Saudi Arabia: Got a permit for that blanket?
Posted Monday, February 19, 2007, 5:03 PM by Lonely Planet
Frances Linzee Gordon has just completed an unprecedented research assignment in Saudi Arabia for Lonely Planet's forthcoming guide to the Arabian Peninsula. As the first person ever to be granted a visa to visit the country as an independent tourist, she kept a diary of her adventures. In the second of eight blog posts, Frances gets her first real taste of the Kingdom.
I listened for my cue. It came:
'Ladies and gentleman, we will shortly be commencing our descent. Local time in Riyadh is 9.45pm.'
I raised myself from my seat and marched purposefully towards the toilets. Two and a half minutes later, I re-emerged. As I walked back down the aisle, I became aware of heads turned towards me: my transformation was complete.
As the airplane door opened, I was seized by that sharp sense of anticipation upon first setting foot in a foreign land. Pulling my niqab (headscarf) further over my face, I lifted the skirts of my abeyya (the name given to the full-length black robe worn by women here) and shimmied off into the warm Saudi night.
But if my arrival had met expectations, what followed did not. Contrary to the embassy's briefing, there was nobody at the airport to meet me. Had a diplomatic friend not turned up to see my safe passage, I would have been detained at once by the airport authorities.
Nor did things materialise much later: for several days I found myself beached by blinding Saudi bureaucracy. While the Ministry of Information (normally appointed to the Press) and the Ministry of Tourism (in whose remit I resided) wrangled over responsibility for me, there were permits of every kind to obtain: photographic permits, site permits, place permits, and reservations to make of every type. At my hotel one evening, I had to sign even for a blanket.
In pursuit of one permission, I found myself waiting one warm afternoon to see an official. Ushered eventually into an enormous office, I started to explain my purpose. Half an hour later, I discovered that the somber, expressionless civil servant across the room from me was in fact the secretary. He had not understood a word I had uttered. Shoed next into an even bigger bureau furnished with the largest plasma TV I had ever seen, I began again. A total of three hours and ten minutes later, we emerged with the precious permission.
'You are lucky', my guide announced. 'Engineer Ahmed has been very kind.'
Furnished with a file overflowing with permissions and permits, we began our journey at last. Though days had dissolved into the mind-boggling abyss of Saudi bureaucracy, I was soon more grateful than I could have imagined for persevering with those precious permits...
Read Frances' first blog post here
Labels: Frances Linzee Gordon in Saudi Arabia, Middle East
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8 Comments:
I’m a fellow traveler and adventurer, though MY favorite place to roam is the islands of the Caribbean – to me, nothing beats the people, the clear blue water, the trade winds, the palm trees and the music. In fact, my wife and I are in the midst of sailing our hand-built 34-ft. sailboat, Woodwind, to the islands right now. We began our journey in Gig Harbor, Washington, and just ventured through the Panama Canal. It was our third transit through the canal and was as exciting as the first! The islands of the Eastern Caribbean have been our second home, off and on for 30 years. There is nothing quite like the West Indies! We’re keeping our friends and family updated on our voyage and adventures along the way on our Web site and blog. Check it out at www.brucesmithsvoyage.com.
(Posted by Mike Bernstein of Bahama Breeze for Bruce and Jan Smith, who are currently at Latitude 9.35 north and Longitude 79.42 west.)
Oh the joys of dealing with people of another culture! I traveled to China 4 times last year and regularly encountered people (Mainly in hotels) that I thought understood me but were probably being polite.
I figured something was wrong when I called room service to complain that my air con was broken and they sent me a blanket!
LOL welcome to Saudi Arabia! Your experience is typical here. I promise that if you come awway with nothing else during your time in Kingdom, you will learn patience!
If you have the chance to visit the EP, drop me a note and I'll show you the sites - maybe even take you to my favorite cheese bread guy!
Take Care! Lori
PS read my post on getting my hubby a motorcycle endorsement for a glimpse at the constant frustrations available here!
I was fortunate enough to live for 11 years in Saudi Arabia.Buraydah in Al Gassim Province was my home.
During the 11 years my husband & I encountered many wonderful Saudis. From Royal Princes down to humble camel herders. All made us feel welcome. Yes! There are restrictions, but the beauty of the desert at sunset & sunrise, dissolves the frustrations very quickly!
Hi Bruce,
Thanks for the posting. Sailing in the Caribbean does sound idyllic - and a world away from Saudi.
Hi Chris,
Very jealous of your trips to China, and sympathise re the air-con probs!
I love the uneven path of a journey into another culture, but the language barrier can be difficult to negotiate, can't it?
Hi Sand gets in my eyes,
Thanks for the posting and the invitation to visit the `EP' - I guess the Eastern Provinces - which sadly I got too late. Perhaps next time.
The "cheese bread guy" sounds very tempting... Funnily enough, I find that cheese is one of the things I most miss when I travel...
Regarding patience, yes, it's a virtue I have a little more of (but not much) following the trip to the Kingdom.
Hi Jamelthecamel,
Love the blogger name...
Quite agree about the desert. it's spectacular, isn't it? Did you know that the Empty Quarter in Saudi is apparently the largest sea of sand on Earth? The dunes can be enormous - over 200m high and several hundred kilometres long... I shall never forget it. To try and give travellers a little taste of this remarkable place, I included the following boxed text in the book:
"AMID THE DESERT DUNES
We stopped to examine a small clump of sage grass. In the stems was a little water, and I chewed on them as I supposed the animals chewed on them as they eked out an existence in this merciless but mesmerising environment.
`I like to sleep in the desert', Abu Ali declared. 'The sand is so smooth and restful. There is no dirt and dust - you get up and you feel refreshed'.
He stood up and the sand on his thobe poured softly to the ground. Looking towards the horizon he said. `I shall die here. And when I do, I want that they bury me here...'
Later we came across what he called `zaher', a tiny tribulus flower with bright yellow petals, endemic to the Empty Quarter.
Turning towards me with the flower outstretched he proclaimed: `Just as this flower is the light of the desert, so you are the light of all womanhood', I smiled embarrassed. Even in the presence of a stranger, even in front of a foreigner, the Bedu can't resist the spontaneous poetry that still sometimes seizes them.
`Are you sad that you're no longer living the life of a Bedouin, Abu Ali?' I asked later.
`Yes', he said. `I long for that way of life'. After a pause he went on: `But I don't long for those days... those terrible, difficult, desert days'
As we slipped and struggled up another dune, a pair of Arabian oryx, the colour of the sands, spun startled to face us. In a minute they were gone again, leaping lithely through the dunes in the fast-descending dusk. At sunset, the dunes now a deep mauve, Abu Ali fell to his knees and prayed.
From the author's diary, with thanks to Sheik Abu Ali."
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