World Cruise Day 97/152 - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Day 2 - Communication breakdown and the kindness of strangers

Cruise day: 97/152

Ports days: 40
Sea days: 57
Countries: 16
Continents: 5
Ports: 29

Today, we decided to do something different - we were going to try to find a mall.  We had heard that the malls in Jeddah are something to be seen - huge, beautiful, and high-end.  We met up with friends Karin & Al at breakfast and devised a plan.  We would take the free shuttle that Viking provides to the historic district and then catch a cab from there.  This was perhaps our first mistake.  In our perfect 20/20 hindsight, we should have simply opted for an Uber from the cruise port.  Of course, that wouldn't make for an adventure, so read on.

The adventure started at breakfast.  Since we would be going to a mall, we would all need the Tawakkalna app I mentioned yesterday activated on each of our phones.  Arlona & I went through the painful process yesterday so we helped Karin & Al get that done this morning.  It was just as painful even though we knew exactly what to do.  App communication failures and basic poor coding aside, we got through the process and got their phones ready to go.

We caught the 9:45am shuttle to the terminal where they looked at yesterday's entry stamp and waved us through to the shuttle bus.  I forgot to mention this yesterday - driving in Saudi Arabia is an adventure.  It is like playing a game of chicken with motor vehicles.  Lane markings are really more of a suggestion than a rule.

This is our bus driver driving - not changing lanes - just driving - note the lane marker that is centered under the bus - that was more the norm than the exception - the cab drivers were a little better, but not much - there were audible gasps from the back seat

We arrived at the historic district and caught a cab - the green cabs that we were told are the ones that take credit cards as payment.  Al told the driver that we were cruise passengers and we wanted to go to the large mall and we would pay by credit card.  All good, so we all piled into the cab and were off.

A short time later - I noticed things looking somewhat familiar.  Hmm...there's the port control tower, there's our ship, there's the cruise terminal!  I asked the driver where he was taking us.  "Cruise" was his reply in very broken English.  Doh!  He thought we wanted to go back to where we had just departed.  Communication. It's a wonderful thing.  I explained that we wanted to go to the large mall.  This eloquent description was met with a confused, I speak no English, kind of look from our otherwise friendly driver.  Ultimately, he dialed his cellphone and put me on with a friend that spoke better English.  Of course, better is relative and when you speak no English, better does not mean good.  Eventually, he got the idea that we wanted to go to a mall and he headed off, taking us somewhere.

I finally decided to bite the bullet and enable mobile services on my cellphone.  With our Verizon plan, for $10, I get a 24-hour day pass essentially anywhere.  With that, I was able to look up malls and found that the Red Sea Mall was the one we wanted.  I said "Red Sea Mall" and got a quizzical look from the driver.  "Red Sea Mall - English?"  He was surprised that apparently, Red Sea Mall means the same thing in Arabic as it does in English.  Now that we were all on the same page, we relaxed and enjoyed the ride.

An interesting building with a definite curve to it

Each overpass had a huge advertising electronic display

This building looks like it got a good nudge about a third of the way up

We finally arrived at the Red Sea Mall

It was at this point that another interesting conversation happened.  I pulled out my phone to use on his tap-to-pay terminal.  Nope - that wasn't good - he needed cash - Saudi riyal to be specific.  All good except none of us were carrying riyal since the cab took credit cards!  He got his guy on the phone again and we started arguing about how we would pay.  He didn't want dollars - only riyal, or perhaps euros as a last resort.  Finally, we enlisted the help of a friendly-looking gentleman at the curb who spoke excellent English.  He went back and forth with the driver and eventually apologized and said that we could just walk away as the cab's pay terminal should work and that was their fault, not ours.  We didn't want to stiff the driver and eventually, he accepted dollars as payment.  The gentleman suggested perhaps using an ATM to get a few riyals for our return ride home.  Lucky for us, Al had his debit card and agreed to get some local cash. This stranger was extremely gracious and more than willing to help four hapless tourists that couldn't communicate.  It was wonderful and we couldn't thank him enough.

This is where the story gets even more interesting.  Al & Karin found the ATM and withdrew some cash.  The ATM kicked his card back out and said to take the cash, except no cash was dispensed.  A worker was nearby and offered to help. They called the bank and got no help so he took them to another ATM.  This one produced errors right away so that didn't work either.  The man that was assisting them apologized and said on behalf of Saudi Arabia, here is 200 riyal (about $50USD) and have a good day.  Karin & Al offered to trade dollars but he refused and said it was a gift.  Amazing.  When we got back to the ship, Al called his bank and no transactions actually went through, so they were indeed up 200 riyal thanks to the generosity of a complete stranger that was embarrassed about how his country's banking system was working for a tourist.  That is pretty incredible.

Finally, we were off to wander and check out the mall.

Bright, open, lots of glass

Mall favorites like Pottery Barn are there

This is a flowing 8-foot chocolate fountain

This huge display was in a grocery store in the mall - again, there seems to be a real fascination with Tang here

There were lots of high-end designed clothing stores as well as designed jewelry and watch boutiques by Rolex, Tag, and Omega.  There was also a Victoria's Secret and plenty of other lingerie shops as well as women's clothing stores that featured extremely form-fitting and decidedly short dresses.  What we have come to learn is that the coverings that women wear are all worn when out and about and underneath, many are wearing very stylish and even potentially risque clothing.  Once home, the outer layer comes off, and then they wear fashionable clothing around the house.  It makes sense, but at first, seeing mannequins wearing clothing that an Islamic woman would never be seen out in just didn't seem right.  In this new context, we understand it.

What really got us were the eateries.  There are many local chains, but we were shocked by all the US restaurants like KFC, Sbarro, Burger King, Subway, Cinnabon, Charley's Philly Steak, PF Chang's, Shake Shack, Applebees, Little Caesar's Pizza, and more.

Mickey D's

Baskin & Robbins

Fridays & Five Guys Burgers

For the Canadians reading this - Timmy's!

For the Louisianians - Raising Canes'

Recognize this?

Yeehaw - Texas Roadhouse

It was interesting seeing the variety of clothing styles worn by Saudis.  Many men were in the customary throbe but many were in more western-style clothing.  Most women were wearing traditional coverings, but the headgear varied from no covering to face exposed, to only eyes exposed, to one woman in a full burka with even her eyes obscured with a mesh fabric. We did see one seemingly local couple holding hands, so perhaps things are starting to relax a bit.

When it was time to head back to the ship, we felt empowered, riyal in hand, to throw caution to the wind and use whatever taxi company we wanted.  A cab pulled up, we said, "Jeddah Islamic Port cruise terminal" and we were off.  About 20 minutes later, we pulled up to the terminal, handed the driver 100 riyals (about $25) for the four of us, and we were back.

Today, as we exited the terminal, we had to receive our exit stamp in our passport.

It seems kind of odd since we're headed to Yanbu Al Bahr for the next two days - still in Saudi Arabia.  That might mean that we have to jump through more immigration hoops tomorrow morning.  We shall see.

At 4PM, Cruise Director, Damian, came on the speaker and reminded anyone that did not get off the ship today to make their way to the terminal to receive that coveted exit stamp, because until that happened, we couldn't leave.  Everyone must have complied because we set sail a little after 5PM for Yanbu Al Bahr - about 185 miles north along the east shore of the Red Sea.  

It was again really hazy in the Red Sea - we didn't expect that.  We lost sight of land very quickly as we sailed out of Jeddah.  The Jeddah Light was standing proudly as we sailed away.

You can just make out the Jeddah Flagpole in the distance low and to the left of the Jeddah Light

This also marks a turning point in our cruise.  From here on, we are officially heading back.  We will continue to work our way north from here - Yanbu, then north into the Gulf of Aqaba to Jordan.  We'll briefly head south out of the Gulf to Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, and a little farther south to Safaga, Egypt before turning north for good back through the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean.

For the next two days, we'll be docked in Yanbu Commercial Port. Stay tuned tomorrow for Day 3 in Saudi Arabia.