how can I live there !!!!! 2 things more when u wanna go to the mall im takling about the men. No nights clubs there and No womens drive and No cool places and No parks and No cinemas. I rented a car in jeddah and i found thigs they’re never recpict you when u drive and theres A big traffic and big mess in the roads. and really iwanna see u with headscraf I guess its cool on you. Seriously.Īnyway, I can hear the first call to prayer, it’s 5:16am and I haven’t finished changing my presentation yet (avoid the word blogging (I’ll probably use citizen journalism) focus on social networks). I want to buy a stapler and staple it in place. It kept falling off and making a gosh-awful mess yesterday, just when I was trying to be the most unobstrutive blonde with grey eyes in the waiting area. I just hope my headscarf stays on today, while I’m in the lecture theatre. No stiff drink at the end of the day – but I did help Sam eat her chips while she ate a cheeseburger. Breathing because that’s what you do – focus on breathing deeply, nicely and slowly.
I think it was as we went through the armed guards into the Hilton area. It’s when culture shock hits you and adrenalin and the need to run make you a bit shaky. I did have a moment of – I call it breathing. Eventually we were walked through, Sam had to open her bag but I didn’t. I decided to not stress and ignore our bags out of sight on the carousel (they were fine). No one was rude but no way were they letting us through. One is never sure of the real story – was he really on his way, did they really turn him away to make him drive back to the office to find paperwork? – but from 4:30pm until 7pm, we waited.
This time, all women without a male escort were pulled from the queues and made to wait in a seated area. Last time my Dubai colleague, let’s call her Queen Sam had come to Jeddah, they let her through immigration, no question. We chose to cover up (abaya and scarf) as we flew over medina (5 mins before landing) but not every woman did) (Photo: foxyguy) Life support by Twitter Members: rocks!Ī massive ‘tent’ city built at Jeddah airport for Hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca and Medina. Whew! *cuddles Kate* I knew building up a community of 600 Twitterers would pay off one day. I was now riding off into Saudi Arabia with some kind of connection to the outside world. They turned on roaming for me, or changed something. Kate Carruthers dived in to my rescue and phoned Optus. And during the 5am to 1pm layover was on Twitter.
#Gay men twitter jeddah free#
I was able to pick up free wireless at Dubai airport – can you believe that? – even before I had gone through Departures. Unfortunately it takes up to a day to activate pre-paid sims so that was out. I was told – promised actually – that the settings would be the same, but clearly they were not. I had it on when I went to New Zealand a while ago, but since then I had upgraded – certainly a new SIM card cos the Optus guys told me it was better to have U-Sim or whatever it was called. Somehow international roaming had got switched off. I arrived in Dubai airport and realised my Nokia 95 wasn’t picking up a service provider. One was before I even got to Saudi Arabia. (Background to the “New Arab Woman’s” project)