Jeddah, where is Jeddah?

It´s not so known, because you actually can´t go there except you have a working visa, be part of an organized tour or you have a transit, but not longer than 3 days.
So it´s quite complicated.

Well I´m talking about Saudi-Arabia. Jeddah or Dschidda is the second biggest, and the most western City in Saudi-Arabia.
The country itself has no parlament, the ruler is the king. The islamic religion is the fundament of the whole state. The jurisdiction is based on the Q´uran (Scharia).
Especially the women are disadvantaged. They have not so many rights.
For a western women it´s quite hard to accept the terms.
You can´t go anywhere alone and if you have a man who accompanies you, you have to wear an abaya and cover your hair.

Except all that, the city, especially the old city is very interesting. I was so lucky and found some colleagues with whom I went to the city.

The old town is worth seeing, the houses are from the 19th century and built in the traditional adobe architecture.
Unfortunately the country isn´t so eager about restoring the building, but they start slowly. Some houses got very pretty, but others are ruins.

To walk around the shops and markets was great, but you felt like you are in a different unrealistic world. I sometimes didn´t feel very comfortable.


As I returned, i went directly to the cinema and watched the first saudi-arabian cinema movie (from a women Haifaa Al Mansour). The movie is called "Wadjda".

The film is fantastic, i loved it, it was sad and funny at the same time. Even it was very difficult for Haifaa Al-Mansour to make the movie in Saudi-Arabia, you don´t really realise it. Have a look at the trailer and interview
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2258858/
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/sep/16/wadjda-oscars-saudi-arabia

In total, a good, interesting and new experience!

A great book/ novel about Saudi-Arabia was wirtten by dave Eggers "A hologram for the king".
It´s about a lonely man, traveling for work to Saudi-Arabia; about his daily somehow strange experiences, thoughts and feelings.
In 2015 the book is going to be made into a movie by Tom Tykwer. And the protagonist is going to be Tom Hanks.
I´m looking forward to it!