Mecca, Saudi Arabia

The famous Mecca of Saudi Arabia. The most loved place in the entire world by Muslims. Why? Because of the Kaa'bah. It is the birthplace of Prophet Muhammad, may peace and blessings be brought down on him. And like mentioned, it is considered the holiest city in Islam.

The city's economy depends mostly on the annual pilgrimage of Muslims there. The pilgrimage known has Hajj. In fact right now at this very moment, people are performing Hajj! So tourism basically shapes this city's economy. There are many luxurious hotels throughout the city that are mainly there to house the annual pilgrims to come to Mecca. In fact, they're building a new complex called Abraj Al Bait, which translates to The Towers of the Home. Abraj Al Bait is a very large housing project consisting of seven new additional skyscrapers, with the tallest one being the hotel tower at 601 meters, which also happens to be the tallest building in the country. This complex is being built right in front of Masjid Al-Haram.

Like mentioned, right now is when the two million Muslims go to Mecca and perform their religious duties. It's a very prominent time in a Muslims life to be apart of this ritual. I soon hope to find myself among one of these two million Muslims who go there.

Riyadh

Like mentioned, Riyadh is the capital of the country of Saudi Arabia. I respect this place as a prosperous city center, but nothing more. I actually think that due to their oil wealth, they can enhance the skyline of the city; maybe to make it match something like Dubai or Doha, Qatar. But in this particular topic the Saudi's did it right; just a few skyscrapers necessary for the status of the country. Dubai just went strong on building buildings, and I'm still confused as to why they need that many buildings considering half of them remain empty, however that's a different topic.

Most of the skyscrapers in Riyadh are held in the center of the city, particularly King Fahd Road. This road is considered that very prosperous part of town with many modern facilities and stuff like that. It also houses three of the large skyscrapers of the city; Kingdom Center, Al Faisaliyah Center, and Al Anoud Tower. You might also tend to find very nice and luxurious cars in this region, however this is Saudi Arabia, so you'll find it in any region.

Riyadh has over 4000 mosques. Not an overwhelming number, considering the population, however it's still decent. Most people in the city are Muslims, and when the time for prayer goes off, you need to go to the Mosque. They also have these patrol officers that drive around and sort of direct you towards the Mosque. If you refuse, I heard they'll toss you in their car and take you to the Mosque. Now, if you're not a Muslim, that's a different case. What they will do is just give you some pamphlets or brochures contain some basic facts about Islam. I really like this process because they're spreading the word of Islam, however they're doing it in a very peaceful and polite way. And they also want to strengthen the current religiousness of the already Muslims.

Saudi Arabian cuisine tends to be very popular among the Arab world. One very prominent dish they serve is Kabsah. What this dish usually includes is yellow rice, cooked to perfection, with some goat meat, or lamb meat in reasonable chunks just tossed around the mountain of rice. Sometimes they substitute that meat with delicious chicken, but that usually depends on the person. Sometimes they even add in some raisins, but that's something I prefer to be absent when I eat it.

Either way, Riyadh tends to be classified as a prosperous and modern city, and a regional economic power.

Animosity of Saudis

Why did my parents leave Saudi Arabia? I'm very sure it wasn't because of the pay since our quality of life over there was much better than it could have been any where else in the world. Then why? I consulted my dad about this topic before and his only answer to me was "They weren't good people". Now, my father was the manager in the electronic equipment section at a hospital, with a ton of Saudis working under him. You would think these people would show him the respect deserved. I haven't really had the chance to visit Saudi Arabia while I'm more aware of things, however, residing there is out of the question; considering what I've heard about them.

Stuck up, stubborn, rich, Arabs is what defines Saudis, apparently. I haven't really seen too many of these people in real life, and when I do, it's here in America. I also don't understand why other Arabs from other countries hate the Saudis. Is it because they're jealous of them? No, because if jealousy and animosity is shown towards the Saudis, then they're doing what they hate about the Saudis. Okay, if it's not jealousy, then what is it? And the answer is  (from what I've heard) that many Saudis let their personal wealth and their international rankings get to their head. Apparently they think they're too good to be associated with the rest of the Middle East; with a few exceptions of course, such as other oil rich countries. Now, do I believe this? My answer is yes, because it caused a dramatic shift in my life.

The group of people that the Saudis hate the most is Egyptians. That's unfortunate, yet surprising, because many Egyptians are expatriate employees there. Now, I never understood why Saudi's hate Egyptians so much. In fact, it's not just the Saudis, but the Kuwaitis and the others. My own personal answer to this question is that Saudis are jealous of Egyptians. Let me explain myself. Saudis are aware of the fact that they're prosperous now because of the disgusting amounts of oil they have, however when that oil runs out, they will be worth less than the sand they stand on. And Egypt's economy is supposed to be ranked among the top in the world because of the vast amount of potential it holds; however due to the corruption that struck the country, that won't happen for a while. Now, Saudi's know this as well, yet they seem to live the moment. They're not oblivious to the fact that soon Egypt's economy will surpass them as the best economy in the Middle East, sometime in the future, however they seem to temporarily cloud that fact only because of the prosperous times they are in.


This still brings up the question again of why do many Egyptians live there. And my only logical explanation to that is they just do not care what Saudis think. Egyptians are just naturally more talented than any Saudi, so why would they let other people's downgrading of them actually affect them. It shouldn't even make a dent in them. So hearing this, I asked my dad why didn't he just remain stubborn with regards to the fact that many Saudi's show animosity towards him. And his answer was, if that was the only problem facing me, I would have stayed. However, he didn't want my brother and I to be raised in a very materialistic country, and grow up to be spoiled brats. And he also thought that we had a better educational future in America, and I respect that.