Izdihar - Magic Kingdom Escapology

I suspect that this should have occurred to me before but, as ever, the more obvious things aren't necessarily the first one you think of. This isn't likely to be a comprehensive set of questions, and my answers may not be complete (or even wholly accurate in some cases), but they do represent my own experience and the 'state of play' as I currently understand it. If there's something you wish to know, feel free to shout up and I'll see what I can do to provide you with an answer.

Q: Can I buy the same sort of food in KSA as I can at home?

A: It depends on where home is for you really. If you're into witchetty grubs, then it could be tough. If however you like a normal range of Western, Indian, Thai, Chinese, fast food, Arabic, Lebanese comestibles, then sure it's available. Supermarket-wise, you can find Geant, Carrefore, Tamimi's (part of Safeway group I think), Hyper Panda and a number of other outlets. The only things you can't buy will be covered off in other questions later.

Q: Where can I get a bacon sandwich from?

A: Bahrain is the nearest point to Saudi Arabia that you can legally find pork products, though they are somewhat more expensive than you may be used to. They are proscribed in KSA and anyone found with pork products in their possession inside the borders will have them confiscated and will probably have their passport marked as a transgressor - this will inevitably see the authorities taking an up close close and personal interest in you every time you cross the border.

Q: Can I get on-line deliveries shipped to KSA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia)?

A: Yes you can, but be aware that all delivery of mail is done to PO boxes, rather than a street address. This does sometimes present a problem for some on-line stores, but can generally be got around putting the nearest major road in the address before the PO Box number. For the record, I have had deliveries from Amazon (UK), Amazon (US), Warmoth, Stewart-Macdonald, The Glitter Pot and a whole bunch of others I can't remember right now.

Q: What's the climate like in KSA?

A: The climate in Saudi varies massively depending on where you end up being based. The central area where I am can range from -8C to 54C, though these are the absolute extremes of what I've experienced. The central region is also very dry with humidity running as low as 1-2%. We do though see rain, sometimes torrential, around the months of March/April and November. On the East and West coasts, the temperature extremes are considerably lower but the downside is that the humidity can approach close to 100% during the summer months - this is not very comfortable. In the Northern areas, you also get snow at times during the winter, not enough for a ski run, but it's snow all the same and it has the same perils when combined with a road system. Almost all buildings in KSA have some form of A/C system though, albeit in older buildings these may well be crude in operation - not to worry though, as most buildings are of relatively new construction.

Q: Is it true that women cannot drive in Saudi Arabia

A: Yes it is true, and all evidence I've seen over my 10 years suggests that the men haven't got a handle on it either. The driving standards out here are distinctly variable and take some getting used to. Your first drive out here may well be accompanied by significant levels of adrenalin induced PANIC! You get used to it though and I barely notice it now (well, most days).

Q: What is there to do in Saudi Arabia?

A: Anyone used to the range of activities available to someone living a Western lifestyle will inevitably find that there are many things that just don't exist in Saudi Arabia. For example you will not find cinemas, theatres, public houses, night clubs, sports centres and many other things that invite mixed gender activity (especially that mixed gender activity). You can though find every type of restaurant, coffee shops and shopping centres (malls) on every other street corner. If you end up living on a Western compound though, you may well find that the larger ones will have a facility that can be used for theatre or cinema use, they may well have some form of gymnasium and swimming pool(s). You can of course get out into the desert - it's never far away - but be warned, the closer you are to a town/city, the more likely it is to be covered in garbage and quad-bike tracks.

More to be added on request...

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Of necessity, this post needs to be short, as despite the lateness of the hour, I need to go and exercise - a circuit of compound walking should do.

About 10 days ago, I went off for my annual company medical - 'they' feel it's important, and I wouldn't want to disagree with 'them'. Inevitably, the blood tests showed that all was not as rosy in the garden as I would have liked to believe, but they would send it off to the lab and get a 2nd opinion. I suppose it was only fair to get the full treatment as I had 'paid' for it with a needle in either arm.

A couple of days ago I was invited in for 'a chat'. This morning I headed in there to see what was occurring. It would seem that they have confirmed that my blood sugar levels are somewhat out of kilter and rather up on where they should be. I had a similar conversation about 3 years back and a oral glucose tolerance test confirmed that I was in the pre-diabetic range. A series of dietary changes later and on subsequent medicals it would seem that all was under control. Not so this time though.

This time it turns out that my readings are above where 'they' want them and I'm due another OGTT to confirm the doctor's expectation that this will now confirm that I have moved on a stage and will be considered a diabetic. This is not the greatest news I could have had today, or any other day for that matter. This is very early stage stuff and I should not expect to notice any symptoms yet, nor do I need to start on tablets of any form - just more dietary care and some exercise (see above).

With that, I'll go and put my training shoes on and head off out - delightful stuff...

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Were you a regular follower of this small but perfectly formed corner of BlogEstate, you may have had cause to notice that there has been a little more going on of late, and you may come to wonder whether there is any purpose behind it. Well you would be right to wonder, for purpose there is, not that it is a great purpose, or at least not on the scale of say a climate change treaty, or whatever they write around such things. No, quite simply it has been an attempt to see if I could post something every day for a full month, that month being November 2009, the month that's drawing very rapidly towards a close. I did say it wasn't a great purpose didn't I?

Looking back over the month, I can see that I did rather better than one a day, the photo archive mining has been of great help as I've gone along the way. Total posts so far, excluding this one, has reached 49, though I think that includes a few that have not seen light of day for a variety of reasons. In that time, I've also made some changes to the blog skin and this has, to my eyes, cleared out a fair bit of clutter and made the whole thing look a lot cleaner - still not too sure about the overall colour scheme, but it does in many ways reflect the place I'm sitting in.

The other thing I've been looking at closely along the way is the visitor stats. The way they were being captured at the start of the month means that I cannot see back to Day 1 now, but I can at least see that number of visitors have increased as a general trend - a testament to the concept that 'Content is King', or 'Build it and they will come' whichever is your preference. It is though with some irritation, that I can see that not only the genuine visitors have been dropping by, but also the spambots. These I can happily lose even though they contribute to overall visitor numbers. It is a little galling to see that over 23% of the visitor figures are made up of the little buggers. At best they just mask the real activity here and at worst they are consuming bandwidth I'm paying for with no good purpose.

One of the other things that I've done over the month is to spend a little more time reading the blogs of others and commenting on the same. I've read some interesting stuff along the way, not least ways, finding someone else who has made reference to that fine measurement device, the Bristol Stool Scale over here at FormerlyFun's emporium. The other thing I've noticed is how often certain blogs can be found cross-linking to each other and then commenting on happenings as they are reported. After a while you do begin to become convinced that the idea of a virtual village and neighbours I've commented on previously, perhaps has more substance to it than I thought. Not only that, the 'community' doesn't necessarily remain virtual and actual physical (non-biblical (that I know of)) interaction is taking place out there. Quite why this should come as a surprise, to someone who has been involved in something like half a dozen forum related meet-ups, I'm not quite sure. Seems people really do like meeting new people with a common interest.

So it's been an interesting month, even if not quite complete. I'm now wondering whether I can keep this going for more than a month. Would that be good, or would you prefer me to STFU now and leave the airwaves alone? What if I were to attempt a Blog365? What if I had to include a photo a day alongside it all? What if I wake up tomorrow and think "What the hell did I just write?". Oh, and you at the back there, stop trying to sneak out, I haven't finished yet...

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