24 hour curfew started last night. We are on complete lockdown. You can leave your house between 6am and 3pm for essential trips only (food and medical). Cars can only have two people in them – A passenger and a commander. I think commander was a weird translation for driver from English.

Here are some pictures from back in the far away times when we could freely roam. Edward Scissorhands resides in our community. He trims every tree and bush in the entire community. I was lucky to get a quick picture of him one day.

Took a break from watching Tiger King to take a pretend trip to Arizona. The dog is Lily, a foster dog. Charlotte decided to try fostering dogs while in Saudi which has given us another activity to pass the time during quarantine.

Cell phones in Saudi Arabia have replaced the 4G/LTE at top with stay at home message.

Every day government sends out text messages to stay at home. “
نتحد جميعًا في البقاء بمنازلنا..
#كلنا_مسؤول
مع تحيات وزارة الصحة
We shall show solidarity by staying home. We_are_all_responsible”.

Saudi Aramco sends out a message everyday to wash hands and stay home.

Somebody at Saudi Aramco was fined $2500 USD for being out past curfew. Email was sent to entire workforce using this person as an example of what not to do.

Curfew starts tonight in Saudi Arabia. 7pm to 6am you must be in your house or risk fines ($2500 for first offense) and imprisonment for second offense. House gatherings of any size are now prohibited. All flights domestic and international are cancelled. Malls, Restaurants and parks have been closed for two weeks. All group activities are cancelled. Grocery stores and pharmacies remain open along with take out food places. Surprisingly grocery stores are fully stocked with no shortage of supplies. Toilet paper and hand sanitizer can be easily found.

I am working from home along with most other people. No time table is set to return to office. Essential workers are still going to office. Everyone is being tested for temperature before entering buildings.

Taking full advantage of no dress code while working from home.

Drove two hours to the oasis town of Al Hasa. This area has been inhabited since prehistoric times due to abundance of spring water. This area is know for growing date palms. There are millions of date palm trees, but I failed to get a picture of any of them. The purpose of the trip was to see Jabal Qara, a cave formation in a mountain. This was a self tour. Most of the caves were paved and lighted, but there were a few places that required climbing and flash lights.

Continue reading “First Road Trip (Al Hasa)”

Today was our first trip out to the desert. A group of people set out to dig for sand roses. These are crystal formations that form below the sand. You dig about 1 meter down to find the roses which are made of gypsum. This was similar to the book Holes with all the digging.

The goal of all the digging is the sand rose formations which are nice for your garden and make great Christmas gifts.

The Jeep did awesome in the sand. This Lexus had to be towed out of the sand. Towing cars out the sand is an everyday occurrence. Most of the people had tow straps and shovels and it took no time to get this car unstuck.

A herd of camels passed through while we were digging. The camels were curious and came right up to us.

The time is 9 hours ahead of the Central time zone and Houston. Saudi Arabia does not practice daylight savings. When clocks spring forward we will be 8 hours ahead.

Money here is riyals. Or you will hear SARs (Saudi Arabian Riyals). The smallest coin is equivalent to a quarter. The currency is in English on one side and in Arabic on the other side. All cash transactions are rounded up or down to the nearest quarter and sometimes to the nearest half riyal.

I have to pay the equivalent of $100 per month to the government for Charlotte to stay in the country. I also have to pay $50 per month for Charlotte’s visa so she can leave the country. Saudi Aramco pays the fees for me.

Gas is ~$1.55 per gallon. Price is set by the government. Every gas station has the same price. No more driving to Costco to get the cheapest gas. Also, all gas stations are full service. Full service exists at restaurants and stores as well. At restaurants including fast food places somebody busses the tables for you. At grocery stores, somebody unloads your cart, bags the items, takes them to your car then loads into car.

 Charlotte joined the Dhahran Women’s Group. During the welcome meeting she learned of the Walk of Nations event put on by the elementary school. This event is put on every year and draws big crowds. Special buses are set up to bring people to the event. A booth is set up for the nationality of each kid in the school. The booth describes the country and serve food and drink related to that country. Traditional dress was worn by the kids, parents and many of the attendees. We sampled Food from Morocco, Bolivia, Croatia, Vietnam, Lebanon, Pakistan and so many others I can’t remember. Talked to the lady at the Croatia booth about visiting the country. She was actually from the US. Her husband is the only Croatian on camp.

 

 

Community puts on this event every year. Got to try Arabic coffee and dates which I have had many times. Charlotte tried the Arabic coffee, but refused to drink it because it tasted like burnt toast.
Saw my first camel and Arabian horse since arriving in Saudi Arabia. Got to hold a falcon which are highly prized and trained to hunt. Heard story of some prince in UAE who paid $500,000 for a falcon.

Spent the weekend in the country of Bahrain. It is an hour drive across the King Fahd Causeway. The causeway is over 15 miles long and is made up of five bridges.

The main activity for the weekend trip was to attend the brunch at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

Brunch is from noon to 4pm. Brunch includes all you can eat food and open bar. This is the go to place for expats living in Saudi Arabia. Food selection was enormous with sushi, steak, pork, salad bar and a large selection of desserts. Bars had a selection of cocktails, beer,wine and champagne. At 2 pm the live band started playing in the main party room. The waiters never let our drinks get even close to empty.

The band played 80’s music. Dance music was played in between sets. The dance floor was always packed. Check out the two guys in red missing out on the show.

At 4 pm food and alcohol is no longer served, but you are allowed to finish the food and alcohol you have at your table. The last 30 minutes the waiters kept asking us if we wanted more drinks and we kept saying no since we hadn’t finished the drinks we had. Turns out the brunch veterans start stacking drinks to continue drinking for free. Some people had 3 beers lined up.

The band was called the Tribe. We got a picture with the band at the end of the brunch.