Impressions of Israel
Visiting Israel from Saudi Arabia was no easy feat. The two countries do not have formal diplomatic relations, and generally Israel (or Occupied Palestine as it is sometimes referred to) is a taboo subject. There are no direct flights between Saudi Arabia and Israel, and anyone with an Israeli stamp in their passport is not allowed to enter Saudi Arabia (or Syria). In fact, it is out of minor concern about client relations that I have waited to write this post. My visit to Jerusalem with four colleagues actually took place in October.
Therefore, in order to travel between the two countries, it was necessary to fly from Riyadh to Amman, Jordan, and hire a car to take us from Amman to the Border. There, we passed through a slow, if thorough, immigration process and security screening on foot to cross the border. On the other side, we hired another van to take us through the West Bank to Jerusalem.
General Impressions:
- Israel is the most developed country in the middle east. Many of the modern amenities that I would expect in Europe or the US, such as high quality organic foods, decent hotels, and a good nightlife are present in abundance
- Many cultural eccentricities are pleasant and truly unique to this country. One night we watched a crowd of traditionally dressed teenage Jewish boys dancing in a plaza to a rock-singing Yiddish-speaking Rabbi - all I could think was “this could only happen here”
- Old town Jerusalem is a fantastic and bustling maze of clothing shops, jewellers, butchers, churches, and temples
- Israeli girls are fun and beautiful; matched, perhaps only by their neighbours to the North, the Lebanese
A Feast in Old Town Jerusalem: The old city was a sea of life and commerce - streets crowded with shops and shoppers and a vibrant buzzing of activity. By the time we arrived, we were starving and sought nourishment at the first little cafe we passed, just inside the old city gates. We were not disappointed.
An old man with shaky hands and a warm smile set us down at his only two tables, and proceeded to feed us an incredibly memorable feast. It started with simple hummus and bread, then fattoush salad, then delicious chicken and peppers in a lemon and butter sauce, all served with fresh squeezed pomegranate juice. Our host was chef, waiter, and juicer, so the meal proceeded at a leisurely pace over a couple of hours, allowing us to fully take in the coming and going of hundreds of visitors to the markets.
Night Life: A visit to Ben Yehuda Street for dinner opened my eyes to the simultaneous fun and beauty of the city and its residents. We enjoyed a few cocktails at the hotel before we departed, and were already in a festive mood when we arrived on these streets crowded with young Israelis looking for a fun evening on the town. We found a good restaurant, and proceeded to finish a carafe or two of wine while hitting on our drop-dead gorgeous waitress (who, perhaps for the benefit of the tip, and perhaps due to our impaired perception skills, seemed to be enjoying this immensely).
After dinner we hit the street and enjoyed a bit of people watching as we searched for a promising bar. It seemed the average age on the street was about 23, and the number of attractive girls staggering (we were, remember, a group of five guys not used to seeing much more than a woman’s eyes in Saudi Arabia). Enter the singing rabbi I mentioned above, and it was a scene of beauty, culture, and festivity.
Bethlehem: On our second day, we made a trip back into the West Bank to see the birth place of Jesus. We arrived at the church of nativity just in time to catch the mid-morning prayer in the square outside, and got to enjoy the juxtaposition of hundreds of faithful Muslims honouring their faith immediately next to one of the holiest sites in Christianity.
Inside the church, a tour group of Spanish faithful had arranged a special ceremony and service with a Latin and Spanish speaking priest in the crypt where Jesus was born and where his manger lay. It was powerful to witness the passionate faith of the guests, and to see the markers representing these important landmarks to history and the child stories of many Christmas’ past.
Dead Sea: As we made our way back to Amman to return to Riyadh, we were forced to take a long detour to an alternate border crossing into Jordan. The delay cost us the opportunity to visit the Dead Sea during the daylight, but two of us braved the detour in our journey to the airport to spend 45 minutes floating in the intensely saline waters of the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth’s rocky surface. The eery feeling of weightlessness in the water was a strange but exciting experience that epitomized the weekend. My visit to Israel would turn out to be my favourite part of my adventures in the Middle East.
Impressions of Tabuk
Tabuk (also “Tabouk”) is a province in the northwest of Saudi Arabia, separated by many hundreds of kilometers of desert and mountains from the largest cities in the kingdom, but bordering Jordan and the coastal city of Acaba. Tabuk City is closer to Damascus than it is to Jeddah.
Tabuk province enjoys the longest coastline in the KSA, along the Red Sea.
I arrived here on a business trip, and unfortunately much of my time was spent in business meetings and at a mediocre, but passable hotel. During the various meetings, and through two tours of city facilitated by our hosts, I was able to develop a reasonable picture of the place.
Based upon the research conducted prior to the trip, I expected to find something more closely resembling Egypt than Saudi Arabia. Its GDP per capita and education rates are significantly below the national average, for instance.
Instead, we encountered in the city of Tabuk the first real “oasis” I would visit in Saudi Arabia. The best analogy is to compare Tabuk to the Midwest of the United States. It is an agricultural area, with a pleasant climate, and a population that enjoys a quieter pace of life. Generally, the quality of life that we witnessed was good, and the people warm, hospitable, and occasionally, quite entrepreneurial.
Plants Rising from the Desert
One of the most shocking impressions that the region left upon me was how agriculture has been successful despite the negligible annual rainfall and sweeping desert sands. As we drove along the highway to visit a large commercial farm, watching the flat sands pass us by on either side of the car, we suddenly came upon life. Tall stalks, like corn (though probably not corn… it’s too water intensive), rose from the desert sand in a tight circle around the rotating irrigation equipment that gave it life.
As we explored the farm, we learned how high water intensity crops like wheat are being substituted for more resilient ones, like olives, and higher value crops, like fruits and vegetables. The water for the crops is drawn from a large aquifer which lies below the valley where Tabuk city is located. How sustainable this is in the long run, is a question to which few appear to have an answer.
Untouched Coastline
While meeting with different business and ministry leaders, we heard them describe the virgin coastline on the Red Sea as a paradise of sand, water, and endless potential. In many ways, they were right. The trick, however, is that a “virgin coastline” might in fact be covered in SUV tracks, littered with garbage and debris ranging from bottles and wrappers to car tires, and in many places completely without trees or other plant life. Nevertheless, sand and water are plentiful, and as far as I can tell, so is business opportunity.
Breathtaking Mountains and Desert
What actually impressed me most about Tabuk and its potential as a future tourist destination was not its coastline, but the desert and mountains which separate the city of Tabuk from the beaches an hour and a half to the west. What starts out looking like the deserts and mountains of Western Colorado and Eastern Utah turns into a terrain altogether unfamiliar. The area’s craggy peaks and jagged rock formations reminded me more of what I expect Tierra del Fuego looks like than anything I expected to find in Saudi Arabia.
Unfortunately, our short visit didn’t afford the opportunity to explore further. We read and heard about archeological sites ranging from castles to old temples similar to those found at Petra in Jordan to the North. Who knows - perhaps I will return one day.
- Welcome to The Intrepid Mr. Fox
Welcome to the personal weblog of Mitchell W. Fox, a management strategy consultant in Sydney, Australia.The Intrepid Mr. Fox is about my personal life and adventures. It focuses on three main topics: The Good Life (things I enjoy in my leisure time), Travel, and my thoughts and ideas about the world around us.