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Off to the Middle East?

Travelling to the Magic Kingdom First Impressions? - ? ? I left Australia bound for Saudi Arabia in February 2008 ( Saudi for those who have been there is sometimes referred to as the magic kingdom) . ? I went there because I saw it as an opportunity to progress.? ? My first impressions when I got there were interesting to say the least.? I flew from Brisbane with a stopover in Singapore to Dubai and then changed planes to Bahrain which is about an hours flight from Dubai?

I had accepted a position as Regional Human Resources Manager in the Middle East for Kentz. ? I had previously worked for the joint venture business that Kentz had in Australia with Thiess.? I went to the Middle East originally on the basis of a 12 month contract? 12 weeks on and 2 weeks off. ? I landed in Bahrain and was met by Salim one of the company drivers whose job it was to drive me over the Causeway into Saudi Arabia.? The Causeway was a 27 Km Bridge connecting Saudi Arabia to Bahrain? Before I got to Saudi I only knew what was reported in the Media and I knew that there had been Al qaeda attacks in Riyadh, Al Khobar and Yanbu .? I was very quiet on the drive over thinking about what would be the first thing I would see. ? There were no?

• Palm Trees
• Camels?
• Dates
• Bedouin?

The first thing that I saw when I entered Saudi Arabia was a McDonalds?

I said to myself. ? This is going to be different

Saudi Arabia first impressions?

I was soon to discover the differences between Saudi Arabia and the rest of the world.? Religion and culture were central along with the consumption of alcohol and other vices from the infadel west. ? The locals are, as they say, not shy of a drink or three. ? When I first hit the region the weekend was Thursday and Friday and the locals along with expats would head over to Bahrain to drink and meet ladies of the evening ( Prostitution is a big industry) .? After a few years the weekend changed and in Saudi the weekend became the same as the rest of the Gulf Cooperation Council ( GCC ) member nations,? I remember being in the Airport Bar one Friday afternoon which was crowded. ? There were Saudi guys traditionally dressed in either the thobe ( guys dress shirt collar ) or the deesh dash ( guys dress T - shirt collar ) all drinking their last fifteen or so beers before getting on the 6.00pm Saudi Airlines to Riyadh?

Fortunately these guys spoke quite good English better than my Arabic.? ( As an aside my Arabic got to the point where I could start and finish a basic conversation in Arabic but don’t? ask me to have the conversation) so I learnt a lot over a few beers that afternoon. ? The most interesting thing that I learned was how to smuggle four bottles of Johnny Walker through immigration in Riyadh . ? The secret was in where you taped the bottles on your legs so that they didn’t clink.? ? The learning curve was getting steeper

Wars past and present?

Out of all of the countries in the GCC I must admit that Kuwait was the one that I was least fond of.? That said I managed to see some very interesting sites particularly in my early visits there.? On my first visit to Kuwait I remember that it was a two night stay and I flew to Kuwait on the Friday night and was put up in an apartment.? I got into the apartment made myself some coffee and started to explore.? On the Coffee table there was a small book which was grey coloured.? It had pictures of land mines that had been planted in Kuwait City during Gulf War One with descriptions in English and Arabic of what to do when you find one. ? Note to self I said. Make sure that you walk on the concrete?

That night I was heading for dinner with some colleagues. A driver collected me at the apartment but we were delayed for about 10 minutes or so. ? The reason for the delay was a convoy of about 50 low loaders each carrying either a Tank or an APC on way to Iraq to rejoin the war which was of course? Gulf War two,???

You were certainly never far from the action.