Tourism is Hard Sometimes!

If you want to be a tourist here in Riyadh, you've really got to do your homework! The first time we went out into the city we were surprised when we got to the mall and things shut down all of a sudden. Apparently all shops and restaurants close during prayer times. This was a surprise to me because things didn't shut down during prayer in Egypt or Jordan. It is Islamic belief that you pray five times a day facing Mecca. One prayer occurs when the sun comes up which is sometime between 5:00am-6:00am, the next around Noon, then about 3:00pm, then sunset, then in between 7:00pm-8:00pm. Prayer is announced from the minarets of the mosques in the city. Even though we now know this we still have managed to have really bad luck getting into the city at the exact wrong time and end up waiting for things to open up again. Not only that, but some shops wont open for a few hours after prayer call so its something we are still getting used to.

The picture above is us walking around killing time until everything opens up again. That is Faisaliah Tower in the back, one of the more well known landmarks in the city. You not only have to time things according to prayers here, but certain tourist sites have specific times and days for single men, for women only, and for families. So if you're thinking about going somewhere, make sure you check available time slots! We have been to a few interesting tourist sites since we've been here. Some of the other teachers and I decided to go to a place called Al Musmak, which is a fortress in old Riyadh when the city was small and surrounded by walls. It was conquered in the early 1900's by the house of Saud, and it was this event that led to the reestablishment of the royal Saudi family's control over the region. Incidently, this fortress is right next to a place called Deera Square where they periodically do public executions. We asked a man nearby who spoke English if they do many executions. He told us they do not do so many these days which is true. They have only had about 19 public executions this year compared to 2007 when they had 190 (I think, it was around that) Our driver said the same "they do not do so much no more, long ago, too much."

That is Al-Musmak fortress above. Unfortunately, after visiting the fort we were extremely hungry and then the prayer call occured and we had to wait to eat! The next day we went decided to go to the National Museum. We headed out in the evening to be there for the single men's time. We took a taxi and we got completely lost. We pointed to the place on the map but it didn't help. We later learned that many Saudi taxi drivers are illiterate and can't read maps anyway. I don't know if that is true but it would explain all the trouble! The price was up to 100 riyals and we were pretty frustrated so we got out at the next populated area we came across. The one consolation we got out of the ride was the cool sunset next to Faisaliah Tower:

Anyway, we went into a building with a few guys to ask for help. They stood around the map talking in Arabic and pointing here and there for a few minutes. We had no idea what was going on. Suddnely they grabbed the map and motioned us to follow to the place next door. They found two or three others to consult with. Once again, more talking in Arabic and pointing for a minute or so. Suddenly one of the guy looks up and says in a really funny way "where are you going?" We say "National Museum" and he says "oh, mataf" which we assumed meant museum and we were all like yeah, mataf! He motions a boy over, probably 18 or 19 years of age over and says he will drive you in his car. It was one of the coolest things ever. I don't know too many people who would do that back home. His name was Yassir and we were extremely grateful to him because before we knew it we were at the museum. We paid him some riyals for his trouble and made it just in time. The museum was extremely cool. They had many ancient artifacts dating back many thousands of years. One of my favorite parts was a stone with petroglyphs of camels and men. It reminded me so much of the many petroglyphs and pictographs I would see during my time on the river in Utah of big horn sheep and hunters. It made me realize how similar people are throughout the world, even in ancient times. I learned a lot about the history of Arabia there including some neat stories of the prophet Muhammed and the spread of Islam. It was a great night despite the taxi troubles. This is the National Museum below.
That probably wont be the last of our trouble getting around the city, but hopefully we'll be wiser in the future and do our homework. There are still a number of places I want to go such as the top of Faisaliah Tower and the Kingdom Tower. There are restaurants at the top of both, but apparently they are kind of expensive. I think it will still be worth it for the view though. I haven't started teaching yet. Its nice that we've had a whole week to just tour the city. We meet our classes tomorrow and actually start teaching officially on Sunday.