Gulf Crisis, confidential （５）　

５) For Riyadh at last
　On November 3, the car from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs picked me up at The New Otani. I arrived at Narita Airport where Dr. A, my teammate surgeon from a university hospital in Tokyo joined me. Our carrier was Air India and left Narita at 12:20 pm. The plane was very old and shabby. The cover of the closet opened during the flight, and the cabin attendant kicked it shut. We changed planes to Saudi Air in Bangkok and arrived at Riyadh at 11:30 pm, local time.

　Dr. B, medical attache of the Japanese Embassy came to greet us at the airport. I corresponded with Dr. B from Osaka and received Riyadh information before arrival. November in Riyadh was unexpectedly cool and dry. The landscape from the airport to the hotel was also unexpected one. Although high-rise buildings were few, highways were more developed than in Tokyo or Osaka, equivalent to those in LA.

　The hotel we stayed at was the Al Kozama operated by Swiss hotel chain. It was clean and spacious and at a well attained international level. There was an outdoor pool with clean water. I used it several times during my stay. The only thing regrettable was there were no young girls in swim suits. We were in an Islamic country.

　The next day my buddy, Dr. A and I visited Japanese Embassy and met with Ambassador Onda. During our stay in Riyadh, we stayed most of our time in the conference room of the embassy. I’ll tell you more about episodes concerning the embassy at another occasion.

　We came back to the hotel in the afternoon. In the evening, our staff who had been in Riyadh since their visit as vanguards, opened the welcome party for the two of us at the hotel’s coffee shop. Since no alcohol beverages were permitted in Saudi Arabia, we had only non-alcoholic beverages. It was the most extraordinary experience since high school days, which felt very fresh, to tell the truth. However, this no-alcoholic culture gave me gradual negative effects. I’ll tell you about it later.

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