"The Pork Smugglers of Old Al Khobar Town"

Let me first explain that there is no old part of Al Khobar, or of Dammam for that matter. They were both founded in the early part of the twentieth century by some pearl fishermen who had fled from Bahrain. They apparently had some dispute with the British authorities who administered Bahrain at that time but I have no idea what was the nature of this dispute.

If you wish to see a traditional arabian old town and souk (market) then you have to go to Hofuf which is a two hour drive to the south-west from Khobar. A popular outing for ex-pats is to visit the Friday morning camel market at Hofuf. Since it starts at about 6 a.m. and only lasts an hour or two you have to get up very early to see it. As I am not a morning person , I've never been.

While many people are aware of the ban on alcohol in Saudi Arabia, not so many realise that pork is also forbidden. Some of the batchelor compounds provide breakfast and an evening meal. New arrivals would turn up for breakfast and see "Full English Breakfast" on the menu. However, if they order it they are sadly disappointed: the bacon is beef bacon, and the sausage is also beef.

For Muslims, I understand that pork is worse than alcohol. Pigs (and dogs) are unclean animals, whereas alcohol is not unclean, only forbidden. I heard a story about an ex-pat family who were frying bacon in the Riyadh appartment where they lived. The neighbours smelled the frying bacon and called the police. Not only was the husband arrested by the police but the landlord threw the family and their possessions out of the flat. (The man's employer found alternative accommodation for the family but I don't know what happened to him.)

Pork products are available in Bahrain supermarkets; the pork department is usually separate and hidden from the main part of the store. Since Bahrain is so easily accessible by Al Khobar residents via the causeway, many ex-pats will travel there over the weekend so that they can get a real alcoholic drink. On their way home they often stop off at the supermarket and pick up some bacon or pork sausages to take back with them. This is so common that, on request, the butcher will wrap the meat "for Saudi".

The customs officers on the causeway are less concerned about pork than alcohol. If they see that you have been to the supermarket they may ask if you have any "meat" - meaning pork - but if they find any, the worst that happens is that they confiscate it. If they find alcohol, on the other hand, you will be arrested and probably deported!

Several years ago a young colleague of mine went over to Bahrain for the weekend and arranged, with his friends, to have a beach barbecue. As well as the food for the barbecue, he also took along some tins of beer bought from a Bahrain off-license, called a "bottle shop". (I've seen one of these bottle shops - I thought it looked like a bomb shelter: no windows, thick walls and metal bars on the doors.)

Anyway, back to the story: unfortunately my colleague inadvertently left a tin of beer in the door compartment of his car. When he returned to Saudi, this tin of been was found by one of the customs officers on the causeway. This caused my colleague a lot of trouble and he had to do some fast talking. He pointed out to the customs officers that if he was going to intentionally smuggle alcohol into Saudi Arabia, he would have a lot more than just a single tin of beer! Eventually they believed his story and released him.

If the customs officers find a suspicious looking package in your car and suspect that it's pork, they won't unwrap it themselves. If it is pork then they don't even want to touch it; instead they have some non-Muslim (probably Indian) assistants to open it for them. Now these are not "assistant customs officers"; they are unskilled workers who also sweep the floor and empty the bins. After they've unwrapped your bacon, I'm not sure you would still want to eat it.

Often, however, if the customs officers only find a small amount of pork and its clearly for personal use, they may well turn a blind eye and let you through with it. On the other hand, I've heard several ex-pats complaining that they had their ham or bacon confiscated on the causeway. I've also heard about a cafe on an ex-pat compound that had a consignment of ham and bacon, worth several thousand riyals, confiscated.

For my first few years here, I hardly noticed the lack of pork. Now however, I've become like all the other ex-pats whose primary requirement for a holiday destination is that you can have a beer to drink and a bacon buttie to eat!