City Living in Saudi Arabia

City Living

Saad describes the 1980s building boom, saying that because of the overwhelming amount of construction the people used to joke that the construction crane was the "national bird."

www.saudiembassy.net/publications/Magazine-Winter-01/wonders.htm A very nice travel-log!

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Typical main roads:

Saudi uses a developed system of parkways, highways and freeways, on a California model, to make transportation and movements easy.
www.saudinf.com/main/c6c.htm
picture: www.saudiembassy.netpublications/Magazine-Spring-01/Economy.htm

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I just looooove this description!!!

Field Notes From Author Frank Viviano
A taxi ride in a large Saudi city is a strange and often frustrating experience. Passengers call the person they're going to see and, after determining the taxi's location through a description of surrounding buildings or landmarks, they are gradually homed in toward the destination—if they're lucky. If not, someone on the other end may be forced to get into a car with his own cell phone and guide the taxi toward its goal by driving in concentric circles until the two vehicles finally meet. The amount of time lost in this odd four-wheel ballet is staggering.

http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0310/feature1/assignment1.html

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The roads in the kingdom are beautified with many statues, these are on the Cornish (along the beach) road in Jeddah.

www.photovault.com/Link/Cities/Asia/ArabianPeninsual/CAPVolume01.html

Car picture: www.labbaik.com/site/jeddah.asp

Statues along the beach road.

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Getting the camel to the beach for someone to ride. Picture: www.sealeyfamily.com/jeddahpix.htm

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Typical home

A typical residential area in the kingdom, each home is walled in for privacy.
http://geoimages.berkeley.edu/GeoImages/TroinArabia/Troin13.html

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Homes in Saudi are furnished and decorated much like in the west. Many photos at this site.

www.najaco.ru/real_estate/16_villas/16villas_thumbnails.htm

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Most yards in Saudi are small and to prevent neighbors from looking into a yard or windows, a 'view barricade' fence will be erected between them.

My picture

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An extreme case, this family home complex (main home plus four smaller ones) was built before tall buildings were allowed. When the taller building went up the owners erected a hanger style cover to put up their 'view' barricade!! picture: www.virtualtourist.com/m/5057e/1b922e/a/

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A newer statue in one of Jeddah's circles.

my picture

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Islam does not allow praying to statues and some religious leaders have translated this to mean that all forms of any of God's creations is not allowed in statue form. This includes simple children's toys, dolls or stuffed animals to any form of decorative statues. Someone got around this belief by erecting statues in the city in separate pieces, this camel sculpture as an example, three separate pieces are placed so that when you view it from a good position you will see the full animal.
As for children's toys, there are times that you will not be able to find any dolls, stuffed toys, action figures, etc.. you just have to wait until the store puts them back on their shelves, meaning that they were able to convince someone that it was ok.

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