SkyWatch - Ramadan Food Booth

The month of Ramadan will be over in about a week. Ramadan is the one month of the year when Muslims fast during the daylight hours. When they break the fast at the end of each day, one of the most popular traditional foods that Muslims like to eat is called sambusek. Sambusek is a small meat pie that is similar to a chinese egg roll or the Indian samosa.  It is very tasty.  Many restaurants build a booth outside their building to accommodate the sales of this popular Ramadan food.  They can literally sell out of thousands of sambusek in the one to two hour period right before the fast is broken at sundown.   

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Times are Changin'

Many changes are happening rapidly in Saudi Arabia.  It's a very historic and exciting time in the country.  One recent change that I have noticed is women in pictures!  This huge ad inside a mall in Jeddah has four women prominently featured - and their faces are visible! Not pixilated. Not blurred out. Not marked over with a black marking pen. This is a big change! 

The photo below of another large ad inside a mall also has a woman's face showing. This ad is actually advertising for another big change in the kingdom - the arrival of movie theaters!   

Mall Shop Window Display

I like the look of these 3D flowers behind the headless children mannequins.  I wonder what stores do with all of the graphics they use to decorate shop windows.  Some of them are pretty cool...

Durian Fruit

I don't believe I've ever seen durian fruit in the US, but it is readily available here in Saudi Arabia. It is very popular in Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.  Aside from its obviously unusual appearance consisting of a thorn covered outer skin, the smell of the fruit inside is also quite pungent and unpleasant to many. It can grow to be almost as large as a football.  Its strong lingering odor gives the durian the distinction of being banished from many hotels and public transportation in Southeast Asia. 

Our World - Imported Food Products in Jeddah

Here are more imported food products found here in Saudi Arabia, like dried organic fruits from Australia and KitKat chocolates.  

There are many brands of hot sauce to choose from too...

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Let's Go Grocery Shopping

Jeddah has ultra modern supermarkets and imported products available from all over the world. 

Every year it seems more and more brands and products from back home can be found here. 

Variety of Villas

The above villas are actually the same architectural designs, just reversed, but because of the difference in the color of windows, they don't really look the same.

Not much of the front of this villa is visible because of all the large palm trees outside its walls.

I believe this is a duplex villa.  

Random Misspellings

Just some random misspellings I've seen recently here in Jeddah -
on cookie labels in a supermarket ...

on a business "opening" sign ...

and on a "refreshing" moist towelette given to me in a restaurant.

SkyWatch - Jeddah's Floating Mosque

One of Jeddah's most well known mosques, The Floating Mosque, also known as Masjid Al Rahma or Fatima Al-Zahra Mosque. The mosque was built in 1985 and is a "must see" destination for tourists visiting the city.  The most popular times to visit this mosque are at dawn or at dusk, due to the splendid views of the Red Sea and the beautiful skies at those times of day.  

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Jeddah's Globe Roundabout

A few years ago the flagpoles were added around one of Jeddah's busiest traffic circle -the huge roundabout that sports one of the most well known and beloved sculptures in Jeddah.  "The Globe" is an enormous stained glass work of art by the Spanish architect and artist Julio Lafuente.  He was one of the most prolific sculptors who made many pieces of public artwork for the City of Jeddah during the 1970s and 1980s, a period of time called the Jeddah Beautification Project.

Suburban Jeddah

A huge and beautiful walled villa in Jeddah...

Jeddah Playground on the Red Sea

Two women in black abayas swinging at a playground while they enjoy the beauty of the Red Sea in front of them.

Jeddah More Blue Glass Highrises

Here are a couple more interesting very modern architectural designs incorporating the use of blue glass windows as the main element of the overall structure here in Jeddah.

Jeddah Castle Architecture

Jeddah has quite a variety of architectural styles all over the city. This building looks like a huge castle.

Jeddah Blue Glass Highrises

I don't know if major cities have this same phenomenon of having lots of blue glass highrise buildings, but Jeddah sure does.  One day I was clicking away as I traveled north on Medina Road, and when I got the photos onto my laptop, I was amazed at the sheer number of blue glass buildings there were jusst on this one main street in Jeddah. 

I have only posted three of them here on this post, but there had to be several dozen.  What is also amazing is the different architectural styles utilizing the blue glass in a variety of ways. 

SkyWatch - New City Signs in Jeddah

Some new additions to Jeddah's landscape are signs that welcome air travelers on their way into the city from the airport.  The above sign bears Jeddah's three letter airport code of "JED" and its accompanying sign below is Jeddah in Arabic.

The "I Love Jeddah" billboard sign below is visible to travelers as they are leaving the city heading toward the airport.

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Jeddah Restaurant Interior

An interesting combination of colors - purple, teal, and orange - and large artwork on the walls helped to make this modern Jeddah restaurant interior quite inviting.

Purple Geodes

These gorgeous geodes were on display in a precious stones shop here in Jeddah.

Jeddah Funky Mosque

Except for the little crescent moon topped minaret and the loud speaker flanking it, I would have never realized this little unassuming building was the entrance to a small neighborhood mosque.  

Jeddah Cool Lighting at Night

Jeddah transforms at night with the lighting...

Jeddah Cheescake Factory Ceiling

The ceilings at the Cheesecake Factory amaze me...

Ramadan Commercialization

Going out in the evenings here during Ramadan is absolutely crazy.  The streets are flooded with cars full of shoppers. Stores target shoppers with special Ramadan collections and promotions.

The city is almost like a ghost town during the day, because many people reverse their days and nights, sleeping all day and staying up all night.  

SkyWatch - Jeddah Villa with Rotunda

A villa in Jeddah with a large rotunda architectural feature - which always reminds me of castles.

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Familiar Brands

Lots of worldwide brand names are available here in Saudi Arabia grocery stores, such as Classico and Newman's Own spaghetti sauce. 

Godiva Chocolate, Chupa Chups and Mentos  aremore of the familiar products found here in the Magic Kingdom. 

More Ramadan Shop Decor

Here are more mall shop window displays with Ramadan decor. By the way, I don't ever recall seeing mannequins here with heads before! 

A festive window display above and the typical headless mannequins below.

Our World - Confusing Censorship

I've written about the confusing nature of censorship in this country quite a bit, and it still continues to confound me after all these years.  The problem is in the inconsistency with which the censorship is applied which I believe has to do with individuals in control of this applying their beliefs or interpretations.   All the photos in today's post were taken in a "Female Only" section of a local department store in Jeddah.

Product packaging often shows the product that is inside the package, especially if the product cannot be seen through the packaging. The first photo is censored in such a way so that hardly any of the product inside the package is visible.  All that can be seen is some of the model's skin and a small snippet of the product being sold.  The female model's body is covered randomly with 4 stickers - most of which cover up the product and still leave plenty of her skin showing.  I mistakenly thought the whole point of censorship was to cover up the woman's skin which would be considered forbidden to see in Islam...

This second photo has just on sticker that covers up a small keyhole area where cleavage might possibly have been visible, but the model's thighs, shoulders, and arms are left exposed.  At least most of the product is viewable so the customer has an idea of what she is buying.

This 3rd photo pretty much totally covers up the product inside the package, while leaving what appears to be the almost nude model's body totally exposed.  The censorship on this one is particularly puzzling to me - I don't understand why the censor doesn't try to cover her skin instead of the product itself.

This shows the same product packaging as the first photo but with the stickers completely covering up the product inside.  But instead on this one, we can see that the model is wearing a necklace which wasn't visible in the first photo, and which ironically is not being sold. The below photo is a headless mannequin sporting a sexy lingerie item - and this all apparently is totally okay here...
Saudi Arabia - Land of Contrasts and Contradictions!

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