Herb & Spice Shop

Many smaller shops in Jeddah are stocked to capacity with product.  This shop sells dates, herbs, honey, spices and many other items. 

Red Sea Mall: Pasto Caldo Restaurant

This is an interior shot of the Pasto Caldo Restaurant in the Red Sea Mall.  The chandeliers are amazing and the mosaic on the wall is colorful and attractive.  The food is great and the prices are reasonable. 

Red Sea Mall Dress Shop

The Red Sea Mall is a huge beautiful mall in Jeddah.  This is one of the many designer clothing stores in the mall.  The Red Sea Mall has several levels and 18 entrances.  It offers a family entertainment center, a hotel, and a variety of restaurants. 

Red Sea Mall: Bateel

Shopping is the national pastime of Saudi Arabia.  Store displays in malls are highly competitive with each other, vying for business.  This is a wall display in a beautiful gourmet gift shop called Bateel in the Red Sea Mall.  The shop sells beautiful custom made gifts such as dates, chocolates, and pastries in unique presentations. 

Jeddah Perfume Shop

There are hundreds of perfume shops in Jeddah.  This is one of them  Perfume is frequently given as gifts here in Saudi Arabia. 

KAUST Entrance

Rows of palm trees adorn the main entry road which leads to KAUST, King Abdullah University for Science and Technology.  To learn more about this amazing institution of higher learning, CLICK HERE. 

Happy Holidays from Saudi Arabia!

Saluting Hardees in Jeddah

Hardees global restaurant chain has been in the news lately in Saudi Arabia because it made a bold move in hiring females to work in a few of its restaurants in Jeddah.  This may not sound like a big deal or seem like a reason for controversy, but it is.  To read more about this issue, CLICK HERE. 

We Three Fish

This was dinner at the outdoor fish restaurant I featured in yesterday's post.  We selected the fish we wanted and then they were cleaned and deep fried by the staff at the restaurant.  If you'd like to see more photos and read more about the evening we spent there, CLICK HERE. 

Outdoor Dining - Bedouin Style

This is a very typical and traditional outdoor Bedouin style fish restaurant north of Jeddah.  There is no furniture to speak of, just carpets on the ground with cushions and portable arm rests.  This is the men's section of the restaurant.  It is divided from the family section of the restaurant with a big wall.  Notice that there are also televisions at some areas for watching sports or religious programming. 

SkyWatch: Twin Minarets at Sunset

I love the minarets on the mosques in Saudi Arabia.  I never tire of trying to photograph them. 

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Sunset in the Desert

This photo was taken outside the city of Jeddah.

Glass Sculpture at KAUST

This beautiful stained glass sculpture is one of the first things one sees upon entering the campus of KAUST, King Abdullah University for Science and Technology, about an hour's drive north of Jeddah. 

Our World: Mannequin Legs are Okay

All store mannequins in stores in Saudi Arabia are headless.  When out in public, Saudi women must wear floor length loose-fitting black cloaks called abayas over their normal clothing and cover their heads with scarves called hijab.  In advertising, on product packaging, and in magazines, women's faces and skin are often marked out with black markers.  It seems to be perfectly all right though for store mannequins to wear sexy clothing and show off their cleavage, arms and legs, even though I feel it sends a confusing mixed message. 

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No Wonder It's on Sale...

This abaya was on the sale rack priced at 100 riyals, which is about $25 US.  I'm pretty sure a man designed it ...

Lean Ground Beef Price in Saudi Arabia

Food prices in Saudi Arabia are generally cheaper than in the USA, especially bread and fresh produce.  This label shows the cost of .770 kilos of Brazilian Lean Ground Beef at 26.95 Saudi Riyals per kilo, making the cost of this package of ground beef 20.75 SR.  Converting that into pounds and US dollars, this package weighs 1.70 pounds at $7.19 per kilo (equaling $3.24 per pound), making the total cost of this package of ground beef $5.53 US.

How does that compare to your area of the world?

Clarks in Arabic

SkyWatch: Building Up

This is a familiar sight regarding adding on to buildings here in Jeddah.  Oftentimes buildings are built with just one or two floors as that might be all that the owner can afford at the time.  Later on down the road when he can afford to add on more floors, construction continues upward. 

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Frozen Yogurt Mall Shop

This frozen yogurt shop in the Mall of Arabia is bound to attract customers with its lively decor.

Floral Print Abaya

This is an example of a floral print abaya, shown from the back.  Printed abayas are generally made out of knit fabrics and usually have borders like this one instead of an all over print. 

Our World: Mall Kiosk at Prayer Time

The cloth covered kiosk in the foreground is typical of how many businesses quickly close up shop at prayer times during the middle of the shopping day. 

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Saudi Winter Fashions

I just can't imagine seeing Saudi women wearing clothing like this ... especially the white faux fur vest on the left!

AlSaif Center - Home of Houseware

This housewares store is located at Al Shatee Shopping Plaza, where many abaya shops are also located. 

Jackets in Saudi

I have never once been cold in Jeddah in the five years I have lived here.  Not once.  And certainly not cold enough to wear any kind of jacket. Ever.

SkyWatch: KAUST Mosque Minarets

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is a public research university located about an hour's drive north of Jeddah in the seaport village of Thuwal.  Opened in 2009, KAUST offers graduate and post graduate degrees in many of the science fields such as biology, environment, and computers.  The minarets in this photo are part of the King Abdullah Grand Mosque on the KAUST grounds.

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Colored Anayas

This is the colored abaya rack in a very large abaya shop.  Most women wear black abayas in Saudi Arabia, but in Jeddah more and more women are stepping outside the box and adding colored and even printed abayas to their wardrobes.  Brown and dark blue abayas are the most commonly seen colors, but I have seen women in purple too. 

5 Star Hotel (?) in Jeddah

Our World: Three Legged Bench

I was sitting in the car the other day while my husband went into the pharmacy. I looked over and saw this wooden bench on the street corner.

I thought it was interesting how the back right leg was cut off and propped up on cement blocks on a step.

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Abaya Embellishments

This photo shows a closeup of the shoulders of a rack of abayas, the traditionally black cloak that Saudi women wear out in public.  While many Saudi women prefer to wear plain black abayas, many women in Saudi Arabia choose to wear abayas with some type of embellishments on them, like beading, embroidery, sequins, printed fabrics, or endless other trimmings.  The fabrics for abayas can vary too, from silk to crepe to polyester to knits.  Colored abayas are still few and far between, but are slowly becoming increasingly popular.  Most abayas also include a matching scarf called hijab, which is worn to cover the hair. 

On the Rooftops: Birds and Laundry

I can see the rooftops of many buildings from my perch on our own rooftop.   I'm always amazed at the number of pigeons I can see.  There is a man who feeds the pigeons here every day. 

CDP Theme Day: My Street

This is the view of the main street near our building from my rooftop.

City Daily Photo features photo blogs of cities all around the world. The first day of each month is City Daily Photo’s Theme Day, and December’s theme is “My Street.” If you like to do armchair traveling, please check out the City Daily Photo blogs – you will see some amazing sights.

SkyWatch: Jeddah Rooftop Sunset

The sun sets each day to the west over the Red Sea in Jeddah.  This is the view from my building's rooftop. 

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Fun Toy

I saw this Lego knock-off toy and got a chuckle out of the wording on the box:  "New Funny of Intelligent Blocks."

Doors Inside Doors

JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA:  This must be a door warehouse of sorts.

Blue Wrought Iron Door

Wrought iron is the preferred choice for many window coverings, doors and gates in Jeddah.  Doors and gates are often lined with opaque colored plastic sheeting which allows for privacy while still letting light in. 

Hay Wire

Many buildings in the oldest part of Jeddah called Al Balad have beautifully detailed wood carved doors..  Haphazard and dangerous electrical wiring as seen in this photo is also very common in this area of the city.  Unfortunately many of the oldest buildings in the city have been lost to fire because of hazards like this. 

Swarovski in Arabic

Shops in the many large and beautiful malls here in Saudi Arabia are eye-catching, colorful, sleek and modern.  Many worldwide chains are found in Jeddah, such as this Swarovski Crystal store. 

Hole in the Wall

I wonder about the lives of the people who live in places like this. I believe that foreign workers from poorer countries are the inhabitants of these homes.

SkyWatch: Busy Corniche on the Red Sea

Women clad in black.  Men and children wear what they want.  Red Sea breezes at the end of the day along Jeddah's Corniche.

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Family Only Lingerie Shop

"Family Only" has become a common sign outside many businesses in Saudi Arabia.  Restaurants have historically had family sections apart from single men's sections.  But now lingerie shops are required by law to restrict single men from going inside without a female family member.   It's always confusing to me to see window displays such as this sporting a half naked headless mannequin, yet women in public must be totally covered - usually in black formless cloaks - from head to toe.

Sun Design Villa Gate

This is an older villa with a metal gate which has a sun design on it.  Private villas in Saudi Arabia are always completely enclosed by tall walls for privacy. 

Our World: What Saudi Women Wear

 Even after five years of living here in Saudi Arabia, I'm afraid I am still not used to seeing women dressed in black cloaks from head to toe.  It still jars my senses - yet I am one of them!

These women are wearing the long black cloaks called abaya that all women in Saudi Arabia wear when out in public.  The two women on the outside wear a type of overhead abaya, which is all one piece and very loose, revealing absolutely none of the female form at all.  Most abayas that I've seen start at the neck and then the head scarf (hijab) is separate.   Many Saudi women also wear the niqab (veil) over their faces - although it might just be my imagination, but I feel like I am seeing more and more women without the veil lately.  The veil is not required by Islam.  Abayas with embellishments and colors are seen more commonly now too.  I wrote a post this past summer called "Embracing the Abaya" on my other blog, Susie's Big Adventure, with more photos of different abayas.  CLICK HERE TO READ IT.

Be sure to visit OUR WORLD TUESDAY, where family-friendly bloggers share a unique glimpse into what life is like all around our ever-amazing planet.

Censorship Confusion

This is a really huge sign inside a mall in Jeddah.  I just don't understand why whoever put this sign up felt that the two girls' faces on the left needed to be blurred out, while the girl on the right wasn't.  It's all so confusing to me...

Red Sea Seating

The day was coming to a close on the Red Sea.  Red carpets were laid out on the Corniche and some Bedouin style floor cushion seating was placed around the edge of the carpets.  I'm not really sure if this was for a special occasion or if it's a normal sight, but I thought it was very cool.