One thing that I enjoy about our weekends in Jeddah is our café cruising on our Harley-Davidson. Over the 26 years of being here, our weekend relaxation has evolved through several different stages: when the children were younger and with us full time in Jeddah, the weekends were always either at the beach, or out with friends on boats, scuba diving and snorkeling. If we weren't at the beach or on a boat, we were exploring Saudi Arabia, either on our own as a family, or with a group of friends, heading hundreds of miles away from Jeddah, camping in the desert. But a new toy rolled into our lives in the form of a Harley-Davidson Road King, and along with it, some new friends. If my husband has either Thursday or Friday off, we call up one of our friends who loves an opportunity for a ride and to hang out somewhere, sipping an American-style espresso, chatting and people-watching. We don our biker gear, fire up the Harleys, and rumble out towards Jeddah's Corniche. No matter how many times I have either driven or ridden pillion on the Harley along the Corniche, I never get tired of this seaside scene and observing the changes. When we first arrived in Jeddah in 1984, very few Saudis used the promenades, fairgrounds and playgrounds on the Corniche, even at the weekends, and there were no cafes or restaurants. We would take our children there in the evenings for a walk and to play on the swings, and we would be virtually the only people there. Slowly over the years, more Saudis realized what they had on their doorstep and these days, at the weekends especially, the Corniche is packed. As we cruise along the Corniche Road, I love “people-watching” there: the fishermen standing on rocks with their trousers rolled up; the families sitting on chairs, or on rugs, under umbrellas, with their picnic boxes and hot water thermos flasks beside them; children riding their bicycles and playing football. Women have also started taking long exercise walks by the sea. When we get as far as the Obhur beach, lots of men and children are swimming while the women sit in their abayas in groups under red, white and blue umbrellas, chatting (and probably wishing that they could swim too!). If it is an evening ride, we see fathers buying kites from the women kite sellers, and then helping their children to launch the colorful kites into the sunset. There are colorful stalls selling inflatable boats and toys, soft drinks and snacks and prayer rugs, and the candyfloss and ‘foul medames' sellers. I also notice some of the ugly entertainment developments that have been abandoned, or have remained half built for years, and wonder how they could ever have gotten approval in the first place, and what will happen to them eventually. There is evidence of a lot of mis-spent money and wasted opportunities. That said, there are now good cafes and restaurants aplenty on the Corniche. Our favourite stop is at the Attalah Center where there is a choice of several quality cafes all facing the Red Sea. We have had our ups and downs with them. One cafe used to provide seating with tables and umbrellas for about 40 customers. To begin with, they said no ladies could sit in this area, but due to the illogical fact that just across the road, men and women were picnicking together, they relented. It soon became a very popular spot, especially with bikers on Friday mornings. Another time, when my husband and I had wanted to sit and have lunch outside another cafe, they said that ladies could only sit there before 11.30 A.M., but after a while, they too realized that they could hardly ask couples to get up and move half way through their meal if they had arrived at 11.15 A.M. And so, gradually, the pavement seating area outside all the cafes at the Attalah Center has become mixed. Once you are comfortably installed outside a cafe under the main pavement awning, it is fun to watch the cars go by for this is where the rich and trendy cruise by or stop for coffee. We see Porsches, Lamborghinis, Bentleys, Jaguars and every type of posh 4 x 4 – including, of course, Hummers - go by. Every now and then, a super-large vehicle stops by the main entrance, and up to seven or eight women in stylish abayas will emerge, each one waiting like a lady until the driver has opened the door for her. Modern couples, where the man is casually dressed in jeans and T-shirt while his wife is conservatively dressed, walk hand in hand, and most Saudi men in thobes have forgone their shammaghs and ghutras and arrive bareheaded. Inside where it is cooler, men can either sit inside the downstairs ‘Singles' sections of the cafés, or in the lively, open ground floor section of the Center. Most of the cafés have Wi-Fi Internet, and there is also small supermarket where you can buy your paper. Upstairs is the family section, and again, you can either sit inside the cafés, where window seats have a great view over the Corniche and the sea. In this informal café and restaurant environment, a couple of hours can pass very pleasantly and for that brief time, you are transported to a different, easy
