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.

World Cruise Day 96/152 - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia - Clean, mostly welcoming, and a pain in the keister to get into

Cruise day: 96/152

Ports days: 39
Sea days: 57
Countries: 16
Continents: 5
Ports: 29

I kept meaning to add this to the blog but kept forgetting, probably because I am sleep-deprived. A couple of days ago, we made another hour leap forward to UTC+3 to align with Arabia time.  We're now seven hours ahead of the US east coast.  Once we start making our way back to the Mediterranean, we'll start gaining a few of those hours back.

Today, on Day 96 of our 152-day adventure, we landed on our final continent, Asia, and in a new country, Saudi Arabia, specifically in the town of Jeddah.

How did we get here? This shows our four-day trek from Crete.

Jeddah is a commercial shipping port, so for the next two days, we'll have a lovely view of the city, complete with a picturesque foreground of stylish, multicolored shipping containers and industrial cranes.  They can't all be beautiful ports.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is just that, a Kingdom, and that comes with strict rules and regulations that in no way resemble what we are used to in the United States.  Some crimes are punishable by death, there are different rules for men and women, and no tolerance for lifestyles that do not meet what has been determined to be acceptable.

Our tour today was a bus tour of Jeddah followed by a walking tour of the Jeddah Historical District of Al Balad, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

We first had to board our shuttle bus for the 1.6km ride from the ship to the terminal building where we would go through immigration.  We brought along all the required items:

• Passport - they looked at this and stamped it with an entry stamp - we'll need an exit stamp to leave
• COVID vaccine card - nobody looked at this
• Negative PCR test - they asked for this last-minute so Viking provided it and then they changed their mind - nobody looked at this
• Immigration form - they looked at this
• E-visa printout - they looked at this

The terminal building was pretty disorganized.  I'm understating this.

The process was so slow that we were more than 30 minutes late leaving the ship because it was so backed up. Once in the terminal, there was little instruction on where to wait and how to move through the line.  Therefore, people being people, passengers were moving in front of those who had been patiently waiting, creating a little tension among passengers.  Viking and/or Saudi officials should have provided a clear, designated waiting area and queue, and they didn't so it was barely organized chaos. As more people arrived, it was just short of a disaster in my not very humble opinion.  My understanding was that the Saudis also didn't open all the inspection stations until Viking pressured them into it, so kudos to Viking for pushing that issue to speed things up. 

Once we finally got to an inspection station, we presented our passports, immigration forms, and e-visa printouts.  The inspector checked our documents, photographed us, fingerprinted us, stamped our passports with a Saudi entry stamp, and sent us on our way.  

With that fiasco completed, we finally hopped on our tour bus and headed out for the tour.  Since we made no stops until the old city, these were shot through a bus window while the bus was moving.  High-quality photography, it is not.

Jeddah Islamic Seaport Control Tower

The world's tallest flagpole, The Jeddah Flagpole, stands 561-feet tall and was constructed with over 500 tons of steel and concrete

The pole sports a 162x108-foot Saudi Arabian flag that weighs in at 1,260 pounds

Los Angeles had cell towers that were disguised to look like palm trees - they look like a second-grade art project when compared to the ones in Jeddah

Sculptures were placed all over

This isn't a sculpture - it is King Fahd's Fountain - when operating, it shoots water 1,024 feet into the air

The Ritz-Carlton

There is some western culture on display

We arrived in the old city and started our walking tour on this 90-degree bright, sunny day.  I was wishing I had shorts on, but I wore long pants as is the custom.

The old entry gate

For the record, the odd-looking angles are not this photographer's fault - all these buildings looked like something Dr. Seuss might have drawn - there wasn't a parallel line or level surface to be found 

One of the construction techniques was to insert wood every meter or so - if a stone needed to be replaced, they could brace the wood above, replace the broken stone, and settle the wood back down on top - no need to tear down anything

Jeddah Acadamy of Fine Arts

Al Shafi'i Mosque - the oldest mosque in Jeddah originally built in 1250

Some interesting art outside the mosque.

A marketplace, or souk

That red stuff is incense

One of the shopkeepers offered a friendly, "Hello!" as we walked by.  I responded with a friendly, "Hello!  How are you?" at which point it became evident that "hello" was the only English word the gentleman spoke.  But, in his defense, that's one more word than I know in Arabic, so he wins. I offered a fist bump which he happily returned. Generally speaking, the people were friendly, although many seemed to just ignore us.

They seem to love different flavors of Tang - we saw it all over in stores

The guide showed us these tree limbs that locals cut and mash the end to use as an impromptu toothbrush of sorts to freshen their mouth before prayer - we tried it and it felt a lot like...rubbing wood on our teeth - go figure

We toured this house to get a feel of how they lived

The window extended out the front of the building with a panel facing forward, left, and right, providing a 180-degree view

Burning incense is a tradition

This home had an escape tunnel that led to a neighboring home

We visited a second home

Unfortunately, there was no free time to browse shops in the souk - that would have been interesting.  Alas, we returned to our bus.  These were parked by the bus stop - there is some money in Jeddah.

A Bentley convertible and M-series BMW

We rode the bus back to the terminal, and then the shuttle from the terminal to our ship.  We had lunch and then relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.

Here are some close-ups from our balcony.

The Islamic Seaport Control Tower

This gives a sense of just how massive that flagpole is - it towers over an adjacent building

We are considering going out tomorrow and exploring on our own.  Based on what we've heard, if you do that and expect to get into stores, restaurants, museums, and such, you absolutely must have the Official Saudi app - Tawakkalna - loaded on your smartphone and have an active and authenticated account.  To do that, you input your passport number.  That ties back to the immigration process, your e-visa, vaccination status, and so on.  You also have to enable location services so the app (and Saudi government) can track your comings and goings.  The app also serves as a contract tracer and can provide the government with contact information in the event someone tests positive for COVID.  By knowing where you were and who else was there at the same time, they can identify close contacts.  Everyone in the Kingdom must have the app enabled - not just visitors but residents as well.

After the sun went down, you get a slightly different view of the town.

King Fahd's fountain was working briefly tonight, shooting water 1,000 feet in the air - for reference, that lit up building to the right is King's Road Tower and it features the largest video advertising screen in the middle east

 The building is 558-feet tall - the video screen spans 21 floors on the north and south facade and 16 floors on the west facade - you're looking at the south facade, meaning that the video screen is about 475 feet high

The Islamic Seaport Control Tower lit up in green matching the color of the Saudi flag

Jeddah Light - an observation tower, port control tower, and active lighthouse

It is 421-feet tall and has what has been called a "credible claim" as the world's tallest lighthouse although it is not a conventional standalone lighthouse

The port seemed relatively quiet during the day with light truck traffic and some container movement - but at night, it seemed to come alive with constant trucks and container movement

The Star was looking particularly lovely on this beautiful evening

Today, we bid our final farewell to our outgoing General Manager, Johann.  

A bittersweet goodbye

He let us know that Viking's Owner, Torstein Hagen was on the ship for the night.  We didn't run into him, but other guests did see him.  This was Viking's first-ever docking in Saudi Arabia, so for Viking, it was kind of a big deal.  Perhaps that's why Tor was here.  He is leaving tomorrow, so it isn't much of a visit for a world cruise.

Our takeaways from today:

1. Saudi Arabia is trying to open to tourism - it is the very beginning of a work in progress and needs a lot of fine tuning before they are really ready to accept tourists in any great numbers
2. If you're coming to Saudi Arabia, be prepared to give up privacy - you have to get fingerprinted and photographed - you have to have a phone app installed that tracks your movements
3. The phone app is not well-written and has a large number of usability issues making it very challenging, especially for the technically challenged, to activate
4. The immigration process is not at all streamlined
5. The expectation of conforming to the Kingdom's dress code is not at all accepting of outsiders - and while many may choose to conform out of respect, the fact that you are essentially forced to doesn't make for a welcome feeling
6. Overall, the locals were friendly, or they simply ignored you - it was a pretty good mix - for every person that walked by with a smile and a "Welcome!", there was at least one that stared at the ground and pretended you weren't there
7. Everything here was pretty much immaculate - of course, littering is a huge offense so that probably figures into that, but still, it was nice and clean

We have nothing scheduled for tomorrow.  We are considering trying to get to a mall as we have heard that the malls are simply amazing to experience.  We'll see how we feel tomorrow and decide then.