You know, you can only watch so many reruns of Gold Rush, Pacific Warriors or Misfit Garage before you begin to lose respect for yourself. I mean, how do you make a whole series out of guys getting in kayaks and going fishing? And who sets their PVR so as not to miss a single episode of this stuff? But I digress. To prove that not all my off time is spent sitting around in my underwear drinking non-alcoholic beer watching cheesy American TV reruns (not that the Indian TV on the other channels is any better, in fact it's much worse) I thought I'd show some of the things I've been up to since coming back after Christmas. Lord knows I'm long overdue for a Brian of Arabia post anyway!
First up as exhibit A is the Diplomatic Quarter. In the mid 70's the Saudi government decided to build a progressive "city within a city" that housed all the diplomatic embassies from various countries. As you might expect security is very tight with concrete barriers, armed soldiers, armoured personnel carriers and enough police vehicles with lights flashing to cover a city like Brandon many, many times over I assure you! Once inside there's still a pretty heavy police presence but the DQ (as it's called) is a breath of fresh air from the every day restrictions of Riyadh. For starters the dress code is relaxed, women are not required to wear abayas and men can wear shorts. There's a couple of restaurants in the DQ and even a Subway where I can get my regular Steak and Cheese on parmesan oregano! Since all the embassies are here many families also live inside the complex in various neighbourhoods and there's recreational activities available too like tennis courts,
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| The police vehicles NOT on duty! |
walking trails and parks for both kids and adults.
So looking to explore early one morning before it got too hot I headed off to the DQ, about 15 minutes from my "home away from home",
Al Waha compound. I knew that the walking trail circumvented the entire complex but I wasn't entirely sure what, exactly, that entailed. So, in typical Canadian male "know-it-all" fashion I ate a granola bar, drank a bottle of water and headed out empty handed, alone and with no idea where I was going or even how far my travels would take me. As it turned out my plan worked (as it always has so far) but I certainly would have taken advantage of some supplies had I bothered to take them! Oh well, all's well that ends well as they say.
I discovered that if you stick to the outside trail and circle the complex you'll travel about 8 km on mostly level ground of gravel and hard packed sand. Along the way there are numerous parks, some for kids and some for adults. Some were rock and sand overlooking the wadi, others offered grassy shade under big trees, beautiful flower gardens or unique play structures for children. I thought the trails were fairly representative of what I've seen overall of Saudi; not "in your face" beautiful like Canada's Rockies but once you've opened your mind to alternative beauty the views were certainly enough to make you stop and take notice.
Saudi Arabia is not a young country and as I look around I often wonder
what it would have been like in various periods of its history. I can only imagine how dynamic the current century's change must have been compared to those of the past. Remember, Saudi Arabia's development accelerated only after the discovery of oil in the first quarter of the 1900's and Saudi Arabia's oil reserves are second only to Venzuela (Canada is 3rd by the way). Even so their wealth only really started to grow in the 70's with the rise in the price of oil. Today, as I drive around this city of over 7 million I am reminded of this growth as my GPS constantly recalculates a way
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| Good old Canadian ball hockey game! |
around a myriad of construction barriers for the new metro system and I view a skyline dotted with huge construction cranes in every direction. I've been here several months and I still can't get over the constant growth and change here. It's like nothing I've ever seen before and I'd love to come back and see the "finished product", whenever that may be.
Early on in my journey around the DQ I noticed a large and very opulent looking structure just across the highway. I nervously took a couple of pictures because I was sure it was someone's palace and therefore picture taking could be seen as a security concern. I've never been in jail and a Saudi jail is not where I plan to break that record! However, once home and asking around I discovered that it was actually a hotel, the
Ritz-Carlton Riyadh, and
conference centre. This hotel was opened in 2011 and was originally intended to serve Saudi government and business needs exclusively. However, they found that these needs could not support the hotel and it was subsequently managed by the Ritz-Carlton chain and opened to the public.
And that leads me to exhibit B of my defense. It turns out that every Thursday the Ritz has an extravagant seafood buffet that is not to be missed so we booked a night and I planned to check it out myself! It ended up being an impressive evening so I decided to include it in a blog post. Now, again, the main reason I'm going to essentially write about "what I had for dinner one night" is because of the remarkable extravagance of this place. It's quite a contrast to what I see on my daily Riyadh commute, a literal oasis in this dusty desert city I'd say. In a way I feel kind of bad about my participation because it's not something the average working person here could afford. In fact at $100/head plus tip it was about 30% of one month's salary for the maintenance workers in the compound where I live and that's just for one person.
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| Just like my driveway at home! |
Arriving at the Ritz the first thing I noticed was the magnificent arched entrance way and palm tree lined patterned marble driveway (yeah, marble you drive on!) leading to the front doors, Once inside the hotel does not disappoint either. They have a grand display of lilies flown in fresh from Holland at a cost of about $6,000/week. They're beautiful and there's so many you can smell them throughout the spacious lobby! As I was waiting for my friends to arrive I noticed three chocolate fountains beckoning me closer. Well, feeling a bit peckish I was thinking I would help myself to a sample from this obviously complimentary display when I noticed the 80 SAR ($25) price tag. Ooops, close one! Well, maybe I'll mosey over and look out the window
into the courtyard then. I had no sooner pressed my blue collar nose up against the glass when a young hotel worker politely asked if I'd like to see what the "family section" of the courtyard looked like? Hmm, you mean a goofy single guy gawking through the glass at the women in the family section might seem creepy in this segregated society you say? Great, faux pas numéro deux! So much for looking like I belong there! Thankfully my friends showed up shortly after with wives in tow and I suddenly had all the "credentials" I needed to roam freely.
Now, back to the main attraction, the buffet! Once we were seated I bee-lined to the cold appetizer buffet which, in itself was larger than most buffets back home. Included was half lobster tails heaped high (take as many as you like!), shrimp, prawns as big as your palm, crab legs (and even whole crabs), seared tuna with a mango salsa, smoked duck, various flavours of hummus, salads, fish, sushi and... wait for it, guacamole. That's OK, I didn't see it coming either. Since we're pretty happy with our own home made guacamole I had to "assess" it and I give it a solid B+. Not bad considering I'd say! With that plate down the hatch I enthusiastically charged the hot buffet section. More lobster tails, lobster in white wine sauce, stuffed crab, fish, shrimp, chicken, prime rib, and a pasta station with a
chef much like the omelette stations at home. Ladies found that when their pasta dish was prepared someone was waiting to carry their plate back to the table for them. They didn't try that with the guys though, probably too many lost fingers in the past when reaching for a Canadian's plate. Then, assuming you were able to polish that off there was the full frontal assault on the dessert table to plan. There's no way you're gonna have just one so might as well loosen the belt a notch and get at it! With my plate already fairly loaded I noticed a square inch of my plate unoccupied and so, while I don't usually have it, I couldn't resist the row of crème brûlées and added one to my 5,000 calorie dessert plate. And of course, a couple of pitchers of
Saudi champagne to wash it all down! Why not?
Well, after dinner we waddled to the front desk where Mujahed of Guest Relations (who just happens to love Canadians since he spent several years in Vancouver for university) offered a tour of the hotel. When was the last time you were given a 90 minute tour of a hotel? Never? Yeah, 'cause you've never been to THIS hotel. His tour covered the 600 yr old olive trees in the courtyard, the unbelievably gorgeous swimming pool, bowling alley, spa, the $5,000/night presidential suite like the one Obama stayed in here (which includes a dining room that seats 10 by the way) and the two bedroom bridal suite... wait,
two bedroom? Yup, two bedroom bridal suite and it's right outside the reception hall. Apparently we do it different in Canada because not only am I not pessimistic enough to believe I'd need two bedrooms on my wedding night we typically don't tell
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| The pool area, more marble!! |
people where the bride and groom are staying that night either (for obvious reasons!). Mujahed was a gracious and knowledgeable host and gave me his cell number to call any time he can be of assistance. Now that's service!
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| The foyer between floors |
Now, there's also the matter of the 4th annual Riyadh Car Show but I think I'll save that for the next installment!
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