Ladies Night out in Al Khobar and the Room of Sin
Haven't written much for a few days. Much dramatic drama has been going on as well as a lot of sleeplessness and a lot of eating. TOOOOOOO much eating! Both anthony and I are developing some pretty impressive love handles and its all because of Ramadan. There's nothing like people not eating and being surly bout it to make to you want to go home and eat a very large cake and lots of butter.
At AJ's work there is a sin room for the non-fasting guys and by the sounds of it they trump down there for their morning coffee and don't move off their asses until time to go home. As a result my previously salad lunching partner is producing some pudge! (He never reads this thing so I get away with this hehe)
The other night, wanting to explore a bit of the nightlife during Ramadan, we corralled a whole lot of ladies (bout nine of us) for a girls night in the Souks downtown at a Thai restaurant. Who would have thought that I would have found a brilliant Thai restaurant in Saudi, run by Filipino guys no less. It was quite an experience. We had a mix of Aussies, South Africans, Kiwis, Americans and Trinidadians oh and lets not forget the Brittish. Half the guys had never tried hot food let alone Thai and the Trinnie girls could have just sat there munching habeneros all night. Try ordering for that lot! GAH! There was a lot of pad thai for the newbies. Very Very authentic Thai dish that:P Turned out pretty good though. We caught the bus into Al Khobar at 7.30 had a one hour bus trip, an hour and a half for eating and a quick run around the souks and had another hour and a half trip home to walk in the door at about 12.30 in the morning. And with no booze we still managed to be raucous most of the way. I tried to get some night snaps but taking photos in this country is a bit of a risky business. I almost got kicked out of a furnature store two days ago for trying to photo a couch for Tracie to show her husband Carl. Mind you I do hear terrorists do try and infiltrate extra overstuffed couches to blow up your backside if they think you're too fat. (Good motivation to eat less butter!) You don't see Saudi women out in the Souks by themselves, always with their husbands so the western ladies get stared at a lot. I think thats why the malls are so popular here, they're a liminal space where women can go by themselves without getting hassed for not having a guy around. (more about this later)
Oh speaking of booze, a guy here blew up his house three times with his still before he was fired and run out of country. And that even took a while. Insane. What was he thinking...Oh well I've not blown up the house for a few years, didn't like the couch the wife bought last week so it must be due time...Mind you a Sudanese guy was beheaded for the same offense in Riyadh not too long ago. Welcome to the class system here. Oh and we live in the very liberal East coast. Riyadh's another story all together. The local 'apple juice' is rocket fuel (meths tastes better) and has been known to give people such serious liver cirocis (however you spell it) that they kick the bucket within five years of being here. Needless to say, not my scene.
Anyways I shall update some more this arvo, I've got an appointment to renew my camp ID so gotta run.
At AJ's work there is a sin room for the non-fasting guys and by the sounds of it they trump down there for their morning coffee and don't move off their asses until time to go home. As a result my previously salad lunching partner is producing some pudge! (He never reads this thing so I get away with this hehe)
The other night, wanting to explore a bit of the nightlife during Ramadan, we corralled a whole lot of ladies (bout nine of us) for a girls night in the Souks downtown at a Thai restaurant. Who would have thought that I would have found a brilliant Thai restaurant in Saudi, run by Filipino guys no less. It was quite an experience. We had a mix of Aussies, South Africans, Kiwis, Americans and Trinidadians oh and lets not forget the Brittish. Half the guys had never tried hot food let alone Thai and the Trinnie girls could have just sat there munching habeneros all night. Try ordering for that lot! GAH! There was a lot of pad thai for the newbies. Very Very authentic Thai dish that:P Turned out pretty good though. We caught the bus into Al Khobar at 7.30 had a one hour bus trip, an hour and a half for eating and a quick run around the souks and had another hour and a half trip home to walk in the door at about 12.30 in the morning. And with no booze we still managed to be raucous most of the way. I tried to get some night snaps but taking photos in this country is a bit of a risky business. I almost got kicked out of a furnature store two days ago for trying to photo a couch for Tracie to show her husband Carl. Mind you I do hear terrorists do try and infiltrate extra overstuffed couches to blow up your backside if they think you're too fat. (Good motivation to eat less butter!) You don't see Saudi women out in the Souks by themselves, always with their husbands so the western ladies get stared at a lot. I think thats why the malls are so popular here, they're a liminal space where women can go by themselves without getting hassed for not having a guy around. (more about this later)
Oh speaking of booze, a guy here blew up his house three times with his still before he was fired and run out of country. And that even took a while. Insane. What was he thinking...Oh well I've not blown up the house for a few years, didn't like the couch the wife bought last week so it must be due time...Mind you a Sudanese guy was beheaded for the same offense in Riyadh not too long ago. Welcome to the class system here. Oh and we live in the very liberal East coast. Riyadh's another story all together. The local 'apple juice' is rocket fuel (meths tastes better) and has been known to give people such serious liver cirocis (however you spell it) that they kick the bucket within five years of being here. Needless to say, not my scene.
Anyways I shall update some more this arvo, I've got an appointment to renew my camp ID so gotta run.
posted by George at
6:08 am
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