20 – A model and the beach

(Sorry, not the Christie Brinkley kind of model.)

First let’s identify the model.  It’s a model of King Abdullah Economic City in 15 years, after it has been built to the first planning level.  It’s in a gorgeous Sales Center, constructed with appropriate Arabian architecture and fabulous materials.  Will KAEC grow to the expected 2 million residents?  I think it will, especially after ships start calling regularly at the seaport.

The model is 15 feet from to end, a little larger than Ms. Brinkley.

My apartment is center right; between the beach and the "park".  Haven't seen any boats yet.

KAEC is an ambitious project, with high rise residential center left, and REALLY tall towers in the financial district, dead center on the bay.  The seaport is at the left margin.  By the way, all of these bodies of water will be man-made. 

Why do I think it will grow quickly?  Saudis have money, and they want to buy stuff.  KAEC has a seaport to import lots of stuff, an Industrial Valley with several operating factories that are making stuff, and the promise of slightly relaxed Muslim life.  Burkas are not required.  Women can drive.  Children are a big focus with education and family life strongly emphasized.  (The national alcohol ban is expected to be enforced here, however.)

So, Saudis will buy stuff made in or imported through KAEC, boosting local businesses and enticing their employees to live close to work.  Other Saudis -- and Muslims from elsewhere -- will be tempted to buy second homes here or vacation at KAEC, with its golf courses, marinas, beaches, and restaurants.  And some may be willing to live here, enjoy the eased Muslim rules, and make the hour-long commute to Jeddah.

Here’s our seaport.

It doesn't look like this today!

In real life, the place is being transformed with lush green Bermuda grass, palm trees, flowering shrubbery, and plenty of walking areas.

Transformation is happening

Transformation has already happened here.

With this beautiful concept in mind, I went walking along the beach.

 


Gorgeous beach in front of the sales center.

Gorgeous beach in front of the apartments at night.  Sand as fine as baby powder.

   


The densely packed sand can form overhangs at the seashore. 

I really want to swim in the Red Sea, but signs like this have made me slip into ‘mischievous scofflaw stealth mode’.

 

Yes?  No?  Can I swim here?

You know what I mean, and don’t kid yourself.  Rule #1 in life is, “Taylor does not go to jail.”  Some of you will laugh about how I disappeared when the policemen came to investigate fireworks at Moore Junior High, but they never identified the culprit, did they?  Rule #1 continues to work well for me.

While this sign doesn’t actually say  No Swimming,  it kind of implies that this area is a no-swim site.  Also interesting is the implication that the Saudi Border Guard enforces 'no swim' sites.  

The Border Guard?  Sounds like the counterpart to Homeland Security or INS, and reminds me of US Coast Guard sailors on foot along Miami beaches looking for Cubans on rafts during the 1980s.

So, I continued walking around, soaking in the lovely KAEC surroundings, while looking for a good place to achieve the goal of swimming in the Red Sea that still complies with Rule #1.

The beach is littered with all manner of stuff.  Fishing line.  Plastic bottles.  Paper.  Seaweed.  Sections of fiberglass as big as serving trays.  (From a shipwrecked sailing yacht, perhaps?)  A big rope, known to mariners as a hawser.  Somewhere, a poor deck hand got lashed for allowing the ship’s mooring line to slide over the side. 

Big as my shoe

I round a corner, and hundreds of little shadowy things dart just outside the edge of my vision.  A huge colony of crabs!

As they build their holes, they pile the excavated sand into adjacent pyramids.  These pyramids are quite large, 6 to 8 inches tall, and the crabs are the size of my iPhone.  What if the wind topples one of those cones of sand directly into their hole?  They'll be tunneling like the guys in The Great Escape.  Or The Great Excape.  Whatever.

  

One day, KAEC will have as many human residents as crabs.  (Border Guard!  Come quickly!  I've spotted a swimmer!  A swimmer!  Get him!)

Mr. Paranoid half in/half out waiting to see what I'm going to do. He flips out
whenever I feint.  We had fun (OK, maybe just me) for a few minutes.

These crabs are devilishly difficult to photograph, because of their camouflage and their paranoia – they move so quickly and at the slightest provocation.  I did not attempt to dig one out of its home, having done that many times in life already; once to the great enjoyment of my boys.

It’s getting dark, and the pool is calling my name.

Just off the seaport’s revetment; that’s the place to conduct my mischievous scofflaw stealth swimming operation.  Keeping things on the down-low in the Kingdom; that’s how one stays out of jail.

[Editor's note:  I simply cannot get the *&$%!(^*  caption fonts to obey my commands.  Verrrrrrry frustrating that I can't get things uniform and tidy.]