Yanbu, Rubbish and Traffic Hell

Well, I would start this blog with a statement: Yanbu is a rubbish dump, a garbage heap, and that's putting it mildly. I managed to do one trip of 10 weeks and gave up half way through my next trip. The place just got to me. But what did? Garbage and traffic. Now I did not live in the Royal Commission or a gated community but instead my company housed me (and my colleagues) in an apartment block about two miles south of the city centre. Of course I had to commute the 12 or so miles to the workplace (oil refinery) and face the daily (and utterly dangerous) trip. I had worked in Saudi twice before (back in the 80s) and it was pretty dire back then but on arriving in the country in February I thought things might have changed. Unfortunately they hadn't.

Our company provided transport and I shared the trip with two other expats. Daily, we just could not believe our eyes, the sight of Arab nutters weaving and swaying in and out of traffic, flying through red lights, a total disregard for other drivers on the road. In fact we saw the aftermath of four crashes in the first week! I cannot stress this enough for anyone thinking about working in Yanbu, you really are taking your life in your hands on those roads. Apart from the nutters, you have to negotiate buses and lorries, the majority of which would never pass a British MOT test, and then there is the daily carbon monoxide exhaust pollution. Clearly, the Saudis don't give a damn, and they certainly don't care much about the infrastructure either.

The problem with the rubbish is that it attracts flies and God knows what other germ-carrying insects. There are stray cats and dogs everywhere and a sickly, greasy smell permeates the atmosphere. I also lost count the number of times I saw Saudis just throw stuff out of their car windows, again disregarding motorway drivers safety - disrespect for other drivers was just shocking to witness. 

The day before I left this sad country, guess what? Yes, another crash on the main road leading to Yanbu city centre. This was a four car pile-up. How many crashes did I personally see during my brief work period in the country? Well, I lost count after 12, so it was working out on average one per week.

Anything positive to report? Well, er . . . no! In fact my advice would be if you are offered a job in Yanbu area, think twice, or do what a lot of my ex-colleagues were doing, using the job as a stop-gap to something better elsewhere.