Preparation in Makkah for influx of pilgrims

Looks like there has been an enormous amount of preparation going on in Makkah for the large number of visitors expected during the holy month of Ramadan:

Makkah city braces for huge influx of pilgrims
Badea Abu Al-Naja , Arab News

MAKKAH: Municipal authorities have made all arrangements for the huge influx of pilgrims and visitors to holy city during Ramadan, Mayor of Makkah Osama Al-Bar announced yesterday.

He said the municipality has formulated a comprehensive plan for its work during the fasting month, including the intensification of the activities of the municipality’s branches, particularly in connection with cleanliness, environment observation and close monitoring the markets to check prices[...]

I wonder how it will be this year in the Haram area since I hear there is a lot of demolishing and extending going on... I wonder if chaos can be avoided.

Huge numbers of people flock to Makkah during Ramadan, particularly during the last 10 days since it was said by the Prophet Muhammad ( صلى الله عليه و سلم ) that the reward for an Umra performed during Ramadan is the same as the reward for a Hajj (although Hajj is still incumbent on those who perform Umra during Ramadan).

The Prophet said, "Perform 'Umra in the month ofRamadan, (as it is equivalent to Hajj or Hajj with me (in reward)." (Bukhari, Volume 3, Book 29,
Number 86)

Photo post: Riyadh New & Old

I took a little trip from my home in the north of Riyadh to the souq in the south on Friday afternoon and took lots of photos as we were driving, so I thought a photo post would be in order!

The Faisalia Tower, Olaya, Riyadh

King Fahd Road, Faisalia Tower appearing behind trees

Mamlaka Tower with Faisalia in the distance

Houses in the older part of Riyadh - Dirah

Orange building ahead with a tower on the corner is the Qasr al Hukm - Law courts

Behind the Law courts, the Grand Mosque of Riyadh can be found along with what is commonly known to the expats as 'Chop Chop' square. This is where the hudud punishments are carried out.

The Law courts

Masmak Fortress which I believe now houses a museum

View back towards the Law courts and Grand Mosque

Driving towards Bat-ha

There are more souqs at Bat-ha but predominantly for men. It is not advisable for women to go alone or in the evening when it is very busy.

The nice greenery that you find in the older part of Riyadh

Busy traffic heading back into newer Riyadh

The spaceship type building you can see on the left hand side of the photo is the Ministry of the Interior.

Gold shop at Owais, a souq in northern Riyadh

Check out the huge necklaces on display!

Watermelons for sale at Owais

Haram abayas & 50 degrees!

The temperature in Riyadh actually hit 50 degrees centigrade yesterday afternoon - meltdown!

We made a quick trip down to the souq at Dirah which is the old town centre. Sign posts pointing you to 'Wasat Al-Madinah' (Town centre) which not take you to Olaya where the Mamlaka and Faisalia towers are situated along with all the designer shops but rather to the old town.

We wanted to buy a new abaya for my eldest daughter plus a couple of other bits and pieces. We didn't manage to buy an abaya at that souq though after all... When we arrived we had some trouble finding abaya shops and then noticed abaya vendors wrapping sheets around their stocks and closing up shop. I thought my watch was wrong and it must be almost time for maghrib prayer... wrong, it was only 4:30pm.

It turned out that the mutaween were around and were 'raiding' abaya shops. The objectionable items in question? Abayas with embroidery or diamante. The couple of abaya shops remaining open had only 100% plain black abayas on display and any embellished abayas had been quickly whisked away.

It was a bit of a wasted trip all the way down there but I did manage to take plenty of photos of the area showing the contrast being new Riyadh and old Riyadh - photo post coming soon!

Riyadh at night

A couple of photographs of Riyadh by night.

This first photo is Tahlia Street (Champs Elysees of Riyadh!) which is just off Olaya Street.

 

The following photo shows The Faisalia tower which is on Olaya Street; it looks very pretty all lit up at night.

Da list

Inspired by 'Da List' on Ammena's blog who was in turn inspired by Molly, I have decided to make my list of things I would and would not miss in the event of leaving Saudi Arabia.

Things I’ll miss and not miss when we finally leave Saudi Arabia. Things in green I will miss, things in red I most certainly will NOT miss!

1. Adhan!
The shops staying closed for over half an hour for every prayer and the shops being closed between zuhr and asr which is generally 4 hours.

2. Going out shopping or for any other activity and having a mosque or prayer room in the vicinity
Having to rush and go to the mall in the morning if I want to go anywhere apart from the supermarket as the mall shops will be closed between zuhr and asr and then it will be really hectic in the evening especially after isha.

3. Going out in Abaya/hijab/niqab and feeling just like everyone else, not different
Being stared at when I start to speak to my children because I look like everyone else but don’t sound like everyone else.
My pretty, hijab-wearing 12 year old being gawped at by perverted weirdos.

4. Living on a compound where the children can go out and play freely
Having to listen to moronic, bigoted compound politics… well actually I just try to stay out of the way and ignore it as much as possible

5. Having a decent sized, spacious home
Trying to clean it!

6. Halal food everywhere, not worry about pork or alcohol
Nothing not to miss here!

7. Going out to eat where everything is halal and no bar in sight
Again nothing not to miss! Actually… having to get into the restaurant right after isha prayer before the restaurant really fills up

8. Being able to do exciting things like driving to Makkah, Madinah or UAE
Having to leave all the driving to dh and some of our trip within KSA are approaching 1000KM which is a LOT for one person.

9. Being in the close vicinity of other countries like Oman, Yemen, UAE, Qatar and Bahrain
Having to get a stupid exit-reentry visa every time we want to leave the country so unless we have a 6 month exit-reentry there can be no spontaneous, “Hey! Let’s go to Bahrain!” We decided at last minute to go to Al-Khobar recently and would’ve loved to drive that little bit further to Qatar or Bahrain but… no exit-reentry visa!

10. Having to rely on taxi drivers who seem to speak no known language fluently and getting stranded at some location for a period of time while I try to rearrange return transport due to misunderstandings. Grrr!
Where's the positive for that?!

11. The sales - they really are fab here! Bargains galore and sadly enough, am very much looking forward to getting back from Algeria to browse the sales in August!
Nothing not to miss about that is there?!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few additions from my two eldest daughters.

DD2 (10) says, "I will NOT miss:

• The stupid maniacs who crash everyday


• The people who do that annoying gesture and go “shway shway


• How only men can work in malls and supermarkets and women can't


• Having to get the school bus to school every day."

DD1 (12) says, "Things I WILL miss:

• My friends


• Compound - having freedom


• People wearing abayas and being fully covered


• My school


• The fact there is a swimming pool, shop, recreation centre two minutes away from home


• The sun

Another wasted day...

I overslept today and didn't wake up until 7:15am which meant that the children missed the school bus. Of course 7:15 would have allowed us 45 minutes to get ready and get to school if I could drive - but I can't! I have had a British driving licence for about 17 years, the car is sitting out on the driveway going nowhere, the fuel tank is full, the keys are in the cabinet... and I am not allowed to drive it because I am in Saudi Arabia which prohibits women from from driving.

This is just another of those annoying days where I feel the need to rant because I have the children home for no apparent reason. *sigh*

Yesterday being able to drive would have come in very useful too when a friend phoned me at 7am almost crying in pain but instead she had to wait four hours for a compound driver to become available to take her to the hospital to get checked over.

I wonder what other incidences in this country turn into major emergencies because women cannot drive themselves to the dr at the first sign of a problem or when their children injure themselves...

Sand, sand, sand!

The title sums up the conditions in Riyadh right now. The sky is a gloomy shade of off-orange and sand is all around having been transferred by the wind from here:

to here:

Yes, that's the car windscreen with a good couple of inches of sand on it just since yesterday afternoon. Everything else is covered with sand too: the doorsteps, the table and chairs outside, the kids' bikes parked outside the house, even my bathroom now needs a top to bottom clean as the bathroom window was not securely closed and blew open.

This weather has also brought with it sore eyes which have me running for the eye bath liquids and planning a camomile teabag treatment before bedtime.

If you go outside the sand and generally dustiness sticks in the throat resulting in coughing and for those already asthmatic, the suffering would be worse.

I now understand why the foreign labourers who work outside have shmaghs wrapped around their face much in the fashion of the Touareg of the Sahara - it keeps the sand out of the nostrils and airways. Good thinking!

Such is the weather of the desert and these bouts of dusty and sandy weather occur at any time during the year giving the feeling of gloom just as the persistent grey clouds do in the UK.

Journey through the desert...

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Photos from our recent road trip from Al-Khobar (east coast of KSA) back to Riyadh. Notice the pale coloured sand near to Al-Khobar which gradually changes until the sand around the Riyadh area is the vivid orange variety. A journey from the the east to the west of Saudi Arabia will show you so many variations on the one thing: desert. Pale sand in the east, orange sand in Najd (Riyadh), black volcanic soil around Madinah.

In this first photo you can just about see some Bedouin tents:

The long road through the desert taking you to the east coast (Al-Khobar, Dammam, Jubail):

Camels eating the scant vegetation that can be found:

A couple of sand dune pics:

Not sure what this is just outside of Riyadh but it looks very much like some kind of camel market... Lots of small enclosures of camels and trucks:

Rains in Riyadh...

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

It rained yesterday afternoon! OK, so admittedly it wasn't exactly a torrential downpour however, coming from the UK where rains are frequent (and not always entirely welcome), there was a certain charm to be had, sitting in the car stuck in weekend traffic with the rain drops coming down on the windscreen and the skies changing from the sandstorm orange we have become accustomed to of late to a more UK-reminiscent grey. =)

Funny the things you miss when you are away from your own country - sometimes it can be the very things you thought you were escaping from that (metaphorically speaking) 'brighten your day'!

Edited to add: More rain today, not a lot but still... ;) A bit of thunder and lightening too, yay!

Saudi inflation hits record 9.6%

Saudi inflation hits record 9.6%

Inflation has set a record of 9.6 percent in Saudi Arabia in March due to sharp
rises in rents and the price of food, an official new agency says....

Tell me about it! Ugh... ever rising prices. Although many compound rents have increased by at least 50% and are continuing to rise.

Things to do in Riyadh # 1

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

With Riyadh temperatures soaring to 50 degrees celcius and more in the summer months, families have to find indoor activities and you will find that the vast majority of Riyadh's numerous shopping malls will have children's play areas incorporated. The one pictured below is at the fairly new Hayat Mall in Riyadh and has a good variety of games for children of all ages - merry-go-rounds, trampolines and trains for the littlies, a decent roller coaster and ice rink for the older children among other things. It all makes for a welcome afternoon out together. Better to go in the afternoon and leave by isha prayer as isha is when the malls and play areas become particularly busy.



My 12, 10, 7 and 4 year olds all enjoyed having a go at the sand art where you choose a picture and piece by piece peel off the backing paper to reveal a sticky section on which to apply different coloured sands.

The food court and prayer rooms are not far off as usual so it is easy and convenient to pause to pray maghrib and to take a break for food. An array of different fast food choices including the ever present McD's, Chinese, Lebanese, Pizza and a very nice new Spanish food outlet selling filled baguettes. Our choice was chicken and Brie.... yummy all round!

And of course, the children always like to finish off the outing with an icecream so yay for Baskin' Robbins! Of course there are also the doughnut vendors such as House of Donut and the newly opened Krispy Kreme as well as cafes for the grown ups to sip on a Latte - noone is left out. :)

Saudi Blogger Fouad released...

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

The Saudi blogging community woke up to good news today: Early this morning Saudi blogger Fouad Al-Farhan was released from the Jeddah prison where he has spent the past 5 months (137 days) without charges. All that official statements said about the reason for his arrest and subsequent detention was that he had, "violated regulations".

According to Fouad's family and friends, he is out of and prison and is well... alhamdu Lillah.

Read more here.

Global food shortage?

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

The past couple of years or so have seen a steady increase in once stable food prices in Saudi Arabia but lately we have seen vegetable and staple food prices jumping in price and the past couple of months has seen some very drastic price increases or food shortages. One friend living in Jeddah remarked that she was having difficulty finding flour. News channels and websites have been reporting about global food shortages caused by a variety of factors including urabanisation which leaves less arable land, growing middle classes in developing countries making greater demand on a variety of foods, the use of wheat as a bio-fuel and so forth...

Here are some interesting articles from the bbc website to ponder.

Rice prices 'to keep on rising'

The price of rice has risen by as much as 70% during the past year, with
increases accelerating in recent weeks...

...and prices are set to keep on rising.

The growing appetite among Asia's burgeoning urban middle class, especially in
India and China, for meat and dairy products is also leading to less land for
rice production.

In a bid to solve food problems in India, India has implemented a rice export ban on all non-Basmati rice which is having repercussions in the Middle East since rice is also very widely eaten here. Prices are risely quite drastically (Asian states feel rice pinch) and some goverments are subsidising rice and some companies are helping by selling rice at cost price. But for how long can they sustain this?

Gulf and Arab residents feel the pinch of rising prices

The cost of food: facts and figures

Families' shopping list

On top of all this there is a warning about a potential water shortage in the coming decades if the Middle East does not start tackling the problem of water wastage.

Interesting to note that 1000-2000 litres of water are needed to produce just 1 kilo of wheat and 10,000-13,000 litres of water are needed to produce 1 kilo of beef. *

A little Barakah...

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

We ate out yesterday and very nice it was too. The prices in the restaurant we went to are excellent; there are not many places where a family of 7 can choose a wide selection off the menu (hummus, mutabbel, Turkish bread, kibbeh, salad, open shawarma, chicken shish tawouk, lamb chops, chicken soup, lentil soup and drink freshly squeezed orange and pomegranate juice for just 120Riyals (c. $32 or £16)!

As we preparing to leave hubby noticed a sign inside the restaurant which mentioned that lots of places are increasing their prices but they do not intend to.

The closing sentence, referring to profit, said (in Arabic): A little bit with Barakah (Allah's blessings) is better than a lot with greed.

Beautiful! No wonder it's one of our regular places to go with the kids! Far better than McDonalds and Pizza Hut!

Some mosques... Saudi Arabia & UAE

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

A quick photo post of some of the mosques I have photographed recently in Saudi Arabia and UAE...

Small masjid near Riyadh centre ... I just loved the simplicity of this masjid and the figure of the man who can be seen praying


Big masjid on the road out of Riyadh towards Kharj. This masjid has all the space and facilities for washing the dead and performing janazah prayer.


As before

Masjid towards the north of Riyadh... sandy skies in Riyadh!

Sharjah, UAE (next to Radisson hotel)... the masjid, carpark and road which is not in photo were jampacked with worshippers for the Eid ul-Adha prayer

Sharjah, UAE

Umm Al-Qaiwaim, UAE

Village mosque, Ramss, Ra's Al-Khaimah, UAE

Part of Masjid Al-Nabi, Madinah by night

Looking down an alley towards Masjid al-Nabi

Picnic time in Riyadh

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Picnic in the UK and picnic in Riyadh seem to mean something completely different!

Since being in Riyadh we have taken the kids out for a picnic to a few different spots that we thought the kids would appreciate... Dir'iyyah which is very close to us and has nice grassy areas; Salam Park towards the south of the city which also has grassy areas, a boating lake and some play equipment.

Salam Park Lake

We've even been out to the desert a few times although admittedly the addition of sand to the sandwiches can be a bit irritating on the teeth! Once we were forced to stop by the road en route to Makkah as it was Ramadan, we were fasting and maghrib had arrived. It wasn't too comfortable sitting on the rocky roadside even on our rug but it was a welcome relief to eat our iftar and then sip on the hot tea we had prepared before leaving.

In the UK we like to go to nice beauty spots for summer picnics too.

Wales... beautiful!

Here in Riyadh though I have noticed that the locals will stop anywhere for a picnic. And I mean ANYWHERE! On a Wednesday evening which is the beginning of the weekend here you will see people stopped at the side of the road with the rug spread out on the dust and a family sitting enjoying a flask of Arabic coffee. Open areas near to us that have been smoothed out ready for building will often have families picnicking, enjoying the slightly more temperate conditions at this time of year and there will be boys partaking in a game of footy. The desert is very popular at this time of year too.

Who'd've thought that the Ikea car park would become the local picnicking spot for people that side of Riyadh though?! We exited the mall next door to Ikea on Thursday evening and there was a very distinct odour of barbecue in the air. I joked that it seemed that someone was having a barbecue in the car park... dh and I then racked our brains trying to think what grill restaurant there could be in the mall. Suddenly we noticed smoke gently billowing in the air just behind a parked car... there was indeed a family in the car park who'd brought all their BBQ equipment not to mention meat with them! How strange I thought that someone would want to have a BBQ in the car park! As we exited the car park though we noticed that there were many families either sitting with flasks of coffee or even with the BBQ and it was not something strange at all!

Ikea, Riyadh

Janadriyah

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

According to the Arriyadh.com website, it's that time of year once again... the yearly cultural festival at Janadriyah will be starting this weekend. The event will boast such spectacles as camel racing, traditional dancing and special features this year which will highlight Turkish culture.

The festival is scheduled to run for two weeks from 5th March and March 17th, 18th and 19th have been earmarked as family days.

The last time I was able to attend the cultural festival was 2 years ago. It takes place at an ideal time of year when the weather is not too hot and one can enjoy strolling around the traditional style souqs watching artisans at work, exploring the displays of traditional costumes, jewellry and such-like as well as watching the traditional method of drawing water from a well: with a camel pulling the ropes attached the buckets.

There are many vendors there selling an enormous array of spices, ouds and bukhours, metal-, wood- and potteryware as well as Arabic snacks.

I bought this little terracotta vase for only 10 Riyals on my last visit there.

For more photos (not my own), click here.