Desert surprise

If there’s one thing we’ve been asked more than anything else since arriving in the Kingdom it’s “How does Saudi Arabia compare to your expectations?” This question makes me nervous. Immediately I take a sip of my tea or begin to stare at my toes poking out from under my abaya, content to let another brave soul in our group answer. Our hosts expect a polite exclamation of pleasant surprise at Saudi hospitality and progress. So that’s what we give them. But for me the question is too complex to answer honestly on the spot. It requires a blog post.

In some ways, our trip so far has been pretty similar to what I anticipated. I expected to meet with highly educated officials and professionals who were more than happy to speak to us about their plans for gradual progress and reform. I expected Saudi oil wealth to manifest itself in bright city lights, massive malls full of designer labels, and a silly spectrum of fast food options. I expected to have to dig slightly (or perhaps more than slightly) to get a better idea of the diverse perspectives on Saudi development. Five days into our journey this all seems about right. But the country has also thrown me a few curveballs.

I never expected, for example, to visit the place ranked number one in the world for city management. Yesterday our group met with the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu, the group responsible for the development of the two industrial cities that also provide access to sea-lanes linking Saudi Arabia with its most important markets. In addition to meeting with leadership at the Commission, we received a tour of Jubail Industrial City, which lies on the Arabian Gulf about 100 kilometers north of Dammam where we’re currently staying. Jubail is home to a huge number of petro-chemical plants that dominate the landscape in the areas zoned industrial. But the rest of the city is surprisingly livable. The inviting coastline offers not just the sparkling Gulf waters and white sand beaches, but also green parks and children’s playgrounds. It’s an industrial city fit for a picnic.

Jubail owes its success to the Commission, which was responsible for building all of the infrastructure that attracted investment to the city. This unique government entity, which is allocated an independent budget from the central government, is still busy shaping the future of Jubail and quickly filling in the planned sections of its master plan. As it does so it is expanding both physical infrastructure and the services that improve quality of life for its 155,000 residents, including education and health services, and the enforcement of high environmental standards.

Yesterday also included a surprise trip to a small area where willing group members were able to take a quick horse-ride (my allergic self couldn’t resist the temptation and am just about rid of my hives). Our guide Saad hopped on the horse and brought him to a trot like he’d been riding Arabian horses through the desert all his life. It’s one of many things that have surprised me about Saad, who wears his traditional thobe as comfortably as he wears Western clothes and aviators, and jokes with all of us in a relaxed way I’m not sure I expected. It shows me that relations between genders here could potentially be friendly and open, but it’s still not entirely clear how our interactions compare to actual social norms.

I feel like sometimes the things that could really alter my perceptions about the country are just beyond our reach, hiding in homes and mosques we’ll never visit. But we’ll keep on probing. And I’ll try to stop publicly avoiding the question!