Top 5 Suggestions for the Janadriyah Festival (aka Janadriyah 2014)

It's the Janadriyah season once again! I have written that sentence five times now (or more if you count my announcements in Facebook). Can you believe it? I've been attending the Janadriyah festival for YEARS now and don't I get tired?! Haha! I won't beat around the bush to tell you how AWESOME it is. Actually compared to other festivals, especially the fiestas in the Philippines, the Janadriyah is pretty boring. However, since it's the only major festival in the Riyadh province, it's already a feat on its own. There are a lot of reasons why you should go especially if it's your first time. Yes to new experiences please! I won't tell you why you should go in this entry because we've pretty much spoilt that for you in this, this, this, and this entries. 

And here we go again! :)

What I'm going to tell you though are the suggestions that might make Janadriyah more interesting. I know the organizers won't probably read this and will probably laugh at my recommendations since what do I know about organising?! Except for my slight OCD when it comes to travel itineraries, I'm not much of an organised person myself so with?! And in the hierarchy of things in the Kingdom, I am nowhere near the... hierarchy itself. Haha! But I'm just airing my POVs out there. Universe, you are listening right? 

1. An English version of the Janadriyah website with a clear program and schedule please. I am one of those people who went to the official website and was a bit frustrated. Can someone lead me to the English version please? The website can be translated by your browsers sure but isn't it easier if there's a link somewhere that says "English"? A click will lead us to a website that has all the details we should know like schedules and programs. You know how many times I've been asked what time does it start and end? Countless! And I love you, dear Pink Tarha readers, but it gets tiring answering the same question over and over. Hehe. 

Also a schedule of the program would be nice. Like when you go to Disneyland, they publish in their maps the time a performance would start so you can go to the venue ahead of time. I'm not saying Janadriyah is Disneyland (*cough*) but if I want to watch the ardha (sword dance), I want to see it from start to finish and not just chance upon it in one of the pavilions. Also, I want to catch the parade and not just hear it from the other side of the street. Chances are, when you go Janadriyah once, you will not visit again on the following days (because it's faaaar from the city centre) so cramming all the interesting sights and sites in one visit is a must. 

The sights and sites of Janadriyah... sigh... :)

2. More activities in the pavilions. I've been to the Janadriyah five times so I'm pretty much a veteran already. (Or maybe not much considering that this year is the 29th edition.) As much as I love discovering the activities and items on exhibit in each pavilion, they were pretty much the same ever since. Maybe stirring up things a little bit would be nice. Like for the Taif area, maybe free bouquets of roses? Haha! I know there might be rules and regulations and all those things that hinder growth and development but I'm sure every one would appreciate fresh ideas and more fun activities every now and then. It's like going all out since it's the only huuuge festival in Riyadh (and Saudi Arabia). 

But here are the activities you shouldn't miss: 

a. Shoot me baby one more time! Or more like 'just for one time!' LOL. You can fire an air gun at the Ministry of Interior's pavilion but only once. Or more if it's not yet the prayer time and there's no long line behind you. 

Someone enjoyed her time in the shooting range! Haha!

b. Befriend dinosaurs and kick soccer balls to smash the television screen at the King Abdulaziz City of Science and Technology. 

We found new friends! Haha!

c. Get a rose from the Riyadh pavilion (when you're expecting the rose from the Taif area) and be surprised that the Riyadh Municipality has a small pavilion considering it's the capital. 

Woot, finally had a rose! And it's pink!

d. Take dramatic photos of the festival from the bridge of the Ports Authority pavilion (one of the most unique pavilions in Janadriyah) and of course, ask yourself why you're standing in a bridge in the Janadriyah festival! 

Love this view!

e. Discover street food, Saudi Arabia style at the Makkah pavilion. The smoke coming from this pavilion enticed us to enter and we didn't regret it one bit because we found a delicious spicy meat snack that looks fried but tastes grilled (awesome yeah?), doughy balls that need to be dipped in a sweet sauce, and Vimto in large vats! 

Freshly-cooked food!

3. More organised entrances, parking, and signages. In the Janadriyah, it's like we're all given a huge piece of empty lot and you can park anywhere and taxi can wait any time. There are little signs at the entrance and parking area that our driver who just dropped us off a few minutes ago got lost on his way back to us (my friend left her phone on his car so he needed to go back). He needed to thread his way in and out cars and people until he just gave up, parked somewhere, and found us on foot. Haha! I suggest you get a map at the information booths first so you know where the restrooms, first aid area, food court, etc. are. This will also prevent you from wandering around aimlessly. Wait, I guess you have to find an information booth first! Haha! 

Here's a map: 

Map of the Janadriyah Village

Please disregard the fact that they spelled a lot of words incorrectly. Ironically, they spelt "Education" with a word that doesn't even exist. 

4. More food choices please. I don't think I have to explain this further. Haha! 

The Janadriyah 2014

5. The Philippines as the guest country. I don't know what their criteria is in choosing the guest country but I think it's about time they consider the Philippines. Am I right or am I right?! Haha! No seriously, it's a great way for the Saudis to get to know our culture and it's a great way for Filipinos to be at the heart of Saudi's culture too. Also, our cultural presentations are great. You should see tinikling and pandanggo sa ilaw. And since women will probably be not allowed to perform on stage, it would be entertaining to see guys dance these cultural dances. Haha! Like Saudi Arabia, the Philippines gives value to folklore and crafts. The Philippines is a third world country, yes, but our traditions, culture, nature, and people are first rate! ;) 

Who ever gets tired of camels?!

All in all, I've seen the development and improvements in the Janadriyah this year. And they're all for the better! Yey! For one, it is tidier! There are trash bins 10 steps away from each other. And if you can't see a yellow garbage can, then there's a cleaner holding a broom and rolling another trash bin. There are more religious police but not the shouting, "I will embarrass you for the sake of embarrassing you" kind. They man the gates so please, just don't be pasaway. When they say it's for ladies and families only, follow it. The food area is more organised and they have sponsors giving out free stuff (hello Maggi, Puck, and Lipton!). The pavilions of the ministries are getting better and better. The people are friendly and welcoming. So...

I looove the crowd because it's so different from anywhere else in the world!

Visit the Janadriyah festival!!! It's open for families and ladies until February 28 from 4:00pm to midnight. Map to the Jandriyah here. It's opposite Selwa compound, just before the King Abdulla Farms. ~ Sundrenched

The Janadriyah Festival 2013

It's already a ritual for The Pink Tarha ladies to visit the Janadriyah Festival every year since we started the blog. This year, it's our fourth time... and it's probably one of the most memorable because 1. it's the shortest time we've ever been in, 2. it's Shoegarfreeruby's first time to see the festival, and 3. an earthquake, a sandstorm, and a downpour didn't prevent us from going.

The afternoon of our visit to Janadriyah, a killer earthquake hit the border of Iran and Pakistan and tremors were felt in the Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia. News reports said that almost 40 people died in the province of Balochistan. This is the first earthquake I felt in Riyadh and it would have been a reason to cancel our trip to Janadriyah because tremors would likely be felt again in the coming hours. But no, we couldn't cancel our trip because Tuesday is the only day that we're available and the festival will close on Saturday so we rode the bus in our workplace and went on our way around 5:30 in the afternoon. We were joined by other employees in the workplace.

It was drizzling when we arrived but it immediately came to a stop when we alighted from the bus (thank you, heavens!). Because we only have 3 hours to go around the area (actually, just 2 hours because of the 2 prayer times), we immediately searched for the... restroom. Lol. Just so we can go around without having to look for one again. 

Eyecandy got her henna tattoo while waiting. The price of getting a henna doubled this year! SR30!

E having her left arm henna tattooed.

Anyway, the restroom we went to was near the pavilion of the United Arab Emirates, which we haven't seen on the past few years. This pavilion is also in the middle of controversies in the past few days because of 1. a female singer who was not on the line-up to perform, 2. a religious police being taken out of the area by the National Guard, and 3. three Emirati men who were deported because they were too handsome and the religious police felt that the women visiting the festival would fall for them. SERIOUSLY. This story is so annoyingly funny that even TIME picked it up and a lot of friends in the Philippines were making fun of it in their Facebook and Twitter statuses. Oh well...

The Emiratis

We saw a group of singers performing during the time of our visit. This is the only pavilion we've seen so far that segregates the men from the women. We couldn't get past half of the pav because it was for men only. (It was pure coincidence that we were looking for too handsome men to fall in love with. LOL. Just kidding!)

Performance from the UAE crowd

After visiting the UAE pavilion, we went inside the Eastern region's pavilion. We've seen this on our first Janadriyah in 2010 and nothing much has changed.

A man playing a wood and string instrument

Old and new.

The bridal scene

This might look familiar.

The barn of yesteryears.

From a distance, we saw the stage where the guest country, China, was performing their famed dragon dance. After that, several martial artists performed with their swords.

The Chinese stage is the most popular!

We went inside the China pavilion too. 

The very red China pavilion

"Jackie Chan" welcomed us.

Cool screen!

It was much simpler compared to the pavilions of Japan and Korea. They only showcased their crafts and highlights of their culture. Very interesting crafts though.

Ms. China should wear this in the Ms. Universe pageant.

Love the floral designs in Chinese fabrics!

More red carpet worthy gowns

Painted ceramics

Close up on the blue/black design of a plate

This is paper art. Brilliant!

Calligraphy! (I want to learn this!)

We had our name written in Chinese and had commemorative pins as souvenirs.

Our souvenir.

It was another salah when we went out of the Chinese pavilion so we walked around and found ourselves in the Gulf countries' pavilion where men were praying together and the religious police were milling around with policemen in tow. The presence of the muttawas kind of dampen the festive atmosphere of the place. They were far too many! They were even hounding men to pray and shouting at them. There's nothing wrong with praying, of course, but they don't have to shout and embarrass these people.

Men praying.

After the prayer finished at around 8:15, we went to buy our food for dinner. R and I went for McDonald's, Eyecandy went for Shawarmer, and a friend went for felafel. We decided to go outside the gate already to wait for our bus. Call time was at 9pm and we wouldn't want to have a repeat of that time when the bus left us! LOL. 

We were halfway through our dinner when the bus sidled along the road and parked near our benches. We went inside the bus to wait. Lo and behold, a sandstorm suddenly came and covered every thing around us with brownish orange sand! We made it in the bus in the nick of time!

Sandstorm brewing.

RAIN!!!

The wind was howling and the bus was rocking. It toppled some flags and monobloc chairs in the distance. And then the rain came. It washed away the sand in the atmosphere but it brought in mud. It was one of the scariest moments I've experienced in the desert.

Some of our bus mates were lost in their way back to the gate and some were not allowed to go out in the weather so we had to wait for them for another hour. They finally arrived quarter to 10 and we were on our way back to the workplace. We arrived an hour later. Thank you, Lord, for keeping us safe.

Outskirt of Riyadh; not a version of the Kingdom Tower. :P

The Janadriyah Festival will continue to be a good showcase of the best of Saudi Arabia's culture and tradition. Even if there are a few issues that pop up each year (ie. sandstorm) or just repeats (ermn, muttawa encounters), that's not enough to keep you from going. We're looking forward to Janadriyah 2014 already... we hope the Philippines gets to be the guest country! ;) ~ Sundrenched

Janadriyah 2010
Janadriyah 2011
Janadriyah 2012
Janadriyah 2013

The Janadriyah Festival 2012

It took us three years to finish seeing the whole of the Janadriyah Festival showcase. Or maybe three years worth of visiting. We started in 2010 where we saw the various pavilions of the Ministries. And then in 2011, we saw the pavilions of Jizan and Hail. This 2012, we saw the other province pavilions and a few more areas we haven't visited before. We now come full circle.

We went to the 27th Janadriyah Festival on its last week, three days before it closes. It was already a bit late compared to the usual schedule we followed for the past years. It started rather early (April last year) but it drew a bigger crowd of more than five million. Wooow! At first, we were already a bit weary because we know we'll be seeing the usual stuff. Our boss even asked us, "Aren't you bored yet?" Haha.

How do we answer that question? Uhm, yes and no. Yes because we know we'll be seeing a lot of familiar things and no because we haven't seen everything. Therefore, we can choose the areas which are new to us. Their guest country for 2012 is South Korea. (France in 2010, Japan in 2011). It has always been a must for us to see the festival because it's refreshing to see the Saudis mingle and celebrate. It's not all the time we see them in this setting. We like knowing more of their culture and tradition, their handicrafts and various provincial products. Also, it's not usual to whip out our cameras and shoot like crazy without being reprimanded for it. What did we say about opportunities? Grab it!

So we left the workplace around 4 in the afternoon. Again, the ride was ho-hum. I was sleepy the entire bus ride so I cannot, for the life of me, remember any landmark to point you in which direction you'll take to go to Janadriyah. All I know is you'll have to take one of the exits before you reach the airport. We arrived around 5 o'clock and thank goodness, the place wasn't packed yet. Ergo, no traffic in entering the site. We weren't stuck in the road waiting for a parking slot for minutes, yey!

This time, we entered through the North Gate. The same one we used in 2010. Last year, it was the West Gate. There were reports that they beefed up the number of muttawas in the place. Well, that didn't bother us. I mean, why should it? We were bothered with reports that some youth cause a raucous on the first few days of the Janadriyah festival but obviously, that wasn't enough to keep us away. So... our first stop is of course, the camel.

Hello, nice to see you again!

Why is it that every time I tell family and friends in the Philippines that I'm based in Saudi Arabia, they always primarily ask about camels? Have you seen a camel? Have you ridden a camel? Do you own a camel by now? Hello?! The only camel I own is a kikay camel! Haha. So for my friends who haven't seen a camel in Saudi Arabia, here is one. And he's famous because he's always been in the Janadriyah Festival. Say hi!!! :)

After saying hello to our friend animal, we saw this huge crowd... What's up? Eyecandy and I inserted ourselves into the crowd (more like forced and elbowed our way into the crowd, hehe) and we were treated to a musical performance by the police band. Niiiiice!

 

Our tour guide was talking about the provincial pavilions and he was suggesting we go find the ladies' pav and the Eastern province pav where there were flowers (yey, roses!!!) so we set out looking for them. I was telling Eyecandy we should visit the Madinah and Makkah pavilions too... if we can't go to the real places (because we are of different religion), maybe we can enter a portion of them right?! We noticed one pav packed with people so we decided to go there first.

Enter the Al Madinah Al-Monawarah Pavilion...

So glad we found the Madinah pavilion first. It was a wonderful pav, which proved to be one of the most popular areas of the festival this year. I was surprised we haven't seen this before. The design of the place was truly like a market or town from long ago, where merchants sell their wares on the side and people mill on the center of the paved roads. We stopped for a while and inhaled the souq atmosphere.

The souq of Arabian nights vision

Love, love the experience. This is what I was looking for in an old Arabian town. Something charming, quaint, traditional... like this! I imagined I was in old Arabia (or in Morocco, haha). The supplies in the stalls are said to be flown in everyday from farms in Madinah. We tried the fresh honey which sells for SR200 a bottle. Wow, that expensive huh! We also tried a grape drink in a stall that has huge containers filled with juices of various colors. There were freshly-baked breads too and of course, dates. What's a Janadriyah without the dates? Oh so much to see and buy!

 

I'm not a honey lover but this one offered by the friendly vendor is really good! It's delicate and smooth. The roses are for tea. It enhances the aroma and flavor of the drink. What's an Arabic market without the mahmoul (date pastry)?

After that, we proceeded in looking for the Abha pavilion (because we thought we heard our tour guide suggest it). We were looking at this map in the middle of the road. Bummer, everything was in Arabic! Haha! We decided to enter this pavilion with a fortress... 

Sights and sounds of this year's Janadriyah

This is the Baha Pavilion, the best pavilion last year. There was a performance going on and the visitors seemed to be having so much fun swaying to the rhythm. This is where the folk art performances were held. During the past Janadriyah, we stayed to watch sword dances, known as the "ardah," but this time, having seen it before, we just roamed around the area and found this huge portrait of King Abdullah. From afar, it looked like a painting but it's actually made of buttons! Amazing, yes? We also saw the entrance to the Qassim province but having seen it last year, we just took our photos, haha.

I realized I was carrying a pink bag and E wearing a pink scarf. Pink tarhas talaga?! 

We came to an information booth a few meters away and the security or police or guide got frustrated when we kept on insisting that he point us towards the Abha pavilion. He finally, fortunately, handed us a map. After all these years, this is the first time we got ourselves a map of the festival. And we found out there was really no Abha pavilion. Haha.

The nearest stop where we were was the Ladies Pavilion. Camera and photography were not allowed so I'll just have to story tell what's inside. There were booths and stalls manned by women, of course, that sold traditional Arab dresses (not the abaya), trinkets, veils, etc. All women stuff. Outside, there is a courtyard that sold food. The popular one was the Arabic bread, khubz. We spent a few minutes watching an old lady traditionally bake the bread in a tannuur (tandoor), get a warm one, slather on a generous helping of butter and za'atar, fold it, and hand it over to the kids waiting eagerly. There were a few dishes made of sticky rice, vegetables, and chicken all mixed in. Like an Arabian version of paella. When we went out the door of the pavilion, we saw a lot of men standing there waiting for their wives. Some were getting impatient. Lol. The ladies pavilion was interesting and we're glad we visited it this year.

We went inside the South Korea Pavilion next. There was a stage outside for music performances but we didn't catch any of their shows. The line was unusually long inside the pav. Turned out there was a movie theater inside showing... we didn't know. Haha. We did not want to wait that long so we immediately went to another area where huge earthen jars were displayed.

The jars were amazing. The opening had a television with "water" on it. You have to wave your hand over the "water" for the short presentation to start. E and I were wondering how they did it; even imagining how they actually managed to fit a television inside this round jar. And a round television at that?! How amazing is that? Hahaha. What's your guess? Click here to see the jar in 'action'. I hope the cinemagram I made is working in your browsers.

We finally asked one of the Koreans around and he told us that it's just a projector from above.  That got us! Around this time, a group of ladies asked Eyecandy if she was Korean. Well, with her chinky eyes, sige na nga. Papasa na! :))) Sana sinama namin si Sampaguita Pride! Hahaha. E wanted to have a picture taken with the Korean guy near the exit but the women and children were all over him. I mean, they were taking his photo the entire time. We didn't get our chance!

After that, we went to the Asir Pavilion (Abha, btw, is the capital of the Asir region). In the last two years that we went to the Janadriyah, we always bypassed this pavilion because there were too many people inside. It had a stage where musicians perform and a lot of monoblock chairs. The tower became a playground for kids so it really drew the crowds in. This time, we braved the crowd and entered. 

The pavilion was a little bit small compared to the Madinah pavilion, but it still featured the best of the Asir region. I saw this miniature Arabian tent and it was creative! The paintings and photographs exhibited in one booth were phenomenal!

 

Outside the Abha gate, we came upon this group of bedu ladies having fun with the stuff they were selling. One of them wore this huge ribbon headband and we asked her for a photo. She was so shy she took this huge chopping block to cover her face and just show the lit-up headband! Haha.

There's a woman behind this, swear! :P

We were deciding what to do next when the last salah for the evening came. We bought our shawarma and fries before settling into this bench in the middle of the food area. I also bought some red velvet cupcakes and cookies from the Munch Bakery stall. While E was waiting for me, a Yemeni woman came up to her and asked her if she wants a henna tattoo done in her hand for SR10. Perfect timing! We want!!!

 

The girl drew flowers and hearts in our hands. We waited 15 minutes for the henna to dry. Yes, we had trouble eating properly having to mind the tattoo but we still ate! We removed the flakes after and the tattoo looked real in our hands (as opposed to temporary, that is). Until now, while I'm writing this entry, I can still see the faint trace of the design in my right hand. (I swear I wash my hands many times a day! Haha!) It was just hard to remove and I'm not really in a hurry to remove it. It looked really pretty. Astig pretty.

While eating our quick dinner, several kids came up to our bench askinng what our nationality is. They asked E if she was Korean and E played along saying "Anyong haseyo" a couple of times. Haha. The kids were impressed and asked us a lot of things... in Arabic. E is the Arabic-speaking one so she was answering for both of us. They went as far as asking us if we were Christians. Yes, our dears, we are. We bid the cute little girls goodbye when the salah was finished and the exhibits resumed.

We went to the Public Market in front of the Bayt al-Madinah and saw booths of handicrafts complete with demos on how to do them. There was one man weaving hats and baskets, another molding pots. There was one making swords. There was a lot of things going on! We watched a game being played in one of the pens. It was like a combination of our luksong baka and dodge ball. The boys looked like they were having tons of fun. We were so engrossed we didn't take a photo!

I was looking for something to munch on again when I saw Poto King (watta name!). Are you familiar with this long, huge potato stretched to twirl in a stick? Well, I like those and good thing, there were a lot of Poto King stalls in the festival. On the first stall we went to, there were a lot of people. I was craning my neck to see how the potatoes attain their twisted state when E was approached by two Saudi women who wanted to take a picture with her. Haha. Her Korean streak was really popular! After her encounter with the sweet ladies, I told E that we should just open up a stall there and charge SR10 for a photo with her. :P

The men of Janadriyah

We didn't get to visit the Makkah Pavilion where the rose carpet was. It was made of 6,000 roses!!! It was the display of the Bait al Taif. Sigh. We didn't have enough time to see it.

Remember our somewhat disastrous exit at the Janadriyah last year when our bus left without us and we were so lost on what to do next because 1. we were faraway from the city center and 2. we couldn't take a public taxi? (FTR, our bus came back for us much to our embarrassment and gratitude for good Faris!). Well, we couldn't have a repeat performance of that so we were 30 minutes early in the pick up point. Early birds na kasi ayaw nang mapahiya. Hehe. We sat on one of the benches outside the North Gate and marveled at the irony of the country. Wow, deep.

Our bus finally came and we saw our busmates carrying wares and handicrafts they bought from the markets. Others were wearing garlands on their head and some, like us, were sporting brand new tattoos. E had a headband with commemorative pins on it. The kids were extra hyper after their Janadriyah adventure while their mothers looked extra tired. We couldn't blame them. As for E and I, we enjoyed the festival again. We were rather calm this year; not running from one pav to the other hoping to visit every thing in one go.

We missed this year's camel race. Again. So next year, you can bet we'll be there to watch that spectacle! We'll move mountains and deserts to see a camel race! Promise!

So folks, until the next Janadriyah! We hope to see you there. :)

§undrenched
(Wow, I'm quite talkative in this entry! Hehe!)