TV in Saudi.

I have spent the last two days pretty much in my hotel room. It would seem that most Arabs are pretty much nocturnal staying up in the cool night and sleeping most of the day.

There is a hot wind outside which is almost like a blow heater that they have in the huge London department store entrances during the winter. So you go from being uncomfortably hot in the blazing (42 degree) daytime sun to absolutely frazzled and unable to breathe in a (45 degree wind) which is the absolute opposite to wind chill factor. I am very envious of the immaculate Saudi men in their pristinely white cotton dresses. As well as looking like it allows circulation it also appears to give some protection from the blistering thermal wind.

The wonderful tower & viewing platform

Saudi television is interesting in that its very western influenced. There are several Arab speaking channels which cover news, local news and international and local domestic football games. You can tell from the coverage that they are extremely knowledgeable and passionate about football. Unlike the Turkish commentators who only give the name of each international player as he taps the ball, these Arab guys give a little bit of spiel on each player (you can hear his regular team and some gossip being mentioned).

The western channels seem to consist of various incarnations of NBC (including NBC action, NBC Comedy, NBC Movie) so you can catch lots of movies back to back. There are very few commercial breaks (unlike Turkey- The stupid crass Show TV has longer commercial breaks than show segments) and the commercial breaks are very short. One of the nicest channels plays very nice ambient images over the call to prayer or recitals from the Quoran.

The call to prayer here is made several times a day and is actually taken up by most Saudis (unlike Turkey). The actual voices of the callers are far better and easier on the ear than in Turkey. It really does sound beautiful in the evening as the sun is going down. I was shopping last night and the prayer call went off and the lights went out in the shop and I was locked in until the staff came back from their prayers.

I still haven't gotten around to sorting out a sim card for my mobile phone. Tomorrow I hope.