Does Saudi-Arabia Need Sex Education?

A while ago I wrote about Saudi men and the cultural pressure society brings on them to perform in the bedroom. Check it out here: http://blueabaya.blogspot.com/2011/09/saudi-men-and-pressure-to-perform.html

In the article you can read how some young Saudi men are not able to consummate their marriages due to performance anxiety. A study of newly married Saudi couples found the prevalence of so called "Honeymoon impotence" to be as high as 17%. The same study concluded that 63% of marriages were not consummated because of the severe anxiety of the woman leading to a condition called vaginismus. Other reasons were erectile dysfunction, not knowing coital technique and low sexual desire.
One of the underlying factors to the problem is lack of sex education for young girls and boys.
Most of these cases of unconsummated marriages could have been prevented if they had been educated and aware of their bodies and its functions.

There is an alarmingly high rate of divorces among newlyweds in the Kingdom. Most divorces occur within the first year of marriage. Unconsummated marriage is one of the top reasons for young couples to seek divorce. Proper sex education could significantly help to lower the divorce rate.

Because of the lack of sex education in Saudi-Arabia the young are left to find out for themselves. This can naturally result in some horribly wrong ideas and lead to unrealistic expectations and create extreme anxiety and fears. Girls and boys won't learn from their parents either since everything sexual is viewed as "a'eib" (forbidden and shameful). The best sources for the girls are other peers at school and the maids! Now how much do the uneducated maids really know and how much are superstitions coming from their cultures?

Why is there no sex ed in Saudi? Does Islam forbid talking about sex?
No. But like many things in Saudi, true Islamic teachings and what is actually happening around here are two completely different things. Islam does not frown upon talking about sex and educating young people. Sexual relations between married couples are seen as normal part of life and nothing to be ashamed about. However the strong influence some sheikhs have on public opinion is one reason why Saudis cringe at the idea of their kids having sex education. All talk about sex is a taboo.

The message sent by some religious fanatics is that sex ed is bad and causes harm. These people think young men and especially women might get some perverted ideas in their heads if they are taught about sex. If you teach them about anatomy of the opposite sex and show how it's "done" they will become sex crazed and go and have premarital relations. Some even say showing pics of male and female sexual organs is a form of western conspiracy. Or that talking about sex will make women promiscuous. Sometimes I wonder what sort of dirty minds come up with this anyways?

You would think that in this day and age the internet would provide at least some sort of info on the subject. The problem of self educating about marital relations is that many of the sites remain censored from Saudi and there is just all sorts of wrong information available. Also internet time for the youth (especially the girls!) will be restricted or they are not allowed to use the internet at all. This leads to young couples getting married without having a clue of basic anatomy of the other half and no knowledge of how babies are made.

So I will conclude by telling you a real life example of how badly sex education is needed here.
A newly married couple came to the infertility clinic for check up. They had been trying for over a year to conceive without any luck. The doctors ran some tests and everything came back normal. The couple was sent back home to keep trying and praying for a child.
Another year went by and the couple started to get very frustrated and came back to the clinic. As the doctor discussed their options he thought of asking a few questions of their "technique" to rule out any issues there.

The man explained how they had marital relations always in the same position and how it was usually very painful for the wife. The doctor started to suspect there really was something wrong with their technique and showed them a picture of the anatomy of female sexual organs asking the husband to show which area they used during intercourse. He very shyly pointed to the "back door".

Problem solved. The couple conceived shortly after the quick sex ed by the doctor.

So if this Saudi man was not able to locate the correct passage for two years then I can't imagine what else is out there?

So what do you think? Would Saudi-Arabia benefit from sex ed?

Mirror Mirror On The Wall..

Who is the whitest of them all?

A fair complexion equals beauty in many cultures around the world. In Saudi-Arabia white is definitely the preferred skin tone for both men and women. But like most things in the world, the pressure of being fair is mainly placed upon the woman. Sadly, mothers and other female family members are the ones maintaining and contributing to this phenomenon.

The obsession of white skin tone starts when the baby is still in the mother's womb. Expecting mothers might be instructed to eat certain foods to help "make" their baby develop whiter skin. They say adding saffron to milk makes white babies. Pregnant women might be told to avoid coffee, iron tablets or dark chocolate. Such ignorance when everyone today should know it's up to your genes! If some women really think it has some effect, shouldn't they as Muslims avoid changing God's creation anyways?

Daughters will be kept inside the house and not allowed to play in the sun in fear of exposing the skin to the tanning effects of the sun. Never mind the health benefits such as obtaining vitamin D from the suns rays. The levels of vit. D of Saudi women are alarmingly low, one of the lowest in the world. Vitamin D deficiency causes multiple health problems to the mothers and the children. Complete veiling of the body would also have an effect on the low levels.

So the couped up girls spend their childhood mostly indoors while boys of course can do what they want and play outside all they like. Girls worry about their knees and elbows not becoming too dark from playing on the floor like their mothers warned them. It's very common to hear comments on children's skin tone here. People will even talk about their own kids to other people pointing out how this one is much whiter than that one. How this sister is so white and beautiful while the other is dark and ugly. I can't even imagine the damage this does to the girls self esteem.

When the Saudi girl starts menstruating their childhood is over and many will be forced by their families to suddenly veil their entire bodies. Check out how miserable blogger Omaima felt when she had to wear the abaya for the first time: http://omaimanajjar.wordpress.com/2012/01/12/how-i-felt-when-i-wore-an-abaya-for-the-first-time/
Reaching puberty will also further increase the pressure of a whiter skin tone and this is when many girls start trying different treatments.


When Saudi men start seeking for brides they inform their mothers who then start looking for potential wives at weddings and other social functions. Young women will come to show off to weddings for this very reason. The man will often have a few desires on his list of requirements of the woman's appearance. Most often than not, white skin tone is on the top of the list. Second in line would come straight hair, perhaps large boobs, small nose. Seriously, men say these things to their mothers! As if they are in search of cattle.
Under this immense pressure to have a white skin tone and keeping in mind how it might raise their chances of landing a good husband, the Saudi woman will go to great lengths to obtain a pale complex. Some mothers will be obsessed with the daughters skin tone from birth which continues this vicious cycle.

Most women will opt for whitening creams which are extremely popular around Asia and the ME. I personally never saw so many types and brands of whitening creams in my life. Most are marketed to give you a "healthy glow".

When I first moved to the Kingdom I remember searching for a TANNING cream at the pharmacy. I was in awe of all the whitening products and while browsing the aisle an Arab male pharmacist approached me. He took a jar from the shelf and asked me "I think this is what you're looking for ma'm". I looked at the product, wondering how on earth could this man telepathically know I was searching for a self tanner. But lo and behold what the pervert had just suggested! It was a whitening cream specifically for private parts! I other words your VJ!
I wanted to slap him right then and there but could not utter a word from my disgust and amazement. I just turned around and walked away.

After I recovered from my initial shock I was able to think about it. Why would a woman put something potentially harmful on her private parts just to please a man?Why would someone want to bleach their VJ for God's sake? Is this one of the requirements Saudi men have for their brides? Can you believe they have a website dedicated to whitening your tidbits?http://vaginalbleaching.org/

So there are all sorts of whitening creams out there. Also, all sorts of home-made whitening creams are available. They are the most sought after products because they contain ingredients that are banned from the market. Anything that has been banned for sale because of harmful ingredients should be avoided like the plague right? Nope.

Now this reminds me of a tragic story of one young bride to be.
A teenage Saudi girl was engaged and in preparations for her wedding, had obtained one of these whitening products available on the black market. A while after she had started using it she got an eye and skin infection. The infection did not improve with oral antibiotics and she was taken into the hospital for treatment.

After a while the infection was so bad it has reached her eyes and they had to remove her eyeballs. They could not control the infection. She lost both her eyes. She was in the hospital for weeks but doctors were not able to cure her. Finally the infection spread into her bloodstream and days after she passed away.

What an unnecessary, sad and maddening death! An innocent hopeful bride that just wanted to look more beautiful on her wedding day. Just because the society she lives in tells her she is not beautiful enough as she is, this tragedy had to happen. Just because of this sick twisted mentality of admiring white skin, a beautiful soul was lost.

Another strange way way of skin whitening is applying camel urine on the skin. yes, camel urine! It's true that camel urine has been proven to have whitening qualities. But who would want to rub it on their faces? Some women.

I had a patient whose family was into this camel urine and milk treatment. Don't get me wrong, camel's milk and urine have many proven health benefits, just check this article: http://blueabaya.blogspot.com/2010/06/camels-milk-urine-potential-cure-for.html
But one of the daughters had taken it to the extreme. She seemed surprisingly white compared to the others. She told me her secret was applying camel urine on her skin everyday, and mentioned how it works for female area as well. What? Now that can't be healthy! Just another example of the extreme measures women will go through for whiter skin.

Funny how most women in the west like to get a tan and hate pale complexions. I have to admit I used to be the kind of girl that always went to the beach for tanning and in Saudi I spent all my days off at the hospital pool enjoying the sunshine. In the west some women take tanning to the extreme using spray tanning, tanning booths and so on resulting in a year round "healthy glow".
You won't find many tanning booths in Saudi though, just go to any beauty salon in Saudi and instead they actually have whitening booths! Salons will have a wide variety of skin whitening treatments available. One of the newest trends is using laser.

It's really sad to witness this phenomenon in Saudi and elsewhere in the world. My daughter has already been effected by it. It's always pointed out how white she is. I have been requested by my husbands family members not to take her out in the sun so she wouldn't get tanned. When we got back from our summer holiday in Finland, where we spent most of our time out in the sunshine my daughter had tanned quite a lot and I heard some pretty negative comments on her new color.

I love that my daughter has a darker complexion than mine, I think it's beautiful. In Finland she is "dark" but in Saudi she is "white". I wish people would stop looking at the surface and look deeper for beauty in the person. The outer color really does not matter.

P.S. If you liked this post or if you're just a really, really nice and beautiful person, with an extra 37 seconds to spare, then would you please pretty please click here :http://2012.bloggi.es/ to vote for Blue Abaya at the 12th Annual Weblog Awards! Few days left for voting and Blue Abaya is nominated as Best Asian Blog. THANK YOU!!

Why Do Saudis Spit On People?

Believe it or not this is an actual question I get asked every once in a while.

Expat nurses often ask me about some strange habits Saudis have and odd stuff they saw patients doing. I guess being married to a Saudi gives me more insight into some things but don't get me wrong, I'm no Saudipedia. But I like to correct some common misconceptions whenever I can.

Often some of the questions I get asked are related to Islam. For example why do Saudi men constantly fiddle with the prayer beads, why do Saudi men chew on sticks or why do Saudi women splash water all over the bathroom floors? Others are more cultural such as why do some female patients keep their whole head covered with a cloth while the doc examines her "down under"? Why do Saudis throw all the trash on the hospital floors or why do Saudis cluck their tongues all the time?

I don't have an answer to everything, although sometimes I wish I understood.

Back to the question about the spitting on people. First of all I like to point out that although it does look and sound like the person is in fact spitting on the patient, he is by no means *spitting*. What is happening is actually praying. The person is reciting Quran and kind of "blowing" the words onto the patient. If anyone knows how to explain this better, feel free to leave a comment.

Muslims believe that reading the Quran on the sick person has healing abilities and this is why nurses will often witness this behavior with patients. I've known many nurses that have been disgusted by the practice because they honestly don't have a clue of why someone would spit on their sick relatives.

Well thankfully some of the confused nurses want to find out what is actually going on while others just like to remain ignorant and poke fun at the Saudis saying, they like to spit on people! I have to admit I've witnessed some pretty "enthusiastic" styles myself and saliva has certainly been seen flying around, especially with Bedouin patients. But this practice is only a sincere attempt to cure the patients :)

For more weird habits of Bedouin patients check this post: http://blueabaya.blogspot.com/2010/06/bedouins-as-patients.html
Read about Saudi women who never remove their veils here: http://blueabaya.blogspot.com/2011/06/eternal-veil.html

Blogger Qusay sent me this clip it shows little kids imitating the reading and blowing, very cute thanks!

The Saudi Wedding Make-Up Masquerade

My first experience from Saudi wedding make-up was when a colleague of mine showed me her wedding picture album. My jaw dropped! WHOA! Girl literally had painted rainbows on her eyelids and had some sort of crystals plastered around her eyebrows. Gigantic fake eyelashes, bright pink lips and her skin covered with foundation white as the snow. I could not even recognize her!

Strangely enough this girl never wore make-up to work and always seemed to be very modest behind her niqab. She is also a natural beauty. So putting all that paint on her face to me seemed like she was drowning her beauty. Her face looked almost frightening. The below makeup tutorial looks a bit similar but without all the added crystals on the brows:

Of course I told her she looked beautiful, but to this day I have never understood the need for some Saudi and Arab women to smother so much make-up on their faces. Less is more, anyone?

The first time I attended a Saudi wedding I was in shock of the fashion sense (or lack there of) and especially the make-up of some of the attending women. Think Batman, Boy George and Star Trek..Women just go all out and totally over the top. it's more like a carneval or a masquerade.

I usually don't wear a lot of make-up except for special occasions. Apparently my perception of "a lot" does not conform with the Saudis. I had applied extra dark eye shadow and eyeliner for this wedding. Nevertheless, some women came up to me to ask "Don't you have eyeliner and mascara on? Of course I had eyeliner and mascara, duh! But I hadn't smudged my entire eyes with it. Also, blue eyes just never appear as dark with make-up and my eyelashes are really light color. If you put too much make-up on a blonde woman she ends up looking like a working girl IMHO.

So I heard "Tsk, tsk tsk. Unacceptable, she has to put more make-up on!"

"Doesn't your husband want you to wear eyeliner?" was the next question. Ummm..I don't know? What does it have to do with me being here in a all female setting anyways? 

There's a big wedding coming up so I've been searching online to check out some nice Arabic style make-ups to try blend in with the crowd more. And boy the stuff that's out there is just..I have no words. Take a look at some of the looks I found:

 Poison Ivy-look. What is up with the eyebrows, how did they move to the middle of her forehead?? Inspired by Mr. Spock perhaps? 

 Herpes-look. Enough said.

Raccoon-look. What happened to her nose anyway?

 Peacock-look. I wonder if it comes with feathers attached to your butt as well?

 Dear Lord help me-look. Help me look into the mirror and realize I look like a drag queen before I leave the house.

 Mix and match miss-matched colors-look. The more colors you are able to splash on your face, the better.

 Boy George-look. Is he an Arab Idol?

The angry owl-look. Reminds me of this bird we have in Finland called huuhkaja:

Star Trek-look. Beads on your forehead make you look like an alien, period.

The 80's-look. Gotcha! Did you even notice this is not a woman, but in fact Boy George?

 Hypnosis-look. Ok colored contacts can be nice if they're subtle, but this is creepy!..And don't get me started on the lip liner!

 Spider-look. Everything about the look reminds me of spiders, spiderwebs and beehives and other creepy crawlers.

Face painting-look. Ya face paintings were fun when we were like 5 years old.

Measles-look. The only place where studs look good is on your bag. Or shoes. Maybe jeans. But for the love of God, don't put them on your face!

In case you are wondering how these masterpieces are created check out this tutorial:

Ok I think I will pass on the fabulousness. I'm just too modest for these looks :p

I will opt for a more simple look because I don't want to look too outrageously smashing and get the evil eye from jealous women. 

 I like the light pink lips with the smokey eyes-look. I might have to add color to the brows for a more Arab style.

I bet if I do something like this I will be just a wall flower and nobody will fell threatened by my presence.

What do you think? Which Arabic make-up look is your favorite?

P.S. I would like to add there are also very beautiful Arabic make-up styles, Noor has found some nice ones here: http://littlepinkstrawberries.blogspot.com/2010/12/arabic-makeup.html

P.P.S If you liked this post please pretty please vote for Blue Abaya for the Best Asian blog at the 12th Annual Weblog Awards here: http://2012.bloggi.es/ Voting closes Feb 19th. Thanks!

11 Cures For Sandbox Boredom

There's so many events going on this February I thought of dedicating a post to it on its own in addition to the Events tab I regularly update. Too many things going on this month not to be missed! I was going to add my regular ten for Tuesday but added one as an extra bonus for ya'll.

This list is to help all the people out there effected by the dreaded "Sandbox Boredom- Syndrome".
People always complain how Riyadh is such a boring city with nothing to do, no social life or events.
Wrong!

1. The annual Cultural Heritage Festival Janadriyah is the main event and a MUST SEE for all expats at least once! Starting 8th Feb running through 24th Feb. Check more info on events section and for pics from last year go here: http://blueabaya.blogspot.com/2011/04/janadriyah-2011.html


2. Reem International Circuit “Family Fun Day” onThur 9 Feb: 11 – 10pm. Safari animals, BBQ, Kids and adults activities,, campfire lunch and dinner provided. Email events@optimumchoice.com.sa or visit Good Ship Lollipop on Thalia St for tickets

3. Classical Music Concert at French Ambassador’s Residence Mon 13 Feb 8p.m. More info on events section.


4. Cosmo Beauty Fair 2012 11th -13th Feb at Four Seasons Hotel Ballroom check events section. Women only.

5. “Strike Out” Family Bowling Day Thur 16 Feb 2 – 4pm. Members SR 50. Non-members SR60. Inc. shoe rental and 2 games. Sign up by 13th Feb at http://www.acrsa.com/

6. Stand-up Comedy Show 16th Feb Riyadh, tickets available at Wayne's Coffee - Azizia Panda, Takassussi Branch. More info on events section.

7. Al Faisaliyah Hotel Globe Food Summit 13th -17th Feb. From educational cooking seminars to outstanding gala dinners, brunches and High Tea with Michelin Star awarded chefs. Reservations essential. Full schedule and timings here:  http://www.rosewoodhotels.com/en/alfaisaliahhotel/i/downloads/Globe_Summit.pdf


8. Chocoflora Exhibition 2012 Nayyara Banquet Hall. From 18th-21st Feb 2012. Go to events section for more info. Women only.


9. "From Sea to Shining Sea” in the US Embassy Formal Gardens Thur 23 Feb: 7pm – Midnight. SR 250. Tickets at USERA Gift Shop sold from Sat Jan 28th to Sun Feb 19th 9.30-3.30 Sat-Wed. Closed Feb 18th.

10. Barney and Friends come to KSA! Reem International Race Circuit 22-24th Feb several shows during the day. Barney, Pingu, Thomas The Train, Bob the Builder and others perform for the whole family. Tickets, schedules and F.A.Q here:  http://www.tlbcksa.com/

11.“Carnevale 2012” by OasItalia Cultural Center A cultural festival in the Italian Embassy Thur 1 Mar:  7.30 – midnight Tickets on sale Feb 2nd 10 – 12am (OasItalia members only) and Feb 3rd 4.30 – 7.30pm Nonmembers. Info at oasitalia@gmail.com

Go out and enjoy the lovely February weather and take a cultural bath this month!

Saudi Road Trip Part One: Riyadh-Abha

My mother recently visited us in Saudi and we wanted to show her as much as we could of the country so we decided to go on a road trip around Southern Saudi-Arabia. What an awesome way to explore the Kingdom! I love the fact that you can stop wherever and whenever you like to check out the surroundings. The highways are mostly in excellent condition and well, gasoline is basically free. Or at least it's cheaper than water.

There are affordable car rentals everywhere and we had our eye on a nice GMC Suburban but the agency screwed it up last minute. So we ended up having to take whatever was left so last minute: a crappy Land Cruiser. Sitting in the back seat of this so called vehicle reminded me of the times I road on the buses in the Ecuador mountains. Fun times!

Lucky for me I was assigned the back seat and got to experience the constant rocking, bouncing, grinding and swirling motions of the car full on. We left two hours late from schedule because we had to clean the car after the previous users. Apparently that's not included in the service here. That is Saudi customer service as its best for you!

It was Eid Al-Adha time and my husband got almost two whole weeks off work. We planned to have the following itinerary: Riyadh-Kharj-Layla-Wadi Al Dawasir-Khamis Mushayt-Abha-Jizan-Farasan...and back. But we ended up improvising and changed plans on the way, which makes road trips all the more fun!

My little girl was only 7 months old at the time and she is just such a little trooper. Sat in her car seat for hours without any complaints. We read books, played, watched the scenery and slept in the back seat while my mom was the head navigator in the front.

Our journey was so long and I took literally over a thousand pictures so I decided to divide it into three posts.

All in all it was an amazing, surprising and enjoyable experience. The occasional setbacks and all the hours spent in the car were well worth it! Special mention goes to my husband the designated driver who always stayed up those long hours while the rest of us slept just to get us there on time :)

On our way out of Riyadh we saw many trucks carrying full loads of sheep on their way to Saudi dinner tables. During Eid it's custom that Saudi families slaughter sheep for the special occasion .

In Kharj we stopped to meet my husband's great grandmother, my daughter's great great grandmother! Her eyesight and hearing is a bit impaired and she didn't expect us but nevertheless welcomed us into her house with such warmth and hospitality.
Births were not registered in Saudi back in the day so she did not now her age but estimated it to be near 90. She had 14 children that lived to adulthood and over 100 grandchildren. Imagine how many great great grandchildren that means!

While we were served tea and fruits by this sweet old lady, she told my husband how she had scolded some family members for not accepting his choice of wife because I was not Saudi. She said the most important thing is who she is and told him that she liked me and my mother. It felt so good to hear this. As the eldest family member her opinion will have powerful influence in the extended family.

We were shown all around her house and she would not let us leave, insisting we stay for lunch. She was amazed to hear we were intending to drive all the way to Abha that day. So we thanked her profusely and continued on our journey. This was one of the highlights of our trip.

The area around Kharj is dotted with green farmlands and date palm trees. My husband's family has a farm in the town of Hotah and we stopped by to take a look. It was like a small oasis! Huge palm trees, obese lemons and pomegranates. Nearby were some ruins of an old mud village.

In case you wondered, this is what an obese (raw) lemon looks like:

The road between Hotah and Wadi Al Dawasir was (according to the map) supposed to pass by a town called Layla. But we never found it! It remains a mystery. There was supposed to be some amazing caves near Layla, a town named after the tragic love story of Layla and Majnoon, the Arab equivalent to Romeo and Juliet.

This ^ is camel herding for the modern day (or very lazy) Bedouin.
Not much to see for about the next 500km. Read our near death experience from the trip here:http://www.blueabaya.blogspot.com/2011/12/lessons-learned-on-saudi-roads.html

We reached Wadi Al-Dawasir and it seemed to be such a charming hillbilly town. The atmosphere was pretty laid back, men were sitting on couches at the gas station. Strangely there were no women in sight on the streets. Then we spotted a child driving a car, which is really not such an uncommon sight in the Kingdom. Women are not allowed to drive so the boy was most likely taking his mother around town for some shopping.

Finally we reached Khamis Mushayt, a small city next to Abha. It was very late so we only stopped at McDonald's for a quick fix of ice cream. I was standing in line at the family section when a Bedouin man cut me in line(what line?). He started asking for a menu and didn't understand the stuff was all up on the board. I cracked up when he started asking for "gambaari" He wasn't asking for a drink but SHRIMPS! He kept repeating gambaari, gambaari, jib gambaari!
Dude haven't you been to McDonald's before? Mafi gambaari.

We reached Abha in the middle of the night. I recall it being almost 2 am. My husband went to the reception of the hotel we had booked. We wanted a family room with two bedrooms. They had an issue with this. They questioned him about my mother! Who is this lady and would not believe it's his MIL despite the same surname. The staff told us to go to the police station and get a clearance that we were related! The nerve!

I was pretty pissed off at this point because a) It's 2 am for God's sake! We are checking into a family room with an infant, just let us go to sleep. b) if this isn't my mother than who the heck is it? c) if she's an unrelated random female why would she be travelling with us? c) if it were our Indonesian maid you would have no issues with her staying with us and d) are you implying that we are up to something haram in your hotel?
Yet another example of customer "service" or should I say disservice in the Kingdom.
This was the only hotel that asked for proof during our whole trip.
Needless to say, we changed hotels. But not to this "I'm Hotel"! Duh we can see that you're a hotel!

Abha turned out to be a very green and colorful city surrounded by lush mountains. Unfortunately very few traditional houses are left in the city. Most had been torn down. We headed out to the Asir National park, such a beautiful place! Check out more images here: http://imagesofsaudi.blogspot.com/search/label/Abha

Asir National park is famous for its baboons. Some of them were behaving aggressively toward the baby, showing their teeth and making weird noises. Unfortunately they seemed to be accustomed to tourists giving them food. I saw one man feeding them popcorn in order to get better pics!

We bought some delicious honey from this man. The honey was from Yemen and the man from Tahamah.

Unfortunately it was considered off season because Saudis find it too cold beyond October to visit the mountainous areas of Saudi and many of the tourist destinations were closed. As we wandered around the national park my mother and I surprisingly encountered some odd and even hostile behavior from Saudi men and women. I found this strange because I had heard people of Abha are friendly and welcoming. They shouted at us insults in Arabic, thinking we were Americans. I hate it when some people think you don't understand when they say right next to you "hadi amriki". You don't have to be Einstein to figure that one out.

The three men in this picture were pretty rude and aggressive toward us. Still don't understand why. My husband was walking further away from us with the baby so he couldn't do anything. Later a group of young women followed us pointing and giggling. I guess we just look so amusing!

We found a perfect picnic spot! Or so we thought. Funny how Saudis are usually really private and don't like people intruding on their privacy. Our picnic spot had lots of traffic and many "invaders" walked and talked loudly in their mobiles right next to us. Some Saudi women took their sweet time and the one in this above pic was stumbling around in high heels, peeking from underneath her scarf which she had thrown over her whole face. It was so weird I could only watch in amazement.

Look at this mess! Clean up after yourselves people! Would you throw this garbage on your mother? No? Then why do you throw it on your motherland!?

Mom and the little bear watching the sunset.

What is this? A stranded cruise ship?

Nope. It's the Green Mountain. On top a restaurant and viewing platforms with magnificent views of the city.

On the green mountain we found what I would call the best souvenir shop in Saudi-Arabia! Loved these miniatures of the traditional houses of the region. They make pretty lanterns too. I bought similar ones from Sana'a a few years back.

When we were leaving Abha we managed to get lost a few times. Actually it was kind of my fault. I was acting as the navigator in the front seat and was reading the map. I opened the window in high speed and whooosh! The map was sucked out of the window before I could even say oops. That is what happens when you're born blonde people. But hey we accidentally found this village of traditional houses so it didn't really matter much. Or at least that's how I like to see it.

Our journey continued to Jizan. The road from Abha to Jizan is very scenic and we stopped many times to take in the scenery or to get some snacks. Here a man selling corn on the cob.

Like I mentioned before in this post pink houses are very popular in this region! This one's pretty lonely out there.

The baboons are a menace! They roam in large packs and jump around the roads all the time. Many had ended up as roadkill.

The winding roads in the mountains had occasionally only "suggested" speeds. Actually it doesn't really matter what they tell you the speed limit is. Speed limit by Saudi terms means the limit is how fast you are physically able to drive under the specific circumstances. In these roads that would be about 140km/h. The only time you will see a Saudi man driving 40km/h is when he is checking women out. So much for the suggestion.

Stay tuned for the next part of the road trip: Abha-Farasan Islands!