Back to the present though. I decided on Wednesday night that I would walk to work yesterday and order a taxi to take me straight down to Dharan again as I'd done when I went to Ikea. I wanted to go to the Rashid mall in Khobar really but it would be such a waste not to stop in and make the most of Applebys again - no doubt there are other, hopefully better resteraunts around but as I've yet to discover them so Applebys remains the benchmark. Speaking of my plan to one of the new guys however, he got quite excited about the idea of escaping Rahima and going to a mall. Apparently the hotel he'd been put up in was opposita one but nothing like what I had seen either in Dharan or Khobar. Sure enough then he was along for the trip. No problem really, and half the taxi fare so even better apart from the fact that he wanted to go back to the camp to get showered and changed as if we were going out on the town. This meant me walking back to my apartment (so I could have ridden my bike), doing the same as why not, and arranging a taxi to pick me up from Panda (another 20 minute walk) because they wouldn't find me by address, and going to pick him up all before even setting off. Still, it was better than going alone.
Not long after, the two other new guys who were still staying in Khobar got wind of my plan also and wanted to meet up with us too. Combigned with yet another new guy who still hasn't made it to Ras Tanura which one of the guys used to work with and we would now be a party of five...
That afternoon, the department head had apparently sent round an e-mail to all trainers within the department for a meeting at 3pm. Unfortunately I think he still has me confused with another guy with the same name but with one letter different in the surname so I didn't get it, nor did the other new guy having only been given his log in account the day previous. Consequently at 3pm the two of us were soaking up the sun outside when one of the other trainers ran out and started whistling from over the other side of the seating area gesturing to us to hurry up because we were late. Not a problem I thought, at least we have a valid reason, howeevr the meeting had apparently been called on the behalf of us four new guys to introduce ourselves to everyone ay once and have everyone else introduce themselves in turn. Our immediate absence was compounded by the fact that the guy staying down in Khobar has dissappeared for the afternoon (with permission) to sort some stuff out for his new flat and one of the other new guys was nowhere to be found! Turned out he had been babysitting a class and decided to stay there after the teaching day had finished to use the computer. Hence there was only the two of us and we were late. Thankfully nobody minded our 10 minute delay (lets face it everyones pretty easy going here anyway) and both myself and the other guy were suprised at such a thoughtful thing to do from the department head merely on our behalf. It's not the sort of thing I've come to expect certainly.
So after carrying my modified itinerary, me and the other trainer arrived outside the Dharan mall almost precisely at 6pm as planned to meet his past colleague who was standing waiting for us as we walked through the entrance. He's in his late 50's and by the sound of things did get a rough ride when the refinery down in Essex where the pair of them worked along with one of the other trainers here closed down and made everyone redundant. Consequently he decided to come here to top up what he lost out on with his pension, in the process negotiating a Senior trainer job level and salary (which is a lot easier to do when you don't really want the job and you have 32 years refinery experience by the sounds of it). No doubt the Senior trainer within our department will love it the first time this new guy points it out to him! To be honest I haven't made my mind up about if he's going to be the kind of person who will adapt to the many significant differences here or if after so long and being so regimented he will struggle to let go of his expectations and habits from back in the UK - something that I think may have been an underlying reason for my previous mentors departure after only 7 months. This new guy started telling us about all the things he'd been told in the interview - like most of us - which he was still expecting to happen and we had to correct him on. I was all for giving him the whole truth and laying it out how it is but the other new guy who'd worked with him previously was clearly going out of his way to maintain the most positive of attitudes towards it, no matter how bad. I'm not sure if it was his prior colleague or himself he was actually trying to convince if I'm honest. I guess only time will tell what he makes of it when he gets up to Ras Tanura sometime next week.
After wandering around the mall and the guy I'd come down with being completely amazed at all the recognisable names of shops such as M&S and Debenhams etc, we headed over to meet the other two guys outside Applebys for 7pm. Typical however, I'd forgot 6:59pm was prayer time and hence we ended up stood around outside waiting for a whole half hour which at least gave everyone a chance to chat and get to know eachother. Dinner was eventually as good as ever, the rest of the guys being absolutely made up with it as I was on my first visit. By now it was 9pm and knowing how the Rashid mall music shop doesn't conform to standard opening times like the rest of the shops (probably due to lack of general trade with it being illegal to play insutrments in public and uncommon to hear them anyway) I decided to leave my attempt to buy a guitar for another time. It certainly hadn't been a waste of a trip anyway and at least I'd still have my original excuse for coming back another time. We ended up back in Ikea and in the end I decided that now would be a good time to buy the dining room table that had been missed off my list, another chair and a few small bits and pieces while we were there. The other guy did the same and we jumped a cab back to Ras Tanura which was thankfully big enough to accomodate all our purchases.
This morning I got up just after 8am. After showering and getting dressed I spent half an hour rearranging things in the flat (there's not a great deal still in here to make it messy thannkfully) and decided to take a ride up to the Al Sueidi camp where I'd been told by one of the Philipino trainers they would be playing tennis most of the day. When I got there however, there was nobody to be seen on or around the tennis court or the pool. I stopped in on my colleague who's door I noticed was open just to say hello and then left about ten minutes later. As I was already out and about on the bike and I had taken a big bottle of Ribena with me in aniticipation of sitting around most the afternoon I decided I'd ride to the beach. I knew the direction and that it didn't seem that far when I was looking on the map. Low and behold though it was further than I thought. It took me 40 minutes from the camp and on my heave full suspension mountain bike with less than fully inflated tyres I'd estimate about 8 or 9 mph so probably a total of 6 miles perhaps. When I got there I was amazed though. I could literally have been back in Mexico or any other resort. There were proper volleyball courts, basketball courts, football pitched and no doubt had I continued exploring tennis courts somewhere. A wall at the front stood at the back of about 50 meters of white sandy beach before entering the gorgeous cyan coloured waters or the Arabian Gulf. It was fantastic! I really couldn't get over how nice it looked. I'd seen a street sign before I'd turned off the main road saying no photographs (which is pretty much the norm anyway here) but I managed to sneakily snap a couple with my phone on the way out without anyone noticing. There weren't many people there anyway. If I'd have counted there would have been less than a hundred spread out over the few miles or so of beach and coastline. The majority were either Indian familys who had pitched tents and were having barbeques or guys fishing off the wall out into the shallow waters. I only saw one small boy entering the very edge of the water in shorts and t-shirt and almost nobody actually dwon on the sandy beach.
The downside of this magnificent place however, is that it clearly would not be acceptable to actually strip off and sunbathe. I guess you'd get away with shorts but I doubt you'd last long if you took your shirt off in the presence of the ladies there in nicabs. Such a shame... Still, there's plenty to enjoy anyway and it just means swimming in shorts and t-shirt which isn't a bad thing given the intensity of the sun etc. Today had actually been the first day I'd put sun tan lotion on before going out conveniently and I stopped twice to top it up just in case (one of the SABB drive through ATMs which display time, date and temperature was reading 24 degrees already by this point). It only took me 20 minutes to get back to my apartment thanks to a favourable wind and being slightly downhill (which is all you get here really being mainly desert) and my average speed I think would confirm my earlier estimate of about 4 or 5 miles from my place. Unsuprisingly by this time I was ringing wet and was straight back in the shower again...
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