From The Shores Of The Red Sea

Today it was time to move on to the city of Jeddah which lies on the west coast of Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea and is Saudi Arabia's commercial center and main port city. It was once even the capital of the country.

Our flight went fine (especially for Tim who invited a flight attendant to the show at the consulate tomorrow) and Sadie from the consulate was waiting at the airport to greet us. We loaded up and went to our hotel - The Intercontinental which just happens to be across the street from a bay of the Red Sea:

We had a little extra time after check in so we decided to take a walk on the waterfront and had a few photo ops along the way, this one at the nearby McDonald's:

At the walkway we met a few locals and exchanged some international friendship (we're not sure if they knew where Tennessee was):

We noted a nearby cell tower in the shape of a palm tree:

Tim, Thom, Todd and Wade were excited about a local back to school sale:

Here is a fountain out in the bay. It is really pretty at night, but my little camera has a hard time with it:

After our walk we went out to a local color restaurant called The Palm:

Dinner was awesome as we sampled a little bit of everyone's dishes. Here is our second hostess, Amanda, giving us some description of the great food:

There was a 20 minute period of time when a call to prayer was made and all the staff left for prayer while we waited for them to return.

After they came back we took the opportunity for a group photo at the restaurant:

That is Sadie on the far right with Amanda just left of her. They were wonderful hostesses as we bombarded them with uncountable questions about Saudi life and their work there. They never tired of our inquisitive nature and were great to dine with.

After dinner, we got to go into the old town part of Jeddah and visited the Nassif House:

This building is over 150 years old and is the center where Abd Al-Aziz bin Abd al-Rahman Al Saud began his plans for uniting the tribes of Saudi Arabia into one country. He did this mainly by marrying several women from many different tribes. Not a bad idea! Inside the house was the original telephone the king used:

Bob decided he wanted to play "King for a Day". Here he is calling one of his wives:

We climbed the 4 story flight of stairs (they are wide enough so the king could ride up on his camel):

and onto the rooftop for a great view of the older part of the city:

Our host at the house was Nadim from Bangladesh:

Just outside the Nassif house was a huge shopping bazaar area which we meandered around in:

One shop we went in was one that carried all kinds of oils, incense and such:

The rocks to the left of the picture are incense

They are hammered down in the shop and you can buy the granules, mix them with oil and burn it:

Here is some "hair oil" for the fashion minded women of Jeddah:

But outside the shop I couldn't walk away from these belly dancing barbie dolls:

Tomorrow we will start to earn our keep. We get to lunch with the Consulate Marines, then a sound check and a show at 8pm at "Heroe's Hall. This is one hosted by the consulate and there will be several Saudi's and other nationalities present to experience a little country music from Tennessee. How much better international good will can that get?

Thanks for coming along and thanks for your comments!