Yes, I'm still in the Love Boat Hotel. Hopefully, I'll be out of here in a couple of weeks and then living on a western compound where I can finally unpack and get organized. This place, however, is fine in the interim. It's clean, it's safe, and I get a breakfast before I head out to work. It's not a tent where I'm billeted with 25 of my best friends like I had for the first two months in Afghanistan.
Every hotel room in Saudi Arabia contains everything a devout Muslim requires for daily prayer -- and there's five opportunities every day to engage in that behavior. So, what does a good Muslim need to pray? Well, one needs a prayer rug and a Qu'ran (Koran). Included inside every armoire are these handy items:
Islamic prayer rug and Qu'ran.
The other important consideration is which direction Mecca lies. As most everyone knows, Muslims generally pray in the direction of the Ka'bah (Kaaba) located in Mecca. But what's a good Muslim to do when he (and I do mean "he") is staying in a strange hotel room and unsure of the direction of Mecca? I suppose there's an iPhone and Android app for that in today's world, but for those Muslims who don't have modern technologies available, there's another solution. Every hotel room has an approved decal with an arrow pointing towards Mecca. I knew this when I arrived, but it took me until today to locate it (although I wasn't really too engaged in finding it). While I was propped-up on the couch reading a book today, I glanced up and finally found the elusive decal. Here it is:
Arrow pointing the way to Mecca for those requiring a nontechnical means of direction finding.
I'd be a lot happier if I knew the direction to the local pub.
Tomorrow I'll have been in Riyadh for a month. While the company attempts to get all of us new employees into a western compound, we've been staying in the Mercure Value Hotel a few miles from the airport. The Mercure is a French hotel chain. Like most western hotels in the Middle East services are run primarily by Filipinos. But we've got Pakistanis, Jordanians, Egyptians, and probably some Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans down in the laundry. The hotel is located across from a large mall and some other shopping areas, so it's convenient to walk to the Food Court and eat dinner from a wide-ranging choice of international foods.
What makes the Mercure interesting is its architecture. You won't see this in the States except maybe for Las Vegas or some tourist spot near a Disney facility.
The bow shot of the Mercure Value Hotel
The stern shot for the Mercure Value Hotel
Hotel Entrance
The interior atrium of the hotel, still keeping with the nautical theme.
All-in-all, it's been a pleasant experience. But we're all looking forward to moving to a compound where we can let our hair down and relax away from all the restrictions existing in public places.
My British boss here smokes two Cuban cigars every day. He's been here for 4 and a half years, and his logic is that smoking cigars is the one vice he can enjoy here without getting hassled by the Saudi police. Technically, smoking is "haram," -- forbidden -- in Islam, and the police here do accost Saudis and Muslim ex-pats when they're caught smoking cigars. It's just not common here and cigars are often mistaken for ganja or some other illicit weed.
La Casa Cubana's foyer and smoking area.
Nestled away off of a busy thoroughfare is La Casa Cubana. I was blown away to discover this hidden gem in an otherwise very dull city. The shop only sells Cuban cigars. It sells all the major brands in a well-stocked, walk-in humidor.
One wall of the humidor.
Most of the cigars were still boxed so I wasn't able to inspect them to find the ring size and length I prefer. Finally, I asked for help and one of the staff pointed me to the Cohiba Maduros. I picked out six of them and left the humidor to purchase my little collection.
I discover the price of vice in Riyad!
I didn't think I'd be smoking may cigars here, so I left my cutters and accessories back home. I ordered a cutter along with my cigars, and the shop owner gladly rang me up for the equivalent of $380! The cutter alone was over $100. This hobby is going to be an expensive habit, so my plan is only to smoke on special days. And tomorrow, 1 January 2014, happens to be a special day. I'll enjoy my smoke tomorrow. But for now, Happy New Years to everyone at home. Let's all hope that 2014 will be a happy and prosperous day for all of us. Cheers!
Merry Christmas to all! Not that I'm religious. I'm not. But it's weird to be located in a place so completely devoid of anything western holiday related. Even in Afghanistan, the western coalition all put up Christmas trees and played holiday music in the DFACs (chow halls). Here, it's a western cultural void; nothing here is warm and inviting. I expected the same void in Bahrain when I stopped there on the way here. But, I was surprised to see the Christmas decorations displayed by most of the stores in the malls. Even the central thoroughfare in one of the malls had a snow scene complete with reindeer and queue of children waiting to see what passed for a Santa. The display even touted an Arab snowman!
Arab snowman and a reindeer pulled sleigh.
So, as fate would have it, everyone who works with me is burned-out and recuperating in their hotel rooms. I'm sitting in mine, watching BBC World News, eating Kingdom dates, Lindt chocolates, updating my blog, and drinking the rest of the special grape juice that I managed to score at a social function a few days ago. So much for Christmas.
In a few hours, I'll take a break from my reading and drinking and spend half an hour paying attention to the real meaning of 25 December -- the birth of the Sun God and the renewal of hope for this planet and for humankind -- along with the knowledge that darkness will diminish and sunlight will increase over the next six months. Then, I'll finish drinking.
