The Saudi food has been hit or miss so far. When I make the food it’s a miss. When I buy food at a restaurant it’s been a hit.
Hit: Restaurant on side street where very little English was spoken. Not sure what I ordered. After I got food, they dimmed lights and shut steel door in front of restaurant for prayer time. It was a little unnerving.
Miss: Baked beans with BBQ sauce
Hit: Best Chicken Kabob I have ever had.
Miss: Double Baked Beans
Hit: Saudi Arabian pizza with Dunkin Donut for dessert.
Hit: Molten Chocolate. Every mall has at least 3 chocolate fondue, molten chocolate Type places.
Corniche is a waterfront area that has a walkway along the shore. I spent a day at the Khobar Corniche checking out coffee shops and restaurants. The two major landmarks are the water tower and the white mosque. The water tower has a restaurant on the top which we will go to when Charlotte arrives.
While sitting at a coffee shop, I started talking to Ramy from Egypt. After a while a guy on the street showed up walking his pet parrot on a leash. Ramy gave me a handful of the sunflower seeds he was eating so I could feed the parrot. Soon all these kids showed up asking for seeds so they could feed the parrot. Birds are a popular pet in Saudi Arabia.
Most restaurants have two entrances. One for singles and one for families. The mall had 3 sections in the food court: single men, single woman and families. I followed the signs only to see this family clearly in the wrong section (see sign above them). The rule to follow segregated seating has been lifted fairly recently, but the signs are still around. I still only sit in the singles section and use the singles doors just in case. When Charlotte gets here, I can upgrade to family.
I am not allowed to drive outside of community until I get my drivers license. I have an appointment at the DMV on New Years Day to get finger printed and to pick up license. I am being escorted there by someone at the company who will assist me in the process.
In the mean time Charlotte took a shot at ordering something from a Saudi online website and having it shipped to the house. She ordered from Souq.com. Souq means market in Arabic. I got a text after a few days that the package arrived at the security gate. I had to drive to the gate to pick up the package. The driver was in a white van filled with packages waiting for people to retrieve their packages.
When I got the package there was no doubt who owned Souq.com
Amazon is one of the things I miss most here. Never forget how lucky you are with 1 and 2 day shipping.
I’m learning where to shop. I’m really learning for Charlotte. I wander around the grocery store taking pictures of products that are different or interesting and end up hardly buying anything.
Carrefore – like Walmart
Tamimi – like HEB
Some interesting things:
Have you ever seen so many varieties of Bugles.
Budweiser NA. I don’t think it stands for North America.
My plan today was to go car shopping at the Jeep dealership. I wanted to see if they had any used Jeep Wranglers. I also need to figure out how to pay since I only have 100 SAR ($27 USD) in my newly opened bank account. Exchange rate is fixed at 3.75 SAR to 1 US dollar.
I don’t have a drivers license so I am not allowed to drive outside camp so decided to try Uber. Uber isn’t allowed inside the security gates so I had to drive to security gate, park and then order an Uber. Uber Car is 15 minutes away. At 4 minutes away driver cancels, Uber re-assigns me to a new driver which is 15 minutes away. At 4 minutes away the 2nd driver cancels. I try one more time with the same result. I go back to car and decide to drive further down the road to see what is going on. I quickly realize there is a second security gate which kept denying entry to the Uber drivers. I park at the second security gate order an Uber and he takes me to the Jeep dealership.
Jeep dealership is closed. Google maps says it was open. Website says it was open. Sign on front door says closed Friday.
Luckily a few blocks away is an IHOP. Maybe I can salvage the day. IHOP has two clearly marked entrances. One entrance for families and one entrance for Singles. Singles here mean men. I enter through the singles door. A small corner of the restaurant is cordoned off with dividers blocking view of the rest of the restaurant. 3 booths and 3 small tables for the singles section.
I ordered the breakfast sampler with beef bacon, veal sausage and turkey ham. Pancakes and hash browns were good. The rest was pretty terrible. IHOP needs to step up their International game. I’m not giving up on IHOP yet, the eggs Benedict and the chicken and waffles looked good.
Below is a link to Wikipedia that gives a good overview and history of the place I live. I live in the new area called Jebel Heights. It is called a camp which it was when opened in the 1930’s. Today it is a modern suburb with al of the amenities of the USA and more. Restaurants, gyms, golf course and pools.
Eating Christmas dinner at Chili’s. Ordered the Quesadilla explosion salad. I always sit In the same booth facing the 18th green of the golf course. Rico the waiter recognizes me. Rico keeps my Diet Pepsi filled, never letting it get more than half empty. Chili’s has free refills. Most other restaurants don’t. Also Pepsi products here are more prevalent than Coke products.
I bought a TV for Charlotte for Christmas. I found it on the community classified adds. Now let this sink in. I arrive at the house to pick up the TV, Guy opens door, invites me in and he and his wife immediately recognize me from a Mormon event I went to last week. I tell them I’m newly arrived and they invite me in for appetizers. Wife starts trying to give me food to take home for Christmas. I told them Charlotte is coming in a month and the wife volunteers to decorate my place so it is ready for her arrival.
After I get TV into car, I head to main gym for the first time. I’m trying to figure out how to check in and as soon as I say one word, guy at counter says you’re from USA, Merry Christmas. Next to counter was a Muslim guy dressed in a Traditional Arab Thobe. He says Merry Christmas and starts to show me pictures on his phone of a Christmas party he attended. This was all completely unexpected.
Also, unexpected was the exercise cycle at the gym. Not a Peloton, but still fairly decent.
The landscape in the part of Saudi Arabia I am living is not sand dunes. The land is rocky with periodic rock hills or mounds called Jebels. I had a hard timing finding a place to take a picture that is not filled with roads, buildings or irrigated areas. A popular trip is to drive about an hour from here to get to true sand dunes. Desert camping is an activity that will try one day.
Matthew of Arabia 