Friday in Ikea in Saudi...

A couple of weeks ago we went to Jeddah just to hit up the Ikea there.  It was a Friday...we left that morning and got ourselves to the underground parking at about 4:15pm.  Since it's Friday (holy day), Ikea won't ope until 5pm.  We had a problem with the car that caused it to overheat and spit radiator fluid all over the ground.  (that got us some looks)  Matt headed off to find an auto parts place and left me waiting with the girls for the doors to open.  
Let's just say, I'm never going back to Ikea on a Friday again.  It was chaos.  Pure chaos.  There were so many people...at one point I lost Lily in a sea of black...and about 5 mini heart attacks till I saw a figure draped in black holding her hand and walking her over to me.  How did she know she belonged to me?...yeah, we were one of a handful of families that were westerners.  (that should have been my first clue)  I was near tears when Matt finally showed up.  It was insane trying to get through the store and actually get what you needed.  Top that off with the fact that we were all starving...and the damn restaurant was closed.  It took Matt over a half hour to run downstairs and get 4 little wraps.  In the end, we managed to get what we came for and after a 30 minute wait to check out, we were back on the road. 

everyone waiting patiently to get into Ikea...

Jeddah

It's one of those things:  so close, yet oh so far...


Jeddah is the second largest city in Saudi Arabia. (population around 3.2 million people)  It is the port and gateway to the holy city of Mecca.  According to Wikipedia: "For over one thousand years, Jeddah has received millions of pilgrims of different ethnicities and backgrounds, from Africa,Central Asia, Russia, Southeast Asia, Europe and the Middle East, some of whom remained and became residents of the city."  Therefore, "Jeddah is one of the most cosmopolitan, diverse, and tolerant of all Saudi Arabian cities, hosting expatriates from all over the world who have made Jeddah their home."  Jeddah has it's high end areas where you can find shops such as  Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Burberry, Chanel, Giorgio Armani, Versace, Massimo Dutti, and Tod's.  Huge malls sporting all sorts of shops, jewelry stores, and indoor play areas.  Plus monster homes and villas (hidden behind large walls, of course...this is where Google Earth can be fun!)
It is a major city and therefore there are the good areas and the bad.  (when you see my photos, you'll have no trouble guessing which part of the city we were in at the time)  You'll find sub-standard housing, as well as struggling stores and restaurants. 
Jeddah is known for very heavy traffic and considering the extremely lax driving laws, well, a drive around town will cause white knuckles and multiple near heart attacks.  (I am still beyond amazed that there aren't accidents every 20 feet...seriously)


That being said, I'd still love to live in Jeddah.  See, Yanbu (our home) is a bit like small town USA.  We have one mall, two major grocery stores, and a couple of workout facilities.  I think I'd suffer through the perils of traffic just to have the variety of options available to those living in the big city.  The hardest part is that Jeddah is a good 3.5 to 4 hour drive...one way.  Back to my original statement...so close, yet so far away.  Making a trip to Jeddah a special event, not to mention it requires careful planning if you want to get any significant shopping done.  
Remember, the weekends here are Thursday and Friday.  Most people get a hotel room for the night so they don't have to make a 8 hour round trip drive in one day.  You can shop all day Thursday (minus the five times a day the store closes for prayer), but on Friday...nearly everything is closed until at least 4pm.  (or till they feel like opening up)  So, instead of a whole weekend of shopping your limited to basically one day...unless you want to drive back wicked late on Friday...which my working husband does not want to do.  (neither do my kids)  So, you factor in where you want to shop then add in the travel time between malls/stores (which can take anywhere from 30min to over and hour just to go a few miles.)  If you're lucky you'll be able to hit up Ikea and maybe a whole mall...maybe.  ;) 


All in all, it's a fun experience and I enjoy seeing all the sites while we are there.  These are just a few photos.  (you have to be careful taking pix here)  But I will try to get more as time goes on.  If you click on the slideshow, you can view each photo separately and see the captions where I have typed info about each pic.  :)
I apologize about the quality of some of the photos...moving car, windows, etc...

                          

Well, this is a first...

We went to Jeddah last weekend (more on that later...) and spent some time (okay a lot of time) at the Mall of Arabia.
Can you guess where in the mall this was taken?

Rules of driving...purely suggestive

If you have been keeping up with my blog, you would have seen me mention (quite a few times) about the horrible driving here.  This quick video was on a trip to Jeddah.  Watch closely as one of the cars from the oncoming left turn lane passes the car in front on the LEFT.  Then watch as cars turn left IN FRONT of cars going straight!!  The one car come from the MIDDLE lane and passes in front of TWO cars!  Psychos.  

(I'll try to get some more videos for you...this one is pretty short)

Matt's first trip to Jeddah

So, Matt had to drive to Jeddah to get some paperwork done to sell our car in the States.  He told me the drive there and back is just awful.  Tons of traffic and not a damn thing to look at.  But, he was impressed with Jeddah.  He wasn't able to get too many shots (you know me, I'll have a thousand in one trip.  LOL) and he said that when he as in the mall (which doesn't open until 4pm on Friday's...that's their holy day) they were all looking at him funny for taking photos of a closed mall.  :)  My girls saw the pix of the kid play place and went nuts...too bad its not somewhere I can take them every day.  Wish Jeddah was closer to us.  :(  But, it'll give us something to look forward to.  So, enjoy the photos!  Many more to come!
(oh...on a side note...I'm just one piece of paper away from getting everything to send for the visa.  I'll have the visa's before we even leave Texas!  so excited!)