Day 270: Jeddah

Dec 29 - Ever wonder what is written on the Saudi Arabian flag? It should be no surprise that it is the Islamic declaration of faith “There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is the messenger of Allah”. The sword below is a reminder that Islam was born of conflict, and its first centuries were marked by repeated conquests of the surrounding lands. The color green is associated with paradise, more commonly so among the Shi’ites but sometimes among Sunnis as well.

The day we arrived in Jeddah I mentioned the wholesale demolishing of large city blocks. One of these can be seen across the street from our hotel. Something on the order of 60 neighborhoods have been destroyed, with plenty of forced evictions. What will go in here next is almost certainly going to be more expensive, meaning the working-class immigrants who reportedly lived in much of it will not be able to return. The project is projected to cost $20 billion.

Today is our visit to Al-Balad, the old part of the city. It is about 10 minutes by taxi south from our hotel. It was founded in the 7th century, and was of key importance as the closest port to Mecca. Before the age of flight, that made it the primary entry point for Hajj pilgrims from other lands. It is a compact area, symbolically bounded by gates at the four cardinal points, and one can walk from one end to the other in about ten minutes. The Al-Balad district lost its importance after the discovery of oil, and many people moved out into more modern housing as the city expanded. The alleys were narrow and public utilities sparse, unsuitable for the newfound wealth Saudis were experiencing. As a result, the district filled with immigrants, who set up shops and now dominate the commerce here. In 1990, the government began spending money to renovate the old traditional buildings, and this is going on at large scale until today.

A sculpture next to the north gate, called Baab Jadid (new door). The gate itself wasn’t photo-worthy, as it is currently being renovated. There are a few bits of the old wall remaining here, though also renovated.

There are many buildings like this one, abandoned and waiting for the renovation crew. There is a lot of detail in the wooden doors, shutters, and balconies, and it is a pity it was left to rot for so long.

Odette finds another cat.

There are many narrow alleys here. This was one of the reasons Saudis left this district once everyone had bought a car.

The intricate woodwork on these buildings is amazing. Most of the active stores we saw were selling cloth, perfume, dry grocery goods, or jewelry.

Shafi’i Mosque, restored but retaining much of its original character. It was built under Caliph Omar Bin Al-Khattab (r. 634-44 CE).

An interesting and strangely constructed old house, now awaiting the renovation crews.

This would have been a better place for photos, if it weren’t for all the green Ministry of Culture walls everywhere, fencing off sites under renovation. It feels very random, like they are trying to do everything at once.

There are a few other European tourists here, we see maybe twenty. There are also groups of people in very African dress, who also look to me like they are on tour. We are standing by the street when a police officer comes by to move a traffic barrier. I greet him and he asks if we need any help (in English). We say no, we are fine, and he smiles, wishing us to have a good day. This is a pattern I am seeing here, where people are either friendly or indifferent to our presence. A few shopkeepers gently urge us to go into their stores, but in general it is relaxing to walk around.

In the southern part of Al-Balad there is an open-air fruit market. I also note that in this district, there are many store fronts with titles in Arabic script, English, and a third language I take to be Hindi.

Take a walk down the gold-seller street.

Walk around in a mall, a lot of glitzy, expensive stuff for sale. A simple meal at a fast-food type restaurant sets us back US $20.

It is a feature of the Middle East that you must always be reminded of who is in charge. Here we have the Saudi rouge’s gallery, featuring King Abdulaziz (top, died 1953), King Salman Bin Abdulaziz (right), and Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman on the left. The latter is who has been instrumental in the gargantuan social and physical infrastructure projects now occurring in the kingdom.

Spend some time relaxing in a park at the north side of Al-Balad, bordering an inlet of the Red Sea. It is a decently maintained park, and the few people there are just laying in the grass, attending to important business on their cellphones.

This morning, I received a message from Enterprise, the company I am renting a car from here. I steel myself for the worst, but it is just a friendly reminder that I am to pick it up today, and that it won’t be available at 15:00, but at 16:00. I’ve been concerned about this all day, wondering what problems await me with this task. I rented this vehicle online, two months ago, when I saw an offer for Hyundai Tucson at a good price. My research on renting cars in KSA concluded that if possible, a cross-over type vehicle was much better than a small economy car. The price was so low compared with other equivalent vehicles that I wondered if it could be true.

Anyway, at 16:00 we find a taxi in Al-Balad and go directly to the rental office. Once here, we are told the car we want is only available at a different rental office, but thankfully are ushered to a car and driven there (about 30 minutes away in heavy traffic) by an employee. Once here, the procedure goes about as smoothly as I could imagine. The one odd thing they want in KSA for car rental is an International Driving Permit, along with my regular US license. I knew this before leaving the US so both Janet and I got them from the AAA office in Long Beach. They are only valid for one year so I waited until the last minute to do it.

Get the keys, find a spot of calm, Zen-like space in my brain, turn on the radio station that chants Qur’anic verses, and we drive out into rush hour. Driving here is sort of what I expected: no one in their lane, people making last-second decisions on where they want to go, lots of honking, and very confusing intersections and highway interchanges. Google maps has a tough time giving advice, due to all the weird barriers and ways people are forced to go the opposite way they want, just to take a U-turn and come back. We make it back to the hotel and take a trip to the big grocery store.

About 22:00, the wind picks up and the sky looks like someone put a strobe light above the clouds. There is heavy rain most of the night.

Saudi Arabia