In Saudi Arabia, women don't drive. That is probably a good thing. We have a driver Jasim that picks us up at the hotel and takes us to the hospital everyday and then brings us back to the hotel at the end of the day. He has also taken us around as we have needed in the evening on on the week-end. He is a man of few words, but is on time and very patient with us. But being a passenger in the van has been quiet the experience. Everytime I get in the van I feel like my life is at risk. The interesting thing here in Saudi is that there are few traffic lights and only a few drivers use their turn signals. The horn is something that is used a lot though, it alerts the slow driver in front of you that they need to speed up or move over, that you are going to turn in front of another car, that the cars at the intersection need to stop because you were at the intersection first, or that you are going to pass on a very narrow street. We have had cars coming up along both sides of us, passing on the shoulder and driving very fast. We have also played chicken on a very narrow street that is only big enough for one car. There have been many times I just have to close my eyes and pray that we aren't in an accident. Only by the grace of God do I think that we haven't been hit. There are turn abouts but for the most part the streets don't seem to make much sense, you have to go out of your way to drive up the road in order to turn around. Surprisingly I have seen very few cars with dents.
If you need to park along the street, you will just fit your car in where ever you can, even on the sidewalk. The types of cars range from new Humvees, Bentlys, Toyotas to city buses and older cars that look like they are from the 60s but they are still running. Today we saw a new car that still had the plastic on the headlights, dash board and seats with the original stickers on the tires. But the car was so covered in dust you could barely tell that the car was white. Men ride bikes along the streets with their buckets and rags and wash cars.
There aren't any crosswalks, so people are walking across the street where ever they can, so you end up darting between cars and praying that they will stop for you.
The hotel is having a drawing and they are giving away a Bently. You get to enter the drawing by eating in the ballroom at the hotel. I am feeling lucky but wonder how I would get it home.
This is the car that I am hoping to win!
If you need to park along the street, you will just fit your car in where ever you can, even on the sidewalk. The types of cars range from new Humvees, Bentlys, Toyotas to city buses and older cars that look like they are from the 60s but they are still running. Today we saw a new car that still had the plastic on the headlights, dash board and seats with the original stickers on the tires. But the car was so covered in dust you could barely tell that the car was white. Men ride bikes along the streets with their buckets and rags and wash cars.
There aren't any crosswalks, so people are walking across the street where ever they can, so you end up darting between cars and praying that they will stop for you.
This is the car we saw at the Souk. It was brand new but was so dirty you could hardly see the color. Plus since they hadn't taken the plastic off, it had melted on the car.
One of the many older vehicles I have seen.
The city bus.
This is the car that I am hoping to win!
I forgot to mention that drivers will just start backing up if they missed the turn or need to go another direction. Maybe after this experience with driving I won't complain so much about Keith's driving.
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