’t take long. Manir, Rimu, Nile, and Rhone wanted to come along for the ride
Bakery at the Commissary
This is where I purchased some baklava for Manir and Rimu.
and to see me back safely. With that many people, I didn’t want to squash everyone in the back seat, so I climbed in and asked Rhone to sit on my lap. Rimu suggested I sit up front. “I’m fine back here.” “Really Ted, you should sit up front.” No, no, no. I’m just fine.
The time for subtlety was over. “Ted, you really need to sit up front because if the religious police stop us, I can’t be in the front with the driver or in the back with you.” “Oh, I forgot” So up front I went.
I had my doubts as to whether my friends would be admitted into Aramco without an identification badge, but I hoped for the best. I remember being told that as an “11 plus” contractor (some sort of pay grade thing) I could “sponsor” non Aramcons into the camp. However, based upon my luck with security, I had my doubts. Gate 1 was passed, but that’s just a practice security gate. Then Gate 2 was passed, but I thought surely that’s a tease. The real test is Security Gate 3. I held up my card with as much confidence as
Manir and Nile
Nile holds up his drawing of Spiderman.
I could gather. Success! What a wonderful evening.
May 2 Part 4 - Dinner with Pat and Hal at Kans Turkish Restaurant
One of the presenters at last week’s SAC is an ex-pat American named Hal. We ran into Hal at breakfast (of course he knows about the waffles) and got to talking. He suggested that we should get together for dinner. He listed Applebees, Fridays, Chilis and as an afterthought, a very local Turkish restaurant called “Kans.” Well, if you know me at all, you know that I didn’t come to Saudi to go to Chilis or Abblebees. So Kans it was.
Kans’ atmosphere is somewhat more stark than Lateef in Khobar because it lacked the charming stacked boxes of water. However, whatever it lacked in atmosphere was made up with great food. I had an entrée of kabobs that was different than what I’m used to and had a great flavor I could not duplicate or explain. In addition, the Lateef type breads with egg and cheese or spices and cheese were also excellent. We had wonderful tabouli, hummus, babba gnash, and a puffy type of bread sort of like a thick nan. Hal’s grandparents are
Close-up of Nile's work
It is signed and dated by the artist (1/5/09 is the way the rest of the world writes May 1.
Lebanese and he knows where to find good Arabic food. We were joined for a bit by another Aramco person. That’s the nice thing here. People know each other and share their work and personal lives, especially if they are ex-pats. Hal was a gracious host and offered to show us some of the local sites that are not accessible by Aramco bus when we return next month. He can count on a call from me!
Sorry, this turned into such a long entry. Thanks for hanging in there and reading it through.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.203s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 7; qc: 66; dbt: 0.1043s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Ellen
non-member comment
Going to Banglidesh
Ted: Your greatest blog yet. Manir and his family seem like a fantastic lot and the boys are smart and really cute. How fantastic to eat within a different and exciting culture. Ellen