I flew over the Saudi Arabian desert last night on an Airbus a330. It was the most disconcertingly deep blackness I have ever seen. Looking out the window, there is nothing at all. Then, a small rectangle of lights which must be an oil well, oasis or way station. Then nothing. At one point, the entire visible desert was black, until a single light appeared. For a couple of minutes, until the light was out of sight, nothing else at all could be seen.
Finally, out of the blackness appeared an immense, perfect checkerboard of roads, lit up end to end with purple, green, violet and blue neon. It was like flying over Las Vegas, but bigger.
Riyadh at night is endless neon. In the city, the streets are brilliantly lit with huge neon store signs in Arabic, while the houses and compounds are windowless, walled and dark on the outside.
The architecture is quite modern, with endless buildings under construction lining the roads.
The lack of mass media, entertainment or things to do outside has turned shopping into an art form. The shopping malls are major social centers which outshine anything in the US and are open until midnight.
With little in the way of distraction and a much larger amount of time spent inside the home, compound-style living has also resulted in an enhanced emphasis on interior decoration, demanding that the insides of cavernous buildings be beautiful and small, windowless rooms light and airy. Home furniture, lighting and interior decoration stores are everywhere.
What is the most depressing are the Western franchises. Aunt Annie’s Pretzels somehow made it over here, in addition to immense Best Buy stores.
Of course, 12 hour work days aren’t helping to experience the local culture, and any real photography inside the city is not worth the risk.
The strict segregation of men and women, a very old religion and lots of money combine into a complex mass of self-contradictions and exceptions, making any real description impossible. There are seperate, screened checkout lines, seperate seating areas and immense shopping malls, devoid of windows, for “families” only (women escorted by a male family member). In fact, aside from relatives, there is little opportunity or reason for a man to ever come into any kind of contact at all with a Saudi woman in Riyadh.
It appears that a majority of the population in Riyadh is imported labor, both skilled and unskilled. Because of this, community areas and corporate compounds have been formed for foreign workers to live, mingle and hang out on their own terms. This helps to alleviate the strict segregation restrictions for people who are living here for years.
On the plus side, I am staying in probably the best Holiday Inn ever built for around $100/ night.
