Arrival in Dammam

Following our arrival at Dammam airport we disembarked the plane and made our way down a number of corridors not unlike most other airport terminals eventually arriving at a large area for passport and visa control. I had been warned about the numerous hours delay within this stage in the procedings but had completely put it out of my mind until I saw the desks. There were 18 rows feeding into 9 stations, one on either side. Approximately a third were for Saudi and GCC nationals, one for the diplomatic corps (how I envy you Uncle Pete), two for Crew (for which the queue was full of people who looked nothing like aircraft staff and I suspect were Philipinos who could read neither the Arabic or English signs), half a dozen for non-Saudis on returning or multiple-entry visas, and the rest for 'Non-Saudi First timers'. At least I knew where I had to go. Each queue though, no matter which one, was at least 50 deep. Security officers kept coming round to keep the lines straight due to the inevitable impatience of several people trying to cover off their best option from either side by taking a fictional middle lane. I stood there for 45 minutes waiting for the 15 or so in front of me to go through, have their finger prints read, photo taken and passport stamped (which apparently is not bad at all I found out from others later). It didn't go unnoticed that at this point there were now a male to female ratio of about 100 to 1 and of those only one did not have the full niqab now.

Eventually I got through. My bags must have been dizzy from the carousel so thankfully for them someone had removed them off the conveyor and left them there. Immediately a couple of Philipino men came rushing over asking me if I wanted a trolley which I didn't. I thought 'here we go'. One last security scan (unusual on the way out of an airport if I recall) and we were met with a few dozen drivers holding signs. I did my best to locate my name but couldn't so eventually gave in and rang the contact I had been given. Thankfully he answered and said he was there 'just outside'. I went to find him only to be asked about a dozen times by different Saudis if I needed a taxi despite me making it as clear as I could that I was looking for someone. Again I couldn't find him so went back in and rang him again. This time he was apparently inside and looking for me. I did another sweep back to the group of men with signs and funnily enough there he was. Clearly a fast one was being pulled but I took sympathy given that there is obviously no knowing if someone will be half an hour or three getting through immigration and assumed he had been sat in his car waiting or something. 

His name was Bandoy Ghlaia and he was Philipino, he told me as we attempted to make conversation whilst heading to the hotel in Khobar. He's been working for Al-Hoty since 1980 out in Saudi and has family back in the Phillipines because he isn't eligible for family status. He gave me a box with two SIM cards and a USB 4G internet dongle - not much use to me on an ipad mini though. The drive was about 40 minutes long and one of the most concerning of my life I have to admit. I'd heard about the poor driving standards but this is something else! Cars sitting in pretty much any lane they pleased just suddenly darting across to get on or off each junction. It was early so very quiet thankfully but still Bandoys self confidence didn't seem to match his ability. The huge Toyota landcruier seemed to be quite on edge even going in a straight line and he wasn't hanging around. I know this may seem hypocritical but speed limits didn't seem to be of any relevance at all. We found ourselves at one point backed up behind a temporary police road block which had just cleared and started moving as we got there. Next thing I saw was something that you'd find on 'Police, Camera, Action' when a car accellerated away and cut between the back of a bus and a car in the middle lane to make a gap of what must have been no more than a foot longer than itself. The most shocking thing about this though was that it was a police car. About 1km further up we passed a broken down vehicle on the side of the road, hazards flashing before seeing the same police car finishing a U-turn and accellerating toward the oncoming trafflic back to it's rescue - crazy!

As we arrived in Khobar civilization began to form more anticipated shapes. Whitewashed concrete buildings started to pop up more and more. It wasn't far from the freeway that I noticed the entrance to what I had mistook for a grand hotel similar to the resorts of the Riveira Maya but Bandoy said was actually a shopping mall. My hotel is right opposite and as we turned the corner the sheer enormity of the mall became apparent. From the outside it must at least be as big as the Trafford Centre! No doubt I'll be visiting pretty soon for a number of reasons, not least of which is the hotel concerierge (go on then I'll call him that...) informs me theres a studio in there where I can get some passport photos.

The hotel itself is one of those 'it'll do' places. Certainly not what you'd choose to stay in but it's perfectly clean and has pretty much everything I absolutely need - lights, power, bathroom with hot and cold water and a fridge. No toilet paper. The hose next to the toilet will undoubtedly be yet another strange new custom to get used to over the next 12 months. Bandoy asked me if I'd be OK to br picked up at 2pm that day or would I prefer to wait until the day after. The thought of not knowing what to do with only 500SAR (about £80) in a strange new world didn't excite me too much so I thought the sooner this introductory part was over the better and 2pm would be fine. There was another guy who had arrived about an hour before me as it turned out who Bandoy seemed keen for me to meet. Turned out he was Welsh but apart from a short hello he was obviously just as keen to get to bed as I was.

After getting up to my room on the third floor I opened my bags to find the various chargers I needed, attempted to install my new SIM in my old iphone4 (which didn't work because I didn't hook it up to itunes before I left) and took a quick peek out the window to listen to the sound of the call for prayers (not as loud as I was expecting thankfully). Then I settled in for a much needed sleep, alarm set for half 10 - optimistic I know...