Interesting World - Living in Al Khobar

Sun, sand and surfing (with a JEEP)

2010-11-12T17:14:00.001+03:00

When your almost entire country is covered with sand I guess you will at some point find yourself driving in it. Actually that is not a bad thing. One of the best activities that you can indulge around here is 4WD in the desert sand dunes. It is really a ton of fun.

Our playground :)

I have bought our JEEP specifically to be able to do this. You really cannot spend time here without indulging in a bit of dune bashing. We were fortunate enough to be introduced to some really experienced desert drivers and campers who make it so easy to do this. Our particular guide was a veteran of many of these adventures. His name is Marek and he has been at it for about 15 years. And you can really tell.

Marek taking a group photo

He took a group of us first timers into some gorgeous desert country for a day. He was totally equipped for this business and was able to guide us with both direction and advice. Two weeks ago we met at an agreed point where he checked our cars to make sure that we had the right cars etc. He immediately gave us radios for communications and we set off for the dunes.

Our start-off point preparations

Preparations include many activities

Whilst driving there we saw a 3 truck pile-up in the middle of nowhere. Completely flat, not a shrub in sight and they managed to run into each other head to tail. It looked so funny as you have so much room to swerve and avoid accidents. They must have fallen asleep at the wheel.

Having arrived at our desert take-off point we proceeded to deflate our tires and then took off. I took mine down to 15 PSI and promptly got bogged after a couple of kilometers. It was shovel in hand and dig. Typical male attitude. Power solves everything, Took me a while to get the balance right. All other newbies were stuck as well. So the first hour was spent shoveling sand. Fun, fun, fun.

Down to the axles

All hands to the rescue

We really did not know where Marek was taking us but it was like driving on a cloud. The soft sand makes the driving incredibly smooth. As we drove we spotted a gigantic dune with a very steep face. We all looked around and laughingly exclaimed "Gee, wouldn't want to be going that one, would we now!". But as we got closer there was a sneaky feeling that it was the exact place where we were heading. And so it was. We pulled up to top got out looked down and said "No way".

Launch point on the top of a dune

Ready for descent

And some descent it is!

Just some other photos from the day!

And finally here are some videos from the day. Simply exhilarating.

Diesel, Guns and... Kitchen utensils!

2010-10-31T23:10:00.000+03:00

One of the best things about living here in Saudi Arabia is that a lot of expat social life is centered on embassy based events. And so it was that the Coolabah Club attached to the Australian Embassy held a “Community Night” couple of weeks back. It was an ideal excuse to get back to Riyadh again. We also took with us Dr. Bruce Wells who lives on our compound and is a lecturer here at PMU. He is a fellow Ozzie and it was his first trip to Riyadh.

The evening at the embassy was excellent. It was actually held in the ambassador’s residence and was a great opportunity to mix and meet a lot of other fellow Ozzie expatriates. I was particularly impressed by a painting in the Coolabah clubroom of a Ozzie rules footy. It was one of a high mark being taken by no less than a Saints player. These people sure know their football.

Riyadh as usual provided to be a treasure trove of things to see and do but that will be in another post.

On the way to the Edge of the World we had to stop at a petrol station. No big deal you may think. Well you have never been to a petrol station till you have been to a Saudi one. They are an oddest mix of supermarket, army disposal store, music shop, camping and outdoors shop, beauty parlour, general store, hardware store, toy store and anything else that you can think of.

There is an amazing range of snacks, foods, drinks and other travel oriented condiments. But the most fascinating is the range of gun holsters, whips, pummelers, clubs and other assorted assault weapons right next to a great range of kitchen utensils and coffee pots etc. Why not? After all, when one has been hunting, bludgeoning and pulping some poor unfortunate soul one may as well sit down and cook a hearty, nourishing meal to replenish the energy and prepare one for the rigours of the following day.

Here are some examples of what is to be found in these magic places. Oh and by the way, you can also refuel your vehicle here J

Gun holsters and kitchen utensils - A natural item grouping

Of course we should not forget the kids. If they start to annoy with their infantile "Are we there yet??" mind games just get them one of those plastic bikes and send them on their way. Toys galore at these petrol stations.

Now if they still persist with these silly games just try and bribe them with copious drinks and snacks of a mind boggling variety such as these (Only a small sample shown here)

If the bribe and corruption utterly fails then there is still the option of battering them into submission with one of these handy pummeling artifacts. Just what any petrol station needs to sell.

But alas all we did was fill up and get on our way. I have still not overcome the sheer glee of filling up a 79 Liter tank with 95 RON premium petrol for the grand sum of $21.34. Ahhh the guilt of it all.

Even paying for petrol here is different. Gas attendants fill your car and then take cash. No card payments or EFTPOS here. And it is a unique sight. They whip out a wad of banknotes that any crack dealing pimp would be proud off from which they will peel off the change.

For anyone who has ever been in Saudi this will bring a smile to their faces.

All in all these places are truly unique and almost a tourist attraction of their own. Only in Saudi :)

Post Ramadan and Hello Brendan :)

2010-10-30T11:55:00.012+03:00

We survived Ramadan without too much hardship – and I must say I did enjoy it better than “normal” times, as we started work 1 hour later and finished 1 hour earlier :) and then there was the six day holiday to mark the end. The shopping was also great as most shops and cafés didn’t open until about 9pm and went through to about 2am.

I really didn’t think that it would have that much of an effect on our lifestyle with us not being Muslim, but I was wrong! If we wanted to eat out we had to schedule to eat late, then we would go and get groceries so we weren’t getting home from shopping until midnight – or later.

There was another bonus that we really enjoyed, and that was that by the time the shops opened at night all the prayers were over so we didn’t have to leave while they shut for prayer or rush to get in to eat before they closed. We both really got used to the changed later hours and it was hard to get back into the normal routine of going midway between the second last prayer and the last – I have gotten to be a master at scheduling. If we get in between these prayers, you can eat in comfort, and when finished, all the shops are open so the shopping is uninterrupted.

After Ramadan, we were really pleased to welcome Brendan into the PMU community. His wife Sarah had come across our blog while trying to Google info on living conditions and what to expect in Saudi, as well as anything relating to PMU. She contacted us and I tried to answer some of her questions and concerns. We are still trying to figure out why he would leave the Guggenheim to come to PMU…lol

We were sitting relaxing, on what for us was a weekend, and the next thing there was a very timid knock at the door, and there was Brendan to say hello. He had a big smile and a big bag of goodies in hand for us –3 “Family” size boxes of Triscuits (we soooooo love Triscuits - all gone now) and some lovely organic coffee from Sarah’s mum. So thank you so much to Sarah’s mum for this - it is very nice and we are enjoying it a lot :)

We weren’t concerned about his jetlag – he is young and can cope – so we bundled him into the car and took him straight to Rashid Mall, first to eat (we also love Fuddruckers hamburgers) and then onwards to the Mobily shop to get his phone and internet organized. We were successful with his phone, but our friend who was leaving at the end of that week wanted to sell him his internet device, and he did take that on but didn’t have a lot of luck with it. He is going to the local Holiday Inn just in front of our compound to Skype Sarah – who he is missing a lot as she is still in the USA waiting for her visa…. :(

He came again a few weeks later and very apologetically told us that his phone was locked – able to receive calls, unable to make them. We got him his phone on the first night, but because he didn’t yet have his resident permit, Jesse put the phone in his own name as we already have two phones & internet with Mobily……..the problem with this was, that we also didn’t have resident permits (Iqama) because Jesse had to renew his passport, which of course has a different number than his passport that he entered into Saudi with. We did manage to get it sorted so Brendan now has a phone back :)

The situation here at the moment is that neither Jesse nor I have our resident permit or our exit/entry visas. He has been told sure, tomorrow – this is 4 weeks ago now……lol but we really are expecting it this week – who knows maybe tomorrow Inshallah.

We have not been able to go to Bahrain to the cinema or to Paul :( or to the Ritz to get my hair done. To top it all off – we haven’t had a car for 2 weeks because he put it in for a service after our desert dunes trek (more coming on this subject) – and they informed him after having it for a week and a half (after he actually went to the Jeep dealer and walked through the workshop to find out why) that they would be almost ready to give him the quote for the brakes…… hahahaha…. can you imagine Pete if you had a customer’s car in for a service for that long and then just informed them after they came to find out, that you were ready to give them a quote….hahahaha

It is lucky that we don’t get too upset and keep a sense of humor for the ridiculous. I must say that I didn’t miss the car that much before we had it, but now we do, it is a total chore to be catching the compound bus to get our groceries….

Ramadan in Riyadh :) Part I

2010-09-17T17:56:00.000+03:00

Well it has been quite a while since I last posted, but it all became too difficult when I supposedly "upgraded" the windows live writer to the beta version, which I used to use for writing the blog - it freezes, it closes, it makes the spaces between paragraphs non-existent and it was taking far too long to edit then to top it all off after battling all this it won't post the blog - much too hard basket - shame to windows for producing such a bad and unworkable program in this modern computerized driven world! Now I have had my rant I will get on with what I hope is an interesting post :P

As I wrote last time, we arrived in Riyadh on the first or second day of Ramadan and stayed at an excellent hotel called the Mena, which Jesse assures me means Port in Arabic. The decor had a really Arabian feel to it, and for Ramadan they had erected a tent in the foyer from Arabic design fabric and this had the typical floor mattresses and arm rests and many made use of it for having their very light flavoured Arabic or Turkish coffee - Naturally of course as it was Ramadan it was after the sun went down.

(Hint - if you press on the photo it opens up into large picture)

After checking in - we were lucky with a great summer rate which included brekkie, and Iftar (which is Ramadan Breakfast - 6.30pm) it was a must to go to Jesse's favorite Lebanese restaurant Al Sayira and have our first evening meal, which true to form was way too much but delicious and not expensive :) That was enough for our first night, and the next day we headed out of Riyadh towards Mecca (Makah) as Jesse wanted to show me what he calls the "edge of the world" and it was a really worthwhile trip - this was taken on the dunes outside of Riyadh. As you drive out of the city, there is a major checkpoint and just past this the road declines sharply through a huge cutting to open out on these lovely red dunes and large rock formations - it is really the first time that I have felt that I was actually in the true desert.

We then drove virtually into the middle of nowhere (well I exaggerate as usual as there were small farm holdings and camel farms) to see a tall rock formation that Jesse had visited when he lived over here way back. He was most disappointed that the road to it had been sealed and as we drove closer it was fenced off with a guard post and several quarries had been put in - so we couldn't go all the way up to the base as in the "old days".

Our timing in arriving back at the hotel in time for the 6.30pm "Breakfast" was excellent, and we had worked up quite an appetite with all the dune climbing and running back down hehehehe.... The brekkie was pretty awesome as well - Arabic coffee, dates & dried apricots on all the tables to break the fast, although I passed on the Laban which is a yoghurty thickish drink that Jesse will drink by the gallon if it is there :( and then on to the buffet which was actually pretty impressive - we certainly didn't go hungry!

Ramadan in Riyadh ......... Part II

2010-09-17T17:51:00.000+03:00

After our tummies were well and truly over-full, Jesse decided that it was off to the gold souks in an old part of town he knew, and there were so many over-the-top gold pieces that you just would never be able to wear. If you want to see gold this is the place for it. It is sold by weight not craftsmanship, and anything that takes your interest is immediately thrown on the scales and price is given - I must be the only female in the whole souk that was more interested in a shop selling really interesting and lovely mother of pearl and turquoise inlaid walking sticks than the jewellery :P must be showing my age.....hehehehe

Next day we lounged about until late afternoon again because during Ramadan the shops don't open until 8.30pm or 9ish and stay open until about 2-3am,so of course if you are going out late then you are coming home from shopping at about 2am so need your afternoon nanna nap. Jesse then wanted to go to look for Al Musmak the original clay mud castle in the old part of town where Abdul Aziz came and threw his spear into the door and overcame the residents by killing them and proclaimed himself as king of all of Arabia. He went on to unify all the tribes and this created what we now know as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

We wandered around behind Al Musmak and and were truly astounded at the very old gold souk and markets behind it – we thought the souk we had visited the night before was impressive but this one was totally unbelievable there are just so many shops with so many varieties of necklaces and bracelets and rings and beads that I just can’t choose – I become paralyzed and can’t decide…… although a lot of it is too ornate and heavy to wear - it must be for pure investment purposes. The pictures I have put in below are the investment pieces I am talking about – they also have lovely wearable gold as well and I do have my eyes on a few lovely pieces before I come home.

Did I mention that the jewellery shops here in the shopping centres are unbelievable? The gems and diamonds in rings and necklaces range from unbelievably beautiful to the grotesque in over-the-top bad taste in size and design. I have never seen such a huge range of watches and the same description applies to these as to the jewellery. Jesse bought me a beautiful diamond wedding ring and we have another ruby and diamond ring ordered – just waiting to pick it up :) It was then time to go back for our 6pm “Brekkie” then some driving around in Riyadh, then a fairly early night as we had to be up at 6am for the 3.5 hour drive back to Khobar for Jesse to go to work – Lucky for me I had another 2 days of rest :) :)

On yer bike then….

2010-09-07T01:22:00.003+03:00

Cycling is something that I have greatly enjoyed over a number of years. At one stage I was really into it and it was nothing to go for a 6-7 hour ride on the wonderful bike trails of Melbourne and Mt. Dandenong fire access roads. I even did some of those multi-day rides all over Victoria. It got me very fit at the time. I developed something close to Jurrasic thighs and calves the size of a cow heart.

I have had some great high-tech bikes including a GT RTS3 which was one of the original dual suspension bikes introduced in the mid-90s. Darius is now exercising the custodianship over that machine. Almost a family hairloom.

So coming to Saudi I thought why not get a bike to re-kindle some of those great riding experiences. Ah but what to get? The choices and the technology are truly bewildering. But the answer was obvious. The prevalent bicyle type here is the quintessential Third World bike that is found by the hundreds of millions in India, China and Africa.

It’s the ultimate workhorse of the planet’s villages, farms and unpaved roads. It would also be an ultimate pose bike on the Boulevards and Corniches of the West. It's so retro it's beyond cool!

I had a choice of either a Hero or Atlas. Both are made in India and are a more-or-less identical in design. Built to take a trashing and ferry mind boggling loads. No precision engineering here. Lightweight components!! Gotta be kidding! These are tanks. Heavy steel tubing, tractor seats with spring suspension, push/pull rod brakes, cattle-horn handlebars, single speed, heavy steel stand, cargo rack.

But you know what? It’s gorgeous. Have a look!

I absolutely love the cheap decals and decorations. It also somewhat ambitiously and optimistically carries a “Export Quality” decal of somewhat dubious credibility. Where is Consumer Affairs when you need them to uphold the truth in marketing?

The high quality plastic ornament. Almost like a Mercedes-Benz

Here are some other details featuring the fine design and perhaps “not so precision” engineering. For example the tractor seat. Laugh if you will but it’s supremely comfortable.

The cockpit :

And what is the price of this fine machinery one may ask. It is all of 270 Riyals. That makes it AUD 82. Since the thing weighs about 17 kilos it makes it about $ 4.80 a kilo.

The added benefit is that it will make me much more suave and manly as can be seen from this marketing illustration where the female is irresistibly drawn towards the alpha male who is displaying his superior breeding qualities by the astute choice of his vehicle.

Oh and BTW I have not gone for a ride as yet. Too bloody hot!!!

New section...

2010-08-21T18:28:00.002+03:00

We have just added a new section to our blog titled FAQ Frequently Asked Questions. It is on the link just below our header. Check it out and let us know what you think :)

Almost a Year

2010-08-20T18:34:00.021+03:00

We are fast approaching our first anniversary of arriving in Saudi Arabia. Only 1 year ago we were busy packing up our house and arranging for storage, submitting our resignations and waiting for our visa’s to arrive. How quickly a year passes, and in some respects how slowly it seems to go when we think of our families at home and especially our new arrival this year, Hannah – she is growing so quickly.

I just had a 5 day weekend from work :) and how nice it was. The days were owed in lieu from back in April this year when I represented PMU at Seef Mall in Bahrain.

Jesse decided that seeing as I had this time off, that he would also take a day off, and we drove up to Riyadh where we did our patriotic duty and voted at the Aussie Embassy for the upcoming election. His passport was also due to expire so instead of sending it via DHL he could submit that at the same time for renewal and save the money – yeah rite – he had all the paperwork filled out, had his passport pics, the trouble was they were too small so no success with this task.

We took off from our compound on the Wednesday at 9am and arrived safely on the outskirts of Riyadh at about 12.30. It took a full tank of fuel to get there and as we went through the last checkpoint before Riyadh the fuel light was on and flashing – and petrol stations every 500 meters – all on the wrong side of the freeway! We reduced our speed back to use less petrol and safely made it to a petrol station a few kilometers further up the highway.If anyone is ever driving from Al Khobar to Riyadh and when they are about 1/2 way there and running low on fuel – then the last petrol stop is just after the red sand dunes, otherwise it becomes a bit worrying that it won’t be made to the next fuel stop – and it’s toooooooo hot to walk it!

All was going well and on time, as we expected and the car went like a dream. To save battery time on the GPS we didn’t turn it on until after we filled up with petrol. We punched in the Diplomatic Quarter for Riyadh where all the embassies are situated, and it promptly directed us to get off the freeway, do a u turn and go back the way we had come from.

As everyone knows, Jesse is not that good at directions, but even he thought this a bit “wrong” but we put our faith in the good old Garmin and went as directed. It directed us back about 7 km’s telling us to keep to the Dammam/Al Khobar road then once we had passed by virtually the last turn off it was showing as another 300 odd kilometers – back to where we had come from.Jesse very quickly pulled up on the side of the freeway, (sand spraying out from the tyres and back slewing almost sideways) – this was so we could drive through the sand back to the exit road if needed. We turned the GPS off, turned it back on and re-programmed it and as expected it was telling us to go back the way we came – we didn’t have to go through the sand as it was showing us an exit road close by and we came back into Riyadh by the old Dammam Highway.

This was a lot more picturesque than the regular route albeit a lot more bumpier road surface – think of roads in north Queensland back in the seventies. There were goat, sheep and camel markets quite a bit of the way in, complete with their hand built ply wood compounds (humpies)next to the animal pens.

We made it to the diplomatic quarter with no worries. We found an ATM no worries, as the embassy only accepts cash for passports – problem, it wouldn’t accept our Aussie card :( We then tried to find the embassy but that proved to be a bit more of a problem. The fire dept couldn’t tell us, various guards couldn’t tell us – a sweeper at a shopping centre told us it was at circle 8 so he knew a bit more than a lot more “official” type people.

We finally found our embassy and made it in to vote with 3 minutes to spare as the voting closed at 3pm…..lol and luckily found an ATM on the way that accepted our card – so voting done, now to find accommodation I have pics of this and I will post in the next few days of where we stayed and what we saw.

Going to Bahrain via King Fahd Causeway

2010-08-05T16:51:00.005+03:00

We have been really enjoying our new car – and have made several trips now to Bahrain where it’s great to go to the cinema (they have hot caramel popcorn), get a great Chinese massage or just enjoy not being hunted out of the shops or sitting around waiting for them to open while prayer is on. You can even try clothes on before buying and are served by women assistants. Jesse especially likes the fact that there is a Nando’s over there but as he said in a previous blog it isn't as good as Chirnside Park.

The thought of going over the Causeway sometimes puts me off, but it is well worth any wait once we get to Bahrain. I think the longest we had to wait, was coming back at 2am on a Thursday night. I was amazed how crowded it was and we didn’t get home until about 4.30 am. It was lucky that it was Thursday as it meant I had all Friday to recover. We have tried different times and thought we would watch the last 12am movie and that it should be a breeze getting across – big mistake.

We later found out that this is the time that all the clubs, restaurants, movies etc etc close and is one of the peak times to come back.

It is fascinating, amusing and scary, as you approach the first checkpoint on the way out of Saudi. There are hundreds of cars, most with drivers who have no obvious sense of fatality or injury to themselves or others, pushing and jostling to get into what should be the uniform lanes leading to a booth with a green light on. They will literally push right in on you, and it is either give way or be hit. The cars will be within 1cm of the car in front to avoid someone pushing in, and it is not unseen to see someone actually touching the car in front or rear ending them.

It is also fascinating that once you get past this first checkpoint, that the lanes are then strictly adhered to and there is no horn honking or pushing and everything becomes orderly – as the driving in Bahrain is. Pure pleasure being driven there. It is very scary being on the roads in Saudi even though there is virtually no road rage even though it could be totally understood if it happened.

Jesse bought himself a sat-nav and it has been invaluable in getting us around especially with Jesse’s directionally challenged sense of location – I am constantly amazed that he managed to get himself around the world successfully before these wonderful machines were invented, as he is totally hopeless at knowing where he is.

I must say though that the brand we bought (Garmin) is just slightly “off” quite a bit of the time and seems to loose itself or send us the wrong way then make us do a u turn and come back. Lucky I seem to have an inbuilt navigation system in my brain and we are usually able to successfully arrive where we planned. I much prefer the Navman we have in Melbourne.

We have been going to Seef Mall in Bahrain as I know what shops are where and it isn’t too big to get around, and we have discovered a great French patisserie restaurant located up one end. It is called PAUL and they specialize in bread and pastries but their actual food is great as well.

We swiped some of the napkins to bring home for my son in-law (his name is Paul). They also make an ok cappuccino, much better than the ones I have had in Saudi. Jesse took a pic on his phone of me standing next to the sign outside Paul, but for some reason it didn't want to dowload.

We will try the newer and bigger City Central Mall next time as everyone tells us this is the one to go to – this one even has a Freedom Furniture store as well as a 20 cinema complex and very importantly a Paul. Getting off the subject we also have Payless Shoes and a Howard’s Storage World in our local Mall of Dharan.

It is so good to have nice bread and coffee – I don’t like any of the cappuccino’s I have had in Saudi, including ones from Starbucks, Costa, Dr. Café, Seattle’s Best, Joffrey or any other café I have tried as most places make it with UHT or it is so weak it is like drinking warmed up milk as well as being so scalding hot it burns everything from gums to mouth, and takes too long to drink.

There is one decent coffee place in our local Mall of Dharan in a really pretty French patisserie…… but I can’t wait to get back to Melbourne to have some really decent coffee…mmmm and some really nice bread………mmmmmmmmmmm.

We won’t be going across to Bahrain for a few weeks now because Jesse’s Aussie passport is about to expire and it has to be taken to the Aus. Embassy in Riyadh to get renewed. Usually you DHL it to them with the fee, but as we have to go to the embassy to vote for the upcoming election we decided to take a day off work and drive up to Riyadh and put the passport in as well as vote.

So we will be voting well in advance of all you mob at home . I am also using this as an excuse to have 3 extra days off work as it is owed to me from when I represented PMU in Bahrain back in April….. so roll on next week.

I’m Back :P

2010-08-05T15:57:00.004+03:00

Yes I know, it’s been a long time since I had the inclination or anything much to write about (well to be honest, I have had a lot to write about but too lazy). Jesse has made me feel ashamed with all his great posts and me here contributing nada, zilch, zero, nothing – so I thought I had better get my A into G and write something……

I have settled into my role in the registrar’s office and am starting to learn many things such as what pre-requisites really are and how, if a class is over-ridden what impact is has on the student’s future learning outcome, especially if their grade is suffering with their chosen subject.

I recently did an audit on all the math courses offered and was totally awe-struck that the majority of women doing these classes had a mark of A or A+ right through all their courses. I had one young lady in recently to pick up her graduation certificate (one of our first graduates) and I had to print out her official transcript, and over the 4 years she studied, every class she took, which were many, were all A+. The audit I carried out was actually a great exercise for me as it really helped me to consolidate a lot of information I previously had to take in.

I learnt a few weeks after starting in this new position that for some reason when I was bringing up the software forms that we use called Banner, that more than 1/2 the information was missing from my screen. In many ways I was quite relieved that it was the computer and not me just being thick at having to seek information from my colleagues several times before I “got it”.

After much semi- aggressive campaigning and many phone discussions to the Banner Technician about what the actual problem was, it has been fixed and it is a delight to have all the information available to me. Well done to the PMU IT team is what I say (especially my husband – Director of IT)

At the moment, all talk at work is of Ramadan which is one month of fasting for all muslims. They are not allowed to eat or drink during daylight hours and will only eat well after the sun disappears. I have been told that the shops and restaurants will open from 10pm and will stay open for most of the night. So in effect life is lived backwards as far as body clock is concerned. We have different shorter class schedules as most of our students and staff are muslims, and we have to accomodate the change in their routine. At the end of this time is what they call the Eid which is in effect a nine day holiday to celebrate the end of Ramadan.

Brush with the blues…

2010-08-03T10:08:00.003+03:00

My life is now almost complete. I have finally acquired a guitar and an amp and can now resume my musical indulgences after a 10 month break. But first some background.

One of my most enjoyable activities throughout the years has been my guitar playing. I started playing shortly after I arrived in Australia back in the 70’s. But even before that whilst I was living in Sarajevo I had always wanted one. I remember being bitterly disappointed at not getting one for my 13th birthday. The memory of that is really that strong.

I also recall shortly after arriving in Australia in the early 70’s and settling in that wonderful Melbourne “flatlands” suburb of St. Albans having gone for a very early morning walk down the Main Street. I walked past a General store with its front window completely smashed in. Lo and behold there was a guitar in the display. It was one of those Jazz flat-tops with a sunburnt finish. It looked so gorgeous. For a fleeting moment I just wanted to reach in, pick it up and walk away. There really was no one around so it would have been so easy. My underdeveloped, teenage sense of morality had a brief battle with my conscientiousness and of course the right thing was done. I stood there for what seemed like ages daydreaming of being a Guitar God, a famous RockStar. I ended up working in IT eventually.

But all was not lost. Within a week I had come back to the same shop with my Dad and we ended up buying my first ever guitar. It was an acoustic, 6 string made in China. It was actually really, really horrible. The action was about ¾ of an inch off the fretboard, impossible to tune, bent neck and seized machine heads. But it was mine and I loved it with a totally misguided devotion. That it would be little better than fire wood should have been obvious from the start. The store where we bought it also sold military surplus gear, camping equipment and commercial kitchens. I remember seeing the guitar right next to a 5 ring gas burner that was about a meter in diameter. It was one of those that can be used to boil a 1,000 litre vat. Something should have told me that their guitar supplies would not have been acquired by a master luthier.

So I played, every day, to the point where my fingers bled. But it was my best friend at the time and it had opened up the world for me.

I have gone through many guitars in my life since then. At one point I actually had 23 of them around the house. I am now down to 3. My pride and joy is my Fender Stratocaster Custom Shop which was bought for me by my Mum just before she passed away. I have always wanted a Strat but having a CS one is just so special. It is a superb instrument. A piece of art that you use to make some art.

When I left for Saudi I left that in Australia as I did not want any transport damage. But I was missing it so much. In Australia I had it with me at all times. Wherever I went it went with me and it would come out at a slightest provocation.

Finally deciding to take a plunge we went to the Old Khobar markets where I found what I needed. I ended up getting a BC Rich cheapo and a small Kustom DS35 amp. I am back in heaven working on my “Jeff Beck” type of playing. Just to be able to sit down and play along with Eva Cassidy or others is a huge enjoyment and really sorts out all the crap in the day. So it’s back to the blues and back to sanity.

On the other hand it has made me realize how much I miss being around my kids and their music as well as my blues buddies Andrew and Freddy. Roll on January. (Our annual leave back to Oz)

Searching for chickens with a GPS....

2010-07-24T11:54:00.001+03:00

One big advantage of living in Eastern Province and in Al Khobar especially is the proximity to Bahrain. Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are separated by 25 Km of sea. The two are now linked by one of the longest bridges in the world - The King Fahd Causeway. It was opened in 1986 and now handles around 20 million passengers per year.

We have now been to Bahrain a few times using this route. But as we are finding out it can mean long delays at the border post. We have done the crossing in as little as just over an hour and as long as 3 hours.

The very first time we crossed they knew that the car was leaving Saudi for the first time (rego picked up on the camera) so the paperwork took a bit longer. There are altogether 6 stops to be made whilst crossing.

1. Tollway on the Saudi side in Al Khobar (SR 20 fee)
2. Car clearance station
3. Saudi border control
4. Bahraini Border entry
5. Bahraini customs
6. Bahraini car insurance check. Here you pay SR 20 for 3 day insurance to drive in Bahrain.

Same applies when leaving Bahrain apart from the insurance.

It’s worth recalling our first time across. We were off with for our first meal and a movie. The meal had to be Nando’s. Since there is none of either in Al Khobar it was fitting that these two destinations would be the first.

To help us get around I bought a GPS, a Garmin 1350. It cost us SR 1,050 without the packaging. In a box it is SR 1,450. Not sure how this sans-ambalage thing works but it is a significant saving so who's to argue.

The GPS had 2 Nando’s locations in Bahrain. We knew that had to be wrong as the one in Seef mall did not exist. So we picked the other one and the GPS do its thing. As we arrived to the designated street It confidently announced that “the destination is on your right”. One small problem. There was no Nando’s at the announced destination. Such is the faith in technology however, that we refused to accept the evidence of our own eyes, that in fact there was no Nando’s to be seen. So we drove around the block a few times just to make sure. Same result. Mafi Nando’s.

Finally I asked a nearby shopkeeper if he knew anything about this missing Peri-Peri establishment. Of course he knew. It had not been there for years. It had moved to another district. So much for your maps Mr. Garmin.

So we headed off and soon afterwards found it. The sheer relief of having Nando’s back in our life was overwhelming. A fine quarter-chicken with extra hot peri-peri was enjoyed. But I must say that no one yet has managed to equal Karto’s Nando at Chirnside Park. That man knows how to prepare chicken.

After that it was off to a movie. We saw Shrek Forever in 3D at the Seef Mall cinemas. Best donkey role by far. The whole Shrek series is just so entertaining.

At any rate that was our first solo journey across the Causeway.

As far as the GPS goes the Garmin is very good but it just lacks a bit of finishing. It will get you very close to where you want to be, but then just gets a tad confused in the last bit. Nonetheless it is a life saving device. It is still surreal to follow the turns in completely unknown territory and arrive where you need to be. A vital and necessary investment for any newcomer here.

Evening crossing of the King Fahd Causeway

Poorly sorted rocks....

2010-07-12T10:20:00.001+03:00

If one tries hard enough around here there are many interesting things that can be found to do and enjoy. Shortly after arriving we were put in touch with a society here in Dhahran with a very interesting mission. The name of is Dhahran Geoscience Society or DGS for short.

It started out years ago as an ARAMCO (World’s biggest oil company) club for the geologists. At first its membership was exclusive to that set of people who get very excited just by looking at rocks. But as time went by they opened the membership to anyone who was interested in their work.

It is heavily sponsored by ARAMCO as they also realized that there was a good deal to be had here in terms of PR and letting the world know how they go about the business of exploration.

The Society meets once a month for a presentation/dinner usually at a very prestigious hotel such as La Meridien or Carlton hotels. The format consists of a presentation which lasts for about 40 minutes followed by a sumptuous dinner at a cost of 25 Riyals per head. (AUD 7.65). Now that is the value that simply cannot be beaten. The dinners are full on buffet affairs including the traditional kepsa if that is what you are after. The photo below will show you just how classy the whole affair is.

But of course to get to eat you must sit through some wonderfully themed presentations bearing titles such as “Heterogeneity in glaciogenic reservoirs: examples from the Ordovician and Permo-Carboniferous of Saudi Arabia” addressing “Heterogeneities in glaciogenic reservoirs abound, and give rise to a complex reservoir architecture which derives from a disparate depositional facies mosaic that may be significantly further complicated (within synglacial deposits) by the effects of glacial tectonics, as well as numerous extremely irregular bounding surfaces related to multiple phases of glacial advance and retreat”. Got that?. Good. This was the first time ever that I had heard about “poorly sorted rocks”. Rocks!!! Poorly sorted?? I never suspected that there could be any other kind.

Another riveting topic was “Robust Workflows for Seismic Reservoir Characterization” where we learnt about “workflows to make predictions about lithology and fluid from seismic amplitudes where their current form is based around a few fairly simply steps: two-term AVO coordinate rotations, spectral shaping derived from a power-law Earth spectrum model, and map-based detuning and calibration”

Mind you they also do other far more accessible presentations on science and business so it all evens out. However you do learn a lot from them all. For example I had never realized that this entire Arabian peninsula was under kilometer thick glaciers and that the North pole was actually in this region at one stage. So there.

The other significant part of the societies activities is the field trips. They organize thes few times a year and take the members to some very interesting places. The two done this year were to an actual oil drilling station in the desert somewhere. You get flown by ARAMCO’s private airline (B737’s) and spend a day as a guest with everything laid on in 5 star comfort. The other one was a 2 day trip to the Red Sea to do some diving and look at some underwater geology. These are all for free for the members.

The membership costs SR 75 per year and that money goes towards your dinners. It is simply amazing value.

I guess if you are to spend some time in this part of the world than it is a very worthwhile way of learning about what makes it such a unique location and is an eye opener in terms of just what is required for oil exploration. You cannot fail to be awed by the human ingenuity and the state of knowledge and understanding of our world.

If anyone locally is interested in joining drop me an email and I will put you in touch with DGS. It is one of the most interesting things that you can do around here.

And btw they have a door prize of SR 200 at every meeting and I have won it twice already. How good is that.

Their website is http://dgsonline.org/index.php

DGS dinner typical entree

World view of Interesting World....

2010-06-17T16:52:00.002+03:00

When we started this blog it was simply for the purposes of keeping our family and friends up to date as to what we were up to in Saudi Arabia. We figured that it would be lot easier to simply make a post and let everyone read it, rather than having to email everyone individually.

It was also to be some kind of record for us of all the things that happened whilst we were here. Too often lots of marvellous things are forgotten in these kinds of situations.

We did not expect nor realise that it would be read by anyone else. However it obviously is. We have been contacted by number of people who are thinking of taking jobs here in the Kingdom especially at PMU. It turns that this blog is interesting and useful to a wider audience than just the family.

So to all you readers out there whoever you may be, welcome to our blog and thank you for taking the time to share our experiences with us. We will endeavour to keep the blog as informative as we can. Saudi Arabia is a place full of quaint oddities and surprises. Often you will see something, smile and think “Only in Saudi…”

There is a great little blog gadget called the ClustrMaps. Clicking on it shows where our visitors have come from. Here is what it looks like:

The visitors have come from the following countries:

Saudi Arabia (SA) 396
Australia (AU) 163
United States (US) 69
United Kingdom (GB) 39
Canada (CA) 18
Italy (IT) 11
India (IN) 11
United Arab Emirates (AE) 9
Bahrain (BH) 6
Pakistan (PK) 5
Venezuela (VE) 4
Korea, Republic of (KR) 4
Jordan (JO) 4
Kuwait (KW) 4
Germany (DE) 4
Malaysia (MY) 3
Philippines (PH) 3
Russian Federation (RU) 3
Europe (EU) 3
South Africa (ZA) 3
Qatar (QA) 3
Singapore (SG) 3
Moldova, Republic of (MD) 2
Indonesia (ID) 2
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (LY) 2
Egypt (EG) 2
Sri Lanka (LK) 2
Ireland (IE) 2
Switzerland (CH) 1
France (FR) 1
Austria (AT) 1
Belgium (BE) 1
Iran, Islamic Republic of (IR) 1
Oman (OM) 1
Thailand (TH) 1
Nigeria (NG) 1
New Zealand (NZ) 1
Morocco (MA) 1
Turkey (TR) 1
Spain (ES) 1
Lebanon (LB) 1
Bosnia and Herzegovina (BA) 1

So if anyone is interested in anything about Saudi please drop us a line and we will endevour to gladly answer your queries.

Thank you all....

A public apology...

2010-06-17T16:28:00.003+03:00

In one of the earlier posts (Single man’s life) I described an outing with my friend Mohammed where we went to a restaurant to buy some food for the evening. I said that perhaps he was not the best person to have around when trying to exercise dietary moderation as he himself weighs 145 kg.

Two days later I had a very hurt and indignant Mohammed on the phone saying how could I accuse him of being 145 KG when he was actually only 138 KG.

Obviously my thoughtless shots at cheap entertainment at the expense of my friend have backfired badly.

So I hereby publicly apologise for getting it so terribly wrong. Mohammed has kindly agreed to have his picture published on this blog that will refute once and all that nasty aspersion that he weighs 145 KG. It is obvious from his facial expression how deep is the hurt and mental anguish that my thoughtless utterances have made.

Sorry Mo, We’ll go out for a big meal to set things right. :)

Vanishing acts....

2010-06-17T16:12:00.000+03:00

Last Saturday we took the JEEP down to the local dealer to finalise the registration and transfer of ownership. Here in Saudi as I mentioned before the car has to be impounded by a car dealer whilst the transfer is being affected. This is for the purpose of ensuring that there are no outstanding fines, dues or criminal activities associated with the car. If there are the police simply confiscate it. Makes sense actually.

Got a call on Monday to say its all fine, come and pick it up. Finaly after all this time, all those hurdles overcome and it is ours. It was a sweet moment.

So we immediately went for a drive to Al Khobar old town to kind of celebrate. I also had another joyous reason to go. My weight loss has been going really well. I am now down to 90 Kg from my initial 106.3, all in about 3 months. I had to buy new jeans waist size 34. My old ones are all size 38 and have become rather baggy.

However being blessed with rather a simian anatomy of sub-standard length legs I always have to shorten any pants that I get. The old town is full of tailor shops some no bigger than a small wardrobe. Literally nestled into wall cavities and nooks and crannies. Its just another one of these charming facets and joys of exploring the old areas.

They are what we call here same-same tailors. Anotherwords you take any garment to them, pick your material and they will replicate it exactly. It's a wonderful service if you have a favourite piece of clothing that you want re-born or updated.

I parked the car on the corner in exactly the same manner that all other cars were parked. There is absolutely no signage anywhere indicating where to or not to park or how long to stay etc. So never gave it another thought.

We wnt into a tiny tailor shop where they said they will shorten the jeans in 1 hour for the price 15 Riyals (AUD 5). I remember having the same done in the shopping centre tailors in Melbourne for $ 35. We have it so good here.

Then we went walkabout for about an hour to pick up some jewellery (Jill's name spelt out in Arabic done in gold). We came back to the spot where we parked and all of a sudden had that sinking feeling... My God, where is the car. Is it stolen? You keep looking at the spot where you know you left it and now there is some other car there. Amasing what thoughts go through your head. You think: "I'm on a wrong street, this can't be the spot, I'll just look on the next corner and it will be there." All disbelief and denial. Asked the tailor if he knew what happened. He just pointed us to this tow truck that was actually removing cars from the street. Went over, asked the driver and he just said "Parking bad go there" pointing to a Car Park about 50 meters down the road. Sure enough it was impounded.

It cost us SR 180 ($60) to "liberate" it. Again I remember in Melbourne paying $300 to get the car when it was removed from Bourke St. It was such a relief to get it back.

The attendant in the booth just smiled at us and said "My dear, you can park here for 1 Riyal per hour". So now we know. When we go down-town just park in these spaces for 30 cents an hour. Not a bad deal. Guarantees no more magic. No more vanishing acts...

Who ME??? Delayed reaction :D - Registrar Female Campus

2010-06-06T17:32:00.001+03:00

Well who would have thought it? Me – the little (well not so little) Aussie from Down Under being asked to fill in in the registrars office when the registrar goes on maternity leave in July! and finding out it is the actual Registrar and not assisting!

I thought oh no probs – I can fill in helping out in their department they will just have to show me what the procedures, forms, processes etc would be and away I go. Not so simple – as one would expect being here – the lady I will be filling in for is away for minimum of 6 months and I now know that she is THE registrar for the female campus. Another one is well advanced into her pregnancy so I will not be able to rely on her for help as she won’t be there either. Hopefully the other 2 ladies will stick around.

I filled in for her yesterday just taking forms from students for early registration and just being in attendance so to speak – oh and what a nice office she has – directors furniture no less, so Jesse eat your heart out :P

I was asked to go around there again today as the lady from the IT registrars was not there to take the forms and as you can imagine with only 2 days to go for students to get the forms in to book their classes early to make sure they don’t miss out on their preference it has been a swarm of impatient, anxious students.

Well consternation time, as my colleague in the admissions office is away for 8 weeks approx at the same time and I am the only person who knows what to do to get prospective students organised, and I have been told oh you can do both :( hahaha so much for my cushy easy job!

Well I will keep you all updated as to my progress and what I will actually be doing – apart from a very large work load……… stay tuned folks :)

Motoring nirvana...

2010-06-04T18:07:00.009+03:00

The command post :)

Well finaly the wait is over. I went down to Riyadh last Monday night to pick up our car. It has been such a protracted saga with getting various loans and permits etc that we almost lost hope there for a while. Even on the last day when I was told that the car would be loaded on a truck to get it down to Khobar I was told that I need one more permit. This was the University permitting me to own a car. As it trinspires in Saudi your employer has to allow you to own a car. Simply another unfathomable step.

Having gotten that out of the way I was then asked to come down to Riyadh to affect the transfer and registration (ishtemara). I did but of course that was not the end of the story there. It could not be done on that day as the guy who did these things was not coming in until 4 but the registration department closed at 2. Nice :). At any rate I was given the car and told to drive it Khobar and than take it to a Jeep dealer who will make the registration here locally in Dammam.

The process involves impounding the car at the dealership until the paperwork is done. So inshallah it will be done next week. Until then I can drive it locally but cannot take it out of the country (Bahrain etc)

But what a joy is to have it. It is giving us the complete freedom of movement and that is something to relish after all these months of dependance on taxis and compound buses. It just means we are not limited to the 5-6 places where the buses go. I must admit that the bus service is actually quite good. One can survive quite easily as they go to all major shopping centres and supermarkets and give you around 3 hours to do your stuff.

So I hopped into the car and drove it from Riyadh to Khobar. Its around 360 km with a very good road. (more on that in our previous post on Riyadh vacation). The Jeep is incredible to drive. It is creamy smooth, silent and rides like only an American softly suspended limo can. There is hardly any engine noise and at 140 its barely ticking over at about 1,800 rpm. That is the beauty of a gutsy 5.7L V8. I tried a few bursts of speed on some lonely and straight stretches and lets just say that I had to back off long before the car limits were reached :)

Its 3 years old and is the top of the line in Jeep range. The Overland. Inside its simply luxurios. Jill was very pleasantly surprised to find out that it was not that big actually. She expected it to be as big as a GMC suburban or one of those ridicoulosly sized Nissan Armada's. But its actually not that much bigger than our Mazda CX7. It is a bit Tonka toy and Hummerish in styling but it simply looks awesome in the flesh.

It has 3 rows of seats but the third row is for legless midgets only. Still not as if we will be loading 7 people any time soon.

It has a very good sound system from Boston Acoustics with a huge subbie.

The drive from Riyadh cost me 35 Riyals which was AUD 11.13 for 95 RON. This is simply heaven. The power from the V8 is sffortless in ANY situation and it actually cuts out 4 cylinders when cruising so it is economical as well.

Anyway here are some photos:

So now we can go and truly explore our wonderfull environs. Motoring Nirvana :)

Off to Jubail :D

2010-05-17T17:36:00.001+03:00

I went to Jubail last week for a school visit at the Indian School - it was about a two and a half hour drive each way and that is sitting on about 150 km per hour.

We were told to go to the city centre and call the principal for directions to the school. We managed to find the centre and gave him a call as directed. We told them where we were and he told us someone would be there to show us the way. After about 20 calls back and forth and still no escort to show us the way, we decided to try and find our own way as our driver had been into a hotel on the main street to ask if they knew where it was and was given some sketchy directions.

We then took off back toward where we had come from and all the while the phone was still ringing trying to find out where we were. We stopped sort of safely not quite on the freeway, not quite on the exit road to wait for the man to come and get us. When he realised exactly where we actually were he told us he would be 20 minutes, so we decided to follow our vague directions to see if we could find it – amazingly we fluked the correct freeway exit, we fluked the correct turn after we got off and when we pulled up to ask some guards where it was they vaguely pointed to the right and down :( – we took off once more and our driver sort of pulled up 1/2 stopped, 1/2 going and we saw a roughly made up road with a bus down the end – we all looked at each other had a quick discussion on whether it could possibly be the school - consensus that’s a bus maybe it’s the school!

Eureka – it was exactly where the school was and after we got over our amazement of actually finding it from such vague directions we started congratulating ourselves at how clever we were as well as for a job well done :D

We were ushered into the principals office where we were warmly welcomed by the principal and given a brief history of the school, and served refreshment which was very sweet milky tea. He then explained the problem of why the driver wasn’t able to find us. We were in the new town waiting – the school is located in the old town and the driver had gone there to find us – 20 minutes drive away……lol – one has to live here and get lost on the roads – they all seem to turn and wind around yet all seem to lead to the same place.

We were then ushered into the assembly hall where we were treated like honoured guests. The hall had been set up very official like and they had tech guys to set up the computer and sound system. They also had a table on the side for the four of us and a written program with the names and title of who would be speaking. Our male colleague gave a fantastic opening speech then we presented our power point and photos then it was question time. It was a very formal type of question time with each student being given a microphone to ask the question and we all had input into the answers. The students asked really mature and relevant questions especially for students that are so young and then it was time to make our way back…… but first lunch :D

We decided to go back to the new part of town and had a very nice late lunch at a Lebanese restaurant. The new part of town is very nice with an almost resorty feeling as it is built along the gulf with nice paths, paved zig zag type roads, lots of palm trees, and new shops & restaurants, but the old part where the school was located is heavy industrial with petro chemical tanks, gas processing plants, with a port with tanks in for pumping the oil products.

With our tummies full and our thirst quenched so it was back on the road back to Al Khobar where we were dropped back at our compounds by the driver.

The school visit was very successful – although Jubail seemed to be quite a lot hotter than Al Khobar.

Unexpected Bahrain…

2010-04-28T15:46:00.004+03:00

Sometimes things turn up so unexpectedly. Jill came back from her Ozzie sojourn last Thursday morning. As soon as she got back to work she was told that she would be leaving for Bahrain to take part in a marketing exercise in Bahrain’s Seef Mall, one of the original shopping centers in Manama.

So after almost a month of being separate we faced another 4 days of being apart. Mind you this is a bit of a change as it is usually me that goes off gallivanting on international business trips with Jill staying at home. This time it was my turn to stay and hers to enjoy the executive entrapments.

At the same time I had put in my request for a multiple exit/entry visa with our GR (Government Relations) department. I did not expect to get it for a while as there was no particular urgency to it. So I was very pleasantly surprised when they rang me on Thursday afternoon saying that it’s ready to be picked up. The visas are not actually stamped into the passport. They are simply a separate official document which is presented at the border.

Jill had already left the previous day and was really enjoying the experience. I got a call from her boss Rania, saying that she had Jill’s per diem allowance and would I come and pick it up. I also volunteered to take it over with some other PMU material so that was settled.

I was going to leave on the same day but the driver had left earlier because on Wednesdays it can take hours to clear the customs on the causeway. Wednesday afternoon is when everyone heads off to Bahrain for the weekend. So the queues are extraordinarily long. Same on Fridays when all are coming back. If you have not headed back to Saudi by about 1PM you might as well stay there till midnight otherwise you will sit in your car for 5-7 hours.

The crossing is actually easy. As you head out to Bahrain you come to a set of toll gates where you pay SR 20 I guess as an exit tax. Next booth further down is where they check that the car has proper registration and clearance to leave the country. You drive up to the passport control where your visa is checked. One more stop is maybe required for customs check. Usually they will just wave you through. Once past that there is another booth where you have to buy mandatory car insurance for Bahrain. It costs SR 40 and covers 3 days. So all up if there is no congestion you can do the whole thing in about 10 minutes max. The same is in reverse except that you do not have to buy insurance as you already have that for your car in Saudi. (Car insurance is mandatory and you simply cannot get on the road without having it.)

Once in Bahrain things change dramatically. The roads are in excellent condition. Bahrain is only a tiny place so they can afford to pave it all and keep it maintained. All the crazy driving vanishes and its like being in any nice small town. No stunts, no speeding. Lights and cameras everywhere. Looks like all governments learn how to extract felluce from the drivers. Sounds like its culturally universal.

Bahrain is full of cranes with many projects going up and marvelous architecture everywhere. A bit like Dubai really with one difference. Bahrainis can pay for it.

So that was a start to a wonderful weekend. Jill has already started blogging on how it all was and I will give you my side shortly.

Kingdom of Bahrain - Representing PMU

2010-04-27T19:44:00.001+03:00

After all the run around beforehand we finally made it through all the boom gates, checkpoints, passport control exit & entry points into Bahrain. It is actually a lot easier to get into Saudi than it was to get out! Our driver had even been phoned and told that we had an apartment to stay in and we were taken straight there to leave our luggage and have a short rest before heading off to the Seef Mall.

Our apartment by Saudi standards was not what you would call the Ritz but I was pleasantly surprised at the spaciousness, cleanliness and comfort of it and have to admit it was a lot nicer than our own apartment in Al Bilad Compound. For one it had a nice dining table that didn't need to be covered by a cloth :D, nice chairs, comfortable 3 seater & 2 seater couches as well as 2 arm chairs and a socket for internet connection which was free :D - only drawback - bed was hard! Oh and no brekkie available as they were family serviced apartments with kitchen.

Moving through every room you can imagine my dismay to find that unlike Saudi where you have an abundance of power outlets of different wattage in every room to find that here there were none in the bathroom at all, and only full on British 210v plugs and sparsely situated at that. After thoroughly searching the room that my bag had been put in to find none anywhere, I noticed an outlet in the larger room the other lady with me had commandeered, so I calmly and with authority suggested that seeing as I was there for the full 4 days and she was there only overnight that if she wouldn't mind I would like to take the larger room - cheeky I know, and as she is younger than me she acquiesced and moved her stuff and I had an outlet for my hair dryer and straightener :D after all - public image - you gotta do what you gotta do :D

Then I had the problem that my phone battery was nearly flat (Jesse is constantly at me for this as no one really calls me and I forget) and I had brought a Saudi 110v computer cord with me which didn't fit. I phoned down to reception to see if they had an adapter and they sent one up, however it had been used many times and they tend to go "loose" so that whatever you put in falls right back out so still same problem, computer not connected to electricity, phone going flat and still receiving and making calls to my boss back in Saudi. I had at least 1 hour of battery time on my computer so managed a short charge to phone and once we got to the Seef mall I told my male colleague Jassim my problem and he kindly went to radio shack and brought me an adapter that was tight so problem solved :D

One would think as it was approaching 4 pm by this time that I would have gone immediately to work - wrong! I was so busy from when I got to the university at 8am until arriving at the apartment that I hadn't eaten since 6 am that morning and was feeling faint from hunger. Jassim our male colleague said no problem - go, eat, take your time, no hurry, no problem :D - so the other lady and I took off immediately. The ladies in our office had told us exactly where to go to eat for very nice food, which was to go to the end of the Seef mall, outside and across the road, through another mall and outside that one to a very nice restaurant where they were very right, the food was very nice and the desserts even nicer. Must be one of the more exclusive as the cars parked outside were Rolls, Daimler, Merc - latest & biggest, Ferari, BMW - I am sure you get the drift :P - I still haven't had a decent cup of "hot" coffee here - I stick to the iced ones as at least they taste like coffee but I sometimes try hot just in case.

(Notice the lamp in the window? I really like it :D)

So 1 1/2 hour later we went to work and we had constant visitors stopping by our booth to take the books and pamphlets and ask information about the university. We left at about 9.30pm and Jassim asked if we needed anything like take-away food or supermarket and he once again kindly took us to a supermarket near our apartment and brekkie and snacks were taken care of.

Our next working day and every day after started at noon and we went until 9pm every night except for one night which was about 10.15 - people on that night just kept coming everytime we looked like packing up to leave. It sounds like a hard slog to stay that amount of time in a booth, but keep in mind there were 3 of us, and we were in a very large mall, so we all took turns at being there for 2 hours and disappearing for at least 1-2 hours. Jassim was a very nice man to work with and nothing was too much trouble or too hard for him.

(Hope you notice Jesse’s weight loss – 11kg :D)

When we were having lunch on our second day I received a call from my boss to say that the our allowances had been organised and that Jesse had received his exit/entry visa and would be bringing it with the driver the next morning - he was to be picked up and brought across with the ladies - so any surprise he may have been planning for me was totally ruined :P - as you can imagine I was immediately on the phone to say - "oh you have your visa? How surprisingly quick was that (it was only 2 days)? oh and I hear you are also bringing me money and are coming to stay a night?"......lol - bush telegraph works equally as quickly here as back in Aus :D

He arrived bright eyed and bushy tailed the next morning at about 9.30 in the morning and was pleasantly surprised by the size of our apartment. We were also both very amused when a junior lady that works with me in my office (a young 24 year old true Saudi - very lovely) made the comment when she came in - "They are MAKING you stay here? Oh this is very very bad - I have such a bad feeling walking in here! What is PMU's problem? They should put you in the Ritz Carleton near the Seef Mall! Oh this is so very bad! I could not stay here!" - Bear in mind that the Ritz is probably THE most expensive hotel to stay in in Bahrain :D

Oh the joys of generation Y's expectations and also factoring young Saudi expectation also kicking in :D Will their expectations be met in a modern world? Or are they setting themselves up for disappointment?

We all bundled into the car for work, and when we arrived there was virtually no one about so we headed down for Starbucks coffee. Once people started to arrive at the mall we headed back and Jesse had a good look around - went to the cinema to check out what movies were showing and headed back to our stand. By this time it was lunch time so I decided to take him to a sushi restaurant I had noticed the previous day which was also out through the other mall which he loved and took many photos of as you saw above. He was amazed and really surprised to find that it was a Yo Sushi bar like he used to frequent often in London.

All in all he had a really wonderful time and it was great to have him there - it is the first time he has been out of Saudi since our arrival so he was really happy to have large cd shops to browse in and wireless internett coffee shops to sit at, the shops not shutting at prayer time, as well as catching a stupid movie - Clash of the Titans 3D - I will let him tell you about his experience in the cinema :P ......hehehe.

I had even noticed the night before when Jassim stopped for Macca's a Nandos, so that is where I took him for his tea :D but it is a full on service restaurant over here, as in order taken at table, manager coming to find out how the meal is etc etc :D oh and bottomless coke :D

Verdict - I really like Bahrain and I am very sure once we get our car that we will be going back there a lot :D

Getting Ready to Represent PMU at Seef Mall, Bahrain :D

2010-04-25T14:53:00.001+03:00

As everyone knows I arrived safely back to Al Khobar and had almost a full weekend to recuperate before heading straight back to work. It was hard… as it’s always hard to get back into the rhythm of alarms, early brekkie, and getting showered and dressed ready for work. Fortunately for me :D I was only back at work for one day when I was asked if I could go to Bahrain for a marketing campaign at one of the large malls……… of course the answer was immediately YES!

I was a natural choice as I could do the full 4 days and stay the 3 nights, unlike the other ladies in our department as most have small children which makes it hard to go away for that length of time. They wanted to send two ladies as well as one man to be in the booth, and my boss was having trouble getting another lady. I suggested what if we did rotation and send one lady for one night and another lady for another night which was immediately taken on board and arranged without any trouble for anyone.

I turned up to work on Tuesday with my bags (last time I went away to Riyadh the hotel didn’t have a hair dryer, so I thought 4 days - so necessary is clothing, hair dryer, hair straightener, laptop, book etc etc) and was meant to be ready to leave at 10am. Well I asked about allowance, assumed hotel room had been reserved, and waited to be told when the driver would be there. Was told that as it is holiday season at the moment there were no hotel rooms to be had via our travel agent anywhere in Bahrain :( and allowance had not been arranged! So after spending a busy morning organizing the pamphlets and booklets needed to hand out, making sure I had the surveys and visitor sheets, I was finally told the driver was at the front gate to take me to the bank to cash a cheque and that I would be responsible to distribute it to everyone, and that the other lady going with me would meet me with a different driver that would be taking us across the causeway. Sounds easy doesn’t it? :P

We got to the bank in plenty of time before prayer so both the cashier and myself went in and he then asked me – “do you have the cheque?” I gave him a blank look – the one you all associate with me and said no – “you do!” Then the flurry of discussion, the phone calls to my boss and were told to wait there and she would ring me back. I also had to go to the travel agent to collect the hotel vouchers so I rang her back after 5 minutes of waiting to say we would go down to the travel agent because it was now 11.45am and the agent closed from noon until 4pm. She agreed to this move, so back into the car and headed towards downtown to travel agent. We were not quite there yet and we could hear the noon prayer call going out, but luckily the agents had been told we were on our way and they kindly stayed open for us. The cashier and I then went in to be told sorry, no rooms anywhere, our agent over there has had no luck whatever as it it peak holiday time. I had been told to wait until they procured a room for us, so wait we did until we had the call that our colleague over in Bahrain was out searching for rooms himself and to go back to the bank where the cheque was to be delivered to us.

Well we then went back to the bank, the cheque arrived at the bank and we went in to cash it – all good one would think. No! – the cheque had been made out in our colleague’s name and even though it had been signed on the back that it was ok for the bearer (me) to cash, the bank wouldn’t even consider it because our colleague had to counter sign – which he couldn’t coz he was in Bahrain :) I was then told that they would get a different cheque and that our allowances would come over the next day with one of the other ladies doing the rotation…… so this was it – we were off overseas to Bahrain.

The new driver turned up in a PMU bus with the lady I was to travel with and I was a bit surprised that we would be going via bus, but no, we were then driven to the street where the driver lived to change over into his own car. He disappeared for probably 10 minutes and we were supposed to wait in the car, but the aircon was on its lowest possible setting, the car had been sitting in the hot sun for hours so I got out and waited under a tree until he came back. The lady I was with waited in the car, so I would assume that either she didn’t feel the heat like I do, or that she didn’t feel comfortable waiting in the street. Then we were off :D

The King Fahd causeway bridge is something else and is really nice to drive across. It is 28km long and there were about 7 checkpoints to get out of Saudi and into Bahrain. We didn’t take too long to get through but were still surprised at the amount of traffic for that time of day. If traffic isn’t too heavy either going to Bahrain or coming back to Al Khobar it is about 40 minutes all up including, passport control, vehicle check, and the entry/exit boom gates. It can take hours though if traffic is heavy, or as our first experience when first arriving to Saudi via Bahrain on the bus 4 hours.

Driving Across King Fahd Causeway

This is the entering to Saudi side of the bridge and I will post another blog with pics of our display stand at the Seef Mall in the coming days.

I’m Back – Hello Jesse, Al Khobar, and PMU

2010-04-23T17:27:00.006+03:00

I made it back in one piece :D and not too jet lagged as I tend to sleep fairly well on the plane which is lucky considering it was a 14.5 hour flight from Melbourne to Doha airport.

The first thing I did after take off as one does was go through the movie guide and thought bewdy, several good movies that I haven’t managed to see yet like the Princess & the Frog and other such wonderful viewing…….yipee! I managed to hold off and wait until the meal was served and then gleefully tried to put my headphones into the socket...

No luck, so I called the cabin staff member and she said oh so casually "sorry ma’am it is broken" :( so imagine my dismay – a full plane with only 1 other seat available next to a small boy, so I thought no thanks. I was pretty angry as Qatar airlines advertise themselves as worlds 5 star airline and the stupid stinkin’ headset didn’t work on a 14.5 hour flight.
I was pretty agitated but I then gave myself a good talking to and thought - well I got away with over 10kg of excess luggage for absolutely nothing which would have cost an absurdly huge amount usually so managed to calm myself down and the up side of this was I probably slept for at least 6-8 hour during the flight.

We arrived safely on schedule in Doha and I had the most wonderful espresso frappe in one of the cafe’s at the airport and then settled in for the 1.5 hour wait for the plane to take off to Saudi – this boarded a little late and was also full of Pakistanis and Indians all touching down in Saudi for work.

Then once the plane landed and we got to passport control I truly realised I was back in Saudi Arabia. There were 4 lines of at least 2 or 3 full planes that had landed to get through the passport gate…..grrrrrrr about 3/4 hour later the guard came and said anyone returning with iqama and paperwork go to another line, so the line I was in virtually disappeared and they all went to the new line – I had all the correct paper work and visa’s etc but no way was I goingto get to the back of another long line of about 40 when I was only about 15 from the front.

The upshot was 1.5 hour later I finally got through to collect my luggage and out to find the husband waiting very patiently for me. (I had called to let him know about the hold up).The trouble was he was waiting for his “blonde” wife and a brunette turned up :D so it took him a minute or two to recognise me.

As I was standing in line I was thinking maybe turning my hair darker wasn’t that wise a move as the photos in my passport and Saudi residence permit (iqama) were all taken when I was blonde and maybe I would have trouble getting back through. But there were no probs so the short moment of panic was for nothing :D

I was pleased to arrive back, and imagine my surprise that Jesse had organised for the crappy lounge suite we had that had sunken down and was very crooked to sit on, to be taken away and replaced with a fully sprung one in a bright royal blue with big gold flowers. It is really nice to sit on and looks a lot nicer with the furniture we have than the old one :D …… well done Jesse :D

I miss our little Hannah and really look forward to seeing all the new pics that get posted via facebook every few days – she has grown so much in the few short weeks since she was born and is looking more beautiful every day :D – Notice the bootees :P – her Nanna knitted them for her :D

How cute is that ?

3 Generations :D

Uncle Pete and Aunty Kelly (practicing)

I am waiting for a snap of the proud Daddy and I will post that when it makes it way to fb :D

I Am feeling a bit tired as it got late quite suddenly and I will write another story soon about now I ended up writing this one overseas in Bahrain :D

Jilly on her way back...

2010-04-14T23:10:00.004+03:00

Just had two SMSs from Melbourne Airport. Jill is through the border control and about to board. Me and my friend Mohammed (he of the dead chicken fame) are going in the morning to pick her up from the Dammam airport. We should be ok this time coming back as Jill will be with us and able to guide us back home safely.

Last time me and big Mo ended up half way to Riyadh. That's how badly we got lost. You can imagine when a local who has lived here for 10 years asks YOU if you know where we are. Panic time. I have never been what you would call a "skillful navigator". Unfortunatly I think I have passed on this genetic defect onto my children with I think Daniel being particularly afflicted. As far as I am concerned GPS is the greatest invention since time immemorial. :)

Anyway can hardly wait to see her. Its been 3 long weeks and as you can see from the previous post, single life is simply not for me :)

Only a few hours to go now...

Mobility coming soon...

2010-04-14T23:02:00.002+03:00

We have been here in KSA now for just over 6 months. This is the kind of place where having a car is a must. It has been ok during the late autumn, winter and now spring period as the weather has been absolutely fantastic. Just nice and balmy. Perfect T-Shirt weather.

I have been surprised actually as to how mild it has been. We all have an image of Saudi as a hot desert. Well it actually is but only for a part of the year. June, July and August are the worst months with August actually being named the "Hell month" because the temperature is between 45 and 50 C with tremendous humidity. I do remember coming here to Dammam from Riyadh (when I was here the first time), stepping out of the a/c car and instantly emulating a sodden sponge. They tell me that in the past it was common for a lot of older people to actually perish in the heat To keep cool they had a habit of simply lying down and covering themselves with wet rags during the hottest parts of the day.

These days its all a/c'd. You have it in your home, workplace, car, shopping malls etc. Makes life very tolerable and comfortable.

So what is the point of this pre-amble ?? It's to tell you that basically you cannot be without a car unless you are prepared to sit in your appartment for 3-4 months in the summer.

This place has no public transport worthy of any note. And the one that does exist is so erratic and unreliable and requires great sleuthing skills to actually find it. It is interesting to note that Riyadh is building a subway. The roads are a mess there at the moment as they are digging huge trenches to construct it.

Even prior to coming here I had discussed cars with my Saudi friends and one of them Fahad a coleauge that I worked with in Riyad Bank siad that he was selling his 2007 Jeep Commander and if I wanted to buy it. And so we agreed. I mean its a 5.7L HEMI 330 Kw, with 3 types of 4WD available. I mean what's not to like here, and with petrol being 16 halalas or 4.6 cents (AUD) per litre, you run the damn thing for next to nothing.

So one of the first things that I tried to do when we arrived was to try and get together a loan. Silly, naive me. Thought it would be straight forward. As most things in Saudi, not so.

The bank needs your usual documentation: iqama (residence permit), passport copies, salary statement and an employment letter. No probs the latter two provided by PMU. But when I submitted it all they said we also need a "Transfer Letter". That is basically a guarantee by your employer that they will transfer all your salary and end-of-service entitlements into a nominated bank account.

I thought that it was a routine letter but alas it was not. Companies do not provide this letter until you have been with them for at least 3 months. (most probationary periods are around this long). PMU however has a policy of waiting for 6 months. The reason for this is becausa quite a few people who start, take out a loan and then skip the place (do a "runner" in our parlance) basically stealing that money.

So it became obvious that we can do nothing for 6 months. Well finaly I have it and its all organised. I am just waiting for the first salary transfer into the new bank and it should all be there after that. We started banking with SAMBA but the loan will be with SABB (local HSBC) since Fahad works there.

Hopefully I will be able to post some pictures of our new transport in about 3 weeks.

Then it will be exploration time. Kuwait is 4 hours away, Qatar the same, Bahrain is 1 hour over the causeway, Oman is about 12 hours and Dubai and Abu Dhabi are about 10. So we shell explore and report to you from all these lovely places.