Out of this world!

Greetings and salutations!

Ok so I promised that I'll bring you upstairs in the next post. But before that, so many people have been asking me, what is Jeddah like? So my bedroom will have to wait till the next time as I set out to tackle this burning question.

First off, lets get the location right. Jeddah is one of the major cities of Saudi Arabia. Some even call it the commercial capital of the country. Located on the western coastline of Saudi Arabia, its a thriving port city. Having been here for a month now, I can say that this place is out of this world. And it is.


Located about 1.17899 billion kilometers away from earth when the entire solar system is lined up in a straight row, Saudi Arabia boasts a culture and lifestyle you'd never imagine was possible. And if you think thats a lot to contend with, there's always the landscape and surroundings.

True to its alienic persona, you feel like you're landing on mars when you look out of the aircraft window before touch-down. But in fact, as my diagram above has shown , you're further from mars than you think you are. Interplanetary travel on a boeing. Imagine that.


Here's the view from my hotel room during my initial days here. The breathtaking view brought tears to my eyes. Mainly because the breath I was taking was full of sand and obviously some of it got into my eye.


Of course I've already mentioned some of the adjustments to my lifestyle in my previous entries and chats I've had with friends.
- No ice cold beer to enjoy after work (Man I miss my crown lager)
- No socialising with members of the opposite sex unless its a spouse. Which makes me wonder, how did you meet your spouse in the first place?
- gotta time your shopping to make sure that it does not coincide with the prayer timings.
- All women are covered up. All you see are men, whom sometimes, I wish were covered up too.
- Various public places are segregated into 2 sections. One for single men, the other for families.
- The mad driving style on the road. Its like a warzone out there.

Even the birds do things a little differently here. Usually, you'd think that under a car would be the last place you'd wanna be. But here, they stay there to survive.

When I'm out and about, I marvel at the vast amounts of space rock and sand. Its everywhere. Granted you see the occasional palm tree here and there. But why does this place look like the inhabitants of zargon 4 invaded recently? It looks like a warzone! There's rubble and shells of destroyed buildings everywhere. As for the roads, lets just say the surface of the moon would feel like the backside of a new born baby when compared to the road surfaces here.


But you know what? Despite everything, I'm laughing most of the time. Not only at the insanity of this place, but also at the amazing experience and opportunity I've been given. Just the other night, as I was walking to my car after a long day at work, I found myself looking upwards to the night sky. There was a gentle breeze blowing, accompanied by the sound of the palm trees rustling in rhythm with the distant roar of an aircraft billowing down a runway. I could see the stars. The same stars that you'd probably see if you look up at night on earth. As I stood there on the warm desert floor, I took a deep breath and I thought to myself, wow, I'm in Saudi Arabia.

Week 3 gone by

Time sure flies! Feels like I just landed in Saudi Arabia not too long ago. At the same time I feel like I've been here for ages. This place messes with your mind. At least I still have a mind to mess with, I'm surprised I haven't lost it! Anyhow, many have been asking about the kind of accommodation I live in here. Well, the majority of expats here live in what is known as a compound. Its like a community within walls and each entrance/exit is guarded. Security is pretty good in these compounds and the people living within don't have to worry so much about the restrictions that are in place everywhere else. So women can walk around in shorts and T shirts and a man can talk to a woman even if they're not married. Wow! How about that?

Anyhow, photos of the security aren't allowed in these parts so I secretly snapped one while I was driving home the other day. Here you can check out one of three machine gun installations that guard the entrances and exits.


First time I saw it I was thinking to myself "Holy cow! Is that for real?" What kind of crazy people do they have here to warrant that kind of setup? Quite worrying. And its not like the pissy rifle that I handled during my NS days. Its more like a full-on Rambo badda badda (Celine's sound) machine gun.

Ok, so moving on, after you reach the guard house and let them inspect your resident's label on your car, resident's card from your wallet, recite the secret resident's pass phrase and finally give them the secret resident's handshake and wave, you go through and then pull up into the driveway of your unit. They call it a "villa" but I think its too posh a word. Villa stimulates thoughts of a luxurious establishment by the beach adorned with high-end fixtures with german brands that cannot be pronounced without sounding like you're clearing your throat. A villa is something that will feature in tatler magazine or the latest Architect's digest. What I have here, is a box from the 80's with bits of wood nailed to it.


And yes, thats my amazing grey Honda Civic 1.6 with ABS. No, not Assisted Braking System. Its Air-Bags Short. Once you're parked and through the front door, you see the kitchen.


Its pretty good sized and has all the basic components of a kitchen. No complaints here. There's even a water dispenser thingo coz apparently, if you drink the water from the tap, you'll be filled with so much metals that it'll react in your guts and make you a walking time-bomb. So don't drink from the tap unless you wanna commit suicide (bombing). Now, if you look behind, you'll see the maid's room (which I have decided to use as a store room since I don't have a live-in maid) and next to it is the laundry area.


So walk past the kitchen and you'll find yourself in the dining area. The unit comes with a full sized dining table and huge cabinet to display all your wares. Pretty useless since I live alone and don't have huge meals. But its pretty good for having my morning cereal and reading the newspaper sprawled across the whole table.


So from the dining area, we then transit to the living area. I converted one end into my "work" area. Got my trusty mac setup there. All my music, entertainment and most importantly, the link to the real world is here. The other end has got the sofa set and TV with cable. I haven't sat on the sofa since I got here. Its green. It'll be like seating in a sea of moss.


Phew! This blog post is getting a bit longer than I expected! Tell you what, I'll leave you with a shot of my back patio and that'll conclude the tour of the ground floor. I'll take you guys upstairs in my next post! Hope you enjoyed the guided tour!

Puff the orange loofah

Asalaam mualaikum!

Hey, in Rome, do as the Romans do right? Now everyone who reads this has to say mualaikum salaam back to me. Come to think of it, are people living in Rome still called Romans? Or are they just collectively called Italians now?

Anyhow, Its been 2 weeks since I arrived in Saudi Arabia and honestly, I haven't had a decent shower. Ok before you guys go EEEEWWWW, I bathe twice a day ok! Sometimes even 3. Its just that, I never feel like my shower is complete without a loofah. You know? You gotta have that good scrub down after going out and exposing yourself to the grossness of the outdoors. Especially so in Saudi Arabia. I don't know why but it always feels so yucky and grimy outside. Doesn't help that its hot and humid here too. Much like Singapore but with an oven strapped to your backside.

One of the things I kicked myself about was not getting a Loofah from the bodyshop in Singapore before I came here. That simple scrounged up ball of fabric makes a huge difference for me. Therapeutic even. You see, after a good scrub down, you feel like all the grime and dirt and sand is washed away, along with your troubles and worries. You come out of the shower feeling clean and refreshed. You can almost feel yourself glowing. Thats what a real bathe is about. Some like to soak in the bathtub and come out looking like an oversized raisin. Some just want to jump in and hose themselves down and thats it. I like a thorough scrub down.

So I couldn't take it anymore. I deserve a decent shower! Especially when I've been robbed of other pleasures in life, SA isn't gonna take away this one. After work I ventured into a mall that was relatively near the airport. First time being in a mall in SA and man! It was HUGE! Gigantic. But more about that in another post. I walked around hoping to find some kind of bath/shower shop or home essentials shop. Anything! Shop after shop I looked and there was everything except a Loofah. I wasn't ready to stop a saudi and ask him where to buy a Loofah. Do they even call it a Loofah? That might be an arabic word saying that your mom looks like a boiled camel for all I know.

So after the 10th head scarf shop and countless outlets selling shoes, bags, watches, fashion, sports, carpets, camel saddles etc etc... I was ready to give up. I was starting to worry that I'd forget how to get back to the entrance to the carpark where I parked my car. I thought to myself, GOD! if only bodyshop would open here!

I turned around to the left and BAM! THE BODY SHOP!!! They DID open in SA. Praise the Lord! I must've been the happiest asian guy in Saudi Arabia to see a bodyshop outlet. So I hurried in and true to the foundation of the bodyshop, there were many brightly colored Loofah balls arranged by color and placed in different sections of the shop. I was ecstatic.

So here I am now, feeling cleaned and refreshed, typing about how you can never take things for granted. Not even a simple bodyshop Loofah. Nothing like a tough station to teach you about the little things in life eh?

Its exactly like in the movies!

Saudi Arabia I mean. You know how you watch movies and the country is portrayed as run down buildings, crazy roads and heaps and heaps of sand? Thats it! Before I came here, I googled Saudi Arabia just to have a look what I was in for and the pictures looked alright. Nice modern buildings by the red sea and all that. I wish I could meet the fabricating spin doctor who put those pictures up as a welcoming introduction to SA and pound him into the sand of the beaches at the red sea.

Oh, for those who do not know, I've been posted to Saudi Arabia and yes I haven't blogged in 283365 days but who cares? How's everyone by the way? Hope all is well.

Its been slightly more than a week since I got here and I'm still learning my way around.

Saudi Arabia is a shocking country. Jeddah is supposed to be the most open of the cities in SA, however, its still a culture shock for me. Firstly, all the women are covered up! As a mate of mine would put it, all you see is the letter box slot. Every woman must also be accompanied by their husband or some relative and if they are stopped by the religious police, they gotta produce documents to prove that they are related. So most of the time, I only see MEN. I go to the shops, MEN. In the airport, MEN. When I eat in the restaurants, MEN. There are seperate sections for restaurants, one for single men and the other for families. I shudder to think what would happen to you if you walked through the wrong door. You'd probably be pelted to death by stale bread or something.

Oh and they hold public beheadings in the city square every friday. Also, if you're caught stealing, your hands get chopped off at these sessions as well. Someone offered to bring me to one to have a look but I politely declined.

The heat here is shocking as well. on a good day, its 38 degrees outside. I guess its normal since i'm in the middle of a desert. And this place looks like a desert too. Sand everywhere! And for some reason, it also looks like a warzone. There's always some rubble or demolished building wherever you look. the small roads are in a shocking state while the main roads are barely acceptable. And driving! Thats a whole different adventure in itself. Road rules don't seem to exist here. The Saudis do not follow speed limits or road markings. They swerve and go wherever they want. And they all think they're F1 racers. I can cruise along at 120-130 km/h here without worrying about getting stopped by the traffic police. They don't stop you for road hogging you see. Besides, the saudis will just horn you and then overtake you at 200km/h. I've even seen 2 cars come to a screeching halt in the middle of the freeway just to wind down their windows to talk to each other. They still think they're riding camels out here. Shocking. Doesn't help that I gotta get used to driving on the other side of the road (left hand drive here) and my 1.6 litre Honda civic is a manual with NO AIRBAGS. oh but petrol is about $0.20 a litre here. even water's not that cheap.

Things like food and general shopping here is quite cheap. I can survive on quite little if I wanted to. I hear that sales are really good too. However, I've been warned that counterfeit stuff are pretty common here. even in the so called boutiques and departmental stores. (I've already seen some counterfeit items in the duty free area of the airport) Oh! and if you are shopping in a mall or supermarket during any one of the 5 prayer times during the day, be prepared to be locked in the shop for about 20 mins while the prayers are going on. Sometimes they even turn off the lights so you're just stuck there in the dark contemplating how it is that your life turned out the way it did.

Its really a different world out here. I'm still coming to terms with it but I know that at the end of the day, it'll be a good experience that not many can have. I wonder if I can buy an oil field here?