Theo of Arabia: Part 15

What do you do in a country where there is no cinema, no theatre, no opera, no clubs, no bars and where no concert stake place? Well, for one who comes from the western world and is used to the western lifestyle, it will be difficult to get used to the Arab way of life. For some it may come as a shock if they find out that nothing of the aforementioned exists in the kingdom. Others don’t notice it at first, but are surprised about it when they notice it later on at some point. People who are not averse to alcoholic beverages and like to have a beer or a glass of wine with their meal, will have a hard time. Saudi is in this respect a dry country. Alcohol is strongly prohibited and despite all stories and reports in various blogs, books and guides, there are no alcoholic beverages available in certain hotels for foreigners. This might be the case for some neighbouring countries, where westerners are able to find beer and wine in certain hotels, but not here in KSA. It is also strictly prohibited to import alcohol in any form. So if you take a bottle of whisky with you and get caught at the customs, a small sized Arab border official will appear out of nowhere, jump on on, throw you down, scream and shout something unintelligible in Arabic, and when you open your eyes again, you’ll find yourself in a dungeon on water and bread. Well, maybe not quite like that, but you’ll end up in prison.

It is not like that you have to give up on beer and forget its existence for the length of your stay, you can find non-alcoholic beer everywhere. Here I saw for the first time ever such a large selection of non-alcoholic beers. Brands we know from home, offer here a variety of beers in many different flavours, such as apple, lemon, raspberry, etc. that don’t exist back home. I have even seen non-alcoholic wine.

In your spare time you can go to cafés, in larger cities there are western chains like Starbucks, in restaurants, there are many chains here too, you could do sports, go for a walk in a park, go on a sightseeing tour, or go with the Saudis to the desert. There you can ride on camels, camp, stay overnight in a tent, have a BBQ, etc. Many Saudis spend their weekends in the desert. They pitch their tent and have a nice time with family or friends.

If you want to eat out, one of the most popular pastimes in the country, you really will be spoiled for choice. In Ar’ar however, there are no western chains. No golden M, no Burger King, no Pizza Hut, Applebee’s, etc. Here you can experience Arabia as you know it from picture books, 1001 nights sagas. Sure there is fast food in Ar’ar, but it is rather sold in kebab shops. No chippies here, my fellow Brits! The restaurants are divided into two groups. One with tables and chairs, and one without. Restaurants in Ar’ar are usually kept traditionally. Which means: no tables, no chairs, not even cutlery. You sit on the floor and eat with your hands and fingers. If you are not accustomed to eating with your fingers, you will have a hard time. I manage to eat pretty much everything with my fingers, except rice. This is something I’m still working on. That’s why I ask for cutlery and get some of plastic. My colleagues however eat with their hands and fingers. In the restaurants there are small booths with doors in which you sit in to eat. Of course you leave your shoes outside the booth. Depending on the restaurant, the walls are of different height and different material. They can reach up to the ceiling and be made of fabric or of brick and about half the size.

So it often happens that we see heads of our students peering above the walls when we are in a restaurant. Because us teachers are probably the only ones who speak English with each other, our students stop when they hear us. Of course they tell all the other students where their teachers are and so the entire school is immediately informed about which teachers are eating in which restaurant. And then we get those cheeky questions, like: “How was dinner at the … teacher?”

Inside the booth you sit on a carpet and lean on pillows. This way you eat in absolute privacy without any disturbing and/or annoying table neighbours. The waiter brings the food and places it on a paper table cloth which is spread on the carpet in the middle of the booth. The table cloth is usually coated with cling film.

Kabsa is being served. It is the national dish of the Arabs. What it is exactly and what it looks like can be seen here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabsa I am sick of it and can’t see that stuff anymore. Unfortunately it is being offered every single day in the cafeteria of the polytechnic. I refuse to take it and take whatever else there is, if there is anything else. Once I was late for lunch and the only thing left was Kabsa. So I took a plate of it against my will. Then the chef asked me:

“Do you like Kabsa?”

“The Kabsa-thingy, you can shove up your ****, but unfortunately I have no other choice today!” I replied in Bavarian dialect.

“Ha?” asked the chef.

“Oh, yes, I love it!” I replied with a big grin on my face.

The chef was happy and swung his ladle and put some more Kabsa on my plate. Great!

Well, there are restaurants offering Kabsa only. Others that have a normal menu, but serve on Friday early afternoon, straight after the morning prayers, only Kabsa. Thus it is sometimes hard to find something to eat. My Muslim brothers have no problem with it and can eat it every day.

The portions are huge in this country. Two people can easily be satisfied with one plate. That’s why we don’t order individual dishes for ourselves, but choose all together and place the food in the middle so everybody can taste everything. Camel meat is a specialty here. But you have to get used to the taste. It’s not for everybody. What you can’t find here is pork.

We eat out every weekend. It is very cheap to eat in a restaurant, that’s why we choose not to cook. In the popular Safa-restaurant you can dine with as little as two pounds. One can of PEPSI costs around 30p. Elsewhere it is a little more expensive. Prepare to pay four pounds. Once we went to a turkish restaurant, one of the most expensive in town. It was three of us and had a fantastic dinner with salads, meat, rice, chips, drinks, etc. and paid something like 16 quid inclusive tip. Together, not per person!

This blog is available on Amazon:
Theo of Arabia ebook

Theo of Arabia paperback

Fooling around in the Al Bustan restaurant (the most expensive in town) while waiting for the dinner