Its always last minute rush surprises on things when you have to make a business trip with limited notice. Finally had my visa for a short business trip to Riyadh by 5:30 PM on 9th March and had to take the flight out in next 12 hours. Well this time had more time after my visa than my last trip to France. There had 4 hours to reach airport after I got to know that the travel agent has got the passport from embassy.
Was flying with Gulf Air this time via Manama, Bahrain and thankfully uneventful trip till Bahrain, except that could not get sleep through the way. Next flight was little over 2 hours later and the airport was well...less cleaner and much smaller for the crowd capacity compared to Delhi. Well of all things, there was a queue even at the washroom. They had just 2 seats in one of them, one being Western and other Indian style given the large number of migrants from sub continent taking connections to elsewhere in the region.
Well the next flight was for just over an hour, but majority of folks in the flight were migrant laborers flying into Riyadh for various jobs. How did I get to know this? well was requested to fill a lot of Immigrant forms before de boarding and majority of passports I got saw were Bangladeshi but did see a couple of Indian and Pakistani's as well. Upon landing there was some arbitrary segregation of folks in queue's as well and primarily driven by what the guy there felt what these folks were. Most Folks from sub continent land here for menial jobs which locals do not prefer. But said that, if you are in your business suits and depending on your visa type the guy may not put you in same row.
Out of the airport, the limo guy hotel sent to pick us up was again from - you guessed it Sub continent, a Bangladesh National, who has been here since 2001. Drive to the hotel was fast and zippy. Pretty good roads, not just by Indian standards but even compared to large parts of Europe.
Checkin was smooth but at over 300US$/night (Rooms in this part are in short supply and very very expensive, compared to similar rooms in other parts of the world) the room was "Just Okay". Freshned up and reached office, just a couple of minutes walk from the hotel.
We are on 23rd floor and get a birds eye view of the City. Offcourse if you want to go to the top level, there is a decent fee. Will plan it later.
Malls and other stuff is close by, but took time to figure out an ATM where could use AMEX card to withdraw cash. Amex link showed the nearest place at over 9 Kms while an enterprising colleague figured one in walking distance. Post cash in hand, time to get on local mobile network but alas shop closed at 4:00 in evening and then you see even the superstore next to it downing shutters and entire mall closed. Its Prayers time and during this period everything stops. Wait for prayers to be over and folks to be back. We had the same experience before ordering dinner and waited for the folks to be back. Well am told it difficult to get food in day during Ramazan (Ramadan). Well should expect that when you are in a country where the official religion is Islam and no other religion can be practiced.
Here again folks as in Hotel, Mall Floor or Food Court had a good mix of Sub Continent population. Getting to talk to folks is difficult in English but not Hindi or Urdu as they call it. Well most cabs you see are driven by the same section and most of them do not know decent amount of Arabic either. That said, may be am jumping the gun very fast. Lets wait and see few more days.
Was flying with Gulf Air this time via Manama, Bahrain and thankfully uneventful trip till Bahrain, except that could not get sleep through the way. Next flight was little over 2 hours later and the airport was well...less cleaner and much smaller for the crowd capacity compared to Delhi. Well of all things, there was a queue even at the washroom. They had just 2 seats in one of them, one being Western and other Indian style given the large number of migrants from sub continent taking connections to elsewhere in the region.
Well the next flight was for just over an hour, but majority of folks in the flight were migrant laborers flying into Riyadh for various jobs. How did I get to know this? well was requested to fill a lot of Immigrant forms before de boarding and majority of passports I got saw were Bangladeshi but did see a couple of Indian and Pakistani's as well. Upon landing there was some arbitrary segregation of folks in queue's as well and primarily driven by what the guy there felt what these folks were. Most Folks from sub continent land here for menial jobs which locals do not prefer. But said that, if you are in your business suits and depending on your visa type the guy may not put you in same row.
Out of the airport, the limo guy hotel sent to pick us up was again from - you guessed it Sub continent, a Bangladesh National, who has been here since 2001. Drive to the hotel was fast and zippy. Pretty good roads, not just by Indian standards but even compared to large parts of Europe.
Checkin was smooth but at over 300US$/night (Rooms in this part are in short supply and very very expensive, compared to similar rooms in other parts of the world) the room was "Just Okay". Freshned up and reached office, just a couple of minutes walk from the hotel.
Malls and other stuff is close by, but took time to figure out an ATM where could use AMEX card to withdraw cash. Amex link showed the nearest place at over 9 Kms while an enterprising colleague figured one in walking distance. Post cash in hand, time to get on local mobile network but alas shop closed at 4:00 in evening and then you see even the superstore next to it downing shutters and entire mall closed. Its Prayers time and during this period everything stops. Wait for prayers to be over and folks to be back. We had the same experience before ordering dinner and waited for the folks to be back. Well am told it difficult to get food in day during Ramazan (Ramadan). Well should expect that when you are in a country where the official religion is Islam and no other religion can be practiced.
Here again folks as in Hotel, Mall Floor or Food Court had a good mix of Sub Continent population. Getting to talk to folks is difficult in English but not Hindi or Urdu as they call it. Well most cabs you see are driven by the same section and most of them do not know decent amount of Arabic either. That said, may be am jumping the gun very fast. Lets wait and see few more days.
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