A weekend Trip and a Rant

The state of fear and paranoia around the Globe today.

Let me start with the preface that I know that I am innocent and no doubt do NOT know much in the way of details, but on the other hand, I firmly believe that if people were a bit more trusting and open-minded, the world would then be a much friendlier place to live.

Ok, here goes…. Common sense has been left behind and fear of ‘everything’ is ratcheting up and up. What I hear so often repeated when I express an interest to get out and tour the country, is that I should take extreme care and, ‘did you know that there were two French tourists killed just north of here in Northern Saudi Arabia (as recently as ‘last year’ was one of the versions…). In fact, the event took place on Tuesday, 27 February 2007, not two but four. If you read other sites on the event, a common thread seems to emerge, they all mention the time ‘since the last event of this nature.’ COME ON! How many people have been stabbed or shot or beaten to death in Edmonton which is considered a peaceful city? Then there is the additional warning given about traveling on the roads around here… When you think of it, what city does not have a ‘highway of death’? I just found out that the Jeddah highway outside the University has now earned this title. In Dubai, EVERY road should have been called that. A statistic is being bantered about here that 15 people are killed per month on the highways in Saudi Arabia. Ever wonder how many are killed in Canada? The most recent data I found was about the province of Alberta: Alberta Transport report from 2008, stated there were 410 fatalities in Alberta alone in 2008, related to vehicles. Here are some stats from when we lived in the UAE, ‘While 878 traffic deaths were recorded in 2006, the death toll rose to 1,056 in 2007.’ And the UAE is a ‘postage stamp’ compared to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The point I’m trying to make here, is that for some reason, fear is causing an inordinate level of security awareness among residents and management here.

Maybe the next bit of data illustrates that as a scientific community, maybe we are delving a bit too deep into our research? Take for example the following. Research shows that there is an elevated level of heavy metals in the fish close to shore around Jeddah. Result: people are discouraged from eating the fish in the area. Or this tidbit; palm trees that grow around the campus are not being allowed to flower for two reasons. One, a concentration of heavy metals is in their fruit and people might eat it. Two, their fruit stains the roads. hmmmm

And finally, back to Northern Saudi Arabia where tourist security is of the upmost concern. Myself and 47 other intrepid explorers, not willing to be discouraged by questionable, inaccurate, or out of date information as well as rumors and fear mongering, traveled close to 600 Km to visit some of the most interesting archeological sites in the region over the past weekend. We hired an experienced private tour operator who has a good reputation, who also organized the whole trip. Yet, in order to gain entry into these areas, we found that we needed to be escorted by police cars with flashing lights the whole two days of our trip! As we moved from one jurisdiction to the next, they tag-teamed, each car being swapped with the next as we passed check-points along the way. One just has to get used to the state of things around the globe these days and work with/around them I guess. OK, enough already! Here is a description of the trip.

Our Weekend Trip

We gathered on campus to catch the bus to the airport at 4 am Thursday morning (first day of our weekend here). We traveled down to the domestic airport also known as either the South Terminal or the Saudi Airport. We boarded a plane for the hour or so flight to the holy city of Medina. There are two holy cities in Saudi Arabia; the first is Mecca and the second Medina. Medina is known as the site of the tomb of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). The city-proper is restricted to Moslems only, yet the airport is outside this zone and also we were able to catch a bus that took us around the city on one of the ring-roads passing innumerable large concrete block arches inscribed with the phrase ‘START of HARAM AREA.’ Which means, that no non-Muslim was permitted to cross into that area; Haram meaning forbidden. I looked particularly closely to see if there was a difference from one side of the road and the other and could not find a discernible difference. The two holy cities have millions of pilgrims visit them each year. I sat next to a man who had visited Medina over the weekend because he wanted to be there to celebrate the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). I have lived in the Middle East for six years and I find it to be exceedingly fascinating, especiallythe difference between our two cultures, and although I try to overcome the differences I find that there is always an invisible barrier between us, just like what was illustrated so physically by the signs along the road around Medina.

As we left Medina, we traveled by many old lava flows that fully cloaked the land in black cinderblock-sized rocks in layers up to 40 feet thick. A few homes were built along the road out of the blocks but it made me wonder how one could cross these hundreds of miles of rock-pile – surely not by camel! Bulldozers had flattened our modern road on which we traveled for 4 hours to the town of Al Ula or (also known as Dedan which is mentioned twice in the Book of Ezekiel as a trading city), well known for archaeological sites, some over 2000 years old.

Al Ula (known in the past as Dedan)

We booked into the Mada'in Saleh Hotel – the only hotel in the region. I found it odd that in a country where temperatures regularly reach into the +50 C, the roof and walls were covered with tarpaper shingles like we use in Canada. I wondered how many years they would last. I also wondered who designed the place and where they got their material, as I have yet to see tarpaper shingles in the Middle East.

After settling in and eating a light lunch, we boarded our bus and headed out to see the historic city of Dedan. Actually, a lot of the city of Al Ula seems to be what used to be Dedan -- part of the historical city. We learned that the current population is close to 100% ‘foreigners.’ What the tour guide meant was that the local Saudi people had, over the recent past, all left to live in Medina and their hired-help were the only people left living in Al Ula. It was as if the city had been depopulated twice! Once a long time ago, when they left old brown adobe brick ruins which are currently being restored in areas of Al Ula, and the second time, very recently, leaving white painted shops and homes without a soul in sight. The ancient ruins were very interesting as we were told that Dedan was a city-state (akin to what the Greek civilization was like) a walled city with 14 gates that closed each night. Farmers would leave one or two hired hands out to care for the surrounding farms as they seemed not to be a target for attack. The city itself was where the riches were concentrated and thus the need for the walls. Initially, it is said that the city was built for the incense trade and later became an important stop on the pilgrimage route that Muslims would take after around 613 BC as they traveled to Medina and Mecca. We climbed up to the top of a rock to a modern observation structure so that we could look down onto the ruins of the city. I was surprised to see that many of the houses were two story with a warren-like pathway system winding around and through in no particular direction.

You can follow our track by following this link (zoom in on the purple track with the tool in the upper left of your window and drag the map up to the upper left end of the line. When you zoom in, you will see the names of the towns. Once you locate Al Ula, change the settings in the upper right of the page from ‘Map’ to ‘Satellite’, you will actually be able to see the ‘old town of Dedan’ where our track divides into two on the divided highway through Al Ula on our path to the North). This is a file that one of the men on the trip created with a data-logger – a small GPS box without a screen. He just turned it on and put it in his pack. Where we went, it tracked! As you zoom in, you will see that some of the purple lines that show our track run off the roads, this is because his tracker refreshed its connection with the satellites each minute and when we were in the bus, we moved around corners… so at each minute point we might have been approaching a corner and then have gone around it before the next contact point – the map draws a straight line between points. Where we walked, you can see some pretty impressive detail on the map. Cool stuff!

Later that evening we went to the Al Ula town center, can’t really say that it was a humming place, but the most popular by far was the ‘House of Delights.’ No, not what you might think… this business was all about Arabic sweets and all of us found the product to be exceptional – not too sweet and full to bursting in flavor. Some purchased three full dinner-size plates of treats.

Madain Saleh

The following morning saw us up and away, traveling further north (follow the Google Map). Our destination was a full day visit of the Madain Saleh site, home of the extinct civilization (`300 BC to 106 AD) of the Nabatian people. This location was said to be the second capital of these people south of the main city of Petra which I visited a few months ago. The city has a very interesting history and this history has possibly helped protect this spectacular monument. The name Madain Saleh comes from two words, Madain, which means city and Saleh which comes from the name of a prophet. This man was sent to curse this city (many years before Islam started), but is part of their cultural history even today. The story in some ways parallels the bible story of Jonah and how he was commanded to go and curse Nineveh. The curse that this man placed on the this city is said to have caused its destruction and this is why it is abandoned and remains cursed today and also why Muslims are discouraged from visiting the site. We found it surprisingly intact but for where the Bedouin people have used some of the more intricate carvings for rifle target practice. I saw that same damage at Petra.

I will add a close-up from the Google Map to point out some of the locations of tombs cut in the rock. Please visit this photo site for detailed images and comments.

And for a change of pace at the end of this blog.

Vanessa, who I work closely with and who sits just across from me at the office had a yellow sticky note pasted at the bottom of her cabinet one morning. I pointed it out and we read the message. It was stuck just above a pair of her shoes which she had left over night. Here is the note.

Vanessa then posted this image of the note on her Face Book site and asked for someone to translate it. A friend took the exact words in English that you see here, and changed them to Arabic and wouldn’t you know it! It ACTUALLY said this! ‘Please take care of your belongings.’  Aren't languages wonderful?