Today we
concentrate us to the culture from Saudi-Arabia. Saudi Arabia is known for its
diverse and vibrant cultural heritage. You can feel the essence of culture of
Saudi Arabia in the architecture of the region. The mosques and local
attractions shows the beautiful culture of the Middle East.
The clothes
that are commonly in Saudi Arabia display the rich culture of Saudi Arabia. The
men in this region wear thobe (white gown), ghutra (white headdress), and bisht
(black overcoat). Women clothes in Saudi Arabia are the traditional burkhas,
and cover their heads and bodies.
One of the obligations of a Muslim is to pray
five times a day to Allah (their supreme being). Their exact praying hours are
usually listed at every local news papers. They also have a different weekend.
Muslims considers Thursday and Friday their rest days. At these days, every
stall, business places and even offices are closed.
The religion of Islam influences a Muslim's
diet as well. All over Saudi Arabia, it is not allowed to have meals with pork
in it. As substitute to pork they include in their meals the meat of lamb or
chicken. They eat most of their meals withkhobzor
bread. Drinking alcoholic beverages are also prohibited. Even foreigners are
subject to this law just like any local citizen. When one is caught breaking
the alcohol law, they are sentenced for months in prison. In some cases, lashes
can also be a part of the punishment.
Muslims also have their own way of greeting
people. Like in any other places, men usually shake their hands when they
greet. They may also kiss each other on the cheek as a sign of good friendship.
Women, on the other hand, hug and kiss their fellow women who are close to
them. However, men and women are not allowed to greet each other in public. Men
and women who have mutual relationships are also not allowed to display public
affection. It may lead to imprisonment.
After we learned all this, we recommend a
foreigner visiting Saudi Arabia should abide and take their laws and culture
seriously as much as their local citizens do.
We passed
some of the palaces owned by sheiks, and they are so amazing and big.
As a
marketer, I will write about the marketing in Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi
Arabian market is not that big. Its a huge country, but Saudi Arabia has a
population of only 25 million people (thats 2 and a half times Belgium). The
market of Saudi Arabia is characterised by customers with a lot of money.
The business
people of Saudi Arabia like it when they have good relations with their
suppliers and customers. The Saudi Arabian people are very found on their
privacy, and therefore, many types of direct marketing used in other countries,
are not used in Saudi Arabia. When you use the term direct marketing in Saudi
Arabia, people think about commercials on the television, and contact with
their customers and suppliers by phone.
New
companies in Saudi Arabia (foreign companies) will find it beneficial to introduce complete
product lines, rather than individual products, into the Saudi market, as it
will allow them to benefit from greater demand stimulation and cost reductions.
The products of the new foreign company must be competitively priced. If the
product is too cheap or too expensive, it wont make sales. Sudden price
changes and pricing for after-sales service should be avoided.
In the last
few years, many new magazines and newspapers have appeared on the Saudi Arabian
market. This had a great effect on the print advertising. The market share of
print advertising exploded. Now, print advertising is one of the most used
marketing techniques. Examples of magazines are Al-Majallah, Al-Yamamah, and
Sayidati. The rates for print advertising are low, but thats because not that
many people read them in Saudi Arabia.
I hope you
learned something about the marketing in Saudi Arabia
Yesterday
we arrived in Saudi Arabia. This is the last country we will be visiting. We
took an airplane from Aquaba to Damman. Because the distance is too big, we had
no other option than to take an airplane. Im talking about a distance of 1600
km. Thatthe same as going from Brussels to Italy. We had to sit on the plane
for 2h45 until we arrived in the popular King Fahd International Airport in
Dammam. That is the largest airport in the world. It is 5 times as big as the
airport we have in Zaventem. It
was really remarkable to see.
Here you can follow on a map where we flew with the airplane:
Saudi Arabia is the third largest Arab country. You can also see on the map how
small Jordan is in comparison. Saudi Aribia is also several times bigger than
the size of Belgium.
This is a
picture of the famous airport in Dammam: http://the-saudi.net/kfia/images/view1.jpg
Yesterday
when we arrived in Dammam we were so tired of our journey that we agreed to not
do anything anymore that day. I did some research on my laptop that I brought
along about the economy in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia has the worlds largest oil reserves and is the worlds largest
oil exporter. The petroleum accounts for more than 90% of exports and nearly
75% of government revenues. Because of their power of possessing that much
natural resources, it is a rich country.
Of coursenot everybody can enjoy that. There is a large gap between the rich and
the poor is Saudi Arabia. We came to Dammam, also known as Ad Dammam because it
is one of the richest cities in the world. It is also the biggest city in the
region. Not only Dammam is rich on oil but the entire country has a lot of oil.
The country has about 260 billion barrels of oil reserves. A barrel has a
volume of 4.1×1010m3 . That is good for one fifth of the worlds
total petroleum reserves.
Before we came to Saudi Arabia, I had these certain thoughts about the Middle
East. I thought there was only desert and people with covered faces. As I
discovered, many buildings and places are already of modern design and
construction. Thanks to their income on oil, modernity and technology has came
into the county a long time ago, even much more advanced than other third world
countries today.
These
are some pictures Ive already took from the plane:
Because it
is the last country we will be visiting during our trip, this will be the last
blog Im posting.
It was an interesting trip weve made from East-Timor to Saudi Arabia. Im happy
to have done this trip with 3 good friends from Belgium, namely Miet, Anne and
Laurens.
I would also like to thank you for following our blog!
A lot of
greetings from the last visiting country: Saudi Arabia!
As you probably already saw, we are traveling in Jordan for the past three days ! Today was our last day here. And because it was our last day, I wanted to give you some tips and tricks about the rituals and habits in Jordan, because these are very important here ! That was also a bit our problem, because we didnt knew these rituals. After three days, we really realized that western culture is totally different to theirs.
The first problem was the dress code in Jordan. The first day that we arrived in Jordan, it was about 25 °C. Which was very warm for us ! So Anne, Emilie, Laurens and I arrived at the hotel and we decided to refresh us a little bit and wear something else. So an half-hour later, we all were at the reception of the hotel with our shorts and t-shirts. When we wanted to go outside, the receptionist said that it wasnt such a good idea in the clothes that we were wearing. Because in Jordan, the rituals are that women dont wear short skirts/shorts and tops/t-shirts. So women usually wear a dress or pants which are not allowed to be shorter than the knee. It is also very important to cover your shoulders. So the best way to have a little refreshment but be correct according to their rituals, is to wear loose clothing like blouses, a tunic,
And now for the boys ! The boys have less rules than the girls. People wont have any problem is they walk around with short pants but they are not allowed to be too short ! But the long pants are still more appreciated by the local people. It is also possible that you are not allowed to go into a mosque because you are wearing a short pants. Some local men also wear a Jalabiyya, that is a long, eastern dress) and a Keffiyeh, a red or black headscarf.
So because we didnt had those clothes, Anne, Emilie and I went shopping in the little local shops. That was a lot of fun. After being totally dressed out, we went to the village nearby where a gentlemen Mohammed and his family let us in their home. That seems to be a tradition to welcome strangers in their homes. They told us about the rituals in communication with another person.
They use a lot of signs in their language. E.g.: They dont say the word No but they wink their eyebrows instead and throw their head a bit backwards. When they want to say No, thank you, they put the palm of their right-hand on their heart. And if you dont understand something, you have to shake your head. Like saying No in our language. Also in Jordan, they drink a lot of tea, but if you had enough tea, you lay your hand on your cup and say Sjoekran. That means Thank you . Very important! you should always use your right-hand to pick something up, , because you left one is used for the toilet visit.
So after we drunk our cup of tea, we thanked Mohammed and his family a lot and walked back to the hotel. Now we will never forget these rituals anymore !
After a
long day of touristic adventure that Anne told you about, we stayed in our
hotel today.
Because it is such a lovely hotel and we were very tired of our trip so far, we
decided to not do anything today. While Anne and Laurens were lying on the terrace
at the swimming pool of our hotel, Miet and I did a little trip around the huge
hotel we are staying. The hotel we stayed is called Mövenpick and we are
situated in Aqaba. As you can see on the map it isnt that far away from the
desert in Wadi Rum that we visited yesterday. http://www.wordtravels.com/images/map/Jordan_map.jpg
There was
something significant to the hotel that caught my eye. In every big entrance
and hall there are huge pictures of the
royal family in Jordan. For example we took a picture of one of them:http://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/jordan/img/familypic06.jpg
Its
a spontaneous picture of some years ago.
You can seeKing Abdullah II bin al-Hussein
on the picture. He is married since 1993 to the lovely Rania al-Abdullah,
a Pallestinian.
They have four children:
On the left you can see their only son which is also the crown prince: Hussein
(born in 1994).On the
right you can see their oldest daughter: princess Iman (born in 1996). The girl
that is sitting on the lap of her mother is princess Salma. She is born in 2000.
And their youngest daughter is sitting on the lap of her father, she is called
princess Hashem and is of the year 2005.
The reigning king of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is
called Abdullah II bin al-Hussein and is of the year 1962.He became
king on 7 February 1999, upon the death of his father King Hussein. His father,
the former king of Jordan, is called Hussein and he reigned the country from
1952 untill 1999. Talal, the grandfather of Abdullah II bin al-Hussein who only
reigned from 1951 till 1952. And before Talal, there was Abdullah I, who reigned
from 1921 untill 1951. As u can see, King Talal was only in power for almost 13
months, which is a very short period to reign a country. He did introduce a
different lifestyle than his father. His father was very parternalistic while
he was more openminded towards the western lifestyle. He was removed from power
due to mental illness, schizophrenia, a condition known even when he was crown
prince.
Today we
have a very exciting day because we will have a lot fun and adventure in
Jordan.
Outdoor adventure tourism is
expanding at a fast rate in Jordan, and promises to remain one of the most
dynamic and innovative travel industry sectors for years to come. Several
Jordanian companies have started to specialize in eco-tourism and action tourism,
providing the combination of safety, adventure, and comfortable facilities that
make action tourism such an exciting proposition today.
After a
long discussion we decided to do something exciting. We, thrill-seekers,
decided to go beyond the ordinary and went into a hot air balloon and rise to
mountain-tops in Wadi Rum. The view was amazing!
Here you
see the magnificent landscape of Wadi Rum is a must-see for any visitor to
Jordan!
After our
flight we got the chance to also enjoy a desert experience. To discover the
challenges and wild beauty of some of the countrys outstanding natural sites
like Wadi Rum, where 4X4 vehicles, camels or Arabian horses are the preferred
mode of transportation. We decided to take the Arabian horses and laughed a lot
during the trip!
But we didnt only enjoy the view,
we also did a lot of activities. First we went to Aqaba. We went to the Red Sea
resort of Aqaba. The sea is always warm, balmy, and enticing for divers and
other watersports enthusiasts. Aqaba offers a full range of facilities for
sailing, fishing, swimming, water skiing, wind surfing, We decided to do
snorkeling together. Because the experience was so great, Miet bought an
underwater camera to take pictures from us. After our snorkeling we went to the
numerous shopping centers to buy some clothes and food.
At the end
of the day, a local man told us that tourism is one of the most important
sectors in Jordans economy. In 2009, 3,5 million tourists from various
countries visited Jordan!!!
We had a
really exciting day and enjoyed a lot the activities weve done!
Jordan is a country with a population of 6.4 million people.
The culture of Jordan is based on European elements with a Western influence. The Jordanian Kingdom had always been the intersection of the three continents of the ancient world. Thats why the culture has a lot of influence from all three the continents.
Most of the people in Jordan are Arab (almost 99%).
Jordan is situated in the dessert, but its for 79% urban. 5% are nomads and semi nomad.
The most important religion in Jordan is the Muslim. There are 2 groups of Muslims: the Sunni Muslims (they are a majority) and the Shia Muslims (they form a small minority). Christians represent 4 percent of the population. One-third of the Christians belong to the Greek Orthodox Church.
Jordanflag contains three equal horizontal bands in different colors: black (top, the Abbassid Caliphate of Islam), white (the Ummayyad Caliphate of Islam), and green (the Fatimid Caliphate of Islam) with a red isosceles triangle (representing the Great Arab Revolt of 1916) based on the hoist side bearing a small white seven-pointed star symbolizing the seven verses of the opening Sura (Al-Fatiha) of the Holy Koran; the seven points on the star represent faith in one God, humanity, national spirit, humility, social justice, virtue, and aspirations. You can find more information about the flag on the link below:
When you hear the music of Jordan, you dont hear that much Arabic influence.
The music from Jordan is a hybrid of Arab styles and western styles. They play with traditional instruments, as well as modern (western) instruments. The Bedouin still practice old musical traditions. Belly dancing is part of the tradition.
In Jordan you can find spectacular mosques, ancient ruins and magnificent mosaics.
Yesterday evening we arrived in New Delhi which is the capital from
India. It was a very exhausting trip, so we went to bed immediately. It is
important to rest out because tomorrow it would be another busy day.
Today we
learned more about the marketing in India.India marketing scenario is undergoing a
phenomenal change over the last few years. This is also positively affecting
the economy of the country which in fact has led to high standard of living,
high per capita income and other aspects of economic development.
Currently
in India, the national economy and marketplace are undergoing rapid changes and
transformation. A large number of reasons could be attributed to these changes.
One of the reason in these changes in the Indian Market Scenario is
Globalization, and the subsequent and resulting explosive growth of global
trade and the international competition.
In the
Indian Marketing Scenario, the market success goes to those companies that are
best matched to the current environmental imperatives. Those companies that can
deliver what the people want and can delight the Indian customers are the
market leaders.
Today the companies
are operating in such a marketplace where survival of the fittest is the law.
In order to win, the companies are coming out with various new and evolving
strategies because the Indian market is also changing very fast. It is to
capture the Indian market, that the Indian and the Multi National Companies are
using all of their resources.
The Indian market is
no longer a sellers market. The winner is the one who provides value for money.
A large number of companies have huge idle capacities, as they have wrongly
calculated the market size and installed huge capacities. This has further contributed
to converting the Indian market into a buyers market.
It was really
interesting to learn about the marketing in an other company. We learned a lot
for our future marketing experiences !
After some interesting information of Laurens about the economy of India, I will tell you something about the tourism here. We are still in the city with the most population of India, Bombay ! (Or Mumbai in Indian.) It has a population of 12,5 million people !
After our breakfast, we first walked a bit in the big city of Mumbai. It was impressive to see that the architecture was very different of each building or monument. Sometimes you saw Gothic Revival or some Art Deco, . There are also some European influences such as Romance arches,
After a little walk, we decided to take the typical way of transportation in India, a Rickshaw ! This is a motor vehicle on three wheels ! It was very fun and rather cheap to take this kind of transportation. The driver drove us to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. Because we saw in our book that it was a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The building is a historic railway station and it is the headquarters of the Central Railways. Thats why it is also one of the busiest railway stations of India. The architecture of the building was so impressive to see. It was designed in Victorian Gothic with a mix of traditional Indian architecture. After visiting the station, we went to a little park nearby to have a little pick nick !
After our little bite in the park, we took a Rickshaw for the second time and went to Girgaum Chowpatty. On our way to this very known beach, our driver of the Rickshaw took a few shorter roads and we could see a little bit of the suburb of the big city. It was rather sad to see that some people had to live in such bad circumstances. It was a horrible smell, very small and filthy slums, . Our driver told us that Mumbai suffers a lot of some urbanization problems such as poverty and unemployment.
Eventually we arrived at Girgaum Chowpatty. This is one of the famous beaches of Mumbai. It is especially known for Ganesh Chaturthi. This is the Hindu festival of Ganesh. This is a big religious person for the Hindus. It is the god of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune. After our walk on the beach, we saw a few young people having a little party. We started talking with them and eventually we had dinner with them. It was a lot of fun and they said we definitely have to come back to celebrate the festival with them ! After our cozy beach party, we went back to the city with the bus.
The Mumbais culture also has traditional festivals and theatres. You also have the Mumbai International Film Festival and the award ceremony of the Filmfare Awards. These are the oldest film awards given for Hindi films. This al happens in Mumbai because it is the birthplace of Indian cinema. Because Mumbai has such a big titles about their films and theatre, we had to go and see one ! So after our beach dinner and when the evening was falling, we went to a theatre and saw a beautiful film about an Indian girl who fell in love with a prince. Anne, Emilie and I loved the movie but Laurens already fell asleep after only 15 minutes
This was our day in the big city of Bombay ! I hope you enjoy reading our stories.. Tomorrow we are travelling the whole day to get in New Delhi !
Last
evening we went dining in the Pateela restaurant in Mumbai. This is a typical
Indian restaurant that serves different types of the Indian cuisine such as
Indian, Mughlai and Punjabi.
We asked the restaurant chef for some extra information about the different
types of cuisine they serve.
Moghlai Cuisine originates from the kitchens of the Mogul Empire. This type of
cuisine is influenced by the Middle-Eastern cuisine and is found in
Nothern-India. I chose to eat something spicy of the Mughlai cuisine just to
try outsomething typical.
Because Anne is a vegetarian, the chef suggested she ordered something from the
Punjabi cuisine. Because Punjabi cuisine has a diverse range of dishes for
vegetarians but also for non-vegetarians. Typical about the Punjabi cuisine is
that its prepared with large amounts of clarified butter, which is called
ghee. Also the use of whole wheat, rice and other ingredients flavoured with
masalas (a sort of spices) is typical for the Punjabi cuisine. An example of
the preparation of rice is Roh Di Kheer. Roh Di Kheer is rice that is cooked
for a long time in sugar cane juice.
Miet and Laurens ordered a dish with Tandoori chicken. Tandoori chicken is a
popular Indian dish consisting of roasted chicken, yoghurt and spices. The chef
warned her that it is a very spicy dish and that in most Western nations they
are prepared with less spices. So when we eat Tandoori chicken in our country
it isnt that spicy as in India itself. The spices that Tandoori chicken
usually contains are cayenne pepper, red chilli powder or kashmiri red chilli
powder.
Here you can see a picture of the Tandoori chicken that Miet and Laurens ordered:
I've also tasted it but in my opinion it is a little too spicy.
Beside our individual dish we also ordered some Indian bread. Bread in India is
eaten more in the northern regions of the country because of its dry climate.
We could chose between a variety of breads on the menu: roti, naan and paratha.
We didnt knew what to chose so we asked the chef again for some advice. He
told us that roti is thin and made of whole wheat, naan is soft and fluffy and
is made from plain flour with a little bit of yeast. Parathas are layered breads
made of wheat flour but fried in a bit of oil. We ordered roti.
After the very spicy dinner we gave the chef a big tip for his advice and
explanations.
Then we went back to our hotel Fariyas. Because we were so thirsty we went to
the bar that is linked to our hotel to quench our thirst with a fresh beer. It
was a lovely evening but we were so tired that wealready went to bed at 11P.M.
In India,
over 1.1 billion people live (and its growing every year with 1.5%)
India has
the worlds 12th largest economy, and the 3rd largest
economy of Asia (after China and Japan).
There are
three important sectors in India: the service sector (54%), the industry (29%) and
the agriculture (18%)
I also
looked up some numbers and other important info for my loyal readers about the
economy of india:
-The
GDP of India was 1.21 trillion USD. Thats 1.210 billion USD.
-The
real growth of India in 2008 was 6.6%.
-The
GDP per capita (PPP) of india in 2088 was 2.900 USD.
-The
natural resources of India are coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite,
chromite, thorium, limestone, barite, titanium ore, diamonds and crude oil.
-The agriculture in India (18% of the total GDP)
produces wheat, rice, coarse grains, oilseeds, sugar, cotton, jute and tea.
-The industry in India (29% of GDP) produces
textiles, jute, processed food, steel, machinery, transport equipment, cement,
aluminum, fertilizers, mining, petroleum, chemicals and computer software.
-The market share of services and transportation
is 54% of the GDP of India
-India
exported for 176.4 billion USD in 2008. The most important export products are engineering
goods, petroleum products, precious stones, cotton apparel and fabrics, gems
and jewelry, handicrafts and tea. The software
exports in 2008 was 22 billion USD.
-India imported for
303 billion USD in 2008. The most important import products are petroleum,
machinery and transport equipment, electronic goods, edible oils, fertilizers,
chemicals, gold, textiles, iron and steel
-The major trade
partners of India are the United States, China, The United Arabian Emirates,
the European Union, Russia and Japan.
This are
great numbers, but 700 million Indian people live with less than 2 dollars a
day.
The middle
class in India (50 million people) is earning money very fast. They get up to
1.000.000 rupees per year (21.000 USD).
Because of the accident we had a few days ago, we didnt feel so safe to walk alone in the big city of Bangkok. So we asked the guide of two days ago, if he wanted to lead us around the city for one more time. Today we learned a lot of the politics in Thailand. The country is a kingdom and a constitutional monarchy with the current king, Bhumibol Adulyadej.
The history all began in 1782, when the general Chakri became the first king of the Chakri-dynasty. He called hisself King Rama 1. This dynasty still rules. Because the current king is king Bhumibol Adulyadej. He is the ninth king of the Chakri-origin, so you can also call him Rama 9. King Bhumibol Adulyadej is the person who is the longest-serving head of state and the longest-reigning monarchin Thai history.
The guide also told us that there has been some political reforms in Thailand a long time ago. In 1932, they changed the absolute monarchy into a constitutional one. Because of this change, they have built a big art deco-monument, The Democracy Monument.
The monument is settled in the middle of the centre of Bangkok. It was a beautiful and extraordinarily thing to see. It exists of 4 wings of angels, of 24 meters high, in a circle. The wings were so high, because they represent the date of the revolution, namely the 24th of June. The wings signify the freedom and rights of the people because of the change. One of the designers was the Italian Corrado Ferroci, he also made some monuments for the dictator Mussolini.
After seeing this amazing piece of art, we took a lot at the Grand Palace and Wat Phrae Kaeo. It is the official palace and temple complex of the king Bhumibol and queen Sirikit. This building was built in 1782 for the foundation of Bangkok. There were beautiful gardens and a lot of impressive buildings. We could really see that Thailand is very much into their religion, Buddhism. During our visit at the palace and temple, we had to cover ourselves in respect for the population and their religion.
After the interesting day, we went back to the hotel to get as much sleep as possible. Because tomorrow early in the morning, we are taking a plane from Bangkok to Bombay with the airline Bangkok Airways. (In India, they say Mumbai instead of Bombay.) (http://www.bangkokair.com/en/index.php)
