Yanbu Flower Festival 2018

The 12th annual Yanbu Flowers and Gardens Festival is a spectacular event going on now through March 25th.  It is open daily from 4-11pm.  It's also open in the mornings to just walk around the gardens and pools, but the vendors are not there during the day.  Over the past three consecutive years that I have gone, it has just gotten bigger and better with each year.  The event is extremely well organized, managed and run, so I take my hat off to the Royal Commission for Yanbu for a job well done. 

This post has more photos than I usually post, but I had a hard time deciding between more than 1200 photos I took during our visit to Yanbu the weekend the festival opened.

There are two main entrances (like in the above photo) which are easy to spot.  Just follow the crowds!  I love the geometric grass designs in the abundant paved areas - and I love the lights at the top of the many palm trees all over the festival.

The mix of colors and variety of plantings, the hills and mounds of thousands of colorful flowers - it is all so visually stunning that it's clear to see all the time, effort, and expense put into this event.

The addition of water features the past couple of years has made a huge visual impact.  There are beautiful large pools of water, fountains, and streams over a large portion of the festival.

Children's activities and enjoyment hasn't been forgotten either.  A huge entertainment area is a welcome addition for lots of family fun.

There is also a lovely Garden Center where a large variety of flowering desert plants and shrubs can be purchased and learned about. 

This year the Recycling Exhibit featured huge fish made of plastic bottles, which were really cute and designed nicely.

All over the Flower Festival are various structures covered in flowers, like archways, buildings, columns, gazebos, and many other shapes.  There are walking paths everywhere, as well as beautiful water features like fountains, pools, and streams throughout the huge festival area.

A new added twist was the section where more than two dozen artists painted lovely colorful works of art, live in front of admiring festival goers.  The artists' paintings will be entered in a competition related to the participation of the Saudi team in the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. I hope this art competition will continue in years to come, as they were quite talented and their works were spectacular.

Even though the weekends at the event are quite crowded, the venue is very spacious and doesn't feel overcrowded.  There is also plenty of free parking for attendees.  Oh - and did I mention that the event itself extends free admission to all as well? Yup, it's free!

I love the palm trees everywhere as the backdrop for the colorful mounds of flowers.

This is one of the main entrances illuminated after dark - such a grand entrance.

There were many more vendors this year with many different items for sales - ranging from fresh flowers and stuffed animals to rose water and key chains.  There was even a lawn furniture area and gardening designs.

Plenty of spaces to sit and relax are available where one can enjoy the beautiful surroundings or people watching, plus a large area with picnic tables and an on sight mosque.  There are also plenty of nice new restrooms conveniently located throughout the festival as well.

The Food Court area is near the east entrance and pool area.  Walking on the bridges over the pools is a very popular choice for families to do together.

If you live in Saudi Arabia and have not yet attended the Yanbu Flowers and Gardens Festival, I highly recommend it.  It's one of the best festivals in the country.

"Hello!" from me, Susie of Arabia, at the Yanbu Flower Festival. Don't miss it!  Running now through March 25th.

A Peek Inside a Saudi Wedding

In December I attended a family wedding at the brand new Hotel Galleria by Elaf in Jeddah.  The lobby is quite elegant and it's several stories tall. It has a grand European ambience.  The exterior of the hotel is spectacular. We arrived after dark though, so I don't have any exterior shots, but you can see some HERE. 

Traditionally, Saudi weddings are notorious for starting very late in the evening and lasting until the wee hours in the morning.  I believe this is due to several reasons.  First of all, people don't really start getting ready for the wedding until after the isha prayer, the last prayer of the evening.  Also, the bridal party usually arrives early to take professional photos with the family before the guests arrive. Since many Saudi weddings are still segregated affairs, this allows for time for the male family members to be in the photos, even though they are not part of the actual wedding.  This wedding was for women only. The men's affair was held the evening before at a completely different venue. 

The wedding venue was so elegant and spectacular.  Every detail had been well thought out. At one end of the hall was a raised stage with a gorgeous golden couch for the bridal party (the bride, her mom, and her sisters) to receive well wishers. 

The table centerpieces varied from table to table, with some having candelabras and others with large floral centerpieces.  Delicious dates were available on each table.

Once the female guests begin to arrive, photography is forbidden, so unfortunately I don't have any photos of the amazing evening gowns that were worn that night.  But I can tell you that the gowns could have been worn at the Academy Awards. Some of the younger women wore short trendy party dresses. Many guests had their hair and makeup professionally done for the occasion. 

The gorgeous seating area on the stage for the bride was surrounded by beautiful purple and white floral arrangements.  It was picture perfect.

My husband and I took advantage of the free time we had before the other guests arrived to take photos. We don't get dressed up fancy very often.  I think he looks so handsome in his traditional wear, don't you?  He had to leave before the female guests began arriving.

At the other end of hall was an amazing space great for photos, decorated with flower streams hanging down over flowing white drapes.  It was truly spectacular. 

The female-only servers were all dressed formally in black and white.  They were very attentive and brought us drinks of water and juices as soon as we sat down.  They also served us a variety of finger foods that were delicious.  The crystal chandeliers in the ballroom were exquisite. 

Guests began arriving after 10 pm.  It was fun seeing the variety of gorgeous dresses the ladies wore.  The ladies danced up and down the center aisle you see above. The music was a live female percussion band that had a singer with a beautiful voice who sang in Arabic.  The bride made her grand entrance at about 1 am, slowly making her way down the staircase and then gliding down the center aisle toward the golden couch at the other end.  It was the family's choice that the groom did not make an appearance at the wedding before the women. 

Above is just one of the platters of tasty delights that was served to us.  These were all sweet and other platters of finger foods were savory.  I would have liked to have tasted them all!  Dinner was served at about 2 am in the adjoining banquet room.  It consisted of table after table of scrumptious salads, breads, dips, vegetables, meats, and desserts.  The variety was overwhelming.  It was all delicious!  Sorry I couldn't get photos of the amazing buffet spread, but the female guests were all around, so I couldn't. 

My friend Vicki and I had an fabulous time that evening.  It was Vicki's first Saudi wedding ever and I think she had a very memorable time.  We sat with a table full of charming Saudi women who were old friends of my sister-in-law, the mother of the bride. 

Below is the candelabra centerpiece which adorned some of the tables.  Both types of centerpieces were placed on top of a large glass Lazy Susan, which made reaching things on it much easier. 

One final shot of me and my Saudi Prince - we were actually celebrating a milestone ourselves the very next day - 40 years together!  Gee, it seems like it was only yesterday ...

2017 Yanbu Flower Festival Coming Soon

Last year I attended the annual Yanbu Flowers and Gardens Festival, which is a spectacular display of colorful flowers and plants in the city of Yanbu.

This year's festival will be held March 14th through April 7th, 2017.  There is no charge for admission.

Here in Saudi Arabia, one of my pet peeves is that it is difficult to find out about events before they happen. I believe the reason for this lack of proper advertising for events ahead of time was because of the culture's strict gender segregation policies which discourages mixed events.  In the past if the religious police got wind of a questionable mixed gender event going on, oftentimes it would be raided and disbanded. Many social events were kept on the down low, and event venues were often not disclosed until the day of the event by text message.  It can be very difficult to make plans to attend events like this.  While gender mixing is still greatly frowned upon in this culture, things seem to be slowly changing, and there is even a Ministry of Entertainment now in the Kingdom.

You can see more photos of the amazing floral displays on my post from last year by clicking HERE.

The Entertainer

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Saudi Arabia: Janadriyah Cultural Festival 2013

Janadriyah is the name of the yearly festival held in Saudi Arabia's capital city of Riyadh celebrating Saudi Arabia's heritage and culture.  This year the festival attracted a record high six million visitors during the month of April - and I was one of them!  Originally starting out as a camel race many years ago, the festival has grown in its 26th year to include a variety of attractions that focus on entertainment, education, history, and culture.  Many of Saudi's provinces and ministries of the kingdom are represented in the two week long celebration, as well as some other Middle Eastern countries, plus an invited guest country.  Artisans give demonstrations of their traditional crafts, like basket weaving and woodworking, and festival attendees can enjoy traditional dancing and singing too.

What I enjoyed most about Janadriyah was seeing so many thousands of Saudi families relaxed and having a good time.  The women were especially in a joyous mood and many of them wore floral headbands or festive gold coin face veils.  One women even wore a bright multi-colored mohawk wig that she made. 

I'd like to extend my special thanks to Laylah, my fellow blogger and friend, and her husband ,who took me along with them to Janadriyah this year.  Laylah writes an amazing blog called Blue Abaya and I hope you'll check it out. 

I hope you enjoy this slideshow of photos from JANADRIYAH 2013 ...

Janadriyah 2013 from Susie Khalil

Janadriyah 2013 from Susie Khalil

Here are some other articles and photos about the Janadriyah Festival:

Blue Abaya: Expats Guide to Janadriyah

Blue Abaya: Why I love Janadriyah

Blue Abaya: Top Ten Things to do at Janadriyah 

Arab News: A Record 6 Million Visit Janadriyah Festival

Splendid Arabia: Janadriyah and the Festival of Heritage

Arab News:  Traditional handmade headbands set trend at Janadriyah Festival

Fakieh Aquarium

Fakieh Aquarium - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from Susie Khalil

Fakieh Aquarium - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from Susie Khalil

Fakieh Aquarium is Jeddah's latest family entertainment facility and the first of its kind within the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  It is absolutely beautiful, kept immaculately clean, and promises to be an outing for the family that is educational as well as fun.  

The aquarium opened in January to overwhelming crowds.  Located near Sari Street on Jeddah's Corniche, which runs north and south along the Red Sea coastline, the aquarium will eventually be home to more than 7000 different types of marine life, from sharks to dolphins to seals and  jellyfish.   The first thing one sees when approaching the facility from the north is the gorgeous colorful tile mosaic depicting underwater sea life on the side of the building.   

The viewing tanks are large and spectacular, furnished with mangroves and coral reefs native to the area.  The walk through tunnel tank is particularly outstanding.  It reminded me very much of the many times I have been snorkeling in the Red Sea.  I even saw some species that I’ve never seen while snorkeling.  Sadly many Saudis, in particular females, are never taught how to swim so they have never been able to snorkel and experience the wondrous beauty of the Red Sea.  Fakieh Aquarium gives them the opportunity to see the amazing sea life firsthand that had previously been outside their realm of possibilities.

We also took in the Dolphin Show while we were there.  It is performed four times daily.   For a school day, there was a fairly good crowd at the 1pm showing.   A restaurant on site is still under construction and will hopefully open in the near future.  

Admission tickets cost 50 riyals per person, and the Dolphin Show is another 50 riyals.  Children under 2 are admitted for free.  For one person, the price isn’t bad, but for large families, a trip to the aquarium can seem rather costly.  Occasionally a discounted rate of 30 riyals is offered on Fridays through Fakieh Aquarium's Facebook page.  Hours of operation are from 11am to 11pm Saturday through Thursday.  Friday hours are 1:30pm to 11pm.

I was a little miffed at the products for sale in the aquarium’s gift shop.  Most of them were just toys that can be bought anywhere else and didn’t really pertain at all to sea life.  I was particularly surprised to see the pillows bearing the image of a scantily clad Betty Boop on sale in the aquarium gift shop.  Seriously?  

Overall Fakieh Aquarium is impressive and I must commend them for a job well done.  The sea creatures appear well cared for, the staff is knowledgeable and friendly, and the facility itself is gorgeous. 

I hope you enjoy the above slideshow of my visit.  To see more photos taken by other visitors to the aquarium, please CLICK HERE.  

Enjoy this Saudi Gazette article:  Explore the wonders of the sea world at Fakieh Aquarium

Watery Wednesday