Topic: Drive to Riyadh
Hi Everyone
Got back from Riyadh. 750 km each way total cost in petrol ?35 Bargain . About 6 hours drive there and another 6 hours back. ! Beautiful driving across desert .The roads are very good the driving very scary but nothing new ! Saw scenery straight out of Lawrence of Arabia. Huge yellow sand dunes with camels been ridden and then followed by a long line of thirty baby and mum camels. Goats following beautifully decorated donkeys along the roads. The unlucky ones where those speeding past us at around 180kph strapped into the back of pick up trucks! Though this first pic of a camel
shows a very chilled camel! The sheep and goats never look this chilled!
We spent 2 days and a night in Riyadh. Very “new” buildings and huge big roads. All full of crazy drivers who have yet to really understand that a red light means stop ! Riyadh at nighttime is a mass of the most beautiful / tacky (depending on how you like your Christmas lights) light up shopping malls and streets. Some of the shops are made up to look like Palaces and sell floor upon floor of the most over the top furniture you have every seen. We went to the huge new shopping mall that has the third floor just for women. Isabel and I went up there and it was a big shock having women serve you in the shops. We have got so use to just men behind the counters. We didn’t go into to many of the shops as they were all LOUIS VUTTON and other designer names. Even on the other floors they had money oozing out of them! They did have a Debenhams and that had a women’s only floor as it went all the way up the levels of the shopping mall. It was incredible beautiful and very clean.
Stuart went to the Agricultural show on Wednesday we went to another Mall just as expensive and designer (that what comes of having the Fahad family tell you where to shop !!!) So I didn’t buy a thing except some very nice fitted cotton sheets for the boy’s beds. 144 thread count and only ?3 !!
We all went to the show the next day. Most people had gone to the races (horse not camel !) and this was the first time ever they had allowed a family day at the show. This is because the new king is more liberal and has been bringing in more laws to help women. He has now said women can work in what ever they want and get to vote on various boards of commerce. The big debate at present is women driving. The argument is that only a small minority on the council want to keep the ban but they are the most influential so no one wants to be seen to vote against them !!
The animals at the show included Life of Brian goats (those with the huge floppy ears) Ostrich, rabbits? chickens and an amazing group of insects and snakes in jars ! On the vermin control stands the jars full of scorpions, snakes, beetles, termites and other grubs had the kids fascinated.
All the shops here are full to overflowing with Ramandan stuff. They are going crazy filling the trolleys to over flowing ! Its starts on the 3rd Oct till 4 th Nov so only worth going out at night for that month. Here they do not even drink water between sun up and sunset. We have our little card that tells when you have to stop eating and when you can start again!
Anyway will post these few photos one at a time again .The web page takes so long to up loads pics to and its chewing up my internet bill !!!!!!!!!!
Still hot and sunny though now seems to be floating in mid 30’s
Take care
Love Moira
