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| "Land Lines are places but cell phones,people" |
One eyed man in the land of the blind
You don't go to The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a tourist. In fact, there's no such thing as a tourist visa. If you're not making a pilgrimage to Mecca, and not Muslim, the only way to get into the country is with a work permit. Mixing between unrelated males and females is forbidden. Most social functions are single sex only and there is barely even eye contact made between men and women. Sound like fun?The level of absurdity hit me when I read in the English-speaking newspaper that women cause 80% of the traffic accidents....this in a country that doesn't allow them to actually drive--"But you know what they mean" my Saudi counter part told me
"They are, how you say, back-seat drivers-go here-no there".
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| Jeddah in 2002, I witnessed the ongoing airlifting of the entire 20th century infrastructure onto Saudi Arabia's sandy soil and wiring it up – from roads, to power, to communication, schools, housing, and utilities. |
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| When The Teacher Is Read The Students Appear |
Riyadh in 2009,
on the other hand...What's it like over there on the ground? It's a bit like Mars.
.In the kingdom of men, where are all the women? I don;t know what Riyadh means but Jidda means “grandmother” in Arabic, and the city may have gotten its name because tradition holds that the grandmother of all temptresses, the biblical Eve, is buried here—an apt symbol for a country that legally, sexually, and sartorially buries its women alive.
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| Is It Safe? |
