Sheraton Dammam Hotel Towers

... lap of the journey was very picturesque, with a totally different desert scenario. It was basically a mountainous desert terrain.The highway took us along myriad ranges, and at one point I even saw a plateau out yonder.<br><br>It was at around 3:30PM that we finally cruised into Jeddah, and I saw Manoj had come to receive me. Well, he and his family looked after me and gave a great time, and Jeddah was a great city................... but that would be another story- a story of a city!

Apparently the Bahrain-Saudi border is on a little island [not sure if it has an official name], which hosts a rest point on either side of the border, complete with matching observation towers. The whole road, which is 45km long, is called the King Fahad Causeway on the Bahraini side, with a different Saudi name.. Interesting stuff! :) Due to it being Ramadan and us not being ...

... 8217;t as productive as I&#8217;d hoped it would be, but with the key objectives already accomplished, I wasn&#8217;t as concerned. Knowing I was interested in local/Saudi food, the admin ordered traditional lamb for the team&#8217;s lunch. Again, it was a ton of food with the lamb/rice dish, a cucumber/tomato/dressing salad, yogurt, olives, hummus and bread.<br><br>At around 2:30, I was in a ...

... to-a-room and two rooms per apartment. Married expats get a housing allowance (so they can live outside company-provided housing) along with other benefits. Just another incentive created to get people to marry in Saudi. I asked if there were advantages (more freedom) for women to get married. He said, &#8220;No---there&#8217;s no freedom wither way!&#8221; Interestingly, the average man gets married at about 26 and the average girl at ...

... Khobar (since I mentioned wanting to explore the area). We had until 8, so we had time to check out a few local stores and see the local people. On the way there, Erwin talked about marrying his wife in Saudi (also a Christian Philippino), his 2-year-old daughter, and his 12-year-old daughter living with his mother and going to school in the Philippines. I didn&#8217;t really understand why he&#8217;s send his daughter away like that (though I didn&#8217;t press ...

Pendant nos 2 semaines de Paques , nous sommes alles en Egypte. Pour voir les civilisations anciennes. Le Caire est une ville gigantesque. En Egypte , il a 80 millions d'habitants. Au Caire, ils sont plus de 23 millions!!! During our Spring Break , we decided to visit Egypt. Cairo is a monster of a city! The total population of Egypt 80 million.....the population in Cairo 23 million.....! Enjoy our pictures! Marc and Nat

... on with a rope La, shukran - "No, thank you". Eid Mubarak - The equivalent of Merry Christmas; Eids are the two major Islamic festivals; one at the end of Ramadan and one at the end of the Hajj -- this year the Hajj finished Dec. 22 or so. Insh'allah - literally "if Allah wills it"; common phrase, like "God willing", but used much more frequently. wa salam alaikum - literally, "and peace be with you"; salam alaikum is the standard Arabic greeting.

... us his business card for his hotel. We followed, even though we didn't want to. He ends up taking us into his perfume shop and starts rattling off all these different kinds. We really could not be bothered, we already have purchased some perfume and only had about an hour before we had to take a taxi to the airport. We told him thank you and that we wouldn't be purchasing anything from him. He smiled back with ...

... trees. I came across a few expats living and working in Bahrain shopping for grocery. And a lot more Asian as well. There are supermarkets catering to Thai produce, came across a Chinese restaurant and many of the shopkeepers or shop assistants are Filipino, Thai or Indonesian. Met a few Chinese college students at the internet café. Everybody basically does their 'thang' and leave you alone here. Kinda like back home. I don't get much stares here ...

... women on the plane, other than white [see comment above regarding Medina], I had ever been around. I was by no means intrusive, but they were most attractive. Then, as we start to land, they cover themselves head to toe with scarfs etc. What a shame, but here was part of what I had read about - intense privacy. Upon landing, we off-boarded right onto the tarmac, between 2 rows of armed soldiers with UZI's in hand. This was a bit of a new experience ...