Alone in Al Baha

We people stranded in Saud have founded a WhatsApp support group. Only two of its members are still in the country. Apart from me a brave family with 3 children.
They are in Jeddah at the moment, just moved into a house in a compound with lots of expats. Would I have scoffed at the notion of moving in with a lot of foreigners like me instead of looking for contact with the locals, I am so starved for communication that I jump at Steffen's suggestions of getting a house for me there as well. Again, I never met this man, and he and the other Jeddah people are so helpful and supportive. The only problem I can see is a travel permit as travel bans still prevail due to Corona and that my car has the gearbox problem. So how to get there?
One of my Saudi contacts makes some enquiries. No problem, he says, the police will help. Yeah, but the car transport? Don't worry! This is what police is there for. But... Just go to the police!
So today I went into town to the police to get a travel permit to Jeddah. You can complete this permit application on line, but for one is it arabic, and two you need an Iqama number this is the national ID number. After some to and fro finally somebody arrived who speaks English. He is not one of the line police officers, but highly decorated. Still very young! And good looking!
He compliments me into his luxurious office. There I learn that he has been in Australia for one year, 10 years back. Lucky me! Well, I hope he has had a good time there! I need that now!
After some more nice small talk he starts completing the application, when he as well gets stuck on the Iqama number. But this problem can be solved as well, we just need to wait for the Captain. He will be there in an hour. So that I don't need to wait in the empty ante room, with possible strange men arriving which could make me feel uncomfortable, I am ushered into another big man's Office. I hope they don't forget me there. It's taking quite a long time, this hour. Enough to write this whole article so far. On the phone.
To be continued...Read more