Day 6 in the KSA: Historical Jeddah and the Souk

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Saudi Arabia: Exploring Jeddah

We been continuing our journey through Saudi Arabia by exploring the city of Jeddah. This is a beautiful city that seems alive with excitement. It is on the Red Sea so there are many areas in which you can walk along the waterfront and enjoy the view. We have been enjoying a lot of seafood due to the location of the city. Today we had a chance to visit the historical district of Jeddah. The history of Saudi Arabia is very rich and interesting. Many of the buildings are made of coral stone with wood pieces strategically located throughout the structure. The historical buildings that are being preserved are surrounded by the Souk. The Souk is an outdoor market that is considered a very traditional shopping location. After our tour of the area we were able to shop the rest of the morning until it was prayer time. When it is prayer time everybody closes their business so they can go home to pray and eat. It was around noon that everybody began to close and they will not open again until around 4:30 p.m. so the temperature is not hot. When we went shopping we were escorted by police officers so we did not have any problems. I strayed from our group of five and found it to be quite safe. There were some beggars, but I was told that most of them were not really poor and if I gave them anything it would attract more people to me. The market was really fun because Saudis expect people to bargain for each item (most of the time and only in the outdoor market). I was able to buy several different items from the Souk that I will show to you when I return. I would say that this is what I thought Saudi Arabia would be more like in many different areas.

I am again beginning to understand what the differences are in their culture. Today I spoke to a Saudi that would probably be considered quite liberal for the Kingdom. She wants Saudi Arabia to keep evolving, but she is concerned that it may happen to fast and that conservative groups will resist. The majority of Saudis are conservative, but this further divided. Some are culturally conservative and fear that change will take away the Saudi’s unique culture, while some are religiously conservative and want the religion to dictate the country. As an outsider here it was difficult to distinguish between the two because they sometimes blend, but it is getting clearer. Unfortunately, the culturally conservative sometimes try to apply Islam inappropriately, which can give the religion of Islam a bad reputation. One example of this is the abiyah. This is a product of Saudi Arabia that is used to help teach people the concept of modesty as written in the Koran. In Riyadh many people will push that the color of the abiyah needs to be black because of Islam, but this is not true and it is not written in the Koran. I am sure many of you see both conservative and liberal groups in our country, but may have not heard of these terms. In what ways are you conservative? Liberal? Have you seen examples of the two in the news?

Thanks for all of your comments.

Until next time…