Saudi Saturday 2/18/10

OMG, I thought that NY cabbies were the scariest driver's in the world, but a trip down into Dammam (part of the three cities that make up the Kobar/Darhrahn/Dammom metroplex) this morning with my friends, the Bests, showed me how aggressive and crazy people drive here. To drive here you have to have nerves of steel, never do you have eye contact with nearby drivers, doing so only gives them the edge in the battle for road space. We were on a major freeway feeder of two lanes (no it was three, no, it was six -it's a very fluid thing). When a crazy driver gets tired of waiting at a long stop light they just pull off the payment and charge off across the desert to bypass the intersection, and this was happening all the time. If a driver misses an exit on the freeway they simply turn around and go back (against the traffic) rather than travel down to the next exit and come back down the correct direction. I saw it happen several times in our drive over to Dammam. It is crazy. My friend has learned to drive very defensively in this environment, much to his credit.

This trip was with some friends that want a bed made to duplicate a bed they saw in upscale catalog back in the States. We were headed to a woodworking shop where the bed will be fabricated. Now, you have to understand that we went into this very large (several square miles) maze of row after row of small shops (workshops) that would be like some of the small business shops and warehouses that you see back in the States that are grouped in a setting like storeroom rental places. (Next time I go there I will bring my camera). The craftsmen are more or less grouped by craft (woodworkers, metalworkers, stoneworkers, auto repair, all sorts of craftsmen/artisans). Talk about clutter! How the Bests found this place is beyond me. Nevertheless, we enter into a world far removed (very far) from OSHA regulated US shops. No protective gear at all. Need I say more. In this particular shop, there are South Asian craftsmen working on incredibly expensive and sophisticated computer controlled machinery (Lathes), as well as some very unsophisticated gear, creating incredible pieces of furniture. There were craftsmen carving detailed scrollwork and trimwork into expensive looking furniture. They made the craft look so easy and effortless (but I know better). Interestingly enough, the son of the proprietor (a Saudi) was a graduate of Lamar University (BBA) back in Beaumont! I will prevail on this shop to carve the legs and fabricate the pieces to a vanity that was stolen from us several years ago. If I can get the the legs and some other carved pieces done here I should be able to complete the fabrication myself back home.

The one thing that is so noticable is the trash. Plastic bags, empty and part full are scattered everywhere. Understand, that this is an industrial area, not a residential area, so trash collection is wanting, but it is like similar industrial areas in places like Mexico, and other countries where labor is cheap and poorly educated about environmental and safety issues. Inside Aramco things are on par with the US and European countries, but once off the compound and into the countryside it is a different world. "The desert will take care of it" is a saying that I have heard repeated here.