Attending the International Downtown Association World Towns Summit in Ireland/Nothern Ireland - First Stop Dublin

 

I love to travel because I love to learn first hand about other places work, so when I saw that my work trade association, International Downtown Association, was gathering BID professionals for a study tour of Ireland and Northern Ireland, I signed up right away. The trip included visits to Dublin, Dundalk and Belfast, where we spoke to BID and community leaders and urban planners about projects they were working on. Along the way my peers and sat down in sessions to discuss the challenges facing cities and societies. It was so interesting to hear other perspectives and other possible responses and to dig deep into other cities and see first hand what they are doing. I have been to Ireland twice before, but this trip I saw it completely differently.

First stop Dublin.

An Afternoon Learning About Public Realm Improvements in Dundalk, Ireland - County Louth

Next Stop: Dundalk, Ireland. Located in County Louth midway between Dublin and Belfast, just south of the Northern Ireland border. Dundalk is a historically industrial and port town that was hit hard from two big moments in Irish history, first Irish independence from British Empire in 1921, which meant UK factories moved out, and when Ireland joined the European Union when more industrial jobs moved to other parts of the EU. This meant it suffered a long economic decline.

So in comes the Dundalk Business Improvement District in 2009, Ireland’s first BID, to literally brighten things up. They have transformed the downtown, making it a destination.

One project I was most impressed by is that 6 years ago they started painting the downtown building facades themselves, covering up the typical dingy greys and whites with bright cheery colors. They brought back old store signs to emphasize the nostalgia people felt for the place with the goal of getting the community to fall back in love with the city. They also have a major mural program. The BID also was able to find resources to create a new public plaza that they use for big public events like their Christmas lights and celebration to attract tourists and also small ones like a weekly farmers market to get locals to spend more time downtown. Click through my pics to see other little details they have added to the streetscape making Dundalk a great place to visit.

Visiting Abu Dhabi, UAE

I’ve been home for over two months, but am finally ready to post pictures from Abu Dhabi, UAE, where I stopped for a few days, while I was in the neighborhood. The current war put a little damper on my thoughts about visiting the Persian Gulf. My experience suddenly feels a little out of sync with the things people are thinking about the region for. I never even saw anything related to oil. But the reality is two things can be true at the same time and I’m pretty sure life is going on much like what I saw daily in Abu Dhabi, with some bomb scares in between and a few less tourists.

20 years ago I visited Dubai, the bigger showier city/emirate in the United Arab Emirates, a country made up of 7 separately led emirates (“states”?), but I have always been curious about Abu Dhabi to get a broader understanding of the country. The UAE was formed in 1971, when seven emirates  decided to join together. It created one of the fastest-growing countries in the Middle East.

Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the UAE and is the real center of culture and commerce. I think it’s like, Dubai is where people like to party, Abu Dhabi is where they want to live. Fueled by oil wealth, it has grown to be a formidable city with inspiring architecture, great art and a diverse population from throughout the world, especially South Asia. 

I really liked the vibe there. I enjoyed long walks along the corniche and looking out at the Persian Gulf and through the downtown with its bustling sidewalks filled with a vibrant mix of immigrants and lined by stores that reminded me a lot of Queens and Brooklyn. The city is designed with lots of green spaces that each evening fill with families picnicking. I was awed by the soaring new architecture, and pretty impressed by all the investment in the arts. I even chose to spend a day at a falcon hospital to take a deep dive into one Persian Gulf pastime, falcon racing.

I know there is a lot of criticism focused on the immense wealth of these oil rich nations. They build big showy things that seem so over the top. But while visiting Qsar Al Watan, the new government palace, just completed in 2017, I was blown away by its detailed beauty and thought these are the royalty of today. When we go to Europe, we walk through castles, from years ago, built by the rich and powerful of their time. We rarely think deeply about the labor it took to build them and spend more time admiring them. Maybe that is what the Emiratis are creating now. Building beautiful buildings and commissioning great art to last for centuries. (Yes, I would rather live in a world that is more equal, but history shows that might always be more of a dream than reality.)

I wish I was a better writer and could find the right words for all of this. I’m just not sure my words actually say what I mean. Travel has a way for broadening perspective and cracking preconceived thoughts. 

Mostly I want to encourage people to take a leap and visit a place like Abu Dhabi, where travel is easy and some of the sites are quite extraordinary. Maybe it’s what the future looks like? Or at the very least see the new buildings that generations from now people will visit to admire and think about the past.

Photos from Abu Dhabi

 Click HERE to see my photos from Abu Dhabi

Its all about malls in Abu Dhabi

 So much of life on the Arabian Penninsula happens in malls and on the eve of heading home I went to a great one! I loved getting a peak into Emirati culture.

Abu Dhabi Observations

Today I decided to flip through all the tv channels in my Abu Dhabi hotel. I feel like I traveled all over. They have channels from Sudan, Qatar, Russia, France, Iraq, UK, US, Israel, China, … I settled on a Bollywood channel. I need joy for the last days of my trip! Now I feel like dancing my way through the day.

Photos from Saudi Arabia

My trip to Saudi Arabia in December - January was so interesting. If you are curious to scratch a little deeper into a country that you probably don’t know much about. Click here. Click a few pictures and read the descriptions. Hopefully they will increase your understanding.

Click HERE to see my many many photos.

Deciding to Travel to Saudi Arabia

 

Today I’m off to explore Saudi Arabia (and Abu Dhabi). If you are wondering why I decided to go to Saudi Arabia, there are so many reasons… First, you may not have heard, but Saudi Arabia just opened to non Muslim tourists in 2019. I love going places before the tourist routes are too busy. Second, over the past 10ish years, Saudi Arabia has been experiencing real change and liberalization. I’m an experiential learner and I want to see what’s going on. I’m taking a women’s only tour and one of the missions behind it is to help build the businesses of the women rising in the tourism sector as a way to elevate the women in society. It will also give us opportunity to hear directly from women about on all the societal changes. Third, I’ve been wanting to get a deeper look at the Persian Gulf for a while. Going to Iran was the most eye opening trip of my lifetime, because reality was so much more nuanced than our Western press reported.

Another reason is the generation above me often speaks about traveling the hippy trail through the Middle East and Central Asia in the early ‘70s and being able to see liberalizing in real time. I’ve been jealous, so I’m taking advantage of this opening and diving in.

In preparation for the trip I’ve read five books and watched countless videos and podcasts. It’s hard to wrap my head around so many years of history and all the power dynamics, while also trying to learn about local culture. I am aware that I can’t just count on what people tell me always being the full story, so I’ve started with book knowledge and show up as an educated observer. I know many of you look blankly at me when I’ve told you where I’m going, but I hope my photos and stories after will open your mind to another part of the world you may not have thought that deeply about. Updates soon!

Saudi Final Thoughts

This wraps up my posting for my trip to Saudi Arabia. This trip was really great. I learned so much. I got to get out of my comfort zone and experience new things in a pretty comfortable way. My mind was stretched. I’m still processing comparing my sad “free” country, where people seem so unsatisfied with where things stand these days, to a country experiencing some new felt freedom and possibility. I’m chewing over what freedom actually means and how different freedoms or lack there of affect life. I still don’t really have the words, but it feels good to be thinking and processing.

Observations of changes in Saudi Arabia for women and girls

 

I’m having a super hard time figuring out how to summarize my recent trip to Saudi Arabia. It’s a country in the midst of a major cultural shift, but as a short term tourist I’m just not sure what I was seeing no matter how many books, podcasts and people I consulted. Please don’t rush to judge my comments. My effort is to help shed some light on things, but I realize my observations are very limited.

So with that caveat, let’s start diving in. Figuring out the societal norms in Saudi was challenging. As recently as 2016 it was illegal for unrelated men and women to be together in public. These days that reality feels unreal. Now there are lots of “fun” activities, where all Saudis go out together and outdoor cafes with tables of men alongside tables of women. I’m sure people are constantly policing themselves and know the limits of the freedom, but to an outsider like me it felt pretty open if one could look past the idea that most women are still wearing abayas, hijabs and niqabs. (I try super hard not to make any judgement on veiling, since it has deep cultural connections.)

Since the late 1970s the mutawa, officers of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (CPVPV) were a heavy presence in Saudi Arabia. They patrolled public spaces to make sure people followed some very strict conservative Islamic norms. All women had to be veiled. Strict segregation of the sexes was enforced, meaning unrelated men and women could not be seen in public together. But in 2016, Mohammed Bin Salman announced a sweeping change and overnight the religious police were demoted from power and society was allowed to begin to open up.

Over the last ten years that has meant major changes in daily life. Restrictions have been eased on women's rights, easing rules around dress and veiling, allowing them to drive, attend sports events and concerts alongside men, and obtain passports without the approval of a male guardian and thus be able to travel by themselves outside of the country.

As an outsider, who had never seen before times, it was hard to be sure what existed before 2016 and what was new, but I believe basically all the fun public places we went are brand new. Throughout my photos you will see pics in many new attractions that Saudi is building to entertain its majority under 30 population. But here I’m going to focus on one location to give an example.

In Ha’il, there is a new place called Bonchai. According to Guinness Book of World Records it’s the largest coffee shop in the world. (In reality, it’s a big space that has spread chairs around, but only had a small area to be served.) but anyway it creates a big public space for people to gather. It felt like any hip cool coffee house I’ve been to all over the world. Small clusters of young people and families were spread out around the room. It felt very modern and free.

At one point, a 14 year old precocious girl came up to us and asked if she could speak to us. She told us of her educational and career ambitions and beamed that wonderful hopeful energy that the new Saudi opening allows her. She has traveled and seen Western life and now she and her mother, who also came over to meet us, and shared her story of being a working woman in Saudi, are pushing forward and creating change in Saudi.

Also, while I was there a group of giggling high school aged girls asked if I would be in a photo with them. I, of course, said yes! The photo they took on their phone was a normal selfie with me and four loosely veiled girls. After, I asked if I could take a photo with them on my phone. They said yes, but were a little cagey. As I held up my phone, I noticed that they had covered their faces and blocked them with their phones.

In general, the rules are clearly stated and repeated that people shouldn’t take pictures without permission, but this is often stated in other places, but Saudi might be the place I’ve seen it most internalized. Even the some men seemed hesitant. As anyone who follows my travels knows, I’m all about pictures of people. I think that is where you can see the real differences between places. I can’t show the changes happening in Saudi culture without including people, so I am a bit unsure what to do. Looking at the selfie with these girls it really made me think more about taking pics and also about how the cultural changes are happening, but the limits of them too. 40 years of strict religious policing has a lasting hold on people.

But back to the girls… what I’m saying is this public space now allowed girls to gather giggling with no veils, where unrelated men were at nearby tables, but society isn’t quite free enough that they feel like they can show their faces on a stranger’s camera. It’s probably their own parents who are policing their behavior because society norms change slowly even if the new legal freedoms have more ambition. But little interactions like this remind me why I travel. As the girls got ready to leave the cafe, they came over again and gave me a bouquet of balloons and said they were happy to meet me. Maybe me, with my different attitude, did a little to broaden their thoughts of who they can be.

Rambling Thoughts on Religion in Saudi Arabia

Ok, now I’m going to try to reflect on religion in Saudi Arabia. I apologize if I totally mess this up. Understanding culture and figuring out the place religion plays in society is so hard, but at this point I’ve been to many places of religious significance in the world and Saudi left me scratching my head.

Prior to going, what I feel like I’ve been told is that Saudi IS the center of Sunni Islam. Muslims from all over the world are supposed to make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their life, which means they all come to Saudi. I also have heard so much about Wahhabism, the conservative interpretation of Islam, emanating from Saudi and being pushed around the world.

I must also add that non-Muslims are not allowed to travel to Mecca, so my reflections are from my experiences around the rest of the country and in Medina, the second holiest city where many of the Pilgrims also stop.

So, what I felt/saw… Obviously religion is deeply set there. There are mosques everywhere… but unlike many places I’ve been I did not feel spiritual energy. Maybe this feels more like the US where Christianity clearly is deep within our society in ways we never even think about.

When I go to Turkey I find myself completely moved by call to prayer, wherever I am, as it echoes through the streets. In Saudi, I heard the call sometimes, but definitely not all the time like Turkey. In Turkey, I purposely go to mosques to sit in the courtyards and listen to prayer. They also have volunteers in mosques to welcome visitors and answer questions about Islam. My experience in Saudi was that Islam is everywhere, but I wasn’t able to get close to it. I could walk on the outside of mosques , but didn’t go into them. Possibly that was just me, but other Muslim countries invite non-Muslims in. Mosques were like community centers offering a cool place for a nap or a toilet along with a place to pray. What I thought about was how on a larger level religion is used to control people. So Islam as a force of power vs a spiritual one. I don’t have more words than that, but I’m still mulling it all over and still feeling disappointed by the lack of spiritual energy. I’m telling you, a few minutes in Jerusalem and one instantly knows why all the religions fight and die for control of that land. Or my trip to the Golden Temple, the Sikh holy place in India, left me so blown away that I spent a whole extra day there sitting in silence soaking it in with awe.

Some of this might be that Saudi is just opening to non-Muslims and maybe my tour focused me in other directions and away from Islam purposely. I mean, can one really say they have seen Saudi if they haven’t seen Mecca? And we were rushed by the main mosques in Medina vs being given time to soak in the larger meaning of the scene.

With that caveat, this set of photos will show you some of what I saw. The aspect I loved the most were the pilgrims from all over the world. Saudi may have been closed to outsiders for tourism, but it has always been a crossroads for Muslim pilgrims and Medina and Jeddah are filled with excited people on the most important religious journey of their lives. Jeddah feels much more open to the outside world because of it. I personally love traveling in Muslim countries and have wonderful memories that were sparked when I saw groups from Uzbekistan, Indonesia, and Southern India wandering around Saudi.

In the end, I’m not sure what I saw in basic Saudi society. Conservative dress on women continues after the religious police have been removed from most public life, probably because it’s about culture and tradition more than religion. As I continue to mull it over, I know from history how wrapped up power and privilege is with religion, so maybe that really is what I saw there. And heck, maybe that is totally normal, but somehow with a my preconceptions of Islam in Saudi, I expected more.

AlUla Old City

Continuously inhabited from the 12th Century to the 1980s, when the Saudi government moved people out to new upgraded housing, recently the Old Town of AlUla has been renovated and turned into more of a tourist center for the new tourism boom happening. As in so many things in Saudi Arabia, it felt hip, new and fun with scenic old bones.

One night our group did an incense tour which dressed us up to act out the experiences of traders who for thousands of years carried frankincense, spices and gold across the Arabian Peninsula. (Think about those three kings who visited Jesus. Like I keep saying traveling in Saudi awakened many old stories that float around in my head.) We walked through the dark narrow passageways hearing stories and learning about the importance of incense and fragrances.

Next Stop: AlUla, a 7,000-year-old historic oasis renowned as the kingdom’s first UNESCO World Heritage site

“Set in the AlUla Valley amid the soaring sandstone and granite mountains of north-western Saudi Arabia's Hijaz region, this ancient desert oasis has supported human life for the past 200,000 years. The area's fertile soil and access to water amid the arid, mountainous desert helped multiple civilisations blossom. The Dadan and Lihyan kingdoms that flourished here between 800 and 100 BCE were followed by Hegra, an important city in the Nabataean civilisation whose capital, Petra, was located farther north, in modern-day Jordan.

Yet, it wasn't until 2019 when Saudi Arabia began issuing tourist visas for non-religious travel that foreign visitors were able to witness this long closed-off and unexplored valley. Today, echoes of AlUla's long and mysterious past are everywhere, and as archaeologists slowly begin to uncover the many burial mounds, tombs and rock inscriptions scattered throughout AlUla's numerous sites, this ancient oasis is finally starting to reveal its secrets.” (BBC)

Making a friend on the train

              

This adorable 14 year old Indonesian girl, I’m sitting next to on the train, just told me I looked so young. She said I looked about 20/21. Ahh thank you! I’ve always loved Indonesians since visiting there. Check out that sweet open smile!

King Fahd Fountain - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Since 1985, the King Fahd Fountain has shot water 260 meters (853 ft) in to the air at 6pm every day, earning it the Guinness World Record for being the world’s highest water fountain. People gather for picnics and await the occasion. I was invited to have Saudi coffee, dates and cookies with one nice family and able to watch many others enjoy it. Jeddah is the entry point for people coming on religious pilgrimage to Mecca, so there are lots of people from all over the world there.

Exploring Jeddah

Jeddah lies on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia, and is the country's second-largest city. There is a lot of aspirational building and pedestrian public space along 30 km of the coast that includes parks, beaches, bike lanes and walking paths. There also is a beautiful old part of the city called Al Balad that is being beautifully restored. (Until recently it seems like Saudi Arabia was only looking forward and building new things vs maintaining history. Thanks to tourism where people want to see historical things, restoration is in progress.)

Like so much of the country, development is spread out and built along a 50 mile stretch of coast line. To see the sites it meant long drives to everything. To state the obvious, gas has always been cheap in Saudi, so people are car dependent and then things are built far apart. Luckily Ubers are super cheap, so once I found my bearings, I figured out what to see where to not be stuck in a car all the time.

What made it feel very different was that it is travel hub serving Muslim travelers going to the holy city of Mecca for Islamic pilgrimage. Millions of pilgrims from all over the world arrive here first. Most of those pictures are posted elsewhere in my Saudi album, but Jeddah’s description would not be complete without the reminder of that. Having been open to the outside has meant Jeddah has always been considered more open in general. Plus add coastal vibes, that always seem to open up a place.

I find the best places to chat up women in the Islamic world is the ladies room. So today in Medina, I started speaking to a Bangladeshi, who lives in London, here in Saudi on pilgrimage, and I say “I live in a Bangladeshi neighborhood in New York and she immediately says “Jackson Heights?” Yup! I live in a neighborhood that is known and home to people from all over the world!

Seeing rock art in Jubbah

 

Change of pace… it’s time to share another aspect of my trip… history. We visited Saudi historical rock art in Hail Province, which has been a global historical site since the nineteenth century. Arab ancestors left traces of their human experiences through drawings representing human and animal figures. It was registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2015. Jubbah is one of the most famous rock art sites in the Saudi Arabia. It is an oasis with remnants of an ancient lake that was once rich in vegetation, wildlife, and human habitation. Now, it is surrounded by a sea of shifting sands in al-Nefud Desert. Unlike paintings and engravings from the New Stone Age found in other parts of the world, the rock art in Jubbah is characterized by deep carvings. These display very prominent images that still retain their original features significantly. The engravings depict images of men and women, providing insight into the clothing people wore in the past and how they styled their hair. These artistic relics also display animals, hunting scenes, and weapons such as bows, arrows, sticks, and spears.

Jubbah is distinguished by passing through three different eras: the modern era, the Thamudic era, and the late prehistoric period. Thus, its rock art does not belong to one era or one civilization. (Saudipedia) It dates back to up to 10,000 years old.

New Year's Eve in Saudi

 

New Year, New Adventure. Starting off 2026 in Saudi Arabia has been amazing so far. Interestingly the Saudi’s recognize a different calendar, so there were no special activities or traditions on NYE. Instead, after a fancy dinner at a mountain top restaurant, we prepared for visiting Medina and shopped for our abayas (traditional female robes) at a busy local market. Towards midnight my group clicked glasses of non alcoholic beers and mocktails at the hotel cafe and made our own fun. One fun new thing was we read horoscopes and Chinese New Year zodiac predictions, which I think might have to be added to my annual NYE traditions.

Picnicking in Ha'il, Saudi Arabia

 

In Saudi, the long tradition of nomadic Bedouin culture still can be seen. One charming thing is that people love to picnic. They put out blankets and pitch tents right along the sides of the road and head out to camp in the desert. To get a feel for it, my group opted to spend an evening picnicking in a national park outside Ha’il. This is no stop-at-a-grocery-store-and-grab-a-loaf-of-bread-and-some-cheese kind of picnic. No, this is a full on multi plate dinner made on open fires, while we sat around an open fire in a huge tent lined with beautiful carpets and comfy pillows.

While the food was being prepped 2 of us opted to go walk around and check out the park and whole picnic scene. Right by us was another tent and when I looked over it was filled with a big group of Saudi youngish men.

Sidebar: throughout the whole trip, men in their throbes and keffiyeh (headscarves) continued to make me stop and take note. It’s all so beautiful and traditional and it really made my heart skip a beat over and over again. Keep in mind almost ALL the men were dressed this way. So imagine glancing over and seeing a group of men in a classic tent with Arabian carpets and think how my brain felt. Opportunity!!! Well, of course I immediately took out my phone and motioned asking if I could take a picture. The response was big waves and inviting us over to the tent. We were invited to join them for Saudi coffee and sweets and sat down to talk with them.

Caveat: all I ever want to do is speak to locals when I travel. In Saudi, the sexes are still pretty careful around each other, even if the laws have opened up to allowed more interaction with strangers. This meant I had hardly been able to talk to men on my women’s focused trip up to this point and with so many changes happening in society I was eager to hear people’s thoughts. This was my chance! I dove in! I used my brazen friendly open American way to ask tons of questions. I learned they were all cousins and they meet every couple of months to camp together and come from their homes in Qatar and around Saudi Arabia. At least 5 of them had gone to college in the US and had interesting thoughts of memories. They were excited about Vision 2030 and the aspiring goals for Saudi. By the time my guide wandered over and found us sitting there, the look on her face showed me that I wasn’t having a common occurrence. She left us to keep talking and after a bit we politely said our goodbyes. Sweetly one of them stopped by our tent later and offered us a dessert to try, hopefully giving a sign that they enjoyed the chance to speak to us as much as we did.

#ThisIsWhyITravel