SAUDI ARABIA – A Land of Contradictions
Saudi Arabia is a land of contradictions and breathtaking scenery. The wildly contrasting landscapes are visually stunning and deadly. You can arrive in the coastal cities or capital Riyadh and be presented with vast sandy deserts roamed by the Saudi Bedouins and their precious camels.
If you jump in a domestic flight to you travel on hour to the Asir region in the South West of Saudi Arabia. In your flight you will see a sea of sandy desert with bright green crop circles then rocky mountains jutting out of the sand growing into massive mountain ranges. This mountain range travels the western coast of Saudi Arabia and goes under the Red sea appearing in Africa. The regional city of ABHA situated at an elevation of 7500ft AMSL will welcome you and impress you with its amazing vistas. Here you will be greeted by cavernous mountain valleys.
I would like to share some of what I saw, experienced and relate some of the many stories I heard from others living there.
Saudi Arabia – The Tornado and Me!
My own time in Saudi Arabia commenced in 1991 as the first Iraq war was winding up. Military operations were still pretty busy even south in the ABHA region where I worked as an Armament Fitter on Royal Saudi Air Force Tornado jets for British Aerospace.
The Tornado IDS (Interdictor Strike ) was the bomber version and the ADV (Air Defense Variant) was an air to air interceptor. Saudi purchased about four squadrons or more and two were based in Khamis Mushayt at King Khalid Air Base. The base was enormous and was destined to hold squadrons of F-5 Fighters, F-15C Eagles, F-15S Strike Eagles as well as one ADV and one IDS Tornado Squadron plus helicopters and transports. It was and is massive air base. The support and maintenance in itself was pretty impressive with hardened aircraft shelters and dummy aircraft shelters. Why you would spend millions on pretend ones I really don’t know!
Saudi Air Force – Air Force
These were some of the aircraft I saw and worked on on a daily basis. There were other aircraft that were USAF for the first few years, highly secret at the time but now only living in imfany as the F-117 Stealth Fighter.
Saudi Buildings and Variety
The desolate area I traveled through from the local airport to my accommodation was an eye opening event. There were lots of cement walled structures about 2-3 stories high and unfinished with rusty reinforcing sticking out of the top as if another story was to be built. I was informed latte this was a ruse to not pay the bank back as the building was not yet complete. True or not I cant really say. There were many rumor’s about Saudi Life.
The most common buildings Saudis lived in were multi story square boxes with high walls around them. On going in the front door you would be met with a corridor and generally a room to the right and left which were most often lounge rooms. In a family situation everyone I understand stayed together but when guests were part of the mix there would be a separation and males would be in one room. No not the kitchens as often frequented in Australian parties and the ladies in the second lounge room.
The traditional homes were sometimes quite impressive and other falling apart but there were quite a few around. They were the older homes in an area. Often they were surrounded by the modern variety plus the inevitable Mosque. There was a mosque about 5-10 minutes walk from anywhere. That’s not an exaggeration at all. Some were large and impressive and others were the size of small homes with a spire. There was no escaping the prayer calls throughout the day. The early call was often the hated ones by us westerners on the weekends.
Arrival to Saudi Arabia
My first impression of Saudi Arabia and its landscape were of amazement! There were vastly different from what I was use to in Australia or Thailand. Taking a flight from Riyadh or Jeddah to Abha was an impressive sight seeing event. There was the classic wind blown sandy desert, mountains of sand with the wind lines across them visible from 30000 ft. The desert landscape was crisscrossed with the inevitable car tracks running to nowhere. The Toyota Pickup which was sold very cheap to Saudis was the work horse of the desert. The Laurence of Arabia movies show us some of the amazing vistas but then I saw massive green circles in groups across the sandy desert floor below.
On decent to Abha airport in the Saudia 737 jet the mountains grew rapidly in height with the highest about 10,000ft. This was to have a hotel at its peak much to our surprise. We drove there some time latter. That’s a story for another post.
The compound we lived at was at about 7500ft AMSL so we found it hard going initially just walking and breathing. There were some in our group who were like rabbits staring at headlights. Bulging eyes and quite shocked at what they saw in their new surroundings. Many of these people did not last long unfortunately. There pretty massive influx of new contractors in 1991 and we lost some pretty fast finding the accommodation and the separation from families far more an issue than they had expected. We lost more to the general manager who sacked many weekly for supposed personal indiscretions that had nothing to do with work performance as well as a lot of divorces. These were nearly weekly it seemed. Its a hard choice leaving families and it can only be assumed that the marrages were not that strong to begin with. More on this latter maybe.
First Encounters – Dress Standards
I expected that the Saudi People would be like other nationalities I had encountered. I believe the fact I had dealt with many Asian cultures living in Malaysia previously had me somewhat prepared for the meeting of Arab people but I was wrong. So Wrong!
In our initial excursions out of our not so glorious accommodation didn’t bring any obvious animosity from the locals. We did get some sideways looks from some of the younger people as we roamed through the local shops. The Saudi people essentially all wore the same style of clothing. The men wore the white smocks and had a black ring around their heads which is a camel hobble rope used by Bedouins. This black ring held the traditional red and white headdress in place. The women all wore an Abaya which is the black outer garment hiding their normal clothes underneath. Most wore head covering as well so you only ever saw a slit and some eyes peering out. Women really could not go out without an abaya on without getting the wrath of Mattawa and other males. The other issue was hair. Women were expected to wear a head scarf to cover their hair if they were westerners or Asian workers . We had a lot of Philippine nurses working in the local military hospitals. Saudi and middle eastern women pretty much all wore full head covering with only the eyes visible if not wearing glasses.
Initial Impressions and Acceptance
What we were discover was a very open and blatant hatred of us by the young people we were meant to instruct at the King Khalid air base. Resentment of the unbelievers was pretty evident from day one. Their distain for us and a willingness to look for any possible opportunity to cause us harm. Not physical harm but personal by causing us trouble reporting anything they could from the smallest thing to their superiors for favors I don’ t know. It seemed like a path for them to gain stature with superiors and a path to promotion possibly. They didn’t sit generally or come into our communal areas at work instead but stayed together in their own room drinking super sweet tea and sleeping.
Getting them to do any work was such an effort. Lazy lazy lazy most of them were. They seemed to have the opinion that they were above us. They were the entitles bosses and we were the servants to do their bidding. They would look for any opportunity to cheat, have the instructors do their work or give them the answers to the test. In fact we did give them the answers to the test because it was what they needed to now but we didn’t teach them the test specifically. This is the job of the instructor after all. They only wanted to remember the answers to the test and more on.
My personal opinion of them is less than positive for more reasons and Ill have more to enlighten you later. There is much you will probably think is a lie but believe me its a different world there.
Older Saudi Attitudes- Older Warrant Officer Saudis
I changed positions after a few years working with these arrogant kids and was situated in an office with older Warrant Officers who were very conscientious It has to be said. A breath of fresh air but this comes with its own smells. Mohamad was a very straight forward man, he was vocal and very much by the book with a no nonsense approach to everything in his work. His technical knowledge was ok and not to be trifled with but we had respect for him. He was one of the few.
Eisa (Jesus is the translation to English) was totally opposite to Mohamad in that he avoided any confrontation at all costs. If he saw even a storm in a tea cup he would disappear. He was a lovely man personally and gave something of an insight into the Saudi Culture through his eyes. I did have an opportunity to help him at his home with a computer issue once and that was the first and last time I was in a Saudi Home.
Saeed was a totally different guy again, he was looking for every opportunity to buck the system and do as little work as possible. Always smiling and ready to send us home early on an afternoon shift so he could go home as well. As soon as we had completed our work he was ready to send us home. I actually got home one day before I started work because I arrived early and there was nothing to do that day! He was good giving us early marks from work so we never complained.
These three men were totally different from the Kids we were challenged to teach. Our job was to teach military weapons systems to the Saudi recruits in a second Language which I appreciate was quite a challenge for them. Most were not very good at English then others excelled and translated for their friends.
I do appreciate the difficulty some faced the young guys but their difficulty was not related to the obvious distain for our being there that they had. We learnt enough Arabic to give them some of their own back., in fun of course! If you showed an interest in Arabic they thought you wanted to convert to be a Muslim and they would not stop badgering you. One of our guys did convert. Bazes story is also one for another post.
The Saudi Matowa
Saudi Arabia is the home of ISLAM as I would hope you would be aware. This is where ISLAM started, Mecca in Saudi Arabia in the 7th Century is where Mohammad began his teachings and Islam was created.
Islam at least in Saudi Arabia and I understand other regional countries as well have Mattawa or religious police. These men (only) will walk and drive around villages, workplaces and shopping centers especially around the prayer times which is five times a day looking for people avoiding their commitment to Islam and not attending the Mosque at prayer times.
They also maintain Islamic dress standards for both Islamic people and westerners alike. If you step outside the guidelines they can arrest you or have a policemen do it for them and there is a world of hurt then. Fortunately I never experienced and real issues with them but as always I was respectful of their power and kept clear. Many wives did have issues when shopping. (Yet again this will come in another post.)
They are not as forceful as I have seen the Taliban i other countries but some were reported to hit people with sticks if they were not compliant. They make an extra effort to ensure all women are dressed appropriately and that everyone goes to the Mosque at prayer times.
The shops in Saudi Arabia close for about 30 minutes every prayer time which is hard to miss as all Mosques have loud speakers and broadcast prayer calls every prayer time. The Mattawa often don’t have the camel rope around their heads and always have the best beards possible, Young or old.
Prayer Times in Saudi Arabia
Prayer times do vey a little but they are a basic formulae where the early morning Prayes are at Sunrise and are called Salat al-fajr. The next prayers are at Midday and these are called Salat al-zuhr. The next prayers are mid afternoon and this one is called Salat al-‘as and is generally 3-4 Pm. IN the evening at sunset approaches there is another prayer called Salat al-maghrib then finally the last prayer is between sunset and midnight and this one is called Salat al-‘isha. It makes life quite a challenge if your going shopping and you always have to be aware of prayer times to limit your own inconvenience. Non Muslims are not bothered by Mattowa but the shaops etc all close so the Muslims can go to pray. If they cannot go to a Mosque they will pray at the side of the road on a prayer mat towards Mecca. This is true all around the world and in many Islamic countries and some western countries there will be an indicator in bedrooms which way it is to Mecca.
Saudi Accommodation – EXPAT Workers
The first accommodation for us as expat workers was in a small compound with a large wall around it. It had security at the front gate so no Saudi people were permitted to enter our compounds unless they had a special purpose. Our western world was allowed within the walls but it was not to spill out into the Saudi Community. Life was somewhat normal inside these compounds but once we walked through the gate we complied with Saudi social guidelines. That’s just the way it was and is today I expect!
We lived in rows of portable cabins as single accommodation that contained a small bedroom and a center shared bathroom were a long way from what we expected. We expected something at lease modern and not with a shared bathroom but no promises were made on what we were getting. A lot was said about the new accommodation being built but not what we would get at least initially.
Saudi Arabia Map
Living in the Saudi Community
Living in the community has its challenges for sure as we were to find out. My wife was able to join me after about nine months but we had to did our own accommodation on a compound for westerners. The compound does not look to exist now on google so I cant share it with you but back then it was on its last legs.
The compound had a series of larger transportable homes with two bedrooms and well as a kitchen lounge and ours had a spa bath which was quite the attraction with the many single guys wanting to house sit when we went on holidays. The transportable were arraigned in a semi circle with a central pool and telephone court. The tennis court was cracked and breaking up and not useable plus the pool never had any water in it for most of the time I was there. About 6 or 7 months before we got to move to the new accommodation by the company. Life here on the compound I think needs to be the next post and I hope you come and enjoy some more stories from our time in Saudi Arabia as well as Thailand and Malaysia in my other blogs here on Dreaming Guitar.
Please leave me questions if you like and comments below and Ill do my best to reply.
See you soon.
Regards,
Brendon
2 responses to “Saudi Arabia Land of CONTRADICTION – FRIGHTENLY MYSTERIOUS – You DON’T Want to Go THERE!”
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