Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore!

by Brian Stirling Thursday, November 19, 2015 2 comments

Although it seems a lot longer it's now officially two weeks since I came to Riyadh. I'm sure nobody ever thought it'd be exactly like Canada, (I never did that's for sure!) but how different could it be? What kinds of things happen in Riyadh that don't happen in Brandon? What have I seen so far that I'd never see at home? Since it's been a few days since my last post it's a great subject for a new one!

The first thing you notice I suppose is the religious and cultural differences. Muslims pray five times

per day, before sunrise, morning, afternoon, evening, and after sunset. Prayer is not just "any time in the afternoon", it's at an exact time and changes each day. So, how to know when prayer time is? Easy, you just download the iPhone app like I did and it tells you when each prayer time is. You're probably wondering why I would need the app and it's a good question. One thing that happens at prayer time is that almost all businesses close for about half an hour so employees can pray. So, thinking about going to a restaurant? Not at 5:07 today you're not, doors are locked an no one gets in. Buying your groceries and ready to check out? Not at 11:40 today you're not. If you're already in the place of business you can often keep shopping or eating but you can't check out until prayer is done. Now you know why I have the app!

Culturally another thing that's interesting is that you never give anything to, or receive anything from, anyone with your left hand. You don't put that hand to your mouth and you certainly don't touch food others might touch with it! Why? Well, it's generally accepted that the left hand is the one that you might, er, uh, use after you do your business. Sorry, had to be said. They have toilet paper here so I'm not sure what that's all about, old habits I guess. Another thing while I'm on that topic is that just about every washroom I've seen here has a bidet attached. Sometimes it's a nozzle in the bowl, sometimes it's a shower head beside the toilet. I get the idea of cleaning yourself with it I'm just not sure what you're supposed to dry all that water up with after! Maybe I'm just doing it wrong. Another thing to to keep in mind is that you shouldn't show people the bottoms of your feet or palms of your hands as it could be considered offensive. So is the "thumbs up" gesture apparently. Ooops, I have done that at least once, sorry! There seems to be some latitude in the application of these rules (especially for westerners) but it's best to try to observe them.

As you might already be aware, women are a whole other topic here. They're are forbidden to drive, have separate entrances to some businesses and separate areas in restaurants. If I go to a restaurant alone I have to sit in the "single male" section. If I have my wife with me or I'm with some other guy and his wife we can sit in the family section but I should not be anywhere unescorted with a female that I'm not related to. The same goes for checkout lines in some stores. In public Saudi women will generally be completely covered with only the eyes and maybe hands showing. Western women do not have to cover their faces or even heads but they do need to be covered to the ankles and wrists. There are religious police here and sometimes they'll demand a western woman cover up but most throw a scarf on until the police are gone then take it off again. And while the rules of virtue are strictest for women, they apply to men as well. One of our guys got kicked out of the mall because his shorts were too short, and they were below his knee!

Women aren't very common in the workplace either. I see very few women in the office building

complex I work but there are a few. At home time they all need a driver or their husbands to pick them up to get home since they can't get a ride from another male who is not in their family and women can't drive! One funny thing I saw was on the flight over. They had a good selection of western shows on the in flight entertainment system so I chose to watch an episode of The Office. In that episode Pam was at the office but apparently showing a bit too much cleavage because that area was blurred out whenever she faced the camera! Now, all due respect to Pam (Jenna Fischer) but she's not exactly Pamela Anderson so I found it particularly humorous that she was censored! I'm going to go ahead and guess we won't be seeing "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" in Saudi Arabia any time soon.

That brings me to the driving. Wow. It's something else here, no doubt about that! I see lot's of texting and driving which makes my conservative Canadian head just about ready to explode! Of course that completely explains the tendency of many drivers to wander freely between lanes in town or on the highway and that includes the 120 km/h speed limit 5 lane highway that runs through the middle of town and that I take to get to and from work each day! Occasionally I also wonder if red lights are only a suggestion here. Just yesterday we were waiting for a red light to change when another car came up beside us in the right turn lane. As he neared the intersection instead of turning right as expected he went left up over the curb to get to the front of the "go straight" lane. After a brief check of traffic he (no women drivers here) then proceeded straight through the intersection and carried on his merry way! And nobody even bats an eye! The other day in the middle of Riyadh (a city of 4 million) I even saw a smallish truck rolling through town with a couple of camels resting in the back. They were quite content to look around and enjoy the ride! We saw many more camels on the 400 km drive to Dammam and I asked if they were wild or not, sort of like deer at home. Well, the answer is no, they are not wild. Apparently camels are quite expensive with the "race camels" sometimes worth millions! There's even a huge camel market on the outskirts of town that is jam packed on the weekend. Who knew? Oh, speaking of the road to Dammam, the speed limit is 120 km/h and so naturally we were doing about 130 km/h. But we were still getting passed by cars doing 160-180 kn/h by my estimation. Porsches, Lamborghini's, or Maserati's? Nope, Toyotas and Hyundais which seem to be the most popular vehicles here. Oh, and the price of gas? $0.216/L for premium when we filled up the other day and my boss was surprised it was that high! He figures regular is probably about 12-15 cents. 

At home in Canada we have snow plows but here in Saudi they have sand plows and I'm not even making this up. Between Riyadh and Dammam there's several loaders, bulldozers, and graders stationed on the side of the road every 50 km or so ready to clear sand that has blown onto the highway, just like our finger drifts of snow. And another thing, if a vehicle is damaged or totaled it is often just abandoned at the side of the road. I must've have seen over a dozen such vehicles on the drive to Dammam and back! The roads are entertaining that's for sure and when driving you always have to have your head on a swivel!

Something you can't help but notice here is the construction ongoing everywhere. It's absolutely

insane and I've never seen anything like it anywhere in the world. On the road to work I pass the new King Abdullah financial district they're building. Where we'd build a new skyscraper, they build a new district full of skyscrapers! And because there's so many new buildings the architecture is very interesting! Also, with so many new buildings going up they'll need some way to get the workers there. No problem! They'll just build a new $22B (yup, with a B) three line metro system to schlep people around. That ought to ease some of the road congestion! Also, if you've looked at my Instragram feed you'll have seen a picture of some elevator buttons. The point of that picture was to show you a button for the 13th floor, something you won't likely see in North America!

Burger King

Well, this has gone on a bit more than I thought so I'll close with a mish mash of leftover observations. They say the population of Saudi Arabia is about 30 million and that about 8 million (or 30%) of those are ex-pats like me, working in the kingdom trying to help keep this country growing and developing. There is a desire to displace contractors with Saudis but the plan does not seem to be making much progress. I've been surprised at how many western restaurants there are here including Dominoes, Pizza Hut, Red Lobster, Applebees, Dairy Queen, Outback Steakhouse, Benihana, Fuddruckers, Krispy Kreme, Dunkin Donuts, Tim Hortons, Burger King, etc. Too many to even mention! Just outside my office is a big mall and I decided to stop in there on the way home from work today since it's my Friday. As I stood on the upper level looking down at the shoppers I noticed a lot of black abaya clad women and something even more curious... two guys holding hands! Now homosexuality is illegal here and can result in the death penalty so you can imagine my confusion. Well, here it just means the two guys are friends, nothing more so I think I'll try it with my friends at the plant when I get back and see how THAT goes!

Well, that's enough except to say that everyone I've met has been very friendly, helpful, and tolerant of my many transgressions with the local customs! Sure, there's some crazies here, same as anywhere but I can't see them for all the nice people. Now if only I could get a beer and some bacon!