R i Y A D H -- 2 (Last Part)

Part 2 (Last part)

As the background is set now, let me pen down some more experiences –

5) Mamlaka & Fasiliyah

These are the 2 tall buildings which happen to be the only places of interest in the city. Mamlaka (also called as Kingdom Tower) is a beautiful piece of construction and you can go to the skybridge on 99^th floor. Really cool view you get from there. (Link). Nothing special in Faisiliyah though.

6) Muttawa

I had found some company to roam around in the city when 2 guys joined in @ client’s office. They were staying in the same hotel where I was put up. We were a good team and used to go for dinner every day at a mallu restaurant. On a Friday, we decided to head to an area called Batha. This is Hongkong lane (Pune) + Chor Bazaar (Pune) + Fashion Street (Mumbai) type area wherein you can get really cheap deals but obviously without guarantee / warranty.

Time was 6:25pm and all the shops were closed for evening prayers. Like hundreds of people, we were also sitting on steps outside that row of shops. Suddenly, everybody started running around. Ultimate chaos within 2 minutes!

We realized that we were the only 3 guys sitting on those steps. ‘n Whoaaaaa… We saw a guy in Arabic robe and with a thick stick (Small but thick Bamboo) in his hand running towards us. Damn… I think it was the scariest moment of my life! We ran like we were running for a gold medal in Olympics. That Arabic guy was only a few feet away from me. After covering a few feet, I think that Arabic guy found some better target and he went behind him. Phewwww…

Now some bit of information – Who was that Arabic guy? Google has answers of all questions which probably God also doesn’t have! Answer I got – “Muttawa”. They are religious police. Lots of stories are available on net. I’m not sure how true they are. But I suggest you to go through this Wiki Link. to get a hang of it.

7) Settling in KSA

There was a Tamilian guy in client’s team but he was working in KSA for almost 8 years. He had picked up Arabic really well. One day I asked him about his family over the lunch.He said he had not brought his family in KSA and all his folks were in Chennai. I thought it could’ve been easier for his family to adjust in Saudi as he is a Muslim. He told me about the safety factor. Apparently there are a lot of incidents happening wherein families are attacked by people there and they do not get justice from police force as well.

This is all what I’ve heard and I do not undertake any responsibility for correctness of these statements. But I suggest you to take a look at an article that was published in Arabnews.

8) Airport woes @ KKIA

Riyadh’s King Khaled International Airport is country’s one of the main airports in the country and is well connected to main cities in Asia, Africa, Europe. But surprisingly Asians face a lot of problems in immigration queue while flying in the country. Immigration time of 2-6 hours is not a new thing there for Asians. Asians standing in queues where no officers turn up for 2-3 hours is also a common thing! Amazingly, this doesn’t happen with Europeans, Australians, Americans, Nationals of Middle eastern countries. Anyway, this is my view and I COULD BE COMPLETELY WRONG as well.

Well, that’s it guys from my side. Hope you enjoyed reading this second part as well. I’ll be waiting for your comments.

Salaama..!

- Jadeeb

R i Y A D H

Background:

8 weeks project in KSA (kingdom of Saudi Arabia).. I don’t know what did I feel when I got to know this. It seemed an interesting project to work on. But Saudi?? I definitely had some apprehensions before I nodded my head indicating my readiness to take it up.

Something about KSA:

For those who do not know – KSA is one of the most challenging countries to stay in. They expect expats also to abide by their customs and respect their religious beliefs. You are not supposed to schedule a meeting in thier prayer times (5 times a day). All the shops close in their prayer times (approx 25 minutes for each time; 5 times a day). Women are not allowed to work here in offices (apart from a few exceptions). Women are not allowed to drive in KSA. Yes that’s a fact – believe it or not! And, every woman in the country needs to wear Abaya (Burkha) irrespective of the religion she follows!

With this background, I was set to fly to Riyadh – the capital of KSA. Instead of flying on Emirates’ nice and cozy flight, I ended up flying on Saudi Arabian Airlines’ B777. It was a nice flight. I was just trying to read my KSA visa again when I was in-flight. I could read only 3 things – 1) My name, 2) Validity 3) No. of entries. There were many other details printed on it but all in Arabic. I was curious to know what that Arabic text stood for! Mr Mohamed, my co-passenger, helped me out. He translated that for me. And then only I got to know that even though total validity was 3 months, maximum period I could stay in the country was only 30 days! And this critical information was in Arabic. I revalidated all my visa details after landing at Riyadh as well.

KSA is one of the biggest countries in Middle East. It shares borders with Kuwait, UAE, Yemen, Syria, Jordan, Oman, and Iraq. There’s also a roadbridge to Bahrain from Dammam which runs for 40 kms in the Persian Gulf. Riyadh is the capital city and is centrally located. Its equivalent to Sharjah in UAE or Pimpri-Chinchwad area (near Pune) in India. Other prominent cities include – Jeddah (approx 500 kms to the west of Riyadh and on red sea), Dammam (approx 450 kms to the east of Riyadh & touching Persian gulf.). Both are good ports and have good air & sea links with other countries. There are some nice places to visit in KSA but none of them is in central region. KSA’s currency is Saudi Riyal (SAR) and approx 1 USD = 3.75 SAR. (or 1 SAR = 13 INR). Highways are overcrowded with mostly American cars like GM, GMC, Ford, Lincoln. A litre of Petrol costs 45 halala (0.45 SAR); 55% cheaper than a bottle of 1L mineral water (1 SAR). Weekend in KSA is Thursday+Friday!KSA is in GMT +3 hrs of timezone.

Globalization:

Saif had come to pick me up at the airport. I kinda understood what does globalization mean at that time. Client’s HR manager, a Yemeni guy, had sent Saif (an Indonesian driver) to pick me (Indian) – who works in a company in UAE which has got its HQ in Switzerland – up at Saudi’s capital in American car (GMC). Wow! Saif could hardly speak English. He dropped me at my hotel apartment whose name I couldn’t understand!

Ok, let me just briefly touch upon my experiences in KSA so far!

1) Check-in: Hotel reception
When I checked in there, the manager gave me a print out and asked me to sign on that. I looked at the paper and asked, ‘where do you want me to sign’? Reason: That printout was completely in Arabic! He pointed some space. Damn, I just didn’t know on what paper I was putting my signature on! 

2) Day 2: Morning.. Leaving for office!
I did not know the name, address of the hotel I was put up. So I asked in the morning at the reception. There was some different manager who did not understand even a bit of Ingleezi. Somehow I managed to get a card which had hotel’s address and telephone number. As expected, it was in Arabic. Damn, how the hell i’m gonna stay in this country for next few weeks, I thought.

3) Day 2: Dinner
Challenge 1) where to eat - Thankfully, my client had arranged for my conveyance from hotel to office and back. After reaching office, I managed to understand the name and brief address also for the hotel  In the evening, my boss dropped me at one of the restaurants near my hotel. I thought I’ll get some authentic Arabic food over there.
Challenge 2) Where to sit – I pushed the door and entered in there. I knew that in KSA they have separate sections for family and singles. So I was looking out for singles section. Couldn’t see any signboard indicating that. So I asked a waiter. He did not have a clue what I was trying to ask. I had to go in complete dumbC mode to explain him that I’m hungry, I want to eat and I want to sit somewhere in singles’ section. He gave me a smile and showed me the way! Yes, I was gonna get some food  Singles’ section had a cubicle like structure with walls of approx 5 feet. That waiter asked me to go in one of those cubicles. As I opened the door of the cubicle, I saw only a carpet laid down. No table and chairs  ! So I had take off my shoes and sit down there. I was wearing my suit, tie and was sitting on a carpet for eating something. It was funny!
Challenge 3) What to order – The next challenge was what to order. I dumbC’ed him to get something in chicken and no beef. He nodded his head positively and got back with some type of chicken biryani and pepsi. I could eat only 20% of it .It wasn’t that tasty either.
Challenge 4) How much to pay – At the counter, I did not have any clue what my check was amounting to. I gave 50 riyal note; expecting to get something back. He gave me 37 riyals back. So my bill was 13 riyals only! Good..

Knowledge:
Arabic (Saudi, Yemeni, Syrian, Jordanian, Egyptian, Kuwaiti, Bahraini etc... Basically who can speak Arabic) guys are very friendly and they wont try to cheat you. However, there's a genuine barrier of language.

Lesson:
To learn speaking basic Arabic phrases and numbers!

4) Telephonic conversation
As part of my project, I was supposed to get some updates from client’s offices in Jeddah and Dammam. Guy sitting in Jeddah office was good in English and hence I got my information from him within minutes. Then I dialed for the guy sitting in Dammam. Man, it was so damn difficult to understand what was he trying to communicate.

JD: “Salaam aalekum Majid. data1 ok & moujud??”
Majid: “Wallekum assalam hamdullah Mr Jadeeb. Data1 No ok. Tomorrow inshallah.”
JD: “ What is the problem?”
Majid: “my car break. I not go to other office + (something something in Arabic)”
JD: “By what time will you send data1 tomorrow?”
Majid: “Ok, tomorrow inshallah hamdullah”.
JD: “Tell me the time.”
Majid: “I don’t know.”
JD: (thinking thinking.. and finally ..) “Ok fine!”
Majid: ”Thank you!”

5) Washing Machine
The place where I’m staying in is a self serviced hotel apartment. Means its like a fully furnished 1 BHK. There’s no restaurant, café, recreation area in the hotel. After 4-5 days of my stay, I wanted to wash my clothes. There was a semi-automatic machine in the bathroom but it did not have either water or electricity connection. So I asked the hotel manager – how do I use this machine. He said, its simple! Move the machine to the other corner of the bathroom where there was an electric point and pour water into the machine using the bucket. I was amazed but I hardly had a choice. When I moved the machine to get the electric connection, I noticed that it was blocking the way to come out of the bathroom. Man, I really had to squeeze through a tiny winy gap to get out of my bathroom after setting up the machine for washing. After a while, I had to do the same exercise as I had to move the clothes from washing compartment to the dryer. Grrrrrr…. There wasn’t enough space in the bathroom where I could’ve done dhibi-pachhad also.

Now I’m kinda settled here in Riyadh after 4 weeks of stay. I had a quick trip to Dubai last weekend to get a new visa stamped. Lets see if I can visit any interesting places in Riyadh in next 4 weeks.

Salaama!

- Jadeeb
(They find it very difficult to pronounce my name. So they call me Jadeeb or Jay or something like that :) )

हम चलें चंद्रताल !!!

Friends,Romans,Countrymen,
In 1854, on the snow clad hill-slopes of the himalayas lived a wise hermit to loved to trek. He died in 1856. this log is dedicated to that poor old man who did not have the opportunity to make such a log.

Thus unfolds the lengendary kathaa of our danger-laden trek to Chandrataal:

It all began with our train journey to delhi...(june 26th)...reaching the railway stn @ 4 am was torture for most of the guys...but it wasnt so for the nocturnal creature that i am...26 hrs to Delhi were full-to fun, dangaa, tp, non-sense, food....yeah, we had too much food...

On 27th's evening, we had to catch the bus for manali...couldnt do much dangaa there in the bus for fear that the driver may suddenly decide to abandon us in some secluded spot and run off (with the bus of course)...28th was a bright sunny day in Manali...we (non-tekdi guys) went to jogini falls for acclamatization...was a great place...firang babes in their barely-there clothes (leaving nothing to the imagination) added spice to our excursion...We visited hadimba temple in the evening...nice place!!! my 6th visit to hadimba, in all...
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We left for the actual trek route from manali early in the morning on the 29th...0400 hrs...it was so damn cold we had people shivering from hair to u know what...We had to cross Rohtang pass as early as possible,but it was almost 7 when we finally left our hotel in manali...my Qualis was very capacious with only 6 guys sitting in it..The road to Rohtang kept telling us to mind its curves..as if we'd had an option..Rohtang was very crowded as expected...had our breakfast at a small place called Grampho, 16 kms from rohtang (last place on Manali-Leh highway on our way to ch'taal)...reached a small kasbaa called chhatru by noon...our first day trek was from *chhatru to dadar-fu*( sounds Chinese? )...moderate distance of 7-8 kms...
Walkin to dadar-fu was hardly tiring...dadar-fu was a great sight...there was a nice waterfall nearby...climbing climbing kiya...fun kiya...

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The next day, 30th june, 2 tekdi guys started feeling HAS (high altitude sickness)...
So we had to send "The Sickos" back to manali..the rest of us were to reach *Chhota-Dara*( no relative of any wrestler/gangster). 8 kms from dadar-fu...God damn HAS started troubling a few more guys by then...Chhota Dara was a windy site...some of us tried rock climbing there(TRIED!!)
i couldnt, coz my feet were blistered... :-(
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1st july :

Now it was pushkar's turn to go back to Manali...He was the most experienced Himalayan trekker amongst us...but HAS troubled him like hell...n the distance to be covered that day was 17 kms...also 1 girl, Persis, couldnt walk after sometime...so we sent her to *Baatal*, our destination camp for that day, via some passing jeep...walking there was getting harder n harder after every step...me n Amey Kunte had quite an amount of energy left...so we sprinted to baatal in 3 n half hrs without stopping in last 14 kms( clap clap ).

Persis was sitting there but wasnt feeling perfectly allright...In the evening, she n one more guy, Rao, had to be sent back to Manali..For the first time in all my trekking experience,were 5 people sent back to the start.

Baatal was very very windy...it took us more than 40 mins to pitch our tent...generally it requires 15 mins max.( doesn't speak too well of us now does it? ).
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3rd n 4th july :

The actual plan was to go to a monestry called Tokpo Yongma on 3rd n return to Chandrataal on 4th july evening...but looking at everyone's condition, the local guide said we shouldnt go there...so we stayed at Chandrataal...did some small climbs, played in snow, played cards, had fun in songs' mehfils. We prepared dinner ourselves n rested the local cooks...all in all had too much fun..

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5th july :

The day started on a terribly wrong note...it was snowing heavily from 0430 hrs...n there wasnt any sign of respite from the snowfalll...According to the original plan,we had to climb 7 kms n reach Kumzum Pass n go back to Manali from there via jeeps which were supposed to pick us up there..

but it was very very risky to climb up in the snow...so we decided to go back to Baatal, 14kms down...we lost our way in the snow...snowfall just didn't stop...winds were chilling...our sacks had protection but for heavy snowfall like that, it wasnt enough to keep the stuff inside dry...we were walkiing all day with wet socks, wet shoes, wet pants (ewwwww)...

We had to cover those 14kms in the shortest possible time...we had to pull the weaker guys all the time...finally we reached Baatal at 2 pm...jeepwallahs had come 2-3 kms from baatal to pick us up...what a relief !!!...after our lunch n clothes changing, we left for manali at 5 pm..

but where was the road ???

The entire road was covered with thick snow..Our Sumos were going through that snow trying to find the road...it s all depended on the drivers' skills...their memory, basically... where's the glacier, where's the crevice, n mainly where's the road....

It was still snowing...

We had to come out from our sumo n lagao dhakka *n* no of times...it was damn cold outside the vehicle...n in that we had to put our feet in 2 feet thick snow n lagao dhakka...

horrible !

Reached Chhatru back at 8 pm...it took us 3 hrs to clock 30 odd kms n that too with those expert drivers...

n the fun begins now...

After Chhatru, we had to clear the landslides !!!! yeah, you read it correctly...LANDSLIDES...
As we saw a landslide, we'd come out of the sumos, push the rocks in the valley... all this in snowfall, spine-chilling cold n in the night using torches or headlights...after clearing this, you get a new landslide on the next turn...

हे भगवान कर कल्याण !!! (hey bhagwan, kar kalyan ! )

We cleared almost 15 landslides from Chhatru...but finally we got stuck to a rock which was double the size of our sumo gaddi...it was impossible to move by an inch too...

so a decision was made to go back to chhatru n stay there in a small dhaba...it was 0000hrs 6th july, when we reached chhatru again...we were shivering continuously...sitting near a shekoti(burning horse shit!) n sipping tea, somehow we managed to pass that night...

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6th july:

We slept turn by turn in that small dhaba in Chhatru...as the weather got cleared a bit, we instantly left for Manali...our drivers had decided to pass that big rock anyhow...

They did drink like hell to sustain the fatigue n to have energy in that weather... आमच्या XX कपाळात ! (aamchya XX kapaalat) ...they passed sumos through that narrowest gap, i dont know how...its just undescribable...we were watching the sumo's 2 tyres alomst completely in the valley n the other driver was shouting *aane de aane de*...we didnt have balls to stay in sumo while they showing this stunt...we were standing atleast 200 metres away...

After clearing this landslide. we came across many landslides...the rocks were not as big though...at one place Kunte went ahead to clear a few rocks n a rock, sized almost equal to a small truck, went rolling bekkar fastly in the vally, just 5 feet behind him...we were all stunned...kunte couldnt even speak up for next 15 minutes...

Again we had to go back to find shelter somewhere as it was past 7.30 pm...it was very risky to park the vehicles on the road n sleep inside...We found a small house belonging to a tibetan...he allowed us to stay in...gave us food too...We, 18 guys had to distribute in his house n gotha...snowfall had again started...no-one could sleep...It was the highest degree of cold i have ever experienced...wettish jackets,pull-overs,sweaters could hardly protect us from that cold...

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7th july:

We were supposed to be in delhi on 7th to catch the train to pune...but we weren't even in Manali...there wasnt any communication possible...no mobile networks...

Now, we had to decide whether to stay there or to move ahead...some of us were in terrible health...but, we decided to move ahead...Sumos were not feasible as there were too many landslides ahead...so we started walking...after doing 7 kms, we reached a place called *Grampho* which was a place on manali-leh highway...so we had a chance to get some transport from there to manali...

But luck was on our side this time (ABOUT TIME!!)...

2 empty jeeps coming back from leh agreed to drop us at manali...but they werent so sure about the road ahead...but somehow we left for Manali...
Till rohtang, it was again full white-wash...again we cleared some landslides...after crossing rohtang, there was a big fresh landslide stretching about 300 metres...impossible to clear up by hands...but mobiles were working now...we walked through that landslide n waited for the jeeps to come from manali side...our jeeps arrived after sometime n we finally reached Manali at 6 pm...

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8th july:

Manali-Delhi bus passes via Kullu...but Kullu was also closed due to floods for some days...again the luck was on our side...on 8th , our bus could pass through kullu n we were on our way to delhi...by this time, our train reservations from Delhi to Pune had gone waste...
We could only get confirmed tickets of a royal train called Firozpur-Mumbai janata exp, which is supposed to take 6 hrs more than the avg time on that route...
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9th n 10th july :

reached Delhi in the morning...4 of us decided to fly back to Pune...
Our royal train was in the afternoon...it came 1 n half hrs late...but we reached dadar before time on 10th's evening...we did lots of dhamaal in train...we were all again charged-up...
30 hrs train journey felt like nothing...
after dinner, took 2145 hrs' asiad from dadar for pune...n reached pune at 0130 hrs, 11th july...
husssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..........................................