An Encounter with a Magestic Hairy Taxi Driver and the New Home
Back Again...
Had a very interesting experience with some paint guys, prayer time and the religious police this morning after my post but I'll get to that in good time. (remind me if I don't its pretty funny/scary)...
So where was I...Oh yep the taxi drive home from Jo and Laurie's...Now this would have to be one of the outstanding highlights of our first week here. For starters we found out that its bloody impossible to get a taxi here at night time. All the ladies can't drive so they take taxis and go out in a big way. So if you're disorganized like we were you don't book a taxi ahead and end up with the guy we did. Ok picture an Indian guy in his early 20s with an absolutely magestic quif...truly the most sculpted hair I have ever witnessed. Now add to this picture the guy playing a song called habibi over and over (on tape), while text messaging and softly crying to himself all while driving at 150 km/hr in a major built up CBD area. A truly authentic experience if ever there was one. Anthony was exhausted and fell asleep the minute he got into the cab so he unfortunately missed the show. I've later found out its ok to threaten to beat your taxi driver over the head with something solid while swearing at him in many different languages (except Klingon) if he trys anything of the sort again but hey you gotta learn.
Ras Tanura
The next day after all of no hours sleep Anthony went to an induction that informed him that our suspicions about our recruiters in Australia being lying rodents was correct. After that we were taxi'd down to Ras Tanura (about 45 minutes away from Dharhan) to move into our new house. Our taxi driver was really booring in comparison to the one we'd had the night before and even stuck to a 120km/hr speed limit...Amazing.
The drive down was our first introduction to Saudi outside of the city centre. Its dusty, flat and a semi industrial wasteland. Property development here is massive. Well, people are building a ton of houses at least so all the rubble gets dumped in the least popular areas of town. I.E. next to a major highway. Anthony was still pretty relieved to see that it didn't look like Mauritania, which I found out he'd been expecting our entire move. (I beat him thoroughly for this...I'm sure thats against the law here:P) There are many goats and camels on the sides of the road which I was very excited about. Yes, you can get goat here and I hear it is very very tasty too.
After that drive we were working up to something pretty dismal and were pleasantly surprised. Ras Tanura is pretty spectacular. Initially seeing a whole lot of houses that look identical was daunting (We got lost in the taxi trying to find our house) but once we saw inside ours we were stoked. Its a two story house with massively tall ceilings on the first floor and three bedrooms upstairs. We've got two really big trees in our garden and two whomping begukking HUGE airconditioning systems (almost bigger than the house) next to it. They sound like jet engines going off. But enought about the house...more about the beach. We're literally 2 minutes walk from a beach that could be on a resort. Its long, beautifully maintained and has a reef not far offshore. Its one of the two beaches in the eastern province that allow swimming and we've taken advantage pretty much ever day since getting here. The water's about 34 degrees during the day but when the sea breeze gets in at night its really nice. Interestingly, most nights we're the only whiteys on the beach. The new islamic bathing costumes are all the go and the Saudi women and men bring their kids out for a swim almost every night. (For you guys who haven't seen one, the cozy is composed of loose fitting pants and top with a bathing cap...all in a fashionable black.) Just down the beach is a coffee house that serves over 15 different types of turkish style coffee and a surprisingly good library. Again, all the whitey's are at home at night after 6 even though its the nicest time of the day here and its the Muslim guys/ladies whether they be locals or expats who are out and about with their kids/ just going for a walk or having a barbecue. There's even a group of ladies who go down to the beach for prayer time by the looks of it. (we caught sight of them this evening.)
A taxi driver summed it all up when driving out of the compound a day or two ago when he said that outside Ras Tanura is the real Saudi Arabia, inside is very different. Even the Saudi guys who live in here seem to chill out a lot more.
Anthony has to get up every morning for 5 to catch the 5.40 bus so we're up pretty early here. The first morning I had someone ring my door bell at 7. It was a gardening guy asking if I needed a gardener. I wasn't sure what the process was...whether it was on the company or whether we payed so I told him to come back later. A few minutes later, I had another guy knocking, then another one etc. All turned away. I just didn't know what the go was. So I did a small induction with one of the local housing people here named Claire who took me around and told me that the Gardeners are hired by us and gave me an approximate price for my garden. (its really small). Anyway, I got back to the house and one of the guys immediately knocked on my door asking if I wanted a gardener, I agreed on a price with him and said yes. No sooner had this happened then the first guy who knocked on my door came running over and all the others arguing that they should get the job, yelling at each other and asking me to descide. Essentially the one who yelled the loudest is now doing our garden. He's a really nice guy who keeps bringing me plants. I've learnt from him that most of the gardeners are Banglideshi or Pakistani and come over here on really restrictive visas that don't allow them home for three years. (I'd voice more on this but I'm not sure if this blog is going to get vetted). Either way he's off home for his first visit next month and is looking forward to it.
So the middle of the week was pretty chilled out. Anthony started work and they didn't want him to move mountains the first day...he's pretty full on now but not unmanageably so. He also seems to be managing the comute to Dharhan on the bus every morning pretty well. The guys in his office keep offering to get him a house there but we like the beach so much we're going to stay here for a bit then reavaluate.
Anyways...its late and we're up early so I'll write more tomorrow...this is taking much much longer than I thought...much to tell!
Had a very interesting experience with some paint guys, prayer time and the religious police this morning after my post but I'll get to that in good time. (remind me if I don't its pretty funny/scary)...
So where was I...Oh yep the taxi drive home from Jo and Laurie's...Now this would have to be one of the outstanding highlights of our first week here. For starters we found out that its bloody impossible to get a taxi here at night time. All the ladies can't drive so they take taxis and go out in a big way. So if you're disorganized like we were you don't book a taxi ahead and end up with the guy we did. Ok picture an Indian guy in his early 20s with an absolutely magestic quif...truly the most sculpted hair I have ever witnessed. Now add to this picture the guy playing a song called habibi over and over (on tape), while text messaging and softly crying to himself all while driving at 150 km/hr in a major built up CBD area. A truly authentic experience if ever there was one. Anthony was exhausted and fell asleep the minute he got into the cab so he unfortunately missed the show. I've later found out its ok to threaten to beat your taxi driver over the head with something solid while swearing at him in many different languages (except Klingon) if he trys anything of the sort again but hey you gotta learn.
Ras Tanura
The next day after all of no hours sleep Anthony went to an induction that informed him that our suspicions about our recruiters in Australia being lying rodents was correct. After that we were taxi'd down to Ras Tanura (about 45 minutes away from Dharhan) to move into our new house. Our taxi driver was really booring in comparison to the one we'd had the night before and even stuck to a 120km/hr speed limit...Amazing.
The drive down was our first introduction to Saudi outside of the city centre. Its dusty, flat and a semi industrial wasteland. Property development here is massive. Well, people are building a ton of houses at least so all the rubble gets dumped in the least popular areas of town. I.E. next to a major highway. Anthony was still pretty relieved to see that it didn't look like Mauritania, which I found out he'd been expecting our entire move. (I beat him thoroughly for this...I'm sure thats against the law here:P) There are many goats and camels on the sides of the road which I was very excited about. Yes, you can get goat here and I hear it is very very tasty too.
After that drive we were working up to something pretty dismal and were pleasantly surprised. Ras Tanura is pretty spectacular. Initially seeing a whole lot of houses that look identical was daunting (We got lost in the taxi trying to find our house) but once we saw inside ours we were stoked. Its a two story house with massively tall ceilings on the first floor and three bedrooms upstairs. We've got two really big trees in our garden and two whomping begukking HUGE airconditioning systems (almost bigger than the house) next to it. They sound like jet engines going off. But enought about the house...more about the beach. We're literally 2 minutes walk from a beach that could be on a resort. Its long, beautifully maintained and has a reef not far offshore. Its one of the two beaches in the eastern province that allow swimming and we've taken advantage pretty much ever day since getting here. The water's about 34 degrees during the day but when the sea breeze gets in at night its really nice. Interestingly, most nights we're the only whiteys on the beach. The new islamic bathing costumes are all the go and the Saudi women and men bring their kids out for a swim almost every night. (For you guys who haven't seen one, the cozy is composed of loose fitting pants and top with a bathing cap...all in a fashionable black.) Just down the beach is a coffee house that serves over 15 different types of turkish style coffee and a surprisingly good library. Again, all the whitey's are at home at night after 6 even though its the nicest time of the day here and its the Muslim guys/ladies whether they be locals or expats who are out and about with their kids/ just going for a walk or having a barbecue. There's even a group of ladies who go down to the beach for prayer time by the looks of it. (we caught sight of them this evening.)
A taxi driver summed it all up when driving out of the compound a day or two ago when he said that outside Ras Tanura is the real Saudi Arabia, inside is very different. Even the Saudi guys who live in here seem to chill out a lot more.
Anthony has to get up every morning for 5 to catch the 5.40 bus so we're up pretty early here. The first morning I had someone ring my door bell at 7. It was a gardening guy asking if I needed a gardener. I wasn't sure what the process was...whether it was on the company or whether we payed so I told him to come back later. A few minutes later, I had another guy knocking, then another one etc. All turned away. I just didn't know what the go was. So I did a small induction with one of the local housing people here named Claire who took me around and told me that the Gardeners are hired by us and gave me an approximate price for my garden. (its really small). Anyway, I got back to the house and one of the guys immediately knocked on my door asking if I wanted a gardener, I agreed on a price with him and said yes. No sooner had this happened then the first guy who knocked on my door came running over and all the others arguing that they should get the job, yelling at each other and asking me to descide. Essentially the one who yelled the loudest is now doing our garden. He's a really nice guy who keeps bringing me plants. I've learnt from him that most of the gardeners are Banglideshi or Pakistani and come over here on really restrictive visas that don't allow them home for three years. (I'd voice more on this but I'm not sure if this blog is going to get vetted). Either way he's off home for his first visit next month and is looking forward to it.
So the middle of the week was pretty chilled out. Anthony started work and they didn't want him to move mountains the first day...he's pretty full on now but not unmanageably so. He also seems to be managing the comute to Dharhan on the bus every morning pretty well. The guys in his office keep offering to get him a house there but we like the beach so much we're going to stay here for a bit then reavaluate.
Anyways...its late and we're up early so I'll write more tomorrow...this is taking much much longer than I thought...much to tell!
posted by George at
9:24 pm
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