Haya Tours....

I attended a really excellent presentation last evening at the Irish Embassy by Ms. Salwa Al Qunaibit , who is the owner and driving force behind Haya Tours, a business she founded a few years back .

Tourism in Saudi Arabia is in its infancy and as Salwa explained in her presentation, needs a lot of development and support.

She spoke how on her visits to Ireland where her children came to summer school to learn English, she came across various bus tours and day trip operators such as Paddywagon Tours were major influencers on how she envisioned how Haya Tours would be run.

Haya operate city trips, day trips and weekend trip right across the Kingdom, from trips around Riyadh to visit Masmak Castle, Shoura Council and Al-Diriyah to more adventurous trips to Al Ahsa and the UNESCO site at Mada’in Saleh.

Salwa spoke about the use of local Saudi tour guides to provide the most authentic travel guide experience with expert knowledge of the history and culture of the various provinces.

She also explained that the Arabic word “Haya” essentially means, “Lets Go”, her presentation was very impressive and I was taken by her passion and vision for the business , her aims of building effective Teamwork between the various Governement Officials and other stakeholders for the future and her desire to see the industry develop in the Kingdom.

I wish her well and would ask you to view the site and the excursions offered here….

http://www.hayatour.com/html/index.html

The images here are all Haya Tours Images from various trips © Haya Tours

Saudi, Diabetes & Junk Food....

I’ve been struck in my time in the Kingdom at the problem of obesity here, just on visual evidence, there is a larger than normal proportion of adults that are clearly overweight, I have discovered that the result of all this is that Saudi Arabia has the world’s highest prevalence of Diabetes, with figures between 25% - 30% of adults having the condition. Studies are calling it an epidemic...

Diet and lack of exercise are given as major factors in Diabetes and this is clearly evident living here. The over-bearing conditions and urbanization of the country in the last 30 years have made the cities very “car orientated” with very few public parks or pedestrian areas to walk and exercise has made people much more sedentary.

I have only seen about three areas in the city where you could actually go for a walk, and that’s in a city with over five million inhabitants, cycling here would be like playing Russian roulette as there are no lanes or parks to cycle and even less driving skills and etiquette on the road.

Saudi culture is also not necessarily supportive of women exercising and sport among females is seen as taboo, remember all the media noise about the first Saudi female athletes at the last Olympics, this means that it’s not at all straight forward for females to exercise in any kind of open manner though I understand that this is changing…

The other major factor here is diet and as I shop regularly here in Riyadh, I’m completely taken aback at the sheer volume of chocolate, cakes, and sugar laden food on the shopping shelves, its actually startling, the picture above was taken in a typical Riyadh Supermarket….shelves and shelves of the stuff……

Saudi Arabia, having been very influenced by American culture is also overrun with Fast Food outlets, they are literally everywhere in every city, McDonalds, Dunkin-Donuts are on every street and every mall and you have to look a bit harder to find the healthier options…… 

I'm not saying that I know better as I've seen similar issues back home in Ireland but here given the culture and climate is certainly at a different scale and is something that definitely needs to be tackled.......

The Irish in Riyadh….

It occurred to me recently how effective Irish people are at sticking together, socializing regularly and generally being there for each other wherever they are in the world, Riyadh is no different ….

After being here for a year now, I have found that I have built a decent network of people, not all Irish of course, however in this conservative society, even the Irish have developed great ways to meet, eat, play sport and have fun together.

The Embassy of Ireland in the Diplomatic Quarter, currently resided by HE Dr. Niall Holohan and his wife Felicity are very open and generous hosts and I’ve had the pleasure of visiting both the embassy and indeed their home on a few occasions and they are extremely welcoming and helpful to all comers but of course always have a kind word for recently arrived Irish, they regularly host various events including a fantastic event on St. Patrick’s Day last when some 400+ Irish from right across the Kingdom attended.

Riyadh also has a GAA Club, Naomh Alee GAA Club has been running successfully here for many years and has both Men’s and Ladies Team’s who compete with neighbouring clubs here in the Gulf, and the club not only attracts Irish ex-pats but also has Australians, New Zealander’s, South African’s and Germans playing gaelic football and regularly host kids events too. Patrick Moynagh from Cavan is the current chairman and we had the pleasure of attending the end of season get-together last week, which was another great opportunity for the Irish (and many others) to get together for a bit of “craic” as we say back home.

On a smaller scale, there are many other smaller gatherings held in homes across Riyadh from time to time, much more informal gatherings with some good food and company, and telling stories of how long they’ve been in the Kingdom, how their work is, how the kids are doing, when were you home last ? etc., or to discuss the latest encounter with the “Religious Police” perhaps….

It struck me also that Riyadh and Saudi Arabia is a very transient place. At each gathering, I meet people who have been here many years, have just arrived recently, are back for the second time or are heading home for good in a few weeks, a kind of “Airport Terminal Waiting Lounge” of sorts here in the Middle East.

Remembering Jim....

When I first arrived here in Riyadh exactly a year ago in fact, I had but few contacts here, one of whom was introduced to me by a colleague back home. I met Jim Cooper at the Kingdom Tower in my first week in Saudi Arabia and we chatted about life here, culture, food, everything that one would need to know about life in Riyadh.

He later invited me to visit the Power Station he was building West of Riyadh in Dhurama, I wrote a post about it here on the Blog  “Powering Ahead in the Desert”.

We also had some social gathering’s with Jim’s colleagues and also some of mine here in Riyadh and we had some super Bar-B-Q’s and a very memorable Dune Bashing afternoon in the desert north of Riyadh which I also blogged about at the time., “Dune Bashing…”

Sadly, Jim departed this life some weeks back, and I’d like to remember him as a great friend to me and others here in Riyadh and thank him for his time and kindness, he is sadly missed….

Also to express our great sympathy to his wife and family back home in the UK.

“Is feidir suaimhneas siorai da anam – May he rest in peace...

Camp Holland, 5th August 2011

Today was seriously hot, hitting 50 degrees celcius, extremely difficult to work in, This week is also the start of Ramadan, where those of the Muslim faith observe fasting from sunrise to sunset, I have got to know some local Afghan's here who supply us here, one in partricular in a fascinating gentleman, he explains to me "Mr. Noel, the problem in this country is Education, 95% of the population of no education, this is why we have so many problems"- he himself was educated in Moscow back in the day when the Russians were here, he goes on to tell me that he has 10 children, 7 daughters and 3 sons, and he proclaims very proudly that 5 of his daughters are in University In Kabul, he himself is a Civil Engineer, and he runs a very good business here in Camp Holland, if you want something, he can get it !, and as you can imagine, we need a lot of stuff, everything from plumbing fittings, to renting a car, we can hardly survive without him up here, he also takes care of our supply lines from Kandahar which is a tricky matter !

I met him today in this heat and he was really physically struggling, as the combination of fasting and heat was taking his toll, he had cut back his beard and was covering his head even more to protect himself, I enquired about a delivery we are expecting and he beckoned, "This is no problem, I bring tomorrow for you material, inshalla"- inshalla being "with the help of Allah" - so we wait until tomorrow !

I have attached an image above which shows you a view of Camp Holland, which was established here by the Dutch until they handed it over last year to the joint command of the US & Australia, Its a very raggle-taggle set-up and appears very temporary by nature though I imagine it will be here for many years, we have a deck here in our compound which allows me to take some great images of the breathtaking landscape around Tarin Kowt, I will post images from time to time-

An Easter Gift from Oisín........

Its Easter Sunday back home in Ireland, and I'm working away here in Riyadh...

This morning, I received a lovely gift from one of sons back home, he sent me an Easter Card, which I have shown here, Oisín is 8 eight years old and rather creative, he is always to be found, wtriting stories or creating new ideas, colouring in etc.

His Room at home is full of his stories of super-heroes and villians and their daring feats, he also like his music, and on this Easter sunday morning, he decided that he would re-write the Lyrics of Katy Perry's "Fireworks" but would make it "Easter Egg"- Enjoy the tune......... I have inserted it here

 

Easter Egg

By Oisín Scanlon

Do you ever feel like an Easter egg

Drifting through the wind, wanting to eat again?

Do you ever feel , feel so chocolate thin

Like a house of ginger one bite from cravv-ing

Do you ever feel already gone off

Scream but no seems to eat you

Do you know that there’s still an Oreo in you

Cause there’s a nut in you

You just gotta ignite the bar and let it shine

Just own the egg like the 31^st of march

Cause baby your an Easter egg

Come on, show ‘em what your worth

Make ‘em go “yum yum yum “

As you shoot across my tum-um-um

Cause baby your an Easter egg

Come on let your flavours burst

Make ‘em go yum-yum-yum

Your gonna leave like yum-yum-yum

You don’t have to feel like a wasted bar

Your cool original dor-it-os

If you only knew what the egg holds

After a bad bar comes a good one

Maybe you reason why all the eggs are closed

So you could open one that leads you to the perfect nut

Like a table your egg will stay the same

And when it’s time you’ll know

You just ignite the bar and let it shine

Just own the night like the 31^st of march

‘Cause baby your an Easter egg

Come on show ‘em what your worth
make ‘em go yum-um-um

As you shoot across my tum-um-um

Baby your an Easter egg

Come on let your flavours burst

Make ‘em go yum-um-um

Your gonna leave ‘em all in yum-um-um

Yum, yum, yum

Even nicer than the ore-o

It’s always been inside of the egg egg egg

And now it’s time to let it digest est est

‘Cause baby your a Easter egg

Come on show ‘em what your worth

Make ‘em go yum-um-um

Your gonna leave ‘em all in yum-um-um

Baby your an Easter egg

Come on let your flavours burst

Make ‘em go yum-um-um

As you shoot across ,my tum-um-um

Yum, yum ,yum even nicer than the ore-o

Yum, yum, yum even nicer than the ore-o

So, a nice gift to receive on this Sunday morning, a long way from home........

Thanks Oisín , Made My Day Buddy !!!!

Dubai has really grown on me.......

In my time in this region, I have passed through the city of Dubai some 15 times at least, either in transit to somewhere else or for a short break there, so I have had some time to get to know this city which we have all marveled at over the last 10 years….

On my first visit, the newness of the city can be a little off-putting, as we Europeans tend to be very used to preserving our heritage and we are always seeking out, the older, cultural parts of a city, but of course, Dubai is not like that, which is not to say the place does not have heritage or tradition, it’s just that you have to go and look for as its not immediately obvious..

A City that’s rises from the desert, and is spread out for many miles along the Arabian gulf coastline, Dubai is in fact one of seven Emirates that make the UAE which is now in its 41^st year as a State here, and came together as a grouping of smaller Kingdoms in this region, encouraged by the British, the seven are (for the quiz buffs) Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ajman, Fujairah, Ras Al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm Al-Quwain. The best known and largest Emirates are Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the other ones are much smaller, Fujairah only 1,700 sq.km.

The scale of development of Dubai and the vision of its Leader Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum or “Big Mo” as he is known affectionately locally, is very impressive, as the city now stands as a very modern, cosmopolitan city and very forward looking.

Dubai Metro

What strikes me about the city (and UAE generally) is how efficiently and impressively everything works, there are three airport terminals which handles literally millions of passengers a year as Dubai is now a Global air travel hub. On leaving Dubai on Friday evening last, I got from the front door of the Terminal 2, through check-in, passports , security and was at the gate in a little more than 10 mins, granted Terminal 2 is much smaller than the other larger Terminals, this is still impressive.

Taxi’s are clean, drivers uniformed and fares fixed, which is in contract to other cities in the region, where you have to haggle at times and the drivers can sometimes require a good scrub, not to mention, I recently had a spin in a taxi in Riyadh which only had 3^rd and 4^th gear !!

I also took a ride on the new Metro System in Dubai, which is immaculately clean, the stations are futuristic is design and style and yes , it was on time and excellent value.

View from Burj Khalifa

Dubai of course has the world’s largest Shopping Centre (Dubai Mall), Tallest Building (Burj Khalifa) and even an indoor Ski Slope !

Burj Khalifa is well worth a visit, get a ticket to the viewing platform on top for sunset and watch the dancing fountains below, it’s very impressive. Some photos here from the viewing platform, note, there are a further 70 floors overhead.

Culturally Dubai and the UAE are unique, only approx. 20% of the population are in fact Emirati’s so you have this phenomenon where 80% of the population are ex-pats, which makes for a fascinating  mix of everything in city life. Arabic, Asian, Far Eastern, European, Persian , African and American.

I can’t complete this post without mentioned “The Irish Village”, a really super Bar / Restaurant attached to the Tennis Stadium in Dubai, where I enjoyed a late brunch of rasher, sausages fried egg and opint of Guinness last Thursday morning, it’s a very popular social venue in the city and regularly hosts stars such as Tommy Tiernan & Bob Geldof who played here in the last week, staff are super, food is good, its a nice atmosphere and there are even a few ducks quacking about the place….

Dubai has grown on me over my many visits over the last almost 2 years, and is to be congratulated for being such an impressive place to visit, I look forward to my next visit….

Irish Village

The "Normality" of Working Abroad and Coming Home !

It’s funny how coming home to Ireland can start to feel so “normal” after a while, I was home for a break recently and it occurred to me that though I was so looking forward to getting back, It’s not at all like it felt when I made my first trip home from abroad in October 2011.

On this occasion, I left Riyadh after work on a Wednesday night and headed straight to Riyadh airport where I caught a flight to Jeddah to connect to an overnight flight to Paris and a final connection on Thursday morning to Dublin, then jumped in a rental car, had some late breakfast and headed off down to East Clare to be home around 4pm.

The contrasts on these journeys are remarkable. On the flight to Jeddah (which is the main airport that’s serves the holy site at Mecca), I encountered many people going on the “Umrah” pilgrimage, which is similar to the Hajj pilgrimage later in the year but not as busy. Men and indeed their sons checking into their flight wearing only flip-flops and simple traditional robes/towels for their journey to Mecca, this is a sign of their equality and humbleness before God, as I am advised by my Saudi colleagues , to the more cosmopolitan Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris and on to the very familiar Dublin Airport , all in the space of 13 hours.

It also occurred to me on the car journey down from Dublin how the “weight” of the economy is resting on everyone back home and though Irish people are resilient and hard working and are as always doing the very best they can, it still seeps through on radio and in everyday conversations. The recession is still very much biting in Ireland and despite of the steps taken in the past two years and our stellar report cards from IMF / EU, it’s hard to escape that things are still very challenging in Ireland….

I also had a fabulous weekend in Youghal, Co. Cork with my boys which was fantastic, we rented an apartment by the sea, cooked food, walked by the sea, played video games and watched DVD’s and also I got a guided tour of the Titanic Experience in Cobh from my sons who have been there before. I really treasured the time with them to talk about school, their friends, their stories, their feelings and everything else going on with them and to just relax and enjoy each other’s time, including playing Hip Hop music (Black Eyes Peas !) at full blast in the car on the road out of Cork City…

I also enjoyed the simple things like baking a cake with Daithí for a school project (those of you that know me know how much fear this would instill in me !), indeed, it was Daithí teaching me rather than the other way around, and also doing homework with Oisín and helping him learn his Irish poem, simple but absolutely brilliant….

I also had the pleasure of celebrating my 40^th birthday on this trip home at a really nice evening in Durty Nelly’s in Bunratty. It was super to catch up with so many friends and neighbours who made such an effort to be there, thank you all so much…

I left Ireland again after that to start back on my way to Riyadh and I can’t help feeling how much my life has changed in the last few years and how I have come to know this as being ordinary, though its anything but ordinary. 

Such is life at the moment for so many Irish people of all ages and many in very similar situations, and rather than get gloomy and down about it, I am grateful to have the opportunity to work every day and provide for those at home, and of course to pay a mortgage and look to making progress out of the mire so many of us found ourselves in after 2008, yes, it’s hard to be away from my children but I know this is the right thing in the long term and I feel it every time I make the journey home, It’s great to be home but right now, but from a practical point of view working over here is definitely the better option for the moment…..

Friday Evenings at Al Batha, Riyadh.....

Friday’s in Riyadh is the day that the working population of Riyadh go about their weekly shopping, Al Batha is the area where all the emigrant population of Riyadh come to buy and sell, its full of souks and stalls of all sorts and an incredible atmosphere on a Friday evening, where the place is jammed full of people from all parts, particularly, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sudan and Philippines among many others. 

Markets called Kerala Market and Manila Plaza gives you a hint of the mix of cultures and people in this area of the city, It’s a real cosmopolitan place with a great vibe about it..

You can find traders selling clothes from wheelbarrows, fruit and veg lying on the ground, mobile phones, electronics, you name it……

It’s a great atmosphere and in stark contrast to the modern and flashy Shopping Malls throughout Riyadh favoured by the Saudi’s, this is a very much an area in the city primarily for the emigrant community.

You can get someone to fix your shoes, fiddle with your mobile phone to do all sorts of magic things, get your hair cut, buy socks, fruit and vegetables, basically, whatever you need, you can get it in Batha.

Here are some photos I took this afternoon, which probably don’t do justice to the wonderful chaos and mayhem……..

Expat Blog Awards and other Milestones.......

I have been here in the Kingdom now for six months and have continued with “Long Way to Go for a Sun Tan” and have been really pleased at the positive reaction it continues to receive, a few milestones along the way also, being Shortlisted for “Blog Awards Ireland” was fantastic for a blog that is only 18 months old, and later today, the Blog will hit 10,000 views since it first started back in Uruzgan, Afghanistan in July 2011-

The Blog has now also been listed in the ExPat Blog Directory and will be assessed along with some other great Blogs in Saudi Arabia for awards over the next few weeks, a big part of the process is based on positive reviews from regular readers, so I would really appreciate if you would post a comment by following this link…  http://www.expatsblog.com/blogs/842/a-long-way-to-go-for-a-sun-tan

Thanks to Patricia Irwin & Ger Loughrey in Limerick , Keisha LaRaine Ingram in Vilnius, Cathal O’Connell in Kandahar, Caitriona Murphy in Cork & Jack Kiely in Gateshead , for the positive Reviews so far, they represent readers from 4 different countries so far….THANK YOU !!