You know when you are in Jeddah

[Solomon2]

KINGDOM

---

You know when you are in Jeddah

LOCAL VIEWPOINT

Last updated: Saturday, April 06, 2013 12:24 PM

Talal Al-Gashgari
Al-Madinah

If you are met at the airstrip by coaches that look like sardine packs and zigzag all over the tarmac to drop passengers off at the airport’s main building, then be assured that you are in Jeddah.

If you have to wait for more than an hour for your luggage to appear on the conveyor belt, then know that you are in Jeddah.

If you need a calculator to count the number of pumps and ditches along the streets, then you are in Jeddah.

If you have no other place than the Corniche to entertain yourself and your family, then you should realize that you are in Jeddah. If this Corniche is congested and smells of automobile fumes, then know that you are in Jeddah.

If you see beautiful and spacious streets surrounded by narrow and underdeveloped residential districts, then you are in Jeddah.

If the Red Sea is a stone’s throw away yet the beach cabins that can be found along the shore charge rates double your salary, then you are in Jeddah.

If you see yellow water trucks emptying sewage near hotels, restaurants and amusement parks, then you are in Jeddah.

If you see two cars involved in a traffic accident while their drivers wait for hours on end for the traffic police to arrive, then you are definitely in Jeddah.

If you see public places with hundreds of cars outside due to a lack of parking space, then you are in Jeddah.

If you see a street that is not more than a kilometer long yet has 10 barber shops owned or run by Turkish expatriates, 10 grocery stores owned by Indians, 10 car workshops owned by Yemenis, 10 restaurants selling Bukhari rice and Afghan bread owned by Afghans, 10 Shawarma joints owned by Syrians, 10 air-conditioner workshops owned by Pakistanis, 10 women’s dress shops owned by Bangladeshis and 20 fruit carts being pulled by Yemenis, then be sure you are in Jeddah.

If you see beggars of various nationalities at each traffic signal and men asking worshippers in mosques to help them with money, then you are in Jeddah.

If you see signboards with the name of the project and the contractor becoming worn-out without the project being implemented, then you are in Jeddah.

If you see flyovers and underpasses being constructed to reduce traffic congestion and they themselves have become the cause of crowding, then you are in Jeddah.

If you did not see any of the things listed above, then perhaps the airline you chose flew you to another destination.