GTA in KSA Revisited (but probably not for the last time.)

Okay, so when I landed in Jeddah (at 2 a.m. local time and I had been up for over 24 hours) I noticed that the traffic behavior was MUCH better than I remember. It still is now but there are, shall we say, things that are still unique, yes, that's an innocuous term, unique it is.

For instance, at a red light where I needed to make a U-turn (which is legal here) I was most obviously in the left most lane. There were four normal lanes marked on the roadway, the U-turn lane was the addition on the left, duh, at the signal. The lane to my right could have either taken a U-turn or the left turn. In a normal universe the next lane over would have to go straight, or so one might guess. One might be wrong. There was a taxi two lanes over from me and he pulled a U-turn in front of the other cars just as soon as the light turned green. Surprised I most definitely was not.

This was not an isolated incident and a taxi driver should know how to get in the correct lane before an intersection. When I think about it and wonder what would cause them to drive like that I hear the Church Lady's voice saying, "Could it be.....?" 

Now, on what passes for a highway in Jeddah, the behavior of the average driver is less than stellar. IMHO, if they happened to be in the Detroit area and behaved this way then they'd be driven off the road (but only if the Michigander was in a good mood.) In downtown I suspect the ramifications (pun intended) would be much more severe and likely involve gun-play.

However, as my past readers may recall, I grew to drive just like the locals when I was in the Magic Kingdom seven years ago. That was why, on my return to the states, I enlisted my darling wife to drive me everywhere, not just because I was rediscovering the joys of fermented beverages but that I really didn't trust my instincts on the road. Sad to say that after being here less than a month, I am reverting back to bad habits. As Pogo once said, "We have met the enemy and he is us." 

The key thing is - whatever you do - don't make eye contact. Just drive as if you are the only car on the road. Lane markings are for the weak and sissies. I don't lay on the horn much, which is extremely common, but flashing the headlights to signal the car in front of you that you do not respect their position in line is well within expected norms. As for merging? I believe that in Michigan there is something in driver's ed training about a scissors zipper merge whereby one car lets another car into line in an alternating fashion. Here it is more of a knife merge. When I went to the Old Souq in the Al Balad district, I got stuck in the middle lane of three lanes of traffic trying to make a left turn onto a one lane road. I was five-six cars back and didn't realize it at the time. Rookie mistake. As the pickle vendor at the Ren-Fest would say, "Push and shove, push and shove, you'll get there faster if you push and shove."

Driving is a challenge to say the least. Although the traffic is lighter than the M-59 & I-75 intersection during rush hour(s). I've talked with some of the guys and they complain about how heavy the traffic is. And they don't even do the speed limit! It's 100 KPH and many people are doing 80, sometimes even 60 in the passing lane. Did I mention that there are U-turns on the highway? (At least there is an added lane for the purpose but there is still that special guy who is three lanes over and realizes that this is his turn, hilarity ensues.)

Yeah, they'd get eaten alive on I-75 morning and night. Oh, but the most entertaining thing I saw this past Thursday morning was traffic slowing down and cutting left and right in front of be because one of the jokers from the military base (he was in uniform) was doing a near vertical wheelie on his motorcycle going 80 KPH. All I could think about was 'get out of my way the speed limit is 100 KPH'. Kids nowadays! Saving grace? He did have a helmet on.

There, I'll get off my soap box for now. I reserve the right to revisit this topic later on during my stint in purgatory. It's always sunny in Saudi Arabia.
 😉  

Visit to the Old Souq in Jeddah

Typical shop in the old souq and there are shops for everything

Roasting and grinding coffee
doesn't get fresher than this.

Back street during Zuhr

Leading in to the old souq
(I came in from the other side)

Two young Yemeni men working in the souq.

Here a shop, there a shop, what a lot of shops there are

Old residence near the mosque

Beautifully renovated building

Another shop keeper who really
wanted to sell me a thobe and
all the kit.

The mosque at the end of the street

Six young men who work in perfume/incense shops
waiting for prayer - Zuhr

Two Yemeni men who asked me to take their picture.

Pictures and miscellany

Local Hyper Panda

If I use my old grocery bags to line the wastebasket do they become trash pandas? (The spelling in Arabic actually reads 'Banda' since there is no 'P' sound in the Arabic alphabet.)

Our local pool is nice, I might even step in it when it gets hot this summer. It does however, already have some residents. 

Holiday display on the green. They even played seasonally (somewhat) appropriate music in the Oasis Restaurant. 










If I were a fire extinguisher, where would I be? Oh, behind the trash can in a closet with the door closed, of course. 

And now I have a case of 'Camel Cough', went to the dispensary and the doctor gave me some meds, said to come back if I ran a temperature. Funny thing (to me) the cough syrup is a herbal extract of ivy, I'm allergic to poison ivy, hopefully I don't go anaphylactic. I must have gotten it at the old souq last weekend, but that's another blog entry.

First Drive-about, the long way to IKEA

The round about way to IKEA

Took my first drive last weekend. Wanted to see a little of the 'nearby' area and figured I'd stop in at the IKEA in town since there was supposed to be a sale (Up to 80% off!!!).

Headed up to the mountains east of Jeddah past the university, which was apparently built on a wadi because no one was living there. There was a reason for that, it floods sometimes. I guess there was some damage to classrooms, labs and the computer center. Might have been a good idea to consult with the locals first. Funny thing I noticed in some of the tent cities where I can only imagine some poor expats living in, occasionally I'd see a satellite dish by one of the tents. Internet? Phone booth? IDK. The tents are large and black, I can't imagine wanting to spend any time in one of those.

It was a nice drive up to Usfan. I didn't really stop and see much because I was just scouting out the area, but, as with many other cities there was a statue to identify where you were. (Many roundabouts have some sort of statue like a camel in the north end of Jeddah or a fruit boat which is near where I am.) 

Usfan

Drove down the road towards Mecca. Interesting little road, paved but not smooth. It was how I imagine a road would feel if the blacktop were placed by hand (shovel) and then compacted with a roller. The speed limit for cars was 140 KPH which is about 87 MPH. I was trying to keep up but there were still cars passing me.

All this is in what I would call a high desert, really dry and a huge flat between the first range of mountains and the next one. Large clouds of sand as it was very windy. Odd to see obvious living quarters/farms/ranches way out in the desert away from the road. Quite a few camels, sheep and probably some goats. There was actually vegetation growing out here, grasses and such.

It is dry here.

Then I headed back towards Jeddah past the Eastern Forest which is up in the mountains. I'll have to go back to get pictures since there are no underpasses (or over passes on these roads so it is difficult to get from one side to another now that the u-turn places are blocked off. Suffice to say it was very green and there were trees.

It is about 1-2 miles back to the hills.

Ended up in downtown Jeddah at the IKEA, some prices were good, some were not so good. I picked up a small wall clock for less than $2 and a couple coffee mugs for about the same price. It was a little odd but I had to have the meatball meal - $10 including dessert. 

Did I mention that gas has gotten a little expensive here? It is $1.514 per gallon! But that is 91 octane not the 95 octane, of course that would be high test in the U.S. Fortunately, if I get a receipt and turn it in with the mileage, the company reimburses me for that expense. It's something at least.

Quick observations

I was told by Sayeed that I could get coffee filters at the facilities office. My boss here needed some for something he makes 😉 so we walked over together. Nope, need a requisition form (also for pens, paper, etc.) This must be how it is when you work for the military, just guessing. Still no coffee at my HAFH.

No fob, no account, no time recording, no pay? I'm working for free here. First day at the office on Sunday, Dr. Osama (no relation) is walking me around for introductions and all of a sudden the power goes out in the building. "It never goes out here, this is the first time." Yeah, right. More bad omens, LOL.

Got back to the apartment on Christmas Eve and the power had gone out during the day so no internet and no TV. That's okay, I watched a movie I hadn't seen (Captain Marvel - pretty good). Got to bed fairly early, I'm still a bit jet-lagged. Next morning, still no connection in the apartment. No biggie but I noticed after I got to work that my phone had updated my email on the compound-wide wifi during my drive to the gate. So, get on IT to fix it. Apparently the power outage disrupted security cameras and a bunch of other stuff. Still no network when I get back, three calls later, finally fixed so I can video chat with the fam on their Christmas morning.

The community relations director thought I was a visitor when we had been briefly introduced last week so I didn't get the invite to the Christmas dinner/gift exchange for the evening but she said to show up anyway at the Oasis (restaurant in the compound). Get my food, sit with the only other guy I know at all here, start eating and we hear this noise getting louder. Turns out to be the mosquito spray truck, so rush inside with my food. "It's always something."

It became a little dark after sunrise

Boxing Day - apparently there was a solar eclipse after sunrise this morning so there was a bonus prayer time. Office doors locked and almost no one showed up until after 8:00 a.m., banker's hours.

The cost of things

Here's a sample of how much different things cost in KSA. I will update/add periodically and if anyone wants to send me similar costs in the U.S. it would be interesting (to me) to see what the differences are. On the whole it seems a little cheaper to live over here. ($1.00 US is equal to 3.75 Ryal exactly.)

Item	size	U	US equiv		KSA		US	unit
froz peas	400	g	14	oz	4.15	pkg	$1.11	$1.25	$/lb
froz mix veg	400	g	14	oz	4.95	pkg	$1.32	$1.50	$/lb
yogurt	170	g	6	oz	0.88	ea	$0.23	$0.62	$/lb
potato					3.25	kilo	$0.87	$1.91	$/lb
green peppers					4.75	kilo	$1.27	$2.79	$/lb
toilet paper					1.87	roll	$0.50
cashews	500	g	18	oz	47.20	pkg	$12.59	$11.42	$/lb
water	1.5	l	51	floz	1.08	bottle	$0.29	$0.46	$/qt
tuna	185	g	7	oz	5.95	can	$1.59	$3.89	$/lb
apples					6.95	kilo	$1.85	$4.09	$/lb
sponge					2.28	ea	$0.61
tissue					2.49	box	$0.66
honey	380	g	13	oz	15.60	bottle	$4.16	$4.97	$/lb
salt	700	g	25	oz	1.25	pkg	$0.33	$0.22	$/lb
cinnamon	100	g	4	oz	3.40	pkg	$0.91	$4.11	$/lb
toilet cleaner					10.95	bottle	$2.92
carrots	1000	g	35	oz	7.50	pkg	$2.00	$0.91	$/lb
sm wastebasket					11.00	ea	$2.93
cheese	350	g	12	oz	26.20	pkg	$6.99	$9.05	$/lb
laundry-shirt	1				6.30	ea	$1.68
laundry-slacks	1				6.30	ea	$1.68