Hello all. Last week was a busy one for me. I've been working hard to wrap up a project before I head home at the end of the week, and it was a very nice week of evening skies so I somehow managed to get a big handful of very unique sunset images. But that's not what I'm going to write about in this post. And no, in case you wondered, I don't know how to pronounce the first two words in the title of this post. But I can tell you about it.
Apparently, there is a Saudi Tourism Commission which is working to build tourism within the Kingdom. Now, don't pack your bags yet. They don't want outsiders, they want visitors from the Arabian Gulf region. Maybe one of these days westerners will be openly welcome in Saudi Arabia, but not today. I think it will be good for them, but not yet.
This festival is held annually on the Dammam Corniche (there's your new word for the day! go to Merriam-Webster and look it up, I dare you! No, not Dammam, the other word!). Dammam (pronounced dah mom) is the capital of the KSA Eastern Province (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, for you who haven't read my earlier posts; help yourself to do so, by the way, this one will wait here for you!). Dammam was founded some 90 years ago by one of two brothers who left Bahrain in two boats - one went north, one went south.
The brother who went south founded al Khobar, which has become a large trading and commerce center in the region. Dammam was a fishing village, and is still a fishing center, along with a seaport and other things you'd expect of a regional capital. The festival celebrates the fishing heritage of the region. It went on for a week, with a very well-presented play on a large plaza, pretty well lit (when we saw it) by flood and spot lights. A real fishing vessel is the centerpiece as a man recounts to his grandson the story of how they came to be in Dammam.
A group from my work and from the Aramco went to see the festival on Friday last week. It was a magnificent day, lovely and comfortable, and I'm confident I got the best sunset shots I've captured here.
The festival included arts and crafts and food - much like a craft fair at home, but quite a different flavor to some of the presentations. There was a fellow making a pearl demonstration but I couldn't get close enough to hear or get a good photo, but I got some nice shots of other craftsmen and women.
The play was very interesting and we were treated very well. Where there were maybe a thousand people surrounding the plaza area to view the play, we were treated to nice benches in the VIP area for the show. I got some good images of the production despite the dark, and everyone had a nice time of it.
After the show we had 20 minutes to visit the booths and find something to eat. While I was in line for something with rice-onion-beans-and spicy stuff that smelled really good (and it was!) a fellow in front of me turned and asked in a very heavy accent if I was taking good pictures. I assured him I was and showed him a few, and he and his family ooohed and aahhhed, just like y'all would!
Then he asked where I was from. You don't realize this but to these guys I could be from anywhere - they can't tell. I could be English, French, German, Australian, etc., and they don't know. When I told him I was from America he smiled big and said "Welcome! Welcome!" Then he looked thoughtful and said, "Your President is here today, yes?" He was right, and I was a little proud of him for knowing that. I'll bet most of you didn't! I wish I'd taken his picture, but right then I was being handed three containers of food in addition to what I'd paid for! I will tell you I was the only westerner in sight, and there were only a dozen of use there, but we were made absolutely at home by a very welcoming Saudi gathering.
Including one young Saudi man, with his wife and daughter. He had a camera like mine and wore a polo shirt that said "National Geographic!" So I had to stop and ask him if he was with NatGeo or just liked the shirt. He confessed to the shirt side of the question, and we compare cameras (same model and lens!) and pictures for a few minutes (I think he was a little crestfallen when he saw mine) and heartily complimented each other (yeah, mine were better, but age and experience will do that!) and parted with a smile and a handshake!
We left the plaza to go by bridge to an adjacent island with a very unique minaret. It was built some time ago, and was modeled on what for a long time had been the tallest minaret in the world. Sadly, for these guys, it is in Iran, their greatest enemy.
Once on the island we shifted conveyance and boarded a tour boat, which essentially took us right back where we came from, just from the water side, and then returned. It was a pleasant trip and we visited and sat and took pictures. Mine came out pretty well, I think!
I've loaded a larger set of images to Flickr to share. I'm not crazy about Flickr, but haven't found anything better right now to easily share a batch of photos. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Click here to see the set; you don't even have to register with a Yahoo account! (thanks to my friend Kris for checking this out!) But please do look, and let me know if the link works ok. I haven't tried this before and it's good to get feedback!
Next time, one of my favorite category of photos: Sunsets! Best to all! Mark
Apparently, there is a Saudi Tourism Commission which is working to build tourism within the Kingdom. Now, don't pack your bags yet. They don't want outsiders, they want visitors from the Arabian Gulf region. Maybe one of these days westerners will be openly welcome in Saudi Arabia, but not today. I think it will be good for them, but not yet.
This festival is held annually on the Dammam Corniche (there's your new word for the day! go to Merriam-Webster and look it up, I dare you! No, not Dammam, the other word!). Dammam (pronounced dah mom) is the capital of the KSA Eastern Province (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, for you who haven't read my earlier posts; help yourself to do so, by the way, this one will wait here for you!). Dammam was founded some 90 years ago by one of two brothers who left Bahrain in two boats - one went north, one went south.
The brother who went south founded al Khobar, which has become a large trading and commerce center in the region. Dammam was a fishing village, and is still a fishing center, along with a seaport and other things you'd expect of a regional capital. The festival celebrates the fishing heritage of the region. It went on for a week, with a very well-presented play on a large plaza, pretty well lit (when we saw it) by flood and spot lights. A real fishing vessel is the centerpiece as a man recounts to his grandson the story of how they came to be in Dammam.
A group from my work and from the Aramco went to see the festival on Friday last week. It was a magnificent day, lovely and comfortable, and I'm confident I got the best sunset shots I've captured here.
The festival included arts and crafts and food - much like a craft fair at home, but quite a different flavor to some of the presentations. There was a fellow making a pearl demonstration but I couldn't get close enough to hear or get a good photo, but I got some nice shots of other craftsmen and women.
The play was very interesting and we were treated very well. Where there were maybe a thousand people surrounding the plaza area to view the play, we were treated to nice benches in the VIP area for the show. I got some good images of the production despite the dark, and everyone had a nice time of it.
After the show we had 20 minutes to visit the booths and find something to eat. While I was in line for something with rice-onion-beans-and spicy stuff that smelled really good (and it was!) a fellow in front of me turned and asked in a very heavy accent if I was taking good pictures. I assured him I was and showed him a few, and he and his family ooohed and aahhhed, just like y'all would!
Then he asked where I was from. You don't realize this but to these guys I could be from anywhere - they can't tell. I could be English, French, German, Australian, etc., and they don't know. When I told him I was from America he smiled big and said "Welcome! Welcome!" Then he looked thoughtful and said, "Your President is here today, yes?" He was right, and I was a little proud of him for knowing that. I'll bet most of you didn't! I wish I'd taken his picture, but right then I was being handed three containers of food in addition to what I'd paid for! I will tell you I was the only westerner in sight, and there were only a dozen of use there, but we were made absolutely at home by a very welcoming Saudi gathering.
Including one young Saudi man, with his wife and daughter. He had a camera like mine and wore a polo shirt that said "National Geographic!" So I had to stop and ask him if he was with NatGeo or just liked the shirt. He confessed to the shirt side of the question, and we compare cameras (same model and lens!) and pictures for a few minutes (I think he was a little crestfallen when he saw mine) and heartily complimented each other (yeah, mine were better, but age and experience will do that!) and parted with a smile and a handshake!
We left the plaza to go by bridge to an adjacent island with a very unique minaret. It was built some time ago, and was modeled on what for a long time had been the tallest minaret in the world. Sadly, for these guys, it is in Iran, their greatest enemy.
Once on the island we shifted conveyance and boarded a tour boat, which essentially took us right back where we came from, just from the water side, and then returned. It was a pleasant trip and we visited and sat and took pictures. Mine came out pretty well, I think!
I've loaded a larger set of images to Flickr to share. I'm not crazy about Flickr, but haven't found anything better right now to easily share a batch of photos. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Click here to see the set; you don't even have to register with a Yahoo account! (thanks to my friend Kris for checking this out!) But please do look, and let me know if the link works ok. I haven't tried this before and it's good to get feedback!
Next time, one of my favorite category of photos: Sunsets! Best to all! Mark
No comments:
Post a Comment