August 28, 2002
Party down Saudi style

From today's Chron:


MARBELLA, Spain -- It's the hottest hour of the day at the Puente Romano beach club when a girl of 13 dashes out of the hotel gardens, throwing a black cloak over her flowing hair, T-shirt and jeans and leaving the topless sunbathers behind.

Sarah al-Kabbani, child of Saudi royalty, is obeying the muezzin's call to prayer, and she's running late.

King Fahd, leader of one of the world's strictest Muslim nations, has come to his vacation residence in Marbella, the Mediterranean capital of sun and sin, bringing along thousands of members of the House of Saud.

As usual, Saudi princes and princesses are expected to snap up Hermes scarves and Rolex watches by the display case, slap down millions on roulette tables and boogie into the night with the bejeweled blondes at the Olivia Valere discotheque.

It's a lifestyle strictly prohibited in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, where boys and girls are forbidden to hold hands in public and the constitution is based on Islam's holy book, the Quran.


Read the story, then take a look at this picture. Makes you proud to be an American, doesn't it?

Posted by Charles Kuffner on August 28, 2002 to Around the world
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