All good things come to an end

I am safely back to the UK and can finally write about the last two fun days in Jeddah. First of all – Jeddah is totally different to the capital Riyadh. The people seem to be more relaxed and open, which is probably due to the numerous people that pass the city when they go to Mecca and Madinah for pilgrimage. 

In Jeddah we visited Effat University, which was one of the first women’s universities in the Kingdom and subjects like cinematography were taught even before cinemas were allowed (which was last year). The professors were all extremely well-educated Saudis and some of them were foreigners. Interestingly, the Saudis who go and study abroad in the US or the UK get enormous scholarships from the government from doing so. Even years ago, women as well as male students were encouraged to undertake these studies which I found surprising. Funnily one of the teachers there was German and I took the chance to ask her a bit about the country. She mentioned that the rules, especially regarding dress codes, depend a lot on where you go. For instance, in some parts of Jeddah it is fine to just wear the Abaya or modest long clothes, whereas in others it is better to wear a black Abaya with hijab. By not doing so, people will stare at you and you feel a bit like an outsider. 

After the visit to Effat we went to Al Balad, the old part of Jeddah which was so beautiful. The houses are hundreds of years old and the wooden windows and balconies make them stand out from anything I have seen before. What is also great – in many other countries this would be crowded by tourists, which was not the case at all. Our tour guide who showed us the inside of one of the houses ended up inviting us to his house and showed us around. He was particularly proud of the ceiling in the ladies room upstairs. The guys in our trip used the opportunities to dress more khaleeji and got themselves thawbs. 

The day after we spent on a boat trip where we went snorkeling and enjoying the sea and sun. Some scenes were beautiful and hence I have included some images. 

Overall, I had a great time over here but have to say that the experience was positively biased and sometimes slightly artificial. I am extremely grateful to the generosity of all sponsors involved in the program, however, we were obviously only shown the greatest parts of the country. Moreover, the people we spoke to were all highly educated (mostly abroad) and very forward-looking. This might have given me a skewed impression.

I am aware of all the negative things that are still happening and being hidden from the public. However, I think it is important when judging a country not to only see the politics, but also all the people who live there. Most Saudis I have spoken to do not have anything to do with politics and are just happy to be at peace and that their family is healthy, which I understand. Also, I spent half of the flight back talking to a Saudi lady next to me and she told me about the massive changes this country has been going through within the past two years. Back then, there were no cinemas, men and women could not sit in public together, no night clubs, no concerts etc. Arguably, it was one of the most conservative societies of our time. Going there now, and being free to hug my mates on the street, sitting with them in a restaurant and being able to ask controversial questions is already a huge step towards what we in the West perceive as ‘normal’. I guess every country goes at their own speed and I was proud to see how much the country has already changed and am looking forward to its future. Some Saudis say that they believe it is going ot become a bit like Doha or Dubai, especially once the Red Sea resorts that are part of the vision 2030 will be built. This is because no (Western) tourist will come swimming if they have to stay in a Burqa sipping their fresh pomegranate juice. 

Drilling deeper into Saudi culture

In the past few days we spent time in Al Khobar close to Bahrain exploring the biggest company in the world - Saudi Aramco. Heads up, the question on the impact of the attacks was answered by 'check the news, it was all over' (which I did but I wanted to know how it impacted the technologies they use). This discouraged me from asking them more questions. However, I learned a lot on geo steering, geology and petroleum. The fun parts were the visit to ithra, the corporate responsibility initiative of Aramco (and probably one of the coolest buildings I have visited so far), the AI and tech labs and the arts museum.

    

The ithra building:

                       

We also got to know the history of Aramco and how it became more and more a Saudi company. It is fascinating to think about the Eastern part of Saudi that just used to be desert, and now produces hundreds of millions of barrels of crude per day. A country that in the 50s looked like I would imagine Jesus' times discovered this oil and became this rich and diverse nation that it is now. Wow. Every time I think about this and the history of Aramco, it makes me think how the whole resource allocation in this world has happened and how some countries were much more blessed than others.

                                         Aramco's first oil well:

After Aramco we headed to Jeddah where I am based right now. Jeddah is a beautiful city on the red sea which has the flair of a summer holiday. In the morning we visited King Abdullah University of Science and Technology which had one of the coolest campuses I have ever seen in my life. It appeared to be an inspiring place to research for people whose focus is on science. Unfortunately, I would not get very far there with finance, so no fourth degree for me at KAUST I'm afraid.

Once back to Jeddah we visited a mosque at the corniche and then walked along it, enjoying the sunset. It was an utterly wholesome experience with this summer holiday feeling which I very much enjoyed. Many people come with their carpets, chairs and tables to just sit at the corniche and enjoy a nice picnic and some tea. It felt very relaxed. After this, we had dinner outside with a view on the water and the remains of the sunset. My friend wanted to go to a theme park quickly, which to my amusement was for women only. From what I have gathered, a few years ago it was impossible to have dinner together at a table with both genders and I believe there has been a lot of effort with this regard. However, I still find it very peculiar to see things like this park or female and male smoking lounges. Interestingly, no one cared that we were a mixed group always sitting and laughing together so I guess maybe for visitors the rules can be bent a little bit.

A day with the Saudi royals

Yesterday was so full of cool things that I did not get the time to catch up on the blog with this trip. Starting in the morning with a visit to Fort Masmak (where I got to hang around with a falcon) in Riyadh, we headed to the souq nearby. 

There we were surrounded by sellers offering everything ranging from carpets, oudh, spices and clothes. After this, we went to the national museum which pictures the pathways Saudi followed from pre-Islamic times until now, giving great insights about how the nation state was formed.

For lunch, we had the honor to dine with HRH Prince Turki bin Faisal at his house. He used to be the former ambassador for the Kingdom in the US and thus we questioned him on Saudi foreign policy and its role in mitigating regional conflicts like those in Yemen, Palestine or the disagreements with Qatar. This gave me a much better clue on Saudi's stance in these matters. We also got the chance to hear about the social transition Saudi is currently going through in terms of modernization and women's rights. HRH highlighted many initiatives that are running now and what the pathway to go will be. I am so excited to see how Saudi will further develop and I trust the country's future will stay great. Not only did I learn a lot during this lunch, but also got to eat the most amazing food.

Following this very informative lunch we went on the Globe, one of Riyadh's main high risers to enjoy the view of the city. After a quick tour there, we were invited to go to a horse race at the King Abdulaziz Equestrian Field. At the VIP lounge we were being told that we might as well join to watch where the royal family was enjoying the race. It was an amazing experience to take part in this event and see so many excited people when the horse they 'bet' on was winning and to see the owners of the winning horses enjoy themselves. We felt very welcomed there and I was honored to be able to see the price giving, the horses and some members of the royal family so closely. This day really sounds as full as it was and after a very late dinner I crushed into my bed and fell asleep within seconds.

Today, we spent the morning in Riyadh at the King Faisal Centre for Research and Islamic Studies. We had two academics who had debates with us regarding Saudi's foreign and domestic policy. There, I learned more about the causes of some of the difficulties Saudi has had with certain countries in the region, but also how the country keeps reviewing its strategies to become better and to ultimately unify the region. Afterwards, we headed to Dammam and tomorrow, I finally get to visit Saudi Aramco and find out more about how they are doing after the bond offering, IPO and attacks on its premises last year. I cannot wait to experience more in this amazing country.

First day in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

After lots of excitement I finally also made it to Saudi yesterday night. Arriving here, I felt like in the tales of 1001 nights with the people being dressed in their traditional clothes and the smell of Oudh everywhere.
Today we went to the desert close to the capital Riyadh, where we did all sorts of fun activities. We started off with a hike on the hills which included running (and falling/rolling) it down. Thereafter, there was a big lunch in the tent. Following the food (what a great idea) we went sliding in the sand, whereby a car pulled us which was extremely fun. Towards the end, I was also allowed to drive and we did some dune bashing which was so much fun. After we watched the sunset, I headed back to Riyadh and went for a cozy stroll around the hotel, enjoying the glittery lights of Saudi and an amazing first day comes to an end. Tomorrow we have a full on schedule and will visit the Souq, go for lunch at a prince's house and to a horse race so there is more to come!