Here is the conclusion to my London walk. To read the first part of my walk, click here. After my lunch I continued along the narrow passageway and came out onto a street called Hatton Garden. There were lots of jewelry stores along this street and apparently the area is famous for dealing in diamonds. […]
The City of London, commonly called “the City,” is London’s main financial and legal district. It is located in an area of the city where the Romans founded the original Londinium trading center in roughly 47 BCE. There are several places in the area where the original Roman walls of the City can be seen, […]
I arrived in London on June 6 and had three really excellent days in the city. My brother met me at the airport and took me to my hotel in central London. I stayed at Blades Hotel in the Pimlico district, which is located near Victoria and is close to the Tate Britain art gallery. […]
Today I visited Café Liwan, located in a new shopping strip next to the corniche. It had been recommended to me by a Saudi friend as a place to find traditional Arabian coffee, served in the traditional way with a dallah (coffee pot). It states on the company’s website that the café was established to […]
Some weeks ago I found a copy of “Saudi Customs and Etiquette” at one of the Jarir Bookstore branches in al-Khobar. The book was written by Kathy Cuddihy, based on her experience from many years of living in Saudi Arabia. The book is well researched and includes a useful and fairly comprehensive glossary of cultural […]
Yesterday morning I went to al-Rashid shopping mall in al-Khobar to pick up new eye glasses and look at the new Blackberry phones. Last weekend I went to the mall to see whether I could schedule an eye test and to also look at some new frames. I chose Barakat Optical, on the ground floor, […]
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries consist of six Arab countries: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. These countries are located in close proximity to each other across a relatively small area, alongside the Arabian Gulf (or Persian Gulf, as Iranians call it). Many travelers are likely to visit more […]
This website was featured on a tv channel yesterday. It refers to itself as an “urban walking route planner.” You can enter a start and destination location on the home page and it will display a route map for the walk. It will also display the estimated journey time, number of calories that can be […]
I went to Bahrain today with a Saudi friend. In the morning we crossed the King Fahd Causeway from Saudi Arabia, negotiating the customs and passport control checkpoints in about an hour. We headed first to the Bahrain Mall, a small shopping mall in the capital, Manama. The most beautiful feature of the mall was […]
It is amazing that wherever you go these days it is possible to feel that you are at home. Globalization has allowed for the spread and popularity of the same brands across diverse cultures and geographic regions. Whenever I visit Al Rasheed shopping mall in Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia, the first thing I do is head […]