Al Faisaliah

Left, my picture. Right, professional from the web.

Two days ago, we went to an ABGR steering committee meeting at the Al Faisaliah, where the headquarters of Exxon-Mobile in Riyadh is. I don't know if it matters, since you wouldn't be able to get up the elevator without an escort anyway, but I won't tell you what floor it's on. When you get to the floor, nothing is marked, and the first room you get into is like a safe room, only one door can be open at a time. That is, everyone goes in, you shut the door, then the next door will open after whatever security precedure is done.

Once you get up in the tower, the view is amazing. Riyadh is a sprawling city; Basel seemed to think it is the third largest by land area in the world, but that claim is not easy to back up, because defining such a question meaningfully is not easy. The take away point though is that Riyadh is sprawling and flat. The city has had several ordinances against building tall buildings. There are two sky scrapers, this one and the Kingdom Tower.

The ABGR steering committee was interesting. I have never really sat in a grown up meeting like that, where everybody was an equal and making group decisions. It's kind of interesting and I enjoyed it. As part of the meeting, the group agreed to give 100,000 SR (about $26,500) to the American school in Riyadh. The school is very close to where my uncle lives, so I look forward to checking it out.

We had delicious Turkish food after the meeting. For the first time, we were still downtown at nightfall. The city lights up so beautifully. It looks a bit old and dust covered during the day, but at night shines like a jewel in the desert.