Thalia Street, Riyadh. December 2017
[from FB post: April 18, 2014]
I just saw the religious police here arrest two men and take them away for "attempting to communicate" with women in a car standing in traffic next to them. No exaggeration... I saw it with my own eyes. The religious police of Saudi Arabia ARE the law, even the civil police force can do nothing against them. Very very sobering...
[from FB post: April 19, 2014]
We are all servants to the Saudis here -- it's just something you agree to do when you sign your contract. I don't see how the labor class can deal with it on a daily basis since they are treated so poorly. I come across it far less frequently, but when it happens it is so glaringly obvious. I was just in Q in Starbucks and a Saudi guy came in after me, was standing BEHIND me in Q, and the guys working there (Filipino) looked right past me and asked what HE wanted. It is never nice feeling invisible....
[from FB post: April 20, 2018]
I am the only customer in Starbucks and the barista asks me "what is your name?". I laughed and said, "I am the only person here." He insisted. "Please, sir, your name".
"Matthew".
He smiled and said, "me too!"
Prince Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Street
Tahlia actually means "water pump" and better yet, the Tahlia Street in Riyadh was just a copy of the original from Jeddah. Tahlia was synonymous with upscale shopping and eating in Jeddah, so when Riyadh developed a similar road, the name followed. I personally preferred the one in Riyadh because it was broad with a row of palm trees down the center. The sidewalks were wide and sported a lot of outdoor seating for restaurants. It felt like it could be Houston or Phoenix. I went to Tahlia for a bit of R&R after a VERY Saudi , very unwalkable, Abha.
I think Tahlia probably was my favorite destination in Riyadh. I could walk there from my usual hotel across from the Kingdom Tower on Olaya Street. If I was in Riyadh, I was either at the Starbucks on Orouba Road or I was wandering down on Tahlia. After Abha, Riyadh seemed absolutely NORMAL Women walked on the streets a lot more uncovered with their black abayas open showing colorful clothing underneath. The face veil (niqab) was not worn as often. There seemed a lot less panic about men and women actually mixing together and there were more and more small cafes that were "mixed" male and female, not segregated. Tahlia was at the forefront of that trend.
That being said - as noted above, it was the first place I saw the "Religious Police" in action (actually they were the "Morality Police"). Abha, I think, was naturally conservative enough that the religious police weren't all that obvious. Riyadh was modern with rebellious youths who played games of cat and mouse with those long-bearded prohibitors of fun. A few young men were at times arrested, but probably somebody knew somebody who knew somebody and the transgressors only spent a few hours in police custody.
I met a Saudi once in a coffee shop on Tahlia and we struck up a conversation. When I explained I lived in Abha and I was in Riyadh for "a break" he literally gasped. How could I be living in the wilds of Saudi Arabia such as Abha? He was sincerely concerned - I was sincerely amused. Abha might have been a lot of things, but dangerous for foreigners it most certainly was not. I once interviewed for a job with the US military at a base on the edge of Riyadh and I asked if people ever went into town. The interviewer was taken aback and said "why would you want to go to Riyadh?" I seriously wondered what the civilian contractors had been told about the city while living on that base?? Misperception seemed to be the name of the game in Saudi Arabia for foreigners and Saudis alike.
The thing I missed the most during my years in Abha was living in the center of a proper "city" with places I could walk to. I did love Abha, but the place was all chopped up with highways and ring roads that made walking to the city center from my place nearly impossible. Riyadh was still not a great walking city, but compared to Abha it was heaven. I could walk up and down Tahlia Street on a warm winter afternoon and almost feel "at home".
Tahlia Riyadh was so popular that usually I ended up meeting a few of my students there each visit. In a country of millions with Abha being a few hours away by plane, I found that downright amazing! I remember more than once having a student comment to me after a weekend in Riyadh, "Hi Sir, how was Chili's on Tahlia?" It made me laugh - it concerned me. I sometimes felt there was just no escape.
So in Riyadh there is a street named after a Prince, but no one uses that name - they call it by its second name which was taken from a popular street in another city. When you are there, you might be at Paul having lunch and feeling at home or you might be doing that very same thing feeling "edgy" - it all depends on who you are talking to and your own point of view.