Family Night In Saudi Arabia

Last night (Wednesday night in Jeddah and therefore the same as Friday night in the rest of the world) we went to Chili's for dinner. Neither of us had eaten there before, either here in Saudi or elsewhere, so we thought we'd give it a try. We got to the singles entrance (can't go into the Family entrance as where the women eat is separate from the single men ... this is to protect the women and prevent lasciviousness I guess).

Of course, single women and married couples can go into the family section so you work that out.

Anyway, we went to the singles entrance and it was closed. The family entrance was open. We then walked up to the road to Ruby Tuesday's. There was at least a sign there on the singles entrance saying "Wednesday Night is Family Night" - so only single women, and married couples (with or without children) can go. It sucks.

We then walked on to TGI Friday's which was open for families AND singles and ate there.

We then decided that we would not eat at Chili's, or at Ruby Tuesday, because of their ill treatment of singles (er, men not accompanied by their wives) at any time and will positively encourage all those we know not to eat there either.

Friday's, on the other hand, gets our full support ... and our dinner Riyals (unless of course they are closed tonight for "Family Night").

Saudi Censors

OK - I posted an entry to the blog here called A Test Post - Can I Post a Picture and posted it. I included a picture of two models of the Russian warship Poltava. It appears as though the post went through correctly and the upload of the picture worked as the link to the picture is http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/1101/1098274519422064/320/PICT2944.jpg.

However, whenever I click on what should be the image in the post I get a wonderful message from the Saudi Arabian Censors saying (in Arabic as well as English):

Access to the requested URL is not allowed!

Please, fill out the form below if you believe the requested page should not be blocked:

Form for URL unblocking request

Please, send other sites you feel should be blocked using the following form:

Blocking Request Form

Of course, I could list any sites that annoyed me and I am sure they would be blocked without checking.

I am not certain that I want to try the unblocking request yet - perhaps when it is closer to my time to leave.

More importantly, the Censors are blocking pictures posted to Blogger beta here ... but permitting access to pictures elsewhere, on other blogs hosted by other organisations. Seems that Google's influence in the Kingdom here is not as great as other American Organisations.

A Rainy Day in Jeddah

It rained four days ago. I awoke at 6 in the morning to the alarm then heard the thunder. Looking out of the hotel window I saw a lovely thunderstorm, thunder, lightning and rain. Had a shower, looked out the window again and the road at the back of the hotel (the Madinah Road) was flooded.

It then occurred to me, because it probably only rains once a year here no one worries about building a drainage system. In fact, walking around town I can't recall seeing a drain. This morning, therefore, it was like driving to work through a lake.

I've been coming to the Middle East on and off now for 15 years and today was the first day I have been here in the rain. The nearest I came before was arriving in Kuwait two days after it had rained. I look forward to the few days here to see what happens after the rain - to see how long things remain wet.

Oh, and actually the road out the front of the hotel is also the Madinah Road