Jeddah Jeddah, Hey! In the KSA!

Jeddah. Cool. It's so funny how seaside towns and cities the world over are just...so similar. That sun-baked, everyone-moves-a-little-slower thing. We hit the ground running in Jeddah, got a lot done in our two days there, and got a great tour of the city from local awesome client-man Tarek. Day One started with a look at the local paper. Uh.....WHAT?!? Very bizarre way to start this leg of the trip (we understand from Tarek that the guy who did the deed, the child's uncle will, upon conviction, be publicly beheaded...unless the mother steps in to forgive him---any bets anyone? BTW, that supermarket reopened 4 hours later. Ug.). After that initial shock we really started our day, with a drive down to the Red Sea, and a tour up and down the Corniche (all the cities in the region that have a seaside street+pedestrian way call them Corniche) as we made our way to the Al Shallal Theme Park. No seriously, this is a customer of the client for whom we're working here. During the day it was Ladies only in the park, so we couldn't go inside, but we went back in the evening and got a look around, and Ryan took a ride on the roller coaster (and a howdy-do greeting with the little blue elephant greeter and Tarek). After an excellent lunch of many mezzahs, we hit the local Johnson Controls office for some employee interviews, including a group interview with five ladies who work there in the office. This is significant, as there are not many ladies in the workforce in the Kingdom (though this is changing, which is of course a great thing). They had interesting, insightful things to say, and it helped us to, ever so slightly, begin to grasp what it's like to be a woman in this society. The next day we headed out of town towards the airport, and the Al-Salem York factory. Cool operation! (sorry---they make air conditioners and related make-cold-air-now-please! stuff...like, systems that cool the two Holy Mosques, in Makkah and Medinah---not only the insides but the OUTSIDE AREAS of the Mosques, where tens and hundreds of thousands often are praying, when it's 120 degrees out!). With some good interviews and b-roll, and a Pizza Hut lunch under our belts, it was, for me, off to the airport and the flight across the Red Sea, to Cairo. Interesting thing about the airport in Jeddah... It's only a little over an hour to the Holy city of Makkah (Mecca to you and me), so during the Hajj it gets wicked busy---so there's a HUGE terminal at the airport that is only there to serve the pilgrims who come for Hajj. The 2 to 3 million pilgrims. Who come and go in the course of a week or two, something like that. Amazing. Anyway, this is where Ryan---the supremely awesome Ryan, co-shooter and helper-outer-of-old-man-Mark dude extraordinaire---and I part ways; he off to home for a few days before heading to Dominican Republic and an amazing sailing/video trip, me off to Cairo where I meet up with the lovely and talented Bobbi!!