Mike's Saudi (11) Khamis cafe and an American hooker

In Khamis Mushayt at the time I was there, there was café I used to frequent from time to time. For those who are used to Starbucks this café represented the exact opposite. It had low lighting that fed in through open gaps in the walls, an earth floor, crude wooden tables, an Asian toilet that no white man would visit more than once and a most wonderful atmosphere. Apart from the toilet I loved the place; it was like stepping back in time they must have had cafes like this for hundreds if not thousands of years,  here you could meet the real locals, drink coffee and smoke a hubbly bubbly both of which were on the menu. Very few expatriates visited the place therefore the local were intrigued by those who did and would try their disjointed English on you and you would answer in even worse Arabic. You would all have a great laugh while trying to understand what we were saying to each other. One great gift of the local Arab was their ability to laugh which quite naturally totally removed any strain from the encounter. After some time you would shake their hand as you left having had a great time and not understanding a word of what had been said. But when you returned they would welcome you back for another couple of hours of joyous mystifying conversation.   Later I took Karen in there, she was much more adventurous than her mother, it was quite a surprise for the all male clientele but she got along famously with them all, the old boys accepted her as one of their own, amazing.

Just mentioning the hubbly bubbly there reminds me of much later on when Syb and I were in Dahran we had a rather ornate one in the corner of our lounge which was more for ornament than smoking as it had several small holes in it. By this time I was working for the Saudis but closely with the Americans and we used to socialize, it was to Syb’s amusement that at one time she asked the male partner of a duo visiting us “Have you ever tried a hooker?” Hubbly Bubblys also being called Hookas. It was a mistake the first time round but the strained embarrassment on the husbands face was a delight to see, then as Syb indicated the pipe in the corner of the room the relief was just as much fun. Having learned from this first experience it was something she was to repeat on every new American couple that visited us. To their credit our guests usually had a good laugh and we were all able to enjoy the joke.