Holiday Inn Riyadh-Minhal

... I was struck by all the new and pretty cars. There seemed to be very few cars less than five years old and at least three quarters were big American-style 4x4’s. By our European standards, these cars were like buses...absolutely immense. Farj didn’t wear his seatbelt although it has recently become mandatory in KSA to do so and didn’t seem to mind the car beeping at him angrily to remind him every 10 seconds or so. We glided several times naturally through ...

... arriving at that time of the evening means u are in for a long wait in line to get through customs....

My one and only bag got concertinered in the crush with other bags and the carosel...
and the heat once out the doors...amazing.

Met Glenns driver...Noor...call him Mr Noor. Very nice man from Pakistan.
Most expats that stay in Riyadh for any length of time apparently ...

... ladies behind us, clearly delighted. One was trying to translate what my daughter was saying and they were all smiling and giggling. As we left they were trying to engage my daughter, asking her name, etc., but she is a woman who knows her own mind and isn't given to small talk no matter how much you try, so she kept walking without a glance back.

We decided not to stop in Riyadh but drive straight through, and we hit Kharj just before sunrise.

... popping and we noticed lines of trucks with their hazards flashing as they struggled to keep their vehicles going at the slow rate down the sloping roads. The views are breathtaking. I particularly enjoy the odd assortment of rocky outcrops -- amazing how these jagged towers are shaped by nature.

... entered the bachelors' entrance -- I had forgotten about the separate entrances thing. In the Emirates restaurants will often have private seating for families (like booths with taller dividers around them) if you choose to use them, but everyone has the same entrance and you can sit in private or in an open public room, your choice. In Saudi you don't have a choice, which I had forgotten, but the counter staff kindly redirected me. So out I went, around ...

... their quarters. One room for the patient, with a lovely ensuite, then a separate room for the "sitter" (more about them in a sec) and then a separate kitchenette! All decked out with gold plating and marble... its like a luxury hotel. They often have their own private nurses in tow, and awaiting one the other day was these gigantic platters of exotic chocolate... Amazing. Then you have the "sitters". A sitter is a relative of the patient who is paid by the ...

Well, I'm settling in pretty well to life here in Riyadh! Am finally finished orientation, and am about to start working in PACU tomorrow, which I'm really looking forward to. The girls in recovery work pretty hard, here. Its a 44 hour week, and they are pretty understaffed, so overtime is pretty much expected. But, aside from this, they seem to be a really great bunch of girls in there, really friendly and welcoming so far. I went shopping in the Kuwaiti souk ...

... the horizon, due to the dusty sky here, so the city just sort of melted into the distance, it was amazing. It would have been a fabulous view at night! I may have to go there again sometime, just to get a few snaps! After walking accross the sky bridge, and again descending to the ground, we had some free time to wander through the shops. The last few levels is this amazing High street fashion shopping mall... Saks Fifth Avenue, Louis Vuitton, Marks and Spencer.... Loved it ...

... after nine years she had finally broken them. I was due to pick Dawn and Julie, the Australian nurse who was going to villa and cat sit for us during the week we were away. Dawn asked around, so I ended up picking up her and Julie up and going sunglasses shopping. Successful, we headed home to orient Julie and go for the Indian buffet at the compound restaurant. As 8:00 rolled around, so did the airport van and we loaded in with four other teachers ...

... me to get our papers stamped). Finally, we passed through a final checkpoint where ALL of our papers and stamps were checked YET AGAIN, and we were in Jordan. The drive down the highway to Amman was uneventful, and 19 hours after leaving Riyadh we arrived in Amman to scope out a hotel. We had hoped to stay in the Rio hotel, but seeing as how nobody knew where it was, we drove around until finally a co-worker of James, a vey nice Jordanian man names Qassim, showed us ...