How Old Is A Prince?

you know this movie, "the kingdom"? it's inspired by the bombings in an american compound in riyadh in 2003 (see more here).. anyways, they show a saudi prince in the movie and he's all young and handsome and stuff, whereas in reality he'd be about 60-something.. and i suppose this is the notion we have in our western minds.. a prince for us is a young handsome man, preferably on a white horse of course.. however, this is often not the truth in real life.. many and many of the princes here are quite old (needless to say, the royal family is huge, so there's plenty of princes).. actually, every now and then you hear a prince pass away.. here's crown prince nayef bin-abdulaziz al-saud who died recently at the age of 79

and here's the new crown prince salman bin-abdulaziz al-saud

sometimes when we would pass by a palace with my husband, i'd ask him what it is and he'd say it's a palace of prince so-and-so and i'd say "wow! nice for a young prince", and he'd be like "ya ayah, he's like 70 years old!" and i'd be like o_o cuz i'd think a prince would still live with his parents or something :)

so, for me the notion of "prince" has changed.. how old is a prince in your head?

It's Interesting To Know That...

...the name jeddah actually means grandmother in arabic.. according to a local legend, eve, the mother of humanity, is buried here.. the graveyard still exists, it's called hawa cemetery and can be found just outside of the historical area of the old city (northeast of al-balad)

saudis pronounce the name of the city more like jiddah, which means prosperity and happiness

another pronunciation is joddah and this means a narrow passage between two mountains or a long road

It's Interesting To Know...

...that the kingdom of saudi arabia is one of the world’s largest producers of dates with 141,000 hectares and 21 million palms producing 884,000 tons of dates per year! the production and manufacturing of dates constitutes 13% of domestic product

the dates are eaten fresh, dried and in treats.. shops sell date-filled chocolates, date mustard, date syrup and date bars

visit any home or office in the kingdom and you will certainly find a small plate heaped with dates on a coffee table.. the sweetness of the fruit balances the bitter taste of cardamom-scented coffee served to guests in small cups.. date baskets, containing different varieties of the fruit, date cookies and date juice are often presented as gifts

dates are especially popular in ramadan as muslims are advised to break their fast with this delicious and healthy treat (more info about nutritional value of dates in this post by arab mania)

and here are some pictures

mmm... yammy!

date pie

date cookies

and some date chocolates

p.s.: sorry, i didn't mean to tease you :)

It's Interesting To Know That...

...jeddah, situated on the coast of the red sea, is the second largest city in saudi arabia.. its' population is 3.4 million people and it's the largest urban center in makkah province.. jeddah is famous for high levels of humidity and, unlike other cities of saudi arabia, warm winters (+15 at midnight and +25 in the afternoon).. the summers are hot, tepmerature going above +40 in the afternoon and dropping to +30 at midnight.. it really feels like steam room when you go out on a summer day, the only thing missing seems to be a bath sponge

It's Interesting To Know That...

... saudi arabia is the world's largest producer of desalinated water.. 28 plants (including the largest water desalination plant in the world) provide more than 70% of the country's drinking water as well as supplying the kingdom with more than 28 million megawatts of electricity, which is about 21% of all electricity generated in the country.. it is done in the process of solar thermal desalination (using solar energy)

that's why tap water here slightly smells like sea.. well, at least in my tap...