Half and Half

Went to a different compound yesterday to have dinner. This was at the Romaizan. The food there is very good. According to the people who have been in Riyadh for years this compound has the best food in all of all. I did not get to see the rest of the peace, but they say its a bit shabby compared to the place we stayed in.... I don't know it seems ok to me.

I had my first half and half in this place. This is half “grape juice” and sprite. Its very refreshing. Think we plan to go there a few more time when I get back so we will see.

I am at the airport now. I am a bit early.... this was the plan to get a few tobacco products for my friends BUT there is as usual the plans get messed up. NO shops in the airport. Just food and drink ...

Dune Buggy

We went on quad bikes a few weekends ago. It was cool!!!.

Took us a while to find the place. A guy in out team had been there before but the road he said it was down was not finished :p So we needed to try to find what the correct way there. Eventual we got directions and got there.

The place was surreal. Was just one big long road and suddenly there were tuns of quad bikes on the side of the road. You can even see them on Google :p

Going fast on those dunes was a great laugh. We will be doing it again when I come back next year.

Kingdom

Well I kinda got lazy again.. sorry... I am going back to Edinburgh in a couple of days (Yay) though I would catch up on all I have been up to (not that much) before I leave.

I have been to the kingdom tower.. see picture. Its about 70 ish stories high. It looks very impressive but I still think it looks like a giant bottle opener. Google the “Kingdom tower” and you will see what I mean. The view from there is nice, but it drives home the point that there is nothing in Riyad. Even the centre around the tower there is huge blocks of land with nothing... just flat ground.

There is shopping centre in the bottom but the pound is very weak and its not realy any point in buying anything its so expensive here. We tried walking around the area but got fed up after 30mins and went back home :p

Weekend !!

Went to the speakeasy yesterday. It was quite cool. Felt like an weird Edinburgh venue at the festival. There was a propper bar there. The beer was nice. Some home brew mixed with alcohol free stuff. The bar has been around too. Its been on three compounds before this one, Most take some effort to move.

There were lots of teachers there form the English school that is attached to the compound, one more week and its the end of term for them and they go home and no more bar :p

When the bomb happened in this compound the guys who runs the speakeasy had cuts all over from the windows breaking but all he could think about was to get the alcohol down the drain before the cops show up :p
Left about half twelve, there were a good amount of people still there and as you leave you put the amount you want to pay for the drinks in a little pot :p nice..

Hate that Saturday feeling...

Going to work on Saturday after having a weekend feels weird, used to do this in old jobs but here everyone does it :P

The picture shows the pool area in the compound. Its really big with lots of different sections, even a section that looks like a bar. Never seen anyone selling drinks from there. I went to the video rental place today, its full of pirate videos. Not a single legit copy... I am not desperate yet but maybe in a few weeks I will be glad for anything I can get.

You say Saturday i say Thursday

The weather here is perfect. There is always a bit of wind and the temperature is is perfect for a t shirt. At night it gets a little fresher still not jumper weather though. All this does not make up for how boring it is here. The place has great facilities but there is no one here to share it with, which in turn makes it even more boring.

Today is a “Saturday” in Saudi and last night (Friday) we planned to go to the Speakeasy on the compound after dinner. It sounds interesting the guy makes beer, but its a bit strong so he mixes it up with the non alcoholic beer. He was not in though, so my verdict will have to come another day. In “Tesco” I saw non alcoholic Budweiser and a few others, made me chuckle. Took forever to get out of the shopping. When its parer time they close the way out, so you wait as the queue builds up but at the same time the way into the shop is open. Crazy.

Shhhhh..

The place where i work is a big building in a compound full of big buildings where the cars have tents to keep the heat off and a 6 foot fence surrounding the place. It also has the quietest call centre on the planet. You could hear a pin drop in there. Its not natural.

To get into the building you need get through two guard posts and need a pass for you and your laptop. It all makes sense and would make it a very secure place in practice. I however have non of these but all i need to do is sit in the car past the guard posts and walk into the building the back way. Yes the back. This would also make it the Quietest Unsecured Secure Call Centre in the world. QUSCC sounds catchy.

Has a good canteen though. I had a plate fool of rice and some Chinese spicy fish dish for £2. DEAL!!