Jeddah Ghair!

If you wondering what it means, it is the city’s motto, and means “Jeddah is different.”

And it is. Cosmopolitan, liberal, capitalistic.

Most countries, over time, are seen to end up with two megapolises—the traditional, political heart and the commercial wheeling and dealing hub bursting with an eclectic art and food scene. Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh. Delhi and Mumbai. Washington and New York. Beijing and Shanghai.

In Saudi Arabia, it is Riyadh and Jeddah. But Jeddah is not just different from the country’s capital in the arid Najd desert. It is different from the whole peninsula. A difference it celebrates with a self-congratulatory pat. Continue reading →