Fal Resort and on to Riyadh

This morning after a few hours sleep, we went back to the Fal Resort. We left the hotel at 7:15 which allowed us to get to the resort before the locals woke up. (They go to sleep late and wake up late) It was a beautiful morning. First I went swimming in the pool. Then I went swimming in the Red Sea – which is salty enough to allow you to float but crystal clear. Then I had a surprise experience. I told Marwan (our Aramco host) that I had a problem. I bought too much at the souk. All my stuff does not fit in my suitcase. So I asked if one of the men could go buy me a suitcase while we were at the resort. He said, just buy one at the Hilton when we return. I laughed and told him that I am a teacher – I can’t buy gum at the Hilton. So he told me to go to the dive shop and see if they have a suitcase. If they do, just charge it to Aramco. So I went to the dive shop, they had one scuba diving suitcase. I took it and signed my name (692 Saudi riyals). That was more than 200 American dollars. I’m not sure I’ll ever recover from this trip. Then I got some snorkel equipment because they would not let me scuba dive. I went snorkeling – the reefs were OK but the fish were wonderful. Very beautiful. So I have snorkeled on the Red Sea and loved every minute of it. When I returned, I swam in the pool awhile and now I am sitting in the lobby waiting for lunch.

This afternoon we go to Riyadh. I dread the airplane ride – just because of the hassle last time. One of my friends said, now you know why they wear full face veils. We are thinking of wearing our full face veils and sunglasses for this ride.

8 p.m. We have now arrived in Riyadh. The airplane ride was much less stressful- because I sat between a man in our group and a Saudi woman. I kept my hijab (veil) on the entire time and managed to sleep a bit. Now we have arrived at the Al Faisaliah Hotel – my room is simply unbelievable. A butler brought me up and I have a butler that I can call at any time. I have a soaker tub and a walk in shower. And it is simply stunning.

We do not have to meet until 8:45 a.m. which is wonderful. I plan to update the blog and then get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow morning we get to see a government school (which is the first time our group has been allowed to visit a government (vs. private) school. I am looking forward to that.

I continue to pinch myself as I realize how blessed I am to be on this trip. I have certainly been treated royally but I also have learned so much and met an endless number of fascinating people.

Old Jeddah

Thursday morning we headed for the souks in old Jeddah. The old part of Jeddah is distinctive for its old housing with shuttered wooden windows. The shutters allowed for ventilation and for privacy for the women. We broke up into groups and I went with the group to the gold souks. Unfortunately, gold is very expensive and I didn’t find anything that I liked enough to buy. I did find some silver that is very nice. Then we headed for the other souks- When you find something – you ask the price – when they give it, you bargain. Of course, for us, the bargaining is harder. We don’t know Arabic and we don’t do well with the bargaining game. We divided up our group into smaller groups with one of our Aramco guides. They would then bargain for us. We were quite conspicuous. There certainly are no other tourists. We had divided up the items that several of us wanted (spices, abayas, lanterns, etc) and one group shopped for some of those those things. I shopped for spices and that was fun – but challenging.(picture of mryrh on right) When we finished, we were truly beasts of burden. It was boiling hot – and I found out what a joy it is to carry it all through the market with your abaya and head scarf. We stopped in the Nasief House – an old home that is being remodeled. It historically belonged to a large mercantile family – and thus had a very significant place in the shopping district. When the first king of Saudi Arabia conquered the city (1925?) he claimed the house until a suitable home could be built. It has ramps that allow camels to go to the top floor to deliver messengers.

After this time, we went to a beautiful waterfront restaurant for lunch. These lunches last a few hours. There is usually a host who gives a speech. They are important folks. Yesterday was a man whose family owns one of the big shipping yards in SA. He is also on the Board of the Chamber of Commerce and loves Jeddah. (He says anyone who stays in Jeddah more than two days is Jeddahwe. We talked about the millions of people who come annually for the Haj(pilgrimage) and the problems with people who do not leave whcn the Haj ends. They basically become the “illegals” of Saudi Arabia. It is hard to imagine 3 million people arriving for the Haj – They camp in big fields.

After the luncheon we went back to our hotel briefly. A friend and I divided up all the spices for those who we had bought them for. When that was over, my room smelled like myrrh and frankincense as well as cardamom.

Then we left for an evening at the Fal Resort. This is a large private resort about 600 rooms. Once inside the compound, abayas can be ditched. Many Saudi women still wear their abayas. But little children run around and families have fun. First we went to the marina and watched the sun set. Then our Aramco host took us to the gym – where men and women can exercise, play racquetball, pool, get a massage, steam room, sauna, etc.
Then we walked back to the marina which had been transformed by couches, Persian rugs, and a wonderful folk music group performing traditional music for us. (I was pleased because I thought it odd that no one had performed music for us yet. We danced one dance-(which I think surprised the Saudi men) and then only the men could dance the rest of the evening. Women had henna tattoos put on our arms and legs. Then we had another magical dinner at poolside. To the right you can see the picture of our midwest group. Nick (North Dakota), Dwayne (Minnesota), Solomon (Minnesota) and I have been in email contact since we found out we were selected. You can see that they got to party a bit more than we women. We left after 11 p.m. and arrived home at 12. Then all of the people came to my room to get their spices. At 1 a.m. I gave up and went to bed – without completing my blog.