Relocation Tour 2013

On September 19, 21 & 22, we took a 3 day relocation tour offered to us by Sadara.  I think we picked the perfect weekend to take this tour because it was a 4 day Holiday weekend to celebrate Saudi National Day.  Our tour guide was Glen and the driver's name was Orly, both were from the Philippines.

The Itinerary for the 3 days was to tour 3 important cities to us because of where we live and Marty's work site.  These cities are Al Khobar, Dammam, & Jubail.  The tour was meant to show us important places that we would need to know which included grocery stores, malls, hospitals, schools, and other popular places for expatriates (ex-pats) to visit.  We had already gone to several grocery stores so we wanted to see other things that we could do with the girls.  The tour guides were very flexible and accommodating.  The girls were in school the first day so we asked to do shopping instead of the beach which was originally planned for day 1.

Day 1: Thursday, September 19, 2013,  Al Khobar Tour.
Marty and I had a great time shopping at this place called Desert Designs Heritage Museum.  It is a cultural store with arts from the desert promoting Saudi heritage and handicrafts from the past to the present culture.  Then we were brought to the Al Rashid Mall which I had not been to yet.  It had the most amazing Arab-Islamic architectural heritage.  We ate lunch at Fuddruckers and the hamburger was delicious!

Desert Designs Heritage Museum bathroom.  We weren't allowed to take pictures in the store.

                 

 Fuddruckers

     AlRashid Mall  

Arab-Islamic architectural heritage.

This mall is so huge that it has an amusement part inside. Children can play while parents shop. These pictures don't do it justice. It goes on, and on, and on...

Then we went to the School to pick up the girls.  The school is part of the tour but we didn't need to see it since we have already been there multiple times to get the girls registered.  They took us to SAAD Hospital because Hannah and Rachael had appointments to have a TB skin test checked.  The hospital was also on the list of places to see on our tour.  They drove through a McDonalds for the girls to get dinner and back to Las Dunas Compound.  Great First Day!

 

SAAD Hospital

Day 2: Saturday, September 21, 2013, Al Khobar and Dammam. 

We drove around King Fahd Causeway (Bahrain Bridge) which connects Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.  You need your Passport to go to Bahrain because it is a different country.

King Fahd Causeway (Bahrain Bridge)

Then we went to Half-Moon Beach.  The water is a light lime green color because of the amount of salt in the water.  

 

Because of the Saudi Holiday weekend there were activities set up on the beach.  Horse back riding, camel rides, games, little boats, and 4 wheeler rides.

   

 

Then we traveled a little further down half moon beach to where there were sand dunes.  Here we rented 4 wheelers and a dune buggy.

 

 

 

 

Camel bones

For lunch Glen and Orly took us to an authentic Arabian restaurant in Dammam.  It was called the Dammam Heritage Village.  It is a 5 story building that looked like a castle.  It was a restaurant, a museum and a store.  We let the tour guides order for us so that we could try delicious Saudi dishes.  We were brought to a door that was like going into someones house.  We took our shoes off outside the door.  We went into a room and sat on the floor to eat our lunch.  In the room there were 2 little windows that Rachael opened to look outside.  You could hear children playing.   We started the meal off with Arabic coffee called Al-Qahwa that was served with dates.  It was delicious!  We were then served 2 rice dishes, one was a rice and chicken dish and the other a rice with meat (lamb) dish. Rachael also ordered a fried shrimp meal.  Both of the girls ordered a special drink.  We thought that the food was very good.  The experience was wonderful.  At the end of our meal a stray cat ran in our room looking for a way out! It was very funny.

    

 

After we ate our tour guides wanted to bring us to a Dolphin show but it was closed so we decided that this would just give us something to do another day.

Day 3: Sunday, September 22, 2013 Jubail Tour. 
The Eastern province on the Persian Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia.  Jubail is the largest industrial city in the Middle East.  It holds the middle east's largest and world's 4 th. largest Petrochemical company.  We went to see Al Jude II Compound where we would have been living if we were living in Jubail.  Then we drove through old Jubail or downtown Jubail.  Next we  passed by Al Nakheel Beach.  The water is beautiful and we did see families on the beach and the ladies were in Abayas.  Then we went to Fanateer Mall and had lunch.  After 4 p.m. at this mall only families are allowed to shop not singles.  After lunch we drove by Jubail's industrial zone that has 19 main factories.   Of course we passed by Sadara!  It was good to see where Marty goes to work.  It is huge!  Miles and Miles,  just for the area that Marty works in.  Marty also got to go to Al Farouq compound to visit with his friend, Bruce, for a while. We were not allowed in because it's a compound for men only.  Then the tour guides took us to a stable where Rachael and Hannah got a chance to see many horses and they got to ride a horse.  Then as we were traveling back home we saw a large herd of camels in the distance and the driver decided to find a road that would get us closer to them.  He did find a road and the camels began to walk toward us.  It was amazing as the entire herd of camels began to surround us and our vehicle.  The driver, Hannah, Rachael and Marty all were able to pet the camels and take pictures.

   

  

We found out that our tour guide is a Christian! He said he prayed that there would be fun things for the girls to do.  He also said that Friday is his only day off and that he goes to church on Fridays.  I think our tour guides had a good time too.  I would recommend this tour and these tour guides to everyone.  We had a blast!