Saudi Arabia, the Country that Changed Me. (Part 2)

When last I left off, I had just had one of the longest days of my life traveling to the KSA, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. I went to bed pretty early but I still felt tired when I woke up because we had another long day ahead of us so we woke up early. To me the sunrise seemed very early, but that was because I was used to the North American spring where there is still more dark than light, but in Saudi Arabia they are actually pretty close to the equator so their days and nights are fairly balanced.

Our first stop of the day was Al-Musmak, a historic fort that is the site where Saudi Arabia first started to become a country. It's kind of like America's Lexington or Concord... it's where the fighting first started in their Revolutionary War.

King Abdulaziz, the Saudi's George Washington.

It was a very interesting place and we got a special tour inside of it. It is mostly made of mud and brick with a few wooden supports, so I was a bit scared when they told us we were going to the top. Going to the top wasn't allowed, but they wanted to take us up there anyway...but seeing the No Entrance sign didn't help to my fear of the whole fort crumbling beneath me 4 stories below!

Model of Al Musmak

Al Musmak, the fort.

Me on top of Al Musmak.
(Musa and Fahad holding the banner.)

Dr. Qureshi and I in front of Al Musmak.

After touring Al Musmak, we went to an old fashioned market with all sorts of awesome things! They had old swords, lamps, coins, spices, and anything else you would find in an Indian Jones movie. I'm sure the Saudis thought we were crazy because they just saw all that stuff as old junk, but we saw them as awesome antique souvenirs! We hadn't exchanged our money yet, so we just had to look that day, but later on in the week we went to buy our treasures.

My kind of shop!

Outdoor market.

Musa showing us everything.

I wondered what my mom would
think if I brought home an Arabic Sword!

When we did exchange at the bank, we found the exchange rate to favor the dollar very well. 1 U.S. dollar was 3.5 Riyals and Riyals were worth a lot in their country. An example of this is buying a soda. With our US $1 we got 3.5 riyals, and 1 riyal could buy a normal sized soda! So to us we could buy 3 sodas with $1, where in the U.S. 1 soda is probably around $1.50! Gas was also amazingly cheap! Back in the U.S. gas was $3 a gallon, but in Saudi Arabia gas was about .50-.60 riyals so about .15-.20 U.S. cents!

After the market we then went to former King Fahd's cultural center outside of town. It was an interesting building that had a large theatre, museum, reception halls, and planetarium. It was a enormous building that could fit thousands of people in a night. But the strange thing was, it hadn't been used in years! You see, using an old king's palace or cultural center is like using your sibling's or cousin's old hand-me-downs. You want your own! So in Saudi Arabia there are dozens of old buildings from old kings that are maintained, but not used very often (if ever).

King Fahd.

Here is a stain glassed window at the cultural center showing the former king,
the current king, and the next prince in line.

The theatre.

After the cultural center we went back to the hotel for a couple hours to hang out and rest. Usually during this time I would write in my journal about the first half of the day, and then before bed I would finish writing the rest of our adventures. Looking back now, I'm so glad I did that instead of napping like everyone else, because this record is a lot more memorable than a nap.

That night we went to a "scout camp" at a local school, and for the rest of my trip it seemed every night we went to a "scout camp"for dinner and evening activities. I put scout camps in qutoes because in the U.S. we think of scout camps as little lodges and dirt patches for tents in the mountains. In Saudi Arabia a "scout camp" is an elaborate compound. These "camps" are at schools and have their own designated area like a soccer field or basketball court. They usually had a greeting tent (we'll talk about that later), permanent tents, basketball, soccer, and all sorts of toys close by. Some had ATV racing tracks, other had horses to ride, one had a camel we took turns riding, and most had game rooms with ping pong and pool.

This was part of the scout camp that
we visited that night.

Once we got to this scout camp we first were greeted by all the Saudi Scouts in their uniforms and in their ranks, and then headed into the greeting room. As I said in my previous post, the Saudis are some of the most generous people in the world and show wonderful hospitality; these greeting rooms showed that. Every single place we went, we were taken to greeting rooms. Scout camps, museums, Bedouin tents, everything! What is a greeting room you ask? This picture shows one, but mostly they were tents or rooms that guests first go to and receive dates, water, and coffee. Then you mostly socialize and hang out! I loved that custom!

This is a greeting room. Everyone sit on the cushions bordering
the outside and accepts dates, water, and coffee.  

The only problem was that me being part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (The Mormons), our religion prohibits drinking coffee, alcohol, and wine. I asked Dr. Qureshi, who is also a Mormon, what to do in this situation because I didn't want to offend anyone and wanted to show gratitude for their hospitality. He said that I must accept the coffee, water, and dates, but eating and drinking them wasn't required. I quickly soon made a deal with the other Scouts who didn't share my faith. They quickly got addicted to the coffee because Arabic coffee has LOTS of caffeine, and I soon got addicted to dates because they are AMAZING! So us scouts being thrifty, we would switch. I would eat their dates, they would drink my coffee, and everyone was happy! (Sidenote: It's said that a white man can only have 4-5 dates before he has fiber overdose and has an unpleasant bathroom trip... but I guess I'm no normal white man because I had about 10-12 a day and was perfectly normal!)

After the greeting tent, we got to meet every scout at the camp. We traded pins and badges that we had collected for that very reason. I felt bad it was all I had, because they're pins were medal and fancy, but I felt like our badges weren't nearly as cool. Maybe the grass is always greener on the other side? We then had some free time and some of us played basketball against the Saudis. It was interesting to see throughout the week what sports our different countries valued. The Saudis didn't care much for basketball and didn't know very much about football, but they were very good at soccer and loved racing!

Saudi Scouts showing us their songs.

By then it was close to sunset, and writing this blog right now, I really miss those sunsets. It just felt great, after a long hot day the nights would cool off and a nice breeze would feel wonderful! We had dinner there with kabobs of lamb and beef, which were very good. Throughout the trip I noticed that not only did I love the taste of everything because it was so fresh, but that my stomach agreed with everything too!

Quickly after dinner the scouts and everyone there had to wash up and pray to Mecca. It was very interesting because I had never seen a Muslim pray to Mecca before, but afterward I had nothing but respect for them! They are truly devoted religious people, and I admire that very much! After they prayed they even taught us a little class about what they believe and explained a lot of things. One thing that surprised me most was that they believe in most of the Old Testament and believe that Jesus was an inspired prophet. I also learned that they pray 5 times a day, but on Friday it's different because they go to Mosque and have special prayer and lessons from the Imam. As I was learning this I couldn't help think of how many "Christian" friends I have who rarely ever pray or go to church, yet here the Muslims are doing it everyday! I was inspired by their devotion!

I asked if I could take a picture while we respectfully watched.

I hope people are liking this series, and I hope some of my Saudi friends are able to read this and understand my story. I loved this trip and want everyone to be able to have the chance to learn of the wonderful country of Saudi Arabia!

(Stay tuned for Part 3 in the next couple days!)