Riyadh Palace Hotel

... of wine or something alcoholic during the flight. <br><br>Anyhow, it all worked out for the best and when I was returning to my seat the woman gave me a thankful nod and smile from where she was happily seated next to a woman of her own age also in abaya. <br><br>My flight in a nutshell: disappointed with Cathay Pacific, I totally thought that the service and inflight entertainment was going to be better for a long haul flight of 9 and a half hours ...

... 020 ft). It is also host to the highest mosque in the world. The Tower Contains a total of 43 floors excluding the 4 levels of basement. The Kingdom Centre is owned by Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, a prince of the Saudi royal family. It is also the headquarters of his holding company: Kingdom Holding Company. The total cost of the project was US$ 1 billion and the contract was taken by Saudi Arabian Al-Saif and The Italian Impregilo.<br>

... at present but that wasn&#8217;t how it looked initially. Although it wasn&#8217;t too dirty, it was clear that it hadn&#8217;t been occupied for at least a month. In a desert nation, dust collects very quickly and in this case, it was thick almost like a carpet. The whole place smelled strongly of dust and the bin hadn&#8217;t been emptied either, nor had the fridge been cleaned. But at that moment, I was just happy to be here and I turned the A/C up the &#8216;High Cool ...

... their own cars, men that is as women aren't permitted to drive. But Glenn and a couple of his work colleagues like having a driver they know and trust to taxi them around. Makes life easier...<br><br>On the drive to the compound i had a chance to look at the scenery....buildings are large, I was surprised at how much english language is around, lots of new buildings going up. Kingdom Tower ...

... been closed. We looked around and saw spray painted on a concrete barrier, in Arabic only, "Ta'if" with an arrow. So we decided to give it a try, although who knew who painted it and what they really meant by it. We made it back into Makkah proper then asked directions from a couple of young Saudis in the car next to us at a traffic light. They told us the way, and then led us to the right road themselves, which was most kind.<br><br>On the way back ...

... 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.

... small barrier to the families' entrance, and back in again. I shared a small chuckle with the staff as they were the same people, they had just shifted down the counter a bit. I was also the only customer in the store, on either side. <br><br>Large mocha chip Frappucino in hand I felt ready to face the next ten hours or so of drive time. We drove quickly along the city highway, not much traffic but still considerable winds and a lot of sand blowing around.

... a separate recovery of 2 bays for labour ward. Most of the time, they seem to work 1:1, although you might see 1:2 if they are really busy. There is a lot of paeds, 5 bays that they allocate especially for them. They never have LMA's in recovery, though - the doctors will always remove before transporting to us. Often you will find patients staying overnight or longer in recovery simply because there is no where near enough beds in the hospital. ICU patients -as ...

... my hospital, and then some of Michelles husband's mates from the military popped in at out at intervals throughout the arvo. It was such a surreal environment, we were sitting out the front in the shade, amongst green grass, under a palm tree, and every time someone walked past, they would call out, say hi and pop in for a drink! Almost movie-like cheesyness to it :p But I'm really glad that I went, and had a chance to really mix with the girls that I'm going to be working with ...

Waking up early the next morning so as to be over the border into Saudi early, we packed up and then walked down to the Red Sea shore for a photo-op. We managed to get our photos with our hands in the water and some others of the Egyptian shoreline across the way. Then it was back up, get loaded, and head off for the 10 k drive to the border crossing into Saudi. Well, we arrived, but nobody was there! So we waited, until finally at 9 the Saudis opened the border (and we thought it ...