Undeveloped Jeddah, Saudi Arabia by Kerouac2
Mar 20, 2009 7:35:52 GMT
Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2009 7:35:52 GMT
To go with my 'travel tale' of my first trip to the 3rd world, here are a few photos I took on that first voyage to Saudi Arabia.
Taking photos was a very tricky deal, because although it is not expressly forbidden, it is considered to be extremely suspicious behavior by many Saudis, even to this day.
For this reason, just about all of my photos were devoid of human beings. (Of course the intense heat keeps most people indoors during the day whenever possible anyway.)
In any case, I was happy to see some of Old Jeddah before most of it was demolished.
The most fascinating thing on the old residential buildings is the intricate wooden latticework over the windows. This is not just to protect from the sun but also to make sure that women cannot be seen in the buildings, although they can peek out.
My colleagues back in Paris were just as naive as I was. When I told them "there are goats in the middle of downtown Jeddah," they thought was I lying until I showed them the photos.
Of the few other people from the company who had actually been to Saudi Arabia, none had ever dared to use their camera.
Many years later when I returned to Jeddah, just about all of these buildings had been replaced by shopping malls and office buildings.
However, here is one renovated vestige that I found.
The building behind it is the National Commercial Bank tower.
We can all say goodbye to Old Jeddah forever.
Taking photos was a very tricky deal, because although it is not expressly forbidden, it is considered to be extremely suspicious behavior by many Saudis, even to this day.
For this reason, just about all of my photos were devoid of human beings. (Of course the intense heat keeps most people indoors during the day whenever possible anyway.)
In any case, I was happy to see some of Old Jeddah before most of it was demolished.
The most fascinating thing on the old residential buildings is the intricate wooden latticework over the windows. This is not just to protect from the sun but also to make sure that women cannot be seen in the buildings, although they can peek out.
My colleagues back in Paris were just as naive as I was. When I told them "there are goats in the middle of downtown Jeddah," they thought was I lying until I showed them the photos.
Of the few other people from the company who had actually been to Saudi Arabia, none had ever dared to use their camera.
Many years later when I returned to Jeddah, just about all of these buildings had been replaced by shopping malls and office buildings.
However, here is one renovated vestige that I found.
The building behind it is the National Commercial Bank tower.
We can all say goodbye to Old Jeddah forever.
