Ras Tanura!

About an hour’s bus ride (free!) from where I live is another compound called Ras Tanura.  It happens to be right on the water.  So they have a beach and a lovely facility.  I don’t know about you, but I would have never predicted that parts of Arabia look like what I imagine the Caribbean to be:

Yes, these waters are what you westerners would refer to as the Persian Gulf.  But in these parts, at least, it’s known as the Arabian Gulf.  (Persia - Iraq - is across the water.)

One of the guys I work with has personally witnessed corporate dumping of waste materials into the gulf.  He says he knows people who have gone swimming in the water who developed unexplainable rashes immediately after.  He has very strong feelings about NOT going into that water.  I only found that out the day after this picture was taken:

But people still swim in it…  (I’m told the local women will go swimming - still clad in their abayas.)    The water certainly looks clean enough here.  But it’s true - there is an oil refinery just down the beach a ways.    (Don’t worry, I didn’t develop any weird rashes…)

It's now the end of February and still a bit cool for the locals. (They’re still wearing jackets and sweaters.  I, on the other hand, have been wearing sort sleeved shirts all winter!)  It’s just starting to turn warm.  I only have a few weeks left till the unbearable heat arrives.  I’m thinking I’ll have a regular appointment on Saturday morning for the next few weeks.