I’m now 1 week into Ramadan, and the best way to describe it is that it’s a bit like Christmas time in the West. Despite gift giving not being a part of Ramadan like it is for Christmas, almost all stores have “Ramadan Kareem” signs, and have massive sales to get shoppers in. There are decorations all over the city, which in some cases include Christmas lights on shrubs, which is kinda weird. All restaurants advertise their Iftar dinners and Sohour late night lunches. There are services at Mosques every night where a portion of the Koran is read out loud, where by the end of Ramadan the whole Koran will be read. During the day, roads are empty because everyone is sleeping because they are fasting, but by 4:30pm, in preparation for Iftar, traffic makes the road impassable as people go grocery shopping. The city stays awake late into the night, and people basically switch day time with night time. I had lunch with some Saudi friends.. at 12:30am, after which I was stuck in traffic for almost an hour at 2am. Next week, I’ve got 2 work meetings at 10pm. Overall, it’s a really festive time, and even reminds me a bit of NYC in December.
As for the fasting, despite not being Muslim, I want to do it for a couple of days, to see what it’s like from a cultural standpoint. I did it 95% for a day (had a few sips of water in the morning and late afternoon, but no food), but I want to try to do a couple of full days (no water or food while the sun is up). I’ve got a couple Iftar dinners planned with Saudis this week, so I think that it’s only appropriate that I arrive equally starved. However, for the days where I slip, a few hotel restaurants are open for lunch (although they have screens covering the windows and are a bit disguised), and I have the largest assortment of granola bars in the country in my apartment.
In less positive news, Al Qaeda has been showing up a bit more lately. Last week, Saudi officials closed down a terrorist training camp just outside of Riyadh, where they found arms and explosive devices. Additionally, on Friday, a suicide bomber tried assassinating Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who is the deputy interior ministor and is working hard to shut down terrorist activities in the country. Prince Nayef was slightly injured, and vowed to make his campaign against Al Qaeda even stronger. What’s worrisome is that Saudi is generally safe and free of militants, but Yemen to the south is growing increasingly unstable, especially the mountains south of Saudi. There have been rumors that the Saudis have been assisting the Yemeni government in carrying out bombings and raids throughout the region, mostly because the Saudi government is nervous about insurgents entering the Kingdom from the south. Since the Prince Nayef assassination attempt, security has been a little better in Riyadh, with soldiers not sleeping as much on the job and actually wearing their helmets. Regardless, Saudi is still a very safe place; by far the largest risk is a car accident, however, the risk of terrorism is always there.
Every week I travel for 2-3 days, and almost everywhere I go, locals tell me that 2-3 days is not enough to see their home country. In a lot of cases, 2-3 days is actually enough (like Cairo and Dubai), but sometimes I leave a bit sad that I missed out on more. I always look at the bright side and think that 2-3 days exploring a new country and culture is better than not exploring it all. However, China is the first place where I feel 2 days barely touched the surface, and would require at least a couple months to figure out the place.
