Naizak Office in Dammam

Khalid Al Abdulkarim, President
(he wanted to show his cowboy
hat in the picture!)

Sami Sarhan, Director Automation Services

Basheer Al Ghazali, Account Manager

Traveling with Aamir...

Aamir Ali Arif, from Naizak, our partner in the Middle East has been travling with me since I arrived to many meetings and many dangerous drives on Jubail Highway (See Deathrace 2009 post). Here he is at the Saudi Aramco visitor center.

We laughed like crazy on "AS-SARAT" road today!

Starbucks tastes just like home! Aamir decided to drive the wrong way down a one way road with traffic to get to Starbucks!

Ever see a KFC in Saudi during a sand storm?

This is one of the few places where you can take pictures at Saudi Aramco...

Atlantis Video

SABIC Chemical

I managed to sneak this photo outside
SABIC Chemicals security gate. They
don't allow cameras either...

Saudi Aramco Visit

We visited with Saudi Aramco today.
Sorry no pictures of their compound as
it is not permitted. It is guarded very
much like a military base with armed
guards, military style security, gun towers
and turrets,and 2 F-15's that fly over
every couple of minutes.

Telecom and RADAR towers outside
Saudi Aramco.

(top) This road worker was standing on top of a

"Jersey barrier" inches away from traffice

going by at 70+MPH while a back hoe was

operating the bucket right next to him.

(bottom) This guy was on the back of a crane

truck picking up the concrete barriers...the truck

would move down the road while he was standing

on the back trying to guide the load down all with

high speed traffic going by inches away!

Future Darwin award winners!

The Road to Jubail...Deathrace 2009!

No that's not snow! It looked like salt.

A dump truck hit a semi-truck which in

turn hit another truck. This happend right

in front of us on Jubail highway today!

Arriving in Bahrain...

Arrived early morning today in Bahrain.

It took a while to clear customs...finger print scans, pictures, etc...very tight security!

I am now in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia and will have meetings in Jabail, Dammam, Dhahran, and Jeddah over the next 4 days.

After dinner entertainment...

This is really me!

This is me and my new friend in front of the ornate water pipes...

Camel ride...why not!

Sure they look tame now! Getting up and riding is fun...

But the real fun is when they go back down!

Back safely on the sand

Desert Fun...

Took a little drive in the desert this afternoon...

This is our caravan...

Does this look fun?

It is way fun!!!

But don't ever try to take pictures while driving!

The Road to Nad Al Sheba...

Here's something you don't see back home...

a camel on the highway sign! Or a camel next to an airport sign!

Meeting with our partner, Naizak yesterday.

Burj Hotel & Twin Towers

New Construction and Atlantis...

New construction everywhere...

New Construction everywhere...

World's tallest building!

Dubai Tower (top)

Dubai Tower (bottom)

Atlantis beach & pool Atlantis Hotel

My ride to Dubai!

Dubai Wednesday

It was a busy day today. Very hot and humid. Had a breakfast and a meeting w/ Nakheel construction who is doing the huge project on Palm Jumeirah. Did I mention it was hot? Well it's Africa hot and humid too! Anyway, it was a long day and I'm about to crash. I saw the whole Palm Jumeirah project, Atlantis, and the world's tallest building (Burj al Arab) along with what they said was the world's biggest mall tonight. My dogs are barking. I'll try to upload some pics before I crash but check back tomorrow for more stuff!

Made it to Dubai!

Finally made it to Dubai after a very long flight! It is night and still pretty warm and humid. We flew over Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Turkey, and Iran on the way here.