One Night in Riyadh

Original date: September 18th, 2022

This story is loosely based on my maternal half-uncle's experience in Saudi Arabia and my travel experiences decades ago. I watched a video showcasing Riyadh and I wanted to write a story about travelling there, so why not introduce new characters and a unique one? Anyways, let's start.

It all started in mid-to-late July 2022, when Amina told her friend Zahra through a phone call that her father is travelling to Saudi Arabia and he told her mother he'll be taking her and her sister Naomi to visit Mecca and Medina as well as Riyadh. Upon finding out about it, her cousin inquired about her pilgrimage and asked her several questions before ending with a goodbye.

A few days later, Zahra texted her Lebanese friend Isaac what happened during her phone call with Amina and how she wanted to travel there, but turns out he wanted to travel too. Soon, they checked travel documents with their parents and with their approval, they decided to travel to... Saudi Arabia with a tour guide. 

Upon the plane reaching the King Khalid International Airport, the passengers, including Isaac and Zahra, got off the plane and they were welcomed by their tour guide Jabir. Since it was his first time knowing them three got to know about each other by handshaking their hands and since it was getting night there, the two went to his car where they stopped at his apartment and he introduced them to his wife and their two daughters, who were welcoming of them.

Upon meeting Zahra for the first time, the eldest daughter Sakina always wanted to play with her but her mother told her that it was time to sleep much to her dismay and soon everybody went to bed at midnight to prepare for the pilgrimage to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina tomorrow.

The next day, Jabir told his wife Adela to come with him to the pilgrimage to Mecca, leaving their daughters Sakina and Joelle alone with Isaac and Zahra, in which they did, so they drove away from Riyadh and once they're in the city, they decide to walk and surround the Masjid al-Haram, where they saw Amina and Naomi's father walking alone, who were one of the million people walking to surround the mosque itself. 

Turns out, Amina was lying to Zahra the whole time, as she and her sister Naomi were in Egypt, most particularly in her father's hometown of Alexandria with their mother the whole time and meanwhile at Jabir's house in Riyadh, Isaac and Sakina were watching videos about the Arabic alphabet on TV, when the latter's uncle Fadel came over to watch with them. 

After watching the video, they were introduced to a show called Miss Latifa's Arabic Class (which was not filmed in Riyadh, but rather in the neighboring country of Qatar), which apparently was the Arabic equivalent of Miss Aguya's Spanish Class especially made for middle and high school students taking Arabic classes. In the show, Latifa appears wearing a hijab, introducing herself to the viewers before teaching them useful Arabic lessons in a remote classroom.

On the other hand, Jabir and Adela went to pray at the Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina and back at their house, Latifa knocked the door, with Fadel coming to the door and they greeted each other, before entering the house to watch an 24-hour live footage of Medina on TV with him, Sakina, Joelle, Isaac and Zahra for the entire night before going back to her grandparents' vacation home in Hail.

During the Islamic New Year, Jabir and his wife came back to their house in Riyadh where his brother Fadel told them that he raised his nieces during their absence and they thanked him for raising them, with him giving them, Isaac, Zahra and Latifa zamzam water before going back to his own house in Jeddah to look after his wife and son.

6 days after the Islamic New Year, Jabir, Isaac and Zahra went on a 3-hour-long road trip from Riyadh to Buraydah, where they decided to rest at a 3-star hotel before paying their experience at this hotel and leaving to pump gas into the car at a gas station. After pumping gas into the car, Jabir decided to drive to Hail, where Isaac and Zahra decided to go to Sakura Cafe and met Latifa, who was drinking her latte and she greeted them with respect. 

Upon leaving the cafe, she asked Jabir "Can you pick me up to withdraw my money at a ATM?" in which he agreed and soon, she went to his car where she was able to talk with Isaac and Zahra about her show 2 weeks ago. Soon, they arrived at Qurayyat, near the Jordanian border, where she was able to withdraw her money from her credit card to buy sunglasses.

Around 30 minutes later, the Saudi border guards inspected Jabir's car before they could go to Jordan, and they allowed him to freely drive after they had finished inspecting his car. By the time they entered Jordan, they decided to stay at a cheapest hotel in Azraq and spent a day before arriving to stay at Zarqa, before reaching Amman, at the headquarters of the JNA (Jordan News Agency). 

At first, Isaac got skeptical about this outlet until an talented anime artist came out of the door holding a notebook in his hands and he asked him "Can you draw me?" in Arabic, but he didn't understand him at first until he spoke to him in English and the latter drew his portrait from a paper before giving it to him, and he left.

While Isaac tried to find Zahra, she went missing and their tourist guide Jabir took him to search for her everywhere in Amman until they heard from a local resident that she was being held by terrorists affiliated with the organization notorious for Hwayeon's parents' abduction in Russia, making threats to bomb the Royal Jordanian Airlines headquarters, and they told him to call the police in order to arrest the terrorists, in which he did.

The police arrived at the scene and told the witnesses to stay away from that scene, before saving Zahra from the terrorists. She thanked everybody including Isaac and Jabir for saving her when she needed them the most. At the end of the day, the two along with Latifa went to the latter's car, where they talked about what happened during their experience in Jordan and went back to Saudi Arabia in less than a day with several gas station stops.

Back in Riyadh, outside of the Al Rajhi Mosque, Jabir thanked Isaac, Zahra and Latifa for going on an adventure with him, with the latter thanking the two for watching her show on TV, and so on, the four of them parted ways, with the three of them going to the King Khalid International Airport and the latter leaving for Bahrain through the King Fahd Causeway that links the two countries together.

At the end of their journey in Saudi Arabia, their tourist guide Jabir gave Isaac and Zahra plane tickets back to Lebanon and Egypt, before waving them goodbye and the three all parted ways with each other peacefully, and he left the airport to go back to his house, watching the two planes fly to their destined countries in the sky. Upon parking in his garage, he went to his house, and his wife opened the door, only to have an envelope of money from the tourists' parents as a result for taking care of their children. 

Now back in Egypt, Zahra came out of the plane, with her friend Amina happy to see her again outside of Cairo International Airport after a month-long journey and she invited her to her house in 6th of October. On the other hand, Isaac was now back in Lebanon, with his parents and friends happy to see him again.

At the end of the story, Zahra and Isaac started to text each other about their trip in Saudi Arabia and Jordan, with the former posting a picture of her and him with their tourist guide Jabir standing in front of the Kingdom Centre entrance.

THE END