Saudi stop 3 - Dharan and home

The plane home. Last stop of the tour done and dusted. I'm looking forward to getting back and no mistake. Mostly this is a nice feeling. I have a trip to Dubai this month to look forward to, birthday celebrations on my return and a whole summer of what I hope will be a much more successful new chapter to tenting.

In addition to that though, there's something about the middle east that makes me miss normality a lot. I mean, I'm by no means the world's best-travelled person but even Brazil (which is the other least-European place I've visited) didn't have the same effect. I don't think that this was because I was out there travelling rather than working either, it's that the Arab nations have a certain inefficiency to them that makes even the most normal things seem impossible. Little things like a complete lack of adequate public transport meaning every journey involves a fight with a scammy cab driver or getting on a train involves moving seats because the person booking the seats didn't have the forsight to put all the females or families together like in a restaurant. In case you didn't know, this is one of the the Muslim rules that exist not only as a preference, but as the law of the land. It extends to dress and behaviour to the point that you can be arrested for the many ways of being un-islamic. Which is odd considering that, for example, when EVERY SHOP in a busy mall has to close 3 times a day for prayer time (which is of course normally between shows when hungry performers kinda want the food court to be open...) most of the locals are sat on benches playing with ipads just waiting for them to open again. You really do get the feeling that the vast majority of the population is crying out to be allowed to do something more fun than hang around in a plastic mall all day.

Anyway, mini-rant over...

The last stop was in a town called Dharan which we got to by train. That was a laugh actually, something a bit different from yet another flight. The place itself was pretty uninteresting really, as was Dammam, the nearest city. In Jeddah and, to a lesser extent, Riyadh, we managed to scratch around and find something to do in the time off, not so here. We did travel for an hour to a private artificial beach which was pretty but underwhelming. It was muddy in the water and we kept getting told off for being noisy when it was apparently fine for groups of Arab lads to make loads of noise. We did show willing and get a cab up to Dammam one day but we found that most of the stuff on the map that was interesting had been knocked down. Apparently this was the place where oil was first found in the 30s and it got very rich very quick. Of course, the oil trade has slowed a lot since then and the place is a bit of a ghost town. A bit like an apocolyptic Brighton. The standard mall is there but its older and smaller, obviously one of the first examples of the adoption of that as a lifestyle choice by the country.




The best thing by far that happened was my Birthday. I'd turned 30 on the Monday and, although I'd mentioned it to a few people over the past couple of weeks, I wasn't gonna make a big deal out of it. I knew that there were celebrations to look forward to when I got home and when you don't know a bunch of people that well, it's unfair really to expect them to make a big fuss out of something like that. I was genuinely surprised then when, thinking that I was being taken to do a meet and greet in the Mall, I got there to find the cast waiting in a restaurant. There had been a lot of clever mis-direction during the day and I was very touched by the effort. Awesome. Thanks again to anyone reading who was involved, you know who you are and what part you played.

The show itself went well again, it stayed in my memory and (apart from one monumentally stupid fuck up on the last day) I remembered everything and got it done. As I said before, it's been a real eye opener in terms of skillset so whether I end up doing more skins work remains to be seen but it's been an amazing experience and I still think it's healthy that I keep pushing myself and putting myself to the bottom of the pile sometimes with new things. The guys on this job are younger, better trained and more experienced than me and situations like this keep me humble and grounded. Plus I can learn from them and get a picture of different ways that the industry works in a broader sense. It's extremely varied when it comes down to it and the best way to stay in it and make a living for me is to have range in what I can do and understand. Contacts are, obviously, good too.

So yeah, that's about it. This week is catching up with phonecalls and other associated admin whilst preparing for Dubai in a couple of weeks. I went to a party in Cardiff that saw me stroll through the door at 2pm Sunday so the dry spell is well and truly broken. I'd like to say that I've taken a bit of time to chill out but the admin mountain is calling rather loudly. No change there then ;)

Here are the customary selection of pictures. As usual, head over to FB for the full album.

Ax

This was in the train station. Made me chuckle.

This actually WAS the train station. Eat your heart out, Southeastern.

My Birthday cake. This is the only picture I have from the meal. What a wanker.

The hotel was nice...

This was how I spent my day off

Saudi stop 2 - Riyadh

So, am sat backstage here in Riyadh where we are just about to do our last show on this stop. The previous one really was one of those remind-me-why-I-do-this shows. Throngs of grinning and waving children at the edge of the stage. There's a finale where we all come out and dance around and throw some giant balloons out into the crowd. It's amazing. The show has felt better here, it's more in my brainbox now and I *think* I've lifted my game and am putting more of the right kind of energy into it. I'm slowly realising that this is as much about efficiency of movement and making correct shapes at the right time rather than just hell-for-leather energy. It's almost as if people can train for years to learn this stuff...huh? ;) I'm certainly giving it my all and developing some stamina so now it's in my memory I can focus on making everything as big as possible.

The venue is different. Funnily enough we're at a racetrack miles outside the city. Followers of the blog from this time last year will know why, in fact, that is amusing. Still having a huge chuckle with the rest of the cast which, when you're doing 12 hour days, is essential. We are getting plenty of time off too, which is good. Recovery time is much needed and it has afforded us plenty of time to see the city. Here, that has meant looking at some cool buildings (immediately a winner in my book) plus a look at the national museum located here. The coolest building here is the Kingdom Tower complete with skybridge and there is also another one above a (shock) mall near the hotel.

The museum was very cool too, lots of stuff about the early Bedouin peoples in the region who were pretty bloody advanced  for the period. Especially in terms of literacy and associated things. Bit of a shame when it descends into a slightly less scientific approach to information. Basically when the religious side of things starts to come into play. Bit like Peru, really, people used to worship stars and weather but then decided to ditch that in favor of an idol and start kicking the shit out of each other. Bah. Even that in itself is a bit strange to see in institutions that in our part of the world we simply trust to give unbiased scientific information. Anyway.... The building itself is quite new and it's pretty comprehensive over the history of the nation. I love stuff like that. Looking at old stuff in glass cabinets is brilliant. We also went to see a place known locally as "chop chop square" - guess what happens there. Bit creepy, not gonna lie.

There was some really good shopping here too and myself and two of the other guys had a brilliant day wandering around looking at all of the various made-in-China-and-India souvenirs. Some of which are actually a little close-to-the-mark in terms of racial stereotyping I thought but they're hilarious none the same and the vendors seem to be getting away with it so more power to them. I bought some cuddling salt and pepper shakers in the shape of an Arabic man and woman. You'll have to come visit me in Cardiff to see them :p The hotel here has been pretty sweet, lots of wood panelling and a nice gym. We've kinda missed the local aspect we had in Jeddah but it's been great overall. Duran next, who knows what that will bring? Tomorrow, we travel across the country by train which I'm looking forward to. It's less hectic than the whole airport scenario and you get to see stuff out of the window.

Here be relevant images - see the facebook album for more:

Cool building Number 1

Soft furnishings on a generator. Brilliant.

View from the Skybridge. Straight down.

Bit wierd....no?

View from the Skybridge - down and out

The Kingdom Tower. I love a good building, me.

Good lads, all of 'em :)

Talented buggers, too....

Museum gardens

A REAL LIFE, ACTUAL METEORITE!!!!!

No shit, Sherlock..

Is it wrong that I wanted to find a ladder and turn this around 90 degrees? ;)

Saudi stop 1 - Jeddah

So, Jeddah is done and I'm now in Rhiyad. It's been an interesting week, to say the least. 

Boundaries have definitely been pushed in what I thought I could do and 

what I thought I was capable of and I've seen some cool things and

met somc great people.

The show itself is hard but rewarding. The costume is hot and the head is 

uncomfortable, bulky and weighs, well, about as much as a giant fibreglass 

cat head would weigh. Fortunately I'm getting further into each show before 

I start to feel sick from the physical exertion. There's no slowing, its 

all done to a backing track so you have to be on the little cross in time 

to get to the next one or else it looks wrong and based on the video I've taken 

for reference, "wrong" means "really shit". My memory has had a workout 

too, as I said in the last blog. I've basically got the steps in there now 

which is good so now it's time to focus on the director's request to really 

get the movements big and strong - everything in the costume looks smaller 

so steps have to be bigger and arms stretched. There's a real knack and 

skill to skins (see glossary) work and I'm only scratching the surface 

really. Some of the guys are awesome. In the way that you only understand 

how difficult something is when you try it.

Overall though, its incredibly enjoyable. Its a new experience and the 

people l'm here with are wall-to-wall brilliant. It's more than enough of a 

laugh when we're relaxing to make up for the tough days. The show seems to 

be going down really well, we're the stage show which is part of a larger event 

for kids with games, stalls, etc. Huge event and by all accounts a fairly 

rare thing and a big deal. I've had a blast just walking around and 

enjoying how grateful they are, even getting mobbed in the Smurf costume 

yesterday couldn't dampen it. Seriously, it was metal. Made doing 

walkabouts or photo shoots in the UK look like nothing. It's good though I 

suppose, one of the reasons I love this industry is being part of the thing 

that makes people happy and giving smiles that wide by just posing for a 

photo to me is a wonderful thing.

The last day in Jeddah saw us at a fancy private beach where I got to SCUBA for the 

first time since getting my certification in Turkey last spring. Red Sea. 

Tropical. Coral. Massive fish. Awesome. Jeddah itself is a pretty cool city. We 

managed to find some good local places to eat and have a shisha which is better

than the constant mall-based existence that this part of the world can bring.

So now, a bit more rest and then another crazy few days of shows here in Riyadh. 

I'll hopefully manage a post from each city. Anyway, some pics. See Facebook 

album here for more :-) 

Ax

One month today

...or thereabouts by the time I actually posted this...I'll be home.

Well, one month yesterday. I'm writing this for tomorrow. Now. Anyway...

I figured it'd been a while since the last post and so I'd better get on with one. Normally though, I can't force myself to write one. They just kinda happen and I break off whatever I was going to do in order to do so. Which, tonight, was watching S4 of Breaking Bad and Braveheart (That film is 13 years old you know! What the fuck happened there?!) So nothing pressing. 

Mostly, it's going well. Shows are getting better all the time and I'm getting some much-needed stage time just doing the same thing over and over every day, so I don't forget everything by taking 2 week breaks to do other stuff. I'll be interested to see what happens when I try to do my Ferrari-refined (sounds much more impressive than it is) show elsewhere but that's to think about later. Elsewhere. I'm learning a lot about how to communicate with non English-speaking audiences too. Paid. In the warm. In case you'd missed that bit ;) Actually, the evenings are pretty chilly but nothing like the UK as far as I can tell from the amount of #snow #snow #snow posts all over the internet. Incidentally, on the above subject, please read this and follow them. They're hilarious.

I say 'mostly' it's been going well. And it has. But it's a mixed bag really. Ive realised tonight (and hence the blog post) that it's just the monotony that I don't like. I've never had a full-time job. In fact, I've spent my adult life up until this point studiously avoiding one and this bout of employment is easily my longest ever. I did music, I plumbed, I did streetshows, I even delivered pizzas and had fuck-knows-how-many crappy jobs as a teenager (even sorting potatoes at uni) but I never "got on that train" as a wise and fellow lifelong self-employed friend once put it.

Every day is the same. I value what it's given me and I'm far from against coming back at some point. I've given it my best, delivered a good product (I think) and helped them figure out a bit more about what they want in the future. And it's not bad here, but it's not hugely inspiring. Useful, but not enveloping. Motivating, but not intense. I like intense and I like change, it would seem. Life in the UK moves at a million miles an hour whilst changing all the time and although I value my time off hugely, it's new things that really make me tick, I think. I've missed them, lots. 

This week has been broken up by a visit to some friends of my Parents for dinner, aforementioned friends visiting the park today and tonight, wait for it....learning about the local buses and using them to go to the shop and back. Sounds simple, right? I feel amazing. And all I did was one little thing different. That little break from the daily routine will last me a week.

On my one day off a week I've been hanging out with the cast of the other show mostly. They're all lovely. Fortunately, also, there are some people out here that I know from elsewhere. Some absolutely lovely, generous, hospitable and fun (albeit until now fairly peripheral) London friends recently relocated to Dubai so I've been out with them a couple of times and another friend from the Edinburgh Fringe has been out here working so I went on a Desert Safari with him and went to see the theatre shows he was working on (also in Dubai) which was all awesome. Dubai is brilliant by the way. Crazy buildings, which I love, and a general Disneyland feel about the place. A lot more relaxed that Abu Dhabi overall too. 

Ethically, the whole thing is about a million miles off - they have loads of cheap imported labour, don't recycle and drive huge, unnecessary cars. As a sociological chinstroke the whole country could fill countless notebooks. It's a very 2-tiered society which, as a white male, makes it difficult at times to communicate. Once I got round it though, I found that there are now about 5 more countries in the world that I wouldn't even have thought to visit that I now MUST go to having met some of their people. So thats a bonus. 

Overall though, considering the times we live in as a planet, it kinda feels like they had the resource and opportunity to make a whole new and advanced country and just decided to make exactly the same mistakes as the rest of the world, preferring to make looking good a priority instead. Shame. Of course, I'm far from against record-breaking skyscrapers and fast rollercoasters - I would just like the investment to build to to be from a co-operative, the food there to be vaguely local, be supplied to me by a working national and the packaging to be recyclable. Not that we get that in the UK, but you get what I mean. I'm an idealist, what can I say?

My acommodation is pretty good really, looks like a portacabin from the outside but I got a large one to myself and it's the size of a studio flat I guess. The idea of this isolated, tucked-away compartmentalised and very regimented housing for all the workers is less paletable of course, but that's pretty standard. Again, its a constant eyebrow-raiser telling people that I'm living in the makeshift village that is almost completely populated by Bangladeshis, Poles, Egyptians, Fillipinos and Pakistanis who work in the nearby Aluminum Mine or at the various attractions on Yas Island (the bit where Ferrari World is and which, incidentally, is located half an hour or so away from Abu Dhabi itself.) 

There's a certain look that I'm getting used to which means something along the lines of; "But...you're white and you MUST be rich. Why on EARTH are you working here and living there?!" Goes to solidify my point about how two tiered the society is but, I guess, throws a third, tourist tier into the mix. You get the idea. I have the choice to be irritated/saddened by it and see it as a barrier, or work round it and use it as a learning experience. Mostly I'm managing the latter but I don't think I could do that for very long - stuff like that really gets to me. 

Anyhoo, nearly there. Then it's back to blighty for the crazy summer and whatever it may bring. Here are some photos of the things I have been doing: