JEDDAH: The downtown Balad area of Jeddah is a living cocktail of cultures and traditions. As a site steeped in a rich heritage, it not only offers history but also personifies the harmonic and cosmopolitan culture of Jeddah life.
The holy month of Ramadan is a special time when the Balad flourishes; it is at this time that the downtown area becomes a particular popular attraction.
“I can’t see a single thing that the Balad fails to provide. There’s a lot of history here. You can buy Bedouin things, modern things, expensive things and affordable things,” said Shaqeel Akram, an Indian national.
Akram and his family often visit the Balad’s Bab Makkah area to buy Indian spices and to Qabil Street to buy gold jewelry.
Ihsan Iqbal, a Sri Lankan national, said his family enjoys visiting the Balad area to breathe in the history and buy special Sri Lankan vegetables that are not available in other areas of Jeddah.
Helmi Salam Al-Jabri has a stall that sells sweets and fried liver in the Bab Makkah area. “I open the stall each day at 10 p.m. and go home when I’ve sold out or at sahoor time. It gets very crowded in Ramadan and the crowds reach their peak on the 20th,” he said.
When Filipino national Abdullah Sierra first came to the Kingdom, he heard that the most popular Filipino hangout in Jeddah was the downtown area. “It’s a favorite hangout for Filipinos. Everybody told me that I should visit Balad as it’s also a historical site,” he said.
“A lot of Filipinos on their day off go to the Balad and shop. We visit the famous Filipino restaurant called Jalabi and socialize with people from the Philippines and other countries,” he added.
Pakistani housewife Shabnam likes to shop for cosmetics and garments in the Balad’s Khaskiya area.
“I like to shop in Balad because I don’t need to go far for the different things that I need. If I want gold jewelry, Qabil Street is just around the corner and there are shops there that sell jewelry with Pakistani designs. In Khaskiya there are cosmetics, handbags, and nice material for shalwar kameezs.”
Mona Al-Zahrani, a Saudi, likes to visit the downtown area during Ramadan.
“I rarely come here. I just come in Ramadan because the Balad always has a huge collection of traditional Ramadan dishes. I don’t think you can find these things anywhere else in Jeddah,” she said.
