Saudi Arabia (The Sandpit...)

Afternoon all...

Its been a while since I updated, I have been busy, private stuff...

At the moment I am in Saudi Arabia in Riyadh doing some training for a few customers. The work is going ok, at least the weather is nice. When I left England a few days ago it was snowing like the clappers but here its nice, a balmy 25 degrees. I've got one more day in Riyadh and then
I'm off to Jizan in the south. I was going to post some piccies but this bastard hotel (Holiday Inn) won't let me upload anything on to their PC. For which they charge me 5 quid per hour to use...

Yesterday after work I went to visit the Kingdom tower. This is a new 99 story building in Riyadh. When I got there they charged me 25 riyal to go up to the top and then they confiscated my camera as there were no pictures allowed from the top. When I got to the top on to the Skybridge (950 foot up) there were loads of Saudi up here happily clicking away with their cameras. So I had to sneak some piccies on my mobile. I'll post some when I get back from the sandpit (Saudi Arabia).

I also went shopping in the Batha Souk in Riyadh last night. You really can tell the difference between 15 years ago, when I lived here for a year, and now. I was the only white face on the streets, no other foreigners anywhere. Still, the grilled lamb kebabs were good and if you are in the market for 22 carat yellow gold, this is the place. 15 years ago the place was full of expats doing their amateur haggling but now its all indians and pakistanis doing the trading...

One thing was great, when I was here in 1991 my favourite restaurant was Al Nafoura, a lebanese showarma place. I was hoping to find the place again and wheyhey! I did! It is now a chain of three restaurants and one of them is just outside my hotel, ace! I have eaten there every night for the last three days, they still do the best chicken kebab in the world. Tonite I might have to eat there again, I'm already drooling for more...
(There you go, that is what a non-alcohol country does to me, I turn into a gastro freak. No booze here, no bars, no women, no nothing, only Al Nafoura!)

OK, I'll update again when I get access in Jizan on the Yemen border,

Take care,

Alex.