it smells different 

Saturday, November 13, 2004

Saudi Arabia - Wandering around campus..

Greetings,

I've spent a fair bit of time bumming around the KFUPM (King Fahads University of Petroleum and Minerals) campus. The university is pretty big.. and is considered one of the best in Saudi Arabia.. It's basically a huge hunk of concrete dumped on a big rock.. its really quite nice..

The compound that I grew up in (and that i'm in now) is for all the employees of the university. My dad will be retiring soon, so I figured I should take some pics before he leaves..


I'm too lazy to resize this picture.. my apologies.. Do you see the evenly odd cube-shaped thing?


If this picture looks funny it's because I combined 3 pictures in one! You can see how the university was built into the rock. It's the highest point in the area.. in some parts they have these endless staircases going up up and up. I think when they built this campus they were worried that students might go bananas and storm the Deans office.. (The same reason why Needles Hall in UW has a demented staircase)




Here's a picture of the campus that has been taken a million times.. it's still pretty cool though. There's a water fountain at the end.. I was too lazy to adjust the brightness.. sorry..



I used to enjoy sitting down and starring in this direction.. The buildings in clear view are the students residences.



This is a pretty bad picture of the water tower.. It's a lot bigger when u walk up to it in person. One can usually spot the water tower miles away.. its a good landmark if u're lost and in need of some education.



Do you know what these big square things are ?? I dont..



This chair kept starring at me..







I'm really curious about this emergency landing device.. (P4.. for here or to go.. hehe)



I just took this pic so u could get a closer look at how they chopped this school into the rock.



Isn't this tragic? Such a lovely craft... I really wanted to give this plane a good wash.



Here's another one.. this one is in a bit better shape..





here are some of those endless stairs.. Is it just me or does looking at this lawn make you hungry?? Hadi, wouldnt u love to mow it?!! :)



This is a poor picture of the campus stadium.. In grade school we were bused over here for sports day. I remember getting spanked by some parent.. I think I knocked some kid (his son i'm guessing) off a rope or something (by accident, of course) ... I was shocked... the man didnt know how to spank..



Ahhh my favourite hobby :) There are wild cats all over the campus.. the other night I was followed home by three of them.. they could sniff the shawarmas in my bag!!



bah.. here's another one of those pictures.. doesnt it look like there are eyes at the top?


This is the main campus mosque.. (Bobo, I saw some fish wandering the water.. I think they need you as you need them)


i dont know why i inserted this picture..



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