EXPERIENCE IN SAUDI ARABIA (Part 2)

EXPERIENCE IN SAUDI ARABIA (Part 2)

MY SECOND WEEK IN THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA!

It was Ramadan when we arrived there! A Total change of environment in culture and religion. Since our job was to sell real estate to Filipino market who were working there, and the properties are in the Philippines, we did the familiarization of the area and at the same time looking for leads who knows the big Filipino camps.

We were successful in the first few days of getting leads. We were brought to big Filipino camps and do big group presentations usually inside the camp canteen. my first presentation was a group of 20, but during my second presentation the following day, since it was well campaign with the help of the first 20 participants who turn into my agent's, the attendance was more than 600 Filipinos attending the presentation during launch break.

I got some good leads that turn into sales. I got my ice breaker sales for the group!
Every body of our group was so glad with my first three sales. All were motivated! everybody are on a high gear! We gain the momentum!

There was one tip, that the biggest Filipino camp having 6,000 Filipinos was in the area going to the Holy City of Medina, This is the center of Muslim religion. Just like the catholics the center is in Rome. No other person can get inside the city except the muslims! Rules are very strict to non-Muslims!

It was on my 10th day in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. After my first three sales, the following day, Our group decided to explore the big camp in the direction going to the Holy City of Medina. We were including me, we organized ourselves, The son of the late Ex-Senator Manahan decided to drive, i became the navigator because i'm good at directions, the other member was our support who prepare for the food and everything for our trip.

Remember, nobody knows the area thats why we organized ourselves forgetting that it was Ramadan and you are not authorized to eat, drink, or even smoke a cigarette while on the road during the day time! We depart from our villas @ 8:00am on our way to the camp. We were both excited about the trip and the objective of closing more sales, since it was a big population.

Full of excitement, lot of stories, jokes being shared among the three of us. We were two hours and a half already on the road at the speed of 120 kilometers per hour. The high way was eleven lane wide one way to to the area of the Holy city of Medina. We position ourselves on the fast lane. All of a sudden we noticed the sign "FOR MUSLIMS ONLY", Since our speed was so fast, we missed to go to the right lane for an exit! Here comes the "ENTRY POINT" to the Holy city! NO MORE TIME TO THINK of what to do except to pass to the "ENTRY POINT" It was a long line to the entry point, remember we are on the fast lane "The left Lane" and it was eleven lane wide, there's no way for you to go to the last right lane, and no more exit!

Every cars were search and ask to present the "IQAMA". This is a travel document in replacement for our passport. It is part of their system that all foreigners will surrender the passport to their employers upon arrival. We were all tensed already and told my companions that we'll just make a U turn after the entrance. All of us were silent because we knew that the color of the Muslim IQAMA is white and the Christian IQAMA is brown. All of the security in the entry point were policeman holding high powered long arm in a battle gear! My estimate is they were about 20 police man in the area. Going inside the Holy City if you're not a Muslim, is punishable by capital punishment, meaning DEATH!. We were two cars away from the checkpoint, we have decided not to show our EQAMA since we know that we will be apprehended, instead we decided that during our turn, we just get inside very quickly and look for a road where we can exit along the way.

Going inside the Holy City from the check point will take about 50 kilometers. Here comes our turn! Our driver starts the car like we are in a driving competition at a very high speed immediately. Police Patrol where running after us! We gain the momentum at a speed of 180 kilometers per hour, Two Patrols car were behind us, and i'm sure they have coordinated already inside the The Holy City. To my estimate, we've drove 20 kilometers already but we can't find an exit. While i was looking at the faces of my companions, it seems the color their face has no more blood already! So as with me, there was no time to look at my face in the mirror, We were all silent for the past 30 minutes. I broke the long silence and said to my partners, LET'S ALL PRAY that we can find and exit. In less than 3 minutes, The tire of the van ahead of us exploded its rear tire and bump into the wire fence cause the wire fence to fall down. There, We found and exit! We made a U-turn as fast as we could, the two Patrol cars maybe did not noticed that we made a U-turn already. All of our heart beat were so fast. When we made the U-turn this time, we can breath regularly, However, here comes again the check point! At a distance we can't recognized the policeman yet, Our heart beat so fast again, because we knew that this time we'll be caught already. We were all nervous!

We made a quick strategy, but my partners were silent again, so i decided and told our driver not to slowdown down at the exit, Just bump anybody who will stop us, then we'll get their fire arms. We are less than a kilometer away, so nervous of what will happen next? Thanks God, there was no police man on the exit! We were celebrating our successful exit, I call "THE GREAT ESCAPE!", WE SHOUT AND LAUGH! But i noticed that our partner who is seating at the back was asking for help! His knees were shaking and he can't even manage top stop it! He ask me to open the bag for his medicine. He was under heart attack. I gave him his medicine and water, and in few minutes, He recovered.

We slow down at 80 kilometers per hour from a speed of 180 kph. All cars passing by were looking at us, Some seems they look like mad at us! We were eating apple and drinking juice just to normalized our blood pressure. We forgot it was Ramadan! So we stop what we were doing very quickly and back to silence again. Their were many ideas coming out of my mind during the long silence. I was thinking of the Policeman might still be looking for us, So i suggest to the one driving not to pass through the high way, so we took the secondary road then we got lost!

We arrived back to the villas at around 2:00pm already! We were all exhausted! Inspite of the exhaustion, I could hardly sleep during the night. My sub concious
mind keeps on playing back the incident which is the reason that i can't sleep. It
took me two days before my mind normalized.

See you on the (Part 3), More exciting! Full of thrill!

Thanks for your time,

Peter E. Cadorna
Author