My First Time In Saudi Arabia (Part 3)

We arrived at the King Khaled International Airport with a slight delay. It was a short flight from Bahrain, I was excited and nervous what’s there in the Kingdom.

By the time we reached the immigration counter, the queue has already built up. Mostly are Asians, Pakistanis, Indians, and Bangladeshis. I was at the middle of the queue, but 20 minutes had passed and the line did not move an inch.

Another flight must have arrived as another batch of Asians just joined the queue. Roughly about 400 – 500 is now lining-up to the immigration counter.

An immigration officer and his colleagues made some rounds on each line. They are singling out any Caucasians in the queue and ushered them to a separate counter where they were attendedm they cleared they swiftly through the immigration counter. This was my first observation, that the Saudis had high regard to Caucasians, they give them preferential treatments, but not to Asians.

Obviously, I have seen such treatment to Caucasian, even in my own country, and I don’t know why. Is it because of their white skin...Duh…But I have not seen this kind of treatment in Singapore. They don’t care if you’re black, white, brown, yellow or red skin; you stay in line and wait for your turn.

With that huge number of people queuing up, it started to get noisy. The officer again made their rounds and started shouting at these laborers. If they are not happy with the person in front of the line they just simply ask him to move at the back of the line.

I saw one laborer shout at by the immigration officer while checking his documents. Their hands were slapped when not properly placed on the scanning machine, made fun at them when taking the laborer’s photo. These officers don’t care if there are hundreds of people waiting in line. They just take their own sweet time, talking on the phone, chatting with their fellow officers, and smoking (ironically, there is a big No Smoking sign in front of the immigration counter). Haven’t they thought that they are on the front line of their country’s image, that they are the first and last person a non-Saudi will ever have impression at when visiting and leaving the Kingdom?

In front of me were Pakistanis. Each and every one of them was shouted at. I am getting a little bit nervous, I might shout back when shouted at. I just can’t imagine what would happen next.

But thanks God, it seems that when you can speak English properly, these officers does not show any sign of bullying. I was cleared in less than 5 minutes compared to the Pakistanis that took 15 – 20 to be cleared simply because of nonsense bullying.

My colleague was in the other counter. He was assisted earlier than me but he seems to be having some trouble with the immigration officer. When he saw me, he called me by gesture.

I went to him. He asked me to explain to the officer that we are here just for 5 days for a seminar. And so I did. My colleague told me that the officer is gesturing him to be locked-up. When I told the officer that he is my colleague and we are just here for a seminar. The officer is trying to say that I will be locked-up also.

I asked,”Why?” Then the officer asked for my passport. Then he checks again in their system, and then returns back my passport.

But my colleague was taken away. I asked him if I should wait for him, my colleague said, “No, if they take me to prison just tell to our management what happened. You just go ahead”.

When I gotten out the airport, our driver was already waiting outside. I called our Administration Manager back in Doha and told him what happened to my colleague. He gave me some numbers to call, it is the Personnel Administrator in our Head Office. Unfortunately, the only thing he asked me to do is to wait for my colleague to come out. But in my mind, he will not come out. I waited for 2 hours anway hoping that I was wrong, but it turn out I was right.... he never came out.

As I was waiting, a fellow Pinoy who was behind my colleague at the immigration counter confides that he was very nervous when the officer was confronting my colleague. He said, the officer was gesturing to my colleague, “You like this” (gesturing his hands together as if in handcuffs.)

The Pinoy also told me that the officer telling my colleague if he wants sex, which my colleague said that he doesn’t want, besides he is old already. The officer is just laughing.

When I just cleared the immigration counter, I saw also the same officer took my colleague’s back-pack. I thought he will check it, but he just simply raised it above his head and dropped it on the floor.

After 2 hours of waiting, I thought I was right afterall,  my colleague will no longer come out, he must likely been taken to prison.

I left the airport worried for my colleague. After I checked-in in the hotel, I was still worried for my colleague, I may not have slept even just a wink worrying for my colleague, what have had happened to him already.

The following morning, the first thing I did was to inform my colleague’s son, who is also working in our head office.

With my experience at the airport, my first impression on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is that Saudis are rude people. I was beginning to be convinced what I’ve been hearing about Saudi Arabia are all true. With 5 days to stay in the Kingdom, I was hoping that I could stay away from trouble and have some pleasant experiences to remember.

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