Mike's Saudi (22) Trip to Najran and back

A modern mountain road in Saudi Arabia, can you imagine how it was in 1979 though the mountains were the same? Photograph by Nick Shields from Wikimedia common images.

At 6000feet the climate in Khamis was very pleasant in the summer it was agreeably warm and in the winter although it rained and on one occasion snowed it didn’t last long and there was the assurance that the weather would be fine all the next summer. Syb, Karen and I were invited by a Dutch couple to spend a weekend with them in Najran. It was a town near the Yemen boarder on the edge of the Rub’ al Khali a dessert the size of France generally known as the Empty Quarter at sea level and very hot.

We left on a Wednesday after work in a beaten up old Datsun on a road little more than a tarmac covered drovers trail, gradually dropping through the mountains to nearer sea level. I had been before and knew their house so when we arrived at our destination I drove along their road to the start of the desert marked by a sign across it and where I believed their house was. Strangely I couldn’t find their house though we looked around for ages but with no success, the only option was to return home. Later on I found that we had been with in yards of their place it was in fact just on the edge of the desert. By this time it was getting dark and of course there were no road markings, as we climbed steadily up wards from Najran through the mountains it started to rain. The rain turned into a thunder storm in other circumstances it would have been most impressive, like being in the movie of a Dracula film. To add to our dilemma the rain was washing rocks the size of tennis balls across the road we were fortunate not to be hit. When we got home our relief was tempered by the fact that we had left the gas oven on.

Mike's Saudi (21) Booze and the Mutawa

A beautiful winter morning in modern Tabuk by Atozxyz.

There were no details just the rumour that we would move to Tabuk and I felt pretty upset about it. But I could do nothing to influence the decision just hope that it wouldn’t happen. Soon an American appeared on base though he lived off it with his wife and two children. There was much speculation about him and why he was there, we were to find out soon enough. One day he approached me, would my daughter act as governess for his two kids as his wife was returning to the US. Karen was interviewed and the job was hers. It meant that from now on Karen would be living in with the American family in a villa nearer to Khamis. It was then we found his purpose in the area he was evaluating the air force base and buildings prior to the changeover. This made our move certain now the biggest worry was would there be enough accommodation for us at Tabuk, if not Syb and Karen would have to return to the UK until some became available.

We will return to Joe, his governess and two children later as I would now like to tell you about the odd way in which we came by our villa at Tabuk. The Mutawa were always on the lookout for wayward expatriates and used to make sudden raids on our compounds if they suspected anything. Usually we had a mole in their camp who would warn us of an impending raid so that everything would be tidy when they arrived. At Tabuk where there had been maintenance group supposedly readying the base for our arrival, they had been there for years and in their boredom had started to make booze on an industrial scale. They made so much that they couldn’t consume it all so they supplied the nurses at the local hospital other contractors with western work forces and as the operation got larger and larger it got out of hand. They started to supply Saudis. Now the authorities may look the other way at making wine for your own consumption as was the case with the club at Khamis but to supply others outside of your own group was simply not tolerated. There was no warning when they visited Tabuk, no time to hide the still or to dispose of the wine. All the culprits were sent home, most of them were married and in base accommodation. This all happened just weeks before we were to move, so we walked straight into a villa, with a servant’s quarter that smelt just like a brewery, which it had been a few weeks earlier. For weeks afterwards we used to get little notes throw over the purdah walls ‘Leave ten bottles in the usual place’ naturally we took no notice. But we never made booze for our own or anybody else’s consumption.

 

Mike's Saudi (20) Odd relationships

This charming photograph of the Sarawat Mountains near Kkamis Mushayt is by Wajahatmr.

 

 

 

A good friend of mine Dave introduced Karen to the flight line personnel where she became an honorary member in a social context and as I mentioned earlier well guarded by them. It was odd that when they threw a party one of them would bring her home, have a coffee with us, and then Karen would creep back to the party and repeat the process with another of them. Most times it would be repeated at least twice and I’m pretty sure nothing untoward happened during these trips home. It occurred even when she did form a deeper attachment to an English teacher called Fred but Fred was always the last to bring her home. It did however fail when a junior manager joined the party and told Karen he would take her home, she felt threatened by him and refused. The next morning there was a complaint about her behaviour. I was called before the Base Manager and told that if she was to remain with us she would have to be accompanied at all times, there were some other restrictions which I can’t recall now but I was pretty mad at the time. On thinking about it I am fairly sure the junior manager had lied out of spite, he was not generally liked, which had put the Base Manager in a bind. A young girl of the wrong sort could cause a lot of grief for the organization. However he didn’t know Karen and had not researched the allegation but I’m afraid he was typical of much of the BAC management. Shortly after both managers were moved to Riyadh, fortunate, but nothing to do with Karen or me. The new Base Manager I got to know well, his wife played tennis with Syb and joined the camera club I ran. He had more of the management style I was use to and I respected him and his wife.

It was difficult for a blond European young girl in Saudi Arabia during that period. At one time an Arab not known to us or our Saudi friends approached Karen as she walked back to our villa and offered her money. He didn’t speak any English but she got the picture. He was most insistent and the money was offering her kept growing until she was tired of using polite refusals and lost her temper. She turned on him and at the top of her voice yelled “Why don’t you f**k off?” He fled never to be seen again. Not many of my Arab friends met her Mohammed and the tea party were an exception. She was often seen in the town and aware of how to mix with the locals no doubt some of them were the trainee who knew me from the base.

It was after about six months my family had settled in and was enjoying all that Khamis offered, that a rumour went round the company that an American firm were to take over Khamis base along with their aircraft and a Saudi workforce. If true it meant that we would be moving to Tabuk this had been on the cards for so long that no one believed it any more.