I’ve been meaning to post these photos for months, but recent events reminded me of it, even though of course this has absolutely nothing to do with the death of Osama bin Laden. These are photos of the Abraj al-Bait Royal Clock Tower in Mecca, taken during my hajj. The clock tower is part of a campaign to establish “Mecca Time” as a direct competitor to Greenwich as the global Time Standard for muslims.

So, here it is – the Royal Clock Tower, or as I liked to call it, “Big Bin”: Photo Set on Flickr

I’ve railed about the ongoing architectural pillaging of Mecca before so I won’t repeat my rants here. The general impact of the tower is to add a Las Vegas touch to the Meccan skyline.