A LIFE WELL-LIVED...

SAUDI ARABIA HERE I COME Dong Ah! - Barracks

Dong Ah (Far East) is a South Korean construction giant contracted by MOPTT to provide us accomodation, transportation and other related services while performing our contract for the development and maintenance of their computer systems and applications. The housing complex, dubbed barracks, was huge! We were divided into sectors. British, Koreans, Filipinos, Indians and a sprinkle of Singaporeans, Thais and Pakistanis. We were the most in number. Computer programmers and operators, engineers, technicians, HVAC and electricians. I was in "C" block! The room was big enough for a single bed, study table, a closet, toilet, (shower & laundry rooms were separate, but was just a few feet away), and of course, air-conditioned. Everyday we had a ration of fruits, typically apples, oranges and bottled water. Food! I can't complain. The chef was an Irish man, and so his cooking. Typical in the menu were: Chicken, corned beef, mashed potatoes, beef sausages, and some "firsts" for me like: camel steak and asparagus. And then there was a time when some Filipinos were tired of European cooking that they demanded a Filipino chef (a number of us from Luzon, noted for good cooking, volunteered)... It was granted! One afternoon, while we were having tennis matches, we noticed two Indian guys, the kitchen helpers, were bringing large pails filled with something, into the desert. We stopped them and found out, chicken livers and gizzards! We directed them that from now on, they deliver them to us, rather than feed them to wild dogs in the desert. We had this weekly feast! But not for long! Our Filipino chefs had had enough of these stuff!