Saudi Arabia

Last week Chris got to go to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for work. Jeddah is located in the western part of Saudi Arabia and is on the Red Sea. Jeddah is also the principal gateway to Mecca, Islams holiest city, which Muslims are required to visit at least once in their lifetime. It is also a gateway to Medina, the second holiest place in Islam. Chris was there for only a few days and spent most of his time there working.

He took the three hour flight from Dubai to Jeddah on Fly Dubai, a local discount airline. He choose this airline because they had the best flight times, but after a major delay at the airport here, then delayed on the plane, then shuttle bus/wrong terminal confusion and lost (then found) luggage, he decided that this was the first and last time he would choose Fly Dubai. The short version of the story...things were not signed well getting off the plane in Saudi, he ended up riding a bus to the wrong terminal to go through customs, ended up with people going on their pilgrimage to Mecca, had to ride another shuttle bus back to go through customs...all is all it was a full day affair.

While Chris was in Jeddah, he got to attend a professional soccer team between two of Saudi Arabia's soccer (or football, as they call it here) teams. The teams actually share the stadium but when Chris went on Friday night they were playing against each other. He said the entire stadium was dressed in the two teams colors, chanting, and very passionate about their teams. Two observations...there were no women at the game and no alcohol.

When he got home he said that visiting other countries in the Middle East reminds him how spoiled we are in Dubai. In Saudi, everything shuts down for prayer time (five-times a day), women are not allowed to be out alone or drive. Most expats there all live on secure bases or compounds, where rules are a little loser.

Dubai also has a very European feel to it, has a remarkable skyline and has many tourist attractions that we are probably beginning to take for granted. Chris has visited Lebanon, Oman and now Saudi Arabia and has yet to see these things elsewhere in the region.

Savannah and I are certainly glad Chris is home, but it is exciting that he got see such an interesting place.