My 2018: A Tour around my town: "A City Not My Own"

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It has been my ardent desire to finish my entry for the 2018 challenge of @anomadsoul (this has been pending for 5 days now) but my works really hinders me. Please click HERE to know the rules, mechanics and prizes of this challenge.

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This is the problem when your offline/regular work impede your #steemit activities. If only I could leave my work and concentrate with #steemit perhaps I could be rich fast 😎😎😎.

The photos below were taken while at work, the work I mentioned above as something that really disturbs my #steemit activities😎.

Anyhow, since I am an Overseas Filipino Worker working here in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, I will be taking you to some of the places we’ve been to and present few suggestions on where you can go to have fun if you happen to visit Jeddah.

Jeddah who has around 4 million population is the second largest city in Saudi Arabia next to Riyadh, the capital city. Jeddah considered as the most open among all the cities in KSA, maybe it’s because Jeddah is one of Saudi Arabia's primary resort given the city’s close proximity to the red sea.

Photos below shows part of the Red sea.

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The picture below were taken when we were at Balad the historical area of Jeddah which can literally be translated as "The Town." I consider this place as the center point of Jeddah where a lot of shops selling everything from gold, chocolates, toys, electronics, to apparel and different restaurants are present, including Filipino restaurants.

Leading fast-food chains are also present in Balad like Jollibee, McDonalds and their very own delicious chicken Albaik.

You can find a lot of remittance centers also in this area that is why if someone wants to have a one stop shop, he/she can do it in Ballad.

This is where we usually go if we want to buy “Pasalubong” (gifts to be given to families and friends back home).

We have observed that the government of Saudi Arabia is developing the city of Jeddah to be their center of tourism, hoping that time will come that this city will become totally open.

It was in the news few months back that Saudi Arabia will allow females to drive although we are skeptic about it I am also hoping it will happen.

I believe and support gender equality and granting the permission to drive would at least liberate and empower the girls in Saudi Arabia from exercising their rights as a person.

As of this time, taking pictures in public is still prohibited here in Jeddah, although not that strict compared in Riyadh. That is why we still manage to take pictures when were outside if not then we won’t have photos to use in our entry for the 2018.

What we do is were just careful not to be seen by policemen taking pictures otherwise we would face the consequence.

Now I will be sharing some photos I have collected in my whole stay here in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. I hope this could give you a glimpse on what you can expect or see when you’re here in Jeddah.

With this post I will also share few of those dos and don’ts for everyone to follow when in this territory.

If you notice ladies didn't wear "Abaya" in the photo below, that's becuase we were at a beach resort which is a bit far from the city. They allow women to wear casual clothes.

Generally the place is quite impressive and advance but their culture is really different from the rest of the countries around the world, being the most conservative among the Arab countries.

Saudi Arabia has more than 10 million expats and around 2.2 million are Filipinos. Truly you can see Filipinos anywhere you go, most of the establishments and companies of different industries have Filipino employees.

The photos below was taken in one of our company's projects. I was with @g10a, @jie28, @tjcdc, and @engineerrivera.

You can see lots of nurses here and competent engineers who are behind those amazing buildings and bridges all throughout the Kingdom.

Filipinos are born friendly that is why when we get a chance we used to ask locals and other nationalities to have a picture with us. See some of those below.

We want to show the world that Filipinos are friendly wherever they are and will always promote peace and order. We don't want to be discriminated just as we don't like to discriminate. We are all equal in the eyes of God.

Before I end up this blog I would like to share more photos where you can find below. Just to show how we live our life here in this strange place, full of restrictions.

Talking about restrictions here are some of those that expats should observe in their stay here in Saudi Arabia:

1. Talking with girls in public is not allowed. Except when that girl is your wife.
2. Male and female are not allowed to eat together in any restaurant except when they are husband and wife. Restaurants provides separate dining area for bachelors and family.
3. Females are required to wear “Abaya” while outside, it’s a black long robe dress to cover the whole body and sometimes the face.
4. No photography in the public especially in government facilities.
5. Should always bring residence ID all the time, otherwise will pay or imprisoned if caught.
6. No gambling, no hard liquor, no pork.

Honestly? I would not want to recommend anyone to come here, 😎😎😎. I'm sorry to tell this but this place is not the best place to go if you want to have fun although if you wanna learn their culture and experience by yourself how people live here you can have a try. But for safety and security reasons? I will not recommend.

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