Instants of Insanity

Hmm, wonder how would this taste… Never tasted Camel-Milk before but I have been told it has a ‘unique’ taste that might not be pleasant to everyone.

I have yet to find a place selling the product. This could either mean that the product hasn’t been received well or it is being sold as a premium brand in specialized shops (or maybe I haven’t looked hard enough). I will have to check when I go to Dubai next February.

Dubai firm’s world first with camel-milk chocolate

By Andy Sambidge, 23 October 2008

A Dubai-based company has become the first in the world to produce camel milk chocolate for the mass market.

Al Nassma Chocolate has been working for the last two years with a team of international experts to bring the uniquely Arabian product to fruition.

Following sampling during the recent Eid celebrations, the product has now gone on sale to the general public.

The name of the chocolate - Al nassma - has its roots in the Arabic language and depicts a seasonal breeze which brings respite to the people of the desert.

Dr Ali Ridha, chairman of Al Nassma Chocolate, said: “This is a historic moment, we at Al Nassma are very proud to present the world’s first camel milk chocolate.”

Martin van Almsick, a chocolate aficionado and former manager of the famous Cologne chocolate museum, worked together with experts from Austria and Germany to create the camel-milk chocolate.

The general manager of Al Nassma added: “Our product development for this exclusive chocolate has been meticulous and we have chosen only the finest ingredients to make sure we develop a premium product.”

A recent study revealed that the chocolate market in the UAE is robust with 98 percent of respondents claiming to consume chocolate at least once a week.

Globally the chocolate industry is valued at more than $41.6 billion.

Al Nassma’s product line consists of five different flavoured 70 gramme bars.

On the back of the launch, the company plans to open a farm shop in Umm Nahad near the Camelicious camel farm from where the milk is supplied.

By Damien McElroy in Riyadh

Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 21/01/2008

Saudi Arabia is to lift its ban on women drivers in an attempt to stem a rising suffragette-style movement in the deeply conservative state.

Government officials have confirmed the landmark decision and plan to issue a decree by the end of the year.

The move is designed to forestall campaigns for greater freedom by women, which have recently included protesters driving cars through the Islamic state in defiance of a threat of detention and loss of livelihoods.

The royal family has previously balked at granting women driving permits, claiming the step did not have full public support. The driving ban dates back to the establishment of the state in 1932, although recently the government line has weakened.

“There has been a decision to move on this by the Royal Court because it is recognised that if girls have been in schools since the 1960s, they have a capability to function behind the wheel when they grow up,” a government official told The Daily Telegraph. “We will make an announcement soon.”

Abdulaziz bin Salamah, the deputy information minister, said the official reform programme had been dogged by debate over the issue.

“In terms of women driving, we don’t have it now because of the reticence of some segments of society,” he said. “For example, my mother wouldn’t want my sister to drive.

“It’s something she cannot grapple with. But there is change on the way. I think the fair view is that one can be against it but one does not have the right to prevent it.”

If the ban on women driving is lifted, it could be years before the full impact is seen. Practical hurdles stopping women obtaining licences and insurance must be overcome.

Mohammad al-Zulfa, a reformist member of the Saudi consultative Shura Council, which scrutinises official policies in the oil-rich state, said reversing the ban was part of King Abdullah’s “clever” strategy of incremental reform.

“When it was first raised, the extremists were really mad,” he said. “Now they just complain. It is diminishing into a form of consent.”

Saudi Arabia maintains a strict segregation of the sexes outside the family home.

An unaccompanied woman must shop behind curtains and cannot hail a taxi.

Critics believe allowing women to drive would be the first step towards a gradual erosion of the kingdom’s modesty laws. A woman would have to remove the traditional abaya robe to get a clear view behind the wheel.

“Allowing women to drive will only bring sin,” a letter to Al-Watan newspaper declared last year. “The evils it would bring - mixing between the genders, temptations, and tarnishing the reputation of devout Muslim women - outweigh the benefits.”

Saudi women have mounted growing protests. Fouzia al-Ayouni, the country’s most prominent women’s rights campaigner, has risked arrest by leading convoys of women drivers. “We have broken the barrier of fear,” she said. “We want the authorities to know that we’re here, that we want to drive, and that many people feel the way we do.”

Source: Telegraph

Image: Autoblog

I have finished reading Al-Aakharoon (The Others) by Saba Al-Herz (a pseudonym) a while ago. As the title does suggest, this is a book written in Arabic. It has been a long, long while since I have read a book written in Arabic. This is mainly because: 1) there isn’t anything worth reading 2) even if there is something worthwhile, the print quality is really, really bad. In any case, at first I made the mistake of ordering the book online but of course it didn’t arrive (we’ll get to that later). My friend, who recommended it to me has apparently forgotten to warn me about that. Oh well, $14 went to the waste. Nevertheless, a while ago I managed to buy it from Bookplus in Bahrain.

So why did it not pass the customs? Easy, the main character engages in some homosexual relationships and she recounts her experiences in 1st person POV throughout the book. Now, this is quite interesting but so taboo and supposedly out of place here. It even took me a while to grasp that fact. I totally didn’t see it coming; not in a million years. The book, however, feels more autobiographical than fictional. Of course, there is no way I can know which is true and which is fiction but it seems to me that lots of the contents is real. Well, it does not matter much.

And she speaks about facts, lots of these things happen here. It is not that many young people here are gays and lesbians by choice. They are mostly just like that until they get married since doing *it* before marriage is a big no-no. For guys, marriages are often costly. As a friend puts it “you buy a wife here”. For girls, they mostly have to wait for their knight-in-shining-armor (not always a knight, though, just anyone) to come and marry them. But since marriages are costly for the guys, not many marry until later in their youths. Hence, the number of girls who are considered spinsters (above 30) is nearly 2 million; nearly 1/3 of all the woman in Saudi Arabia. This number is set to skyrocket to 4 million within the next 5 years or so if the situation remained unchanged. In any case, that is a really complicated topic that touches upon many other fields like unemployment, ‘marriage equivalence’ and the whole man-woman relationship here. This is beyond the scope of this simple impression.

Anyhow, I kind of liked the book at the beginning, not only because of its bold choice of topic but because I can identify with lots of the things mentioned in it. One prime example is the American-sponsored Channel 3, which came way before the age of Satellite TV. It enabled me to watch the NBA, NASCAR, American Football and many other TV shows in my early adolescence. And then there were the talks on the Gulf Wars, the year 1400 AH (1980 AD), the Internet revolution and the whole ubiquitous Sunna versus Shia thing (and all the stupid action stirred by it). Additionally, the writer is from Qatif (in the eastern part of the country) where I live.

However, towards the end, the writer seemed to have lost her focus, which made the novel suffer a bit and she kept dragging on aimlessly for a while before coming to an abrupt end.

In all, this is a pretty decent novel. I guess it is part of the new “scandalous” novels written by female writers; a genre (if we can call it that) popularized by Riyadh Girls, which sucked (now available in English). It is recommended if you can read Arabic, are not wholly sensitive when it comes to issues about sexuality (although there isn’t anything I would call graphic here) and want to discover some of the secrets of the woman world here. There are many allusions, though, which may puzzle people outside the region.

Hmm, what are you spposed to write in your first blog entry? Dunno, ‘Hello World’ would suffice I guess

In any case, I started this blog on a whim. I don’t know if I will have any quality material to put on it. That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try, heh. I am a 28-year old oddball based in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. I frequent Bahrain, regularly, too. I enjoy life the best I can. I am interested in the Japanese language (despite my utter weakness in it) and culture. Nothing much to report however.

I will try to think of other interesting stuff to add later on.

For now, welcome aboard (anyone?)