I will get lashed!!

I decided to take a trip to downtown and do a little exploring, I have been meaning to do it for a while and as the weather is only 30 degrees I thought I would take advantage of the cool streets!! 

So I took the compound bus to King Khaled Street checked the time of pick up and off I went, firstly I headed towards Suwaket Street, as I was looking for a specific spice and oil store which I never found did find mainly because I found so many other pretty things to look at. I found one store for Abayas and entered only to be met by a friendly gentleman whose demeanour helped with getting over my nerves of actually being out alone on the streets of Saudi, it's one thing being in a big old mall, but it's quite another walking around downtown on your own, I chatted and then I left the shop, he followed!! he turned around and invited me into his other shop which happened to be next door and had a bigger display of Abayas, again we chatted and then I left only to find he had a third shop again next door, and as I found out the higher up the street the higher the price, I found a very nice Abaya which wasn't see through, I asked him when it was going to snow as I was wilting inside the store with no air con and apparently it's winter so they leave the air con off...we chatted about modesty and fancy abayas he encouraged me to take the abaya I liked outside and see what it looked like in the sun, I pointed out that should I do this I would blind half the drivers and cause a massive pile up in the road with the reflection from the bling sewn into the neck we laughed and then it was time to say goodbye, but not before we had a giggle about the fact I will end up getting lashed as I keep  forgetting I'm not allowed to snog my beloved in the street.  Oh and one day I will find that spice store, just not this particular day as I ran out of time and had to leg it back to meet the bus.

So our hotel was booked for Bahrain we would be staying overnight in the Intercontinental on the Thursday and with family on the Friday, 'the greatest laid plans of mice and men', passports were still away getting the green light for Goa, no one informed us that the Indian embassy would be on a two day holiday!!! So we waited and waited, and just as we decided to change our weekend and everything was in place including the date changes our passports were flown down from Riyadh and back to our grubby little hands, Oh well nothing for it but to stay home and let the changes remain, well apart from one, our boy Stitch was booked out for a weekend sleepover with a work friend of my beloved's and because said friend was very excited to be taking him for the weekend we thought it rude to disappoint her and her family, so Thursday night my boy Stitch was collected with his sleepover bag of treats and poo bags and toys and headed off the compound for the weekend, he didn't even look back much to my dismay!

We had a lovely weekend, getting up late as no pup dog to let out, we headed to the gym, we did grocery shopping and then we spent a lovely evening with friends at Soul Kitchen a sushi/fusion restaurant on Pepsi Road, the food was wonderful and I enjoyed watching the plates as they were delivered, no pictures I'm afraid as I didn't like to as we were in company, but my Eastern Maza starter was delicious as was the maki/sashimi I shared with my beloved for a main course. But what I really enjoyed after the company and food of course was my favourite of all past times - people watching, the ladies in their Abayas the men some in traditional clothing some not, the screened areas where ladies and gentlemen sat where I presume the ladies were able to remove their face coverings as they can get pretty messy I would imagine whilst trying to eat a Tom Yum soup!!!! The children squirming as parents waited for tables to free up, and the waiting staff, who went about their business quietly and quickly making their way around a very busy restaurant with the poise of a ninja. 

Saturday was Al Rashid, and somehow we managed to go through three prayer times, and two rounds of coffee before leaving, still I have not figured out the layout of this Mall, it makes absolutely no sense to me at all, and I have a fantastic sense of direction - just not in Al Rashid Mall, there is definitely a ploy there to keep you locked in, because I know I haven't seen all the shops yet, but trying to figure out where the one's you have seen are after leaving them is an impossibility.....

Al Rashid Mall