travel

almost a disaster. I got to the train station to go the one place that the train runs here in KSA(Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) and after presenting my ticket and heading towards the metal detector I was asked for my passport. I dont have my passport, it is with the Saudi Government. I have a xerox copy of the picture page and the visa page as well as a letter from my employer that explains that I am in process. All of these papers are stamped and signed by the company I work for. I showed these pages to the police officer and he explained that the papers were no good as they had not been stamped by the police. So I was detained for about 5 minutes while the two officers discussed what to do with me, it is apparently not ok for me to be walking around without a passport (or at least I guessed that is what the repeated mentions of ,"you must have passport" meant.) after 5 minutes of this finally they (the police) decided that I wasnt worth the trouble and let me go. they didnt send me back out to the street they let me go to the train, just strange. The coast was dirty and had few people. I am glad I went now I know a bit more about the gulf and what happens in KSA. I dont think i will be going back to that side again, too much else out there to spend any more time in a place that wasnt striking.