Back when I was working in
pre-Iraqi-invasion Kuwait I found myself in a very unusual and awkward
position. The British Embassy has assigned me the duties of regional officer
which entailed my communicating with the British citizens living in my area and
calling them to muster points in the event of an evacuation. Since the
Iraq-Iran War was still blazing away, the evacuation route would have been
through Saudi Arabia. And therein lay the irony: strictly speaking as an
unmarried woman and without male family members to accompany me, having helped
others to safety, I would not have been allowed to travel through Saudi Arabia!
While I was working in The Yemen Arab Republic
I had been denied transit travel through SA since the stop-over period between
flights extended beyond one and a half hours. I never did fathom what heinous
crimes I could commit beyond that time limit that I couldn’t easily perform
within 90 minutes!
Anyway, when I was recently asked
to assess a lady on a post-graduate Diploma in Teaching English as a Foreign
Language, I decided to accept. Firstly because this was one of the few Arabian
countries I hadn’t visited and, secondly, since they were asking me to
go (or at least looking for a lady assessor for a lady candidate) it seemed
that might redress the imbalance of the past - I was up for the adventure! To
get things started, an official professional invitation had to be issued, then
the visa application procedure could begin. Flowing, non-provocative clothing
was selected from my wardrobe as were comfie flatties - strappy heels are not
what you want in heat and sand.
A Greek who had worked in Jeddah
had immediately been hospitalized on his arrival in Athens in April on
presenting symptoms of coughing, running a fever, and generally having
breathing difficulties. So we knew about
the danger of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and that it was wise
to take precautionary measures when travelling in that area. (As of May 7th,
the World Health Organisation had been informed of 496 laboratory-confirmed
cases, 229 of which were in S.A.. There is neither vaccine, nor treatment for
this corona-virus. What is also significant is that over 60% of those infected
have died. These are not statistics to ignore!)
I had been advised to take protective measures
and off I went to buy a 50 ml. antiseptic gel. Now the salesgirl was good at
her job - she realized this was the permissible size for in-flight hand-luggage
and asked me where I was travelling to. So full marks to her for trying to sell
me something else for my trip, but not for her recommending a strong sunscreen
- that is not the place to go if you want an all-over tan!
My flight was via Istanbul and
the Turkish Airlines catering is definitely to be recommended : menu cards were
issued before every meal which was
served with metal cutlery – not that useless plastic rubbish! It was an evening
flight and seeing the city lights far below as we flew over Kuwait brought back
many nostalgic thoughts of the good life we had enjoyed there. Now I don’t know how this can be explained
but it did strike me as strange. On the screen charting our south-easterly
progress, there at the top was the UK. Britain can frequently suffer the
reductive indignity of being referred to as England, which in turn is often
further diminished with reference made of
the capital city only. But there on the
map was no trace of London, no mention of Manchester, and Auld Reekie was not
in the picture at all. Alone on the island kingdom GLASGOW was resplendently
plotted - yes!! – another sense of redressing an imbalance!
And eventually we touched down in another
kingdom, that of Saudi Arabia. On my
trip there were really only two occasions when I felt I’d moved way out of my
comfort zone, both of them at the King
Khalid International Airport. On arrival, eventually coming to the end of the
queue for the passport control, proffering my passport, and visa, head suitably
swathed in long black scarf, I felt confident I would be waved on through. Not
so! The problem was as a first-time entry I was obliged to be electronically
finger-printed and remove my scarf to have even more photographs taken. Wow! -
CSI, Miami stuff with really-high tech. equipment.
My second nasty moment ( and
these happen basically when you do not understand what is being asked of you )
was on departure when me and my baggage had gone through a general electronic security check, then gone to check-in, and finally
arrived at a second security check
point. This time they take my bags and send them into the scanning machine but
they physically block my way through the scanning frame. This happens twice – I
am a slow learner! – and I am signalled to go in the opposite direction from my
luggage which has long since disappeared. Before me I see only a wall and
cannot comprehend what they want until I spy a grubby grey-green curtain. Thankful
of my anti-infection cotton gloves, I charily step through into an empty area.
Now what do I do? Nearby I hear a lively
exchange on a cell-phone, and once that comes to an end the uniformed lady in
question cursorily waves her device over me and propels me towards another
grubby curtain: the exit of the female screening bay! No signs and every comment way beyond my Arabic
comprehension capacity. It was only as I anxiously went in search of my
hold-all and handbag I realised that I was viewing the situation from a very western perspective. My anxiety was unfounded since there is very little crime here and that since there were so few women around, these
items would not readily be picked up by anyone else- certainly not a Saudi
gentleman in full guthra and iqal! And
how striking they are !
Above you see the standard Saudi
red and white head-covering, the guthra, along with the iqal, the black rope
circlet which keeps the guthra in place. In Kuwait H used to be fascinated by
the different and intricate ways the guthra (white in summer and grey in
winter) was worn – how the ends of the material were draped and the different
types of peaking or folding of the material on the forehead, so I was delighted
to find an article showing basic draping styles in the March issue of the
Destination Riyadh magazine, an extract of which you can see below. I love the range of design appropriacy: from
the intricate styles for formal occasions, to the winter/desert style which is
more wrap-around, affording protection from wind and dust.
Anyway, back to my arrival. I was
very glad to see the hotel driver display my name; he then whisked me off to my
unique accommodation – a spa hotel which accepted women guests only. Certainly
the chef was male, but he had to call reception to check that the coast was
clear and that he wouldn’t be disturbing any lady guests when he emerged from
his kitchen at duty-end!
In the foyer the beautiful Arab
script is incorporated into the décor and, if I remember rightly, these two
designs in the wall-tiling represent the concepts of life and air.
In the basement area lies the spa with all
sorts of exercise facilities, but if you really want to pamper yourself there
are staff on hand to give you massage and a wide variety of make-you-feel-good
treatments. A veritable oasis in this desert city, or was that city desert?
Exhausted, I call it a day and
rise bright-eyed next morning for a tasty breakfast cooked by chef unseen.
Through the window directly in
front of me I caught my first day-time glimpse of Riyadh: desert, desert, and
then, for good measure, some more!
