We've Arrived (Take 2)!

We have now officially arrived at our destination: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. After having immersed ourselves in the Dubai of old, the previous day, we set out yesterday morning to explore the planned vision for the future. After another scrumptous feast at our b&b, we piled in to a cab and headed to the Atlantis hotel which rests upon the Palm Jumeirah, an artificial island. We cruised past a series of identical apartment buildings over which a monorail hovered and then made our final approach to the hotel through a tunnel burried beneath the last stretch of man made beach. As we emerged from the air conditioned cool of the car and stepped quickly into the double wide doors of the hotel, we looked around and realized we had finally found all the tourists - they were on line for the Aquaventure (clearly for the lazy river)! We strolled around past the high end shops and stood enamored in front of the massive acquarium, our attention riveted by the schools of shimmering fish, the smiling rays gliding by, and the lone hulking shark swimming circles far above our heads. And then it was off on the monorail to capture a glimpse of the private villas (only at 10% capacity thus far) seated on the palm fronds.

We managed to hail another cab precariously on the side of the highway and were off to see the infamous indoor ski slope at the Mall of the Emirates. Our attention was diverted slightly by the incredible visual illusions of Patrick Hughes in the display cases of Harvey Nichols before we wandered to the other end of this super high end mall to watch a jumble of people skiing down the gentle indoor slope, lessons, helmted kids and all. Then it was off to catch our final must see sight of the trip, the Burj Al Arab. Determing that it might not be in our best interests to try to sneak past the multiple security guards stationed outside the entrance of the hotel, we were satisfied to snap some photos of the iconic hotel at a distance.

It was then off to Saudi. Even as the plane was descending, we could feel the subtle shift between the atmosphere in Dubai and that in Jeddah. The women seated around us on the plane had transformed, throwing on their abayas as we landed. Some folks back in Berkeley had told us that it was important that we promptly get off the plane when we arrived. It was only as those around us grabbed their belongings and hopped over us to get to the aisles and then rushed to the immigration counters that we saw why. About two hours waiting in line making sure the tenacious little old ladies and white cloaked men that sidled up to us did not actually cut in front, we held our ground in front of the immigration officer, were finger printed and photoed and then with the resounding stamp of officialdom, were passed through in to the waiting welcome of our driver from Dar Al-Hekma. We piled in to the van that would take us to our new home and were handed our own abayas. The lack of omnipresent English signs or ads as we made our way to our hotel was a stark contrast from Dubai.

To be continued....our driver has arrived to take us to Dar Al-Hekma!