From Wikitravel
Asia : Middle East : Saudi Arabia
 |
|
Location |
 |
|
Flag |
 |
|
Quick Facts |
|
Capital |
Riyadh |
|
Government |
Absolute Monarchy |
|
Currency |
Saudi riyal (SAR) |
|
Area |
total: 1,960,582 km2
water: 0 km2
land: 1,960,582 km2 |
|
Population |
27,601,038 includes 5,576,076 non-nationals (July 2007
est.) |
|
Language |
Arabic |
|
Religion |
100% Muslim (by law) |
|
Electricity |
110V (Riyadh), 110/220V (Jeddah), 220V elsewhere; plug types A,
C, D, G all used |
|
Calling Code
|
966 |
|
Internet TLD |
.sa |
|
Time
Zone |
GMT+3 |
Saudi Arabia contains the holy Muslim cities of
Mecca and
Medina, to which all physically and financially
able Muslims are required to make a pilgrimage at least once if
possible (see
Hajj).
Understand
Saudi Arabia is one of three countries named for their royal
families, along with the Hashemite Kingdom of
Jordan and also
Liechtenstein. The family were sheikhs of
Nejd, the area around Riyadh, but were driven out by a neighbouring
tribe, hiding with their relatives, the sultan of Kuwait. Then in
1902, young Abd al-Aziz Ibn Saud and a few dozen lads rode out to
raid their home territory. As it turned out, the invaders had been
ruling badly, so many locals joined them. They not only re-captured
Riyadh, but much of the surrounding territory.
After that, Abdul Aziz set out on a 30-year campaign to unify
the Arabian Peninsula. The area united under him became known as
Saudi Arabia.
In the 1930s, the discovery of oil transformed the country.
Following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, Saudi Arabia accepted
the Kuwaiti royal family and 400,000 refugees while allowing
Western and Arab troops to deploy on its sand for the liberation of
Kuwait the following year. A burgeoning population, unemployment,
aquifer depletion, and an economy largely dependent on petroleum
output and prices are all major governmental concerns.
Economy
Saudi Arabia is an oil-based economy with strong government
controls over major economic activities. Saudi Arabia has the
largest reserves of petroleum in the world (26% of the proven
reserves), ranks as the largest exporter of petroleum, and plays a
leading role in OPEC. The petroleum sector accounts for roughly 75%
of budget revenues, 45% of GDP, and 90% of export earnings. About
25% of GDP comes from the private sector.
Roughly 4 million foreign workers play an important role in the
Saudi economy, for example, in the oil and service sectors. Riyadh
expects to have a budget deficit in 2002, in part because of
increased spending for education and other social programs.
The government in 1999 announced plans to begin privatizing the
electricity companies, which follows the ongoing privatization of
the telecommunications company. The government is expected to
continue calling for private sector growth to lessen the kingdom's
dependence on oil and increase employment opportunities for the
swelling Saudi population. Shortages of water and rapid population
growth will constrain government efforts to increase
self-sufficiency in agricultural products.
Unemployment among young Saudis is a very serious problem. While
part of this can be explained by Saudi reluctance to take many
types of work, it is also true that imported labor is much, much
cheaper than that of the locals.
- Terrain
- mostly uninhabited, sandy desert
- Elevation extremes
- lowest point: Persian Gulf 0 m (0 ft)
highest point: Jabal Sawda' 3,133 m (10,279 ft)
- Natural resources
- petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, gold, copper
- Land use
- arable land: 1.72%
permanent crops: 0.06%
other: 98.22% (1998 est.)
Climate
People tend to think of Saudi Arabia as an expanse of
scorchingly hot desert punctuated with oil wells,
and for most of the time in most of the country, they would be
absolutely right. From May to September, the central areas of the
country (basically everything except the coasts) bake in
temperatures that average 42°C and regularly exceed 50°C in the
shade. In July and August, in particular, all who can flee the
country and work slows down to a crawl. The coasts, on the other
hand, are moderated by the sea, which usually keeps temperatures
below 38°C — but at the price of extreme humidity (85-100%), which
may even be more uncomfortable than the dry heat of the interior,
especially at night. Only the elevated mountainous regions stay
cool(er), with the unofficial summer capital of
Taif rarely topping 35°C and the mountaineous
Asir region cooler yet.
In winter, though, it's a surprisingly different story. Daytime
highs in Riyadh in December average only 7°C, and temperatures can
easily fall below zero at night, occasionally even resulting in a
sprinkling of snow in the southern mountains. The
winter is also the only season when it rains at all in most of the
country, although in many years this is limited to one or two
torrential outbursts. In the south, though, this pattern is
reversed, with most rain falling during the Indian Ocean's monsoon
season between May and October.
Prayer times
Everything in Saudi is regulated by the five daily prayers. All
shops and offices close during each prayer for a period of 20-30
minutes, and the religious police patrol the streets and pack
loiterers off to the mosque. However, shopping malls do stay open
(but with all shops inside closed) and taxis and other public
transport continue to run normally.
The first prayer is fajr, early in the
morning before the first glint of light at dawn, and the call to
prayer for fajr will be your wake-up call in the Kingdom.
After fajr, some people eat breakfast and head to work,
with shops opening up.
The second prayer is dhuhr, held after
true noon in the middle of the day. The Friday noon prayer
(jummah) is the most important one of the week, when even
less observant Muslims usually make the effort to go to the mosque.
After dhuhr, people head for lunch, while many shops
choose to stay closed and snooze away the heat of the day.
Asr prayers are in the late afternoon
(1:30-2 hours before sunset), with many shops opening again
afterward. Maghrib prayers are held at
sunset and mark the end of the work day in much of the private
sector. The last prayer is isha'a, held
around 45 minutes to 1 hour after sunset, after which locals head
for dinner. Expats refer to the time between maghrib and
isha'a as the "prayer window", during which you can hit
the supermarket and buy your groceries if you time it right.
Prayer times change daily according to the seasons and your
exact location in the Kingdom. You can find the day's times in any
newspaper, and the Ministry of Islamic Affairs maintains a handy
online prayer time service
[1].
|
Ramadan dates
- 2010 (1431): Aug 11 - Sep 9
- 2011 (1432): Aug 1 - Aug 29
- 2012 (1433): Jul 20 - Aug 18
The festival of Eid ul-Fitr is held after the end of Ramadan and
may last several days. Exact dates depend on astronomical
observations and may vary from country to country.
|
The Saudi interpretation of Islam views all non-Muslim holidays
as smacking of idolatry, and the public observance of Christmas,
New Years, Valentine's Day, Halloween etc is prohibited. In fact,
public holidays are granted only for two events: Eid
ul-Fitr, the feast at the end of the fasting month of
Ramadan, and Eid al-Adha, commemorating Abraham's
willingness to sacrifice his son, some 70 days after Ramadan. Even
Muhammad's birthday is not observed.
During Ramadan itself, visitors are required to abide by the
restrictions of the fasting month, at least in public: no
eating, drinking or smoking during the daylight hours.
Some better hotels will be able to quietly supply room service
during the day, but otherwise you'll have to do your preparations.
All restaurants in the Kingdom are closed during the day, and while
some offices stay open with limited hours, the pace of business
slows down to a torpor. After evening prayer, though, all the
restaurants in the bazaar open up and do a roaring trade until the
small hours of the morning. Most of the shops are open as well, and
the cool of the evening makes it a pleasant time to shop. A visitor
can have a fine time joining in on these evenings, though having a
stash in your hotel room for a quiet breakfast around ten will suit
most visitors better than rising at four for a big pre-dawn Saudi
breakfast.
There is also one secular holiday: Unification of the
Kingdom Day, on September 23rd. Strictly speaking, it's
not a public holiday or a festival, but it's treated rather like
one anyway.
Regions
Saudi Arabia is administratively divided into 13 provinces
(mintaqah), but the traditional divisions of the country
are more useful for making sense of it.
|
Asir
Southwestern highlands with a temperate climate and strong Yemeni
influence. |
|
Nejd
The central highlands centered on Riyadh, the home of the Sauds and the most
conservative part of the country. |
- Riyadh - the capital and
"dead center" of the Kingdom
- Abha - a summer tourist
mountain resort city in the southwest near the Yemeni border
- Dhahran - the home of
Saudi Aramco, the world's largest petroleum company
- Jeddah (Jiddah) -
large metropolitan city on the Red Sea, and the gateway to Mecca
and Medina
- Jubail - the largest industrial city in the kingdom
- Mecca (Makkah) -
the holiest shrine of Islam
- Medina (Madinah)
- site of the Prophet's Mosque
- Najran - Yemeni-influenced
city with a remarkable fortress
- Taif - moderate size mountain
town and the unofficial summer capital
Expect significant variations in the English spellings of place
names in schedules and even road signs: Al Wajh and
Wedjh are the same place. In particular, Q/G and E/I are
interchanged freely (Qassim/Gassim,
Jeddah/Jiddah), H/A sometimes swap places
(Al-Ahsa/Al-Hasa) and the definite article
al- can be left on or off (Medina/Almadinah,
Riyadh/Arriyadh).
- My Kingdom will survive only insofar as it remains a
country difficult to access, where the foreigner will have no other
aim, with his task fullfilled, but to get out. -- King
Abdul Aziz bin Saud, c. 1930
Saudi Arabia has some of the most restrictive travel policies in
the world, and advance visas are required for all
foreigners desiring to enter. The only important exception are
citizens of the Gulf Cooperation Council nations. Also excluded
from visa requirements are foreigners transiting through airports
for less than eighteen hours, but many other entry requirements,
such as the dress code and restrictions on unaccompanied females,
still apply. Nationals of Israel and those with evidence of
visiting Israel will be denied visas, although merely being Jewish
in and of itself is not a disqualifying factor. Saudis prefer not
to grant visas to unaccompanied women, but work permits are common
in some fields (esp. nurses, teachers, maids) and possible for
anyone if your sponsor has enough connections.
|
Authorized tour operators
The following five companies are the only ones authorized to
issue tourist visas for Saudi:
- Jawlah Tours Company [2]
- Altayyar Group [3]
- Top Adventure Tours [4]
- Samallaghi Tours [5]
- Al Shitaiwi Tours [6]
|
However, things have loosened up a little compared to the past.
Tourist visas, long near-impossible without a Saudi sponsor, are
now available but only for guided tours. Transit visas are limited
to some long-distance truck drivers and for plane trips. Generally,
though, transit visas are free.
Hajj (pilgrimage) visas are issued by the Saudi
government through Saudi embassies around the world in cooperation
with local mosques. Hajjis, and those on transit visas are
prohibited from traveling freely throughout the kingdom. Most
short-term Western visitors to Saudi arrive on business visas,
which require an invitation from a local sponsor which has been
approved by the Saudi Chamber of Commerce. Once this invitation is
secured and certified, the actual process of issuing the visa is
relatively fast and painless, taking anything from one day to two
weeks. Word has it that the "new visas" (electronically generated)
are only available through agencies within your country of
residence. Getting a work visa is considerably more complex, but
usually your employer will handle most of the paperwork.
The fun doesn't end when you get the visa, since visas
do not state their exact expiry date. While the validity
is noted in months, these are not Western months but lunar
months, and you need to use the Islamic calendar to figure
out the length: a three-month visa issued on "29/02/22" (22 Safar
1429, 1 March 2008) is valid until 29/05/22 (22 Jumada al-Awwal
1429, 28 May 2008), not until 1 June 2008! Depending on
visa type, the validity can start from the date of issue
or the date of first entry, and multiple-entry visas may
also have restrictions regarding how many days at a time are
allowed (usually 28 days per visit) and/or how many days total are
allowed during the validity period. This all results in fantastic
confusion, and it's not uncommon to get different answers from an
embassy, from your employer and from Immigration!
If you have a work visa, exit visas are required to
leave the country. (Business, tourism or Hajj visas do not
require exit permits.) You cannot get an exit visa without a
signature from your employer, and there have been cases of people
unable to leave because of controversy with employers or even
customers. For example, if a foreign company is sued in Saudi for
non-payment of debts and you are considered its representative, an
exit visa may be denied until the court case is sorted out.
Saudi Arabia has very strict rules for what may
be imported: alcoholic beverages, pork, non-Islamic religious
materials and pornography (very widely defined) are all prohibited.
Computers, VCR tapes and DVDs have all been seized from time to
time for inspection by the authorities. If you are unsure if the
movie you watch or the video game you play is deemed un-Islamic, it
probably be best not to bring them with you to the kingdom. In
general, though, inspections aren't quite as thorough as they used
to be and while bags are still x-rayed, minute searches are the
exception rather than the rule.
By plane
Saudi Arabia has 3 international airports at
Riyadh,
Jeddah and
Dammam. The airport at Dhahran is now closed to
civil traffic, so passengers to the Eastern Region now fly into
Dammam, or into nearby
Bahrain (which is much better connected) and
then cross into Saudi Arabia by car.
Saudi Arabia is served by the national airline
Saudi
Arabian Airlines [7], often referred to by
its Arabic name
Saudia. Saudia has a reasonable safety
record, but many of their planes are on the old side and the
quality of service, inflight entertainment etc tends to be low.
Virtually all Gulf airlines and most major European airlines fly
into Saudi. During the Hajj, numerous charter flights supplement
the scheduled airlines.
Foreigners living in Saudi Arabia can often get sensational
discounts on outbound flights during the Hajj. Airlines from Muslim
countries are flying in many loads of pilgrims, and do not not want
to go back empty.
By bus
SAPTCO
[8] operates cross-border bus
services to most of Saudi Arabia's neighbors and even beyond to eg.
Cairo.
Probably the most popular service is between Dammam/Khobar and
Bahrain, operated by the separate Saudi-Bahraini Transport Company
(SABTCO)
[9].
There are five services daily at a cost of SR50/BD5 and the trip
across the King Fahd Causeway takes around two hours on a good day;
see
Bahrain for details.
By car
Automobile crossings exist on all the borders, although those
into Iraq are currently closed. The eastern crossings to Bahrain,
Qatar and the UAE are heavily used, all others rather less so.
By train
There are no railroads connecting Saudi Arabia with other
countries, although in the
North, you can still find bits and
pieces of the Hejaz Railway that once led to
Istanbul.
By boat
Infrequent passenger ferries run once a week or less from Egypt,
Sudan and Eritrea to ports in western Saudi Arabia. Slow,
uncomfortable and not particularly cheap, these are of interest
primarily if you absolutely need to take your car across.
Camels at the
Janadriyah
festival — no longer a viable means of long-distance
transport
Internal travel permits are a thing of the past, so once you've
gotten into Saudi, the country is your oyster. There are, however,
three exceptions:
- Many archaeological sites around the country, eg. Madain Saleh, require
permits. The National Museum in Riyadh issues these free of charge, but you
should apply at least a week in advance.
- The area around Mecca and Medina is off-limits to
non-Muslims; conversely, those on Hajj visas are prohibited from leaving the area
(and transit points like Jeddah). The exclusion zone is well
signposted.
- Some remote areas, notably around the Iraqi and Yemeni borders,
are restricted military zones. You're exceedingly unlikely to
stumble into them by accident.
By plane
Saudi Arabia is a large country, which makes flying the only
comfortable means of long-distance travel. State carrier Saudia has
the best schedules, with near-hourly flights on the busy
Riyadh-Jeddah sector (90 min) and walk-up one-way fares costing a
reasonable SR280 (~US$80). Low-cost competitors
Nas [10]
and
Sama [11]
can be even cheaper if you book in advance, but their schedules are
sparser, changes will cost you money and there's no meal on
board.
A standard-issue SAPTCO bus
The Saudi Arabian Public Transport Company (SAPTCO)
[12] operates long-distance
buses linking together all corners of the country. Buses are
modern, air-conditioned and comfortable, but often slow, and the
bus stations are more often than not located several kilometers
away from the city center. The Riyadh-Dammam service, for example,
costs SR60 and takes around 6 hours.
Special "VIP" services operate on the Riyadh-Dammam and
Riyadh-Bahrain sectors. For a surcharge of about 50%, you get a
direct, non-stop city center-to-city center services, plush seating
and a meal on-board -- all in all, quite good value, if the sparse
schedules match your plans.
First class on a Saudi train
The railway network in Saudi Arabia is seriously underdeveloped,
with only one line running between
Riyadh,
Al-Hofuf and
Dammam, but it's still the only passenger train
service in the entire Gulf. There are plans to extend the network
to
Jeddah and build a
Mecca-
Medina link during the next few years.
The trains are operated by
Saudi Railways
Organization [13]
and have 3 classes: Second, First and the delightfully named Rehab.
First and Second classes are very similar, with aircon and
two-by-two seating, but First has a few inches of extra legroom.
Rehab (VIP) class, on the other hand, has plush leather seats,
roof-mounted flat-panel TVs showing Arabic entertainment, and slick
waiting lounges at stations. There are no reserved seats, so show
up early to claim yours, and beware that most carriages reserve the
forward-facing seats at the front of each carriage for families.
Trains have a cafeteria car serving up drinks and snacks, as well
as push-trolley service.
A ticket from Riyadh to Dammam costs SR60/75/120 in
Second/First/Rehab. There are four trains each day in both
directions, and the trip takes 4-5 hours. (Note that, as of May
2008, the timetables on SRO website are outdated.) It is advisable
to buy tickets in advance as the trains are often sold out. You can
reserve tickets by calling their service center in
Dammam (
+966 3 827 4000)
and then pick up the tickets from the nearest railway station 24
hours before departure.
By car
Car rental is available, highways are excellent, and gasoline is
some of the cheapest in the world. However, there are important
reasons to think twice about car rental. Although a fair percentage
of Saudi drivers are suicidal, homicidal or insane, the majority of
Saudi drivers are all three, and the country has some of the
highest accident rates in the world. Accidents are
common, and if a visitor is involved in one, they would be exposed
to the extremely punitive Saudi legal system; see elsewhere on this
page for the warnings about that.
If you are involved in a car accident all parties are required
to stay where they are and wait for the Traffic Police (call 993)
to turn up, which can take up to four hours. English is unlikely to
be spoken by the police, even in big cities, so try to use the
waiting time to arrange a translator. The police will issue an
accident report, which you have to take to the traffic police
station and get it stamped a few times in different queues (this
takes most of a morning). Only then can any damage to the car be
repaired, as car garages are not allowed to do body work without
this report.
It is not uncommon for the traffic police to resolve the
incident there and then by determining the guilty party and
deciding compensation. So, should it be your fault the Police will
ask you to pay an amount to the other party - have money with
you.
At the present time, access to car rentals is limited to males
21 and older. Women cannot drive on public roads or ride
bicycles.
By taxi
Within cities, taxis are the only practical means of
transportation. Standardized throughout the country, metered fares
start at SR 5 and tick up at SR 1.60/km, but outside Riyadh you'll
often have to
haggle the price
in advance. Solo passengers are expected to sit up front next to
the driver: this has the advantages of being next to the full blast
of the air-con and making it easier to wave your hands to show the
way.
Talk
Arabic is the official
language of the Kingdom, although English might be understood.
Hindi and
Urdu is extensively used in the marketplaces and
by sub-continent expatriates. All major languages are spoken in the
markets of Makkah. There is a significant
Tagalog-speaking expatriate minority as
well.
Nearly all road signs are in English as well as Arabic, although
the vast majority of speed limit signs use only Arabian
numerals.
Buy
The Saudi currency is the Saudi riyal (ريال,
SAR), which trades at a fixed 3.7450 to the US
dollar since 1986. The riyal is divided into 100
halalas, which are used to mark some prices, but,
in practice, all payments are rounded to the nearest riyal and odds
are you probably will never see any halala coins. Bills come in
values of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, and 500 riyals, with two
series in circulation.
The riyal is also pegged to the Bahraini dinar at a 10:1 ratio.
If you are considering travelling to Bahrain, some businesses will
accept riyals, but the dinar is not easily convertible in Saudi
Arabia.
Saudi Arabia is still largely a cash society, and credit card
acceptance is surprisingly poor outside luxury hotels and malls.
ATMs are ubiquitous, although those of many smaller banks do not
accept foreign cards; Samba and SABB are probably your best bets.
Moneychangers can be found in souks, but are rare elsewhere.
Foreign currencies are generally not accepted by merchants.
Costs
Prices are generally fairly expensive: figure on US$50/100/200
for budget, midrange and splurge-level daily travel costs.
Tipping is generally not expected, although service staff are
always happy to receive them and taxi fares are often rounded up
(or, not uncommonly, down). Expensive restaurants often slap on a
10% service charge, although due to lax regulation many employers
simply usurp it (ask your waiters if they receive any of it or not
if you would like to tip them). There are no sales taxes in Saudi,
and for that matter, there aren't any income taxes either!
What to buy
Few local products are of interest to tourists. Locally grown
dates are of high quality, and religious paraphernalia is widely
available, but almost exclusively imported. Copies of the Koran are
produced in a wide range of editions and sold at very low prices.
Zam zam water is available throughout the Western Region
and at all airports.
Carpets are a favorite purchase, most of these coming from
nearby Iran.
Jeddah in
particular has lots of carpets, many brought by pilgrims who sell
them there to help finance their trip to
Mecca.
Large gold and jewelry markets are prominent in all major
cities. Bargaining is a norm in most small to medium sized stores.
Mecca and Medina offer a lot of variety in terms of luggage,
clothing, jewelry, knick-knacks, souvenirs, toys, food, perfume,
incense, and religious literature, audio, and paraphernalia.
Large, well maintained air-conditioned malls and grocery stores
(i.e. Safeway, Giant Stores, Carrefour
[14]) are scattered
throughout the kingdom. Note that all shops, even those selling
women's clothing and lingerie, are staffed exclusively by men and
have no dressing rooms. You may be offered use of a back storeroom
for trying on clothes, but it is best to
not accept the
offer — a number of women have been raped this way.
Do
Entertainment in Saudi Arabia is very family-oriented. There are
few activities for just couples or singles. Single men are not
allowed in family areas: family beaches are partitioned from the
bachelor beaches, for example. Women are expected to be accompanied
by a male relative in public, although single women may be admitted
into family areas.
Desert excursions are particularly popular with
the native Arabs. There are few desert dune bashing tour operators,
if any, but ATV rentals are often found along the roadside on the
outskirts of major cities and expats often arrange convoy trips
into the desert. The
Empty Quarter has the most awesome
scenery — and requires the most preparation.
Scuba diving is popular on Saudi Arabia's Red
Sea coast.
Jeddah has a number
of dive operators.
Amusement parks (many of them indoor) are often
found near malls or beaches. Many large cities have public parks
and small zoos. Horseback riding, camel riding, etc. are also
available at horse-racing tracks and some popular beaches. Many
upscale hotels provide light activities (especially hotels located
along the beaches).
Movie theatres are banned in the Kingdom, but
DVD shops abound, although the selections are often tame and/or
censored. DVDs in Saudi Arabia are invariably Region 2, though
bootleg DVDs (which are widely available in smaller video shops)
are usually region-free, and often uncensored as well. Satellite TV
and downloading entertainment from the Internet is thus very
popular.
Video games are an eternal obsession of Saudi
youth, and one which is capitalized upon rather well by local
retailers. Video game shops are ubiquitous in all of the major
cities. Authentic games are offered by most of the larger stores,
as US or European imports for an average of ~270SR (~$70), while
the smaller ones usually only offer bootlegs (which are illegal,
but still lucrative enough that almost all sell them) at very low
prices of 10-15SR ($2.5-$4). Wii and Xbox 360 bootlegs reign
supreme, but certain stores offer Nintendo DS and PSP games as
well, downloaded on a customer's removable media on request.
Eat
Eating is one of the few pleasures permitted in Saudi Arabia,
and the obesity statistics show that most Saudis indulge as much as
they can.
Fast food
Fast food is a huge business in Saudi Arabia,
with all the usual suspects (McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut,
Subway) and not a few chains that rarely venture outside America
elsewhere (Hardee's, Little Caesars, Cinnabon, Dunkin' Donuts).
Meals invariably served with fries and Coke cost SR10-20. Some
local imitators worth checking out include:
- Al-Baik - fried chicken- in Jeddah, Mecca and
Medina, but not Riyadh
- Baak - Pizza (thin crust and quite good),
fried chicken, lasagna, sandwiches
- Kudu - Saudi sandwich chain [15]
- Herfy Burger [16]
- biggest fast food chain in the country, 100% Saudi owned
- House of Donuts - "The Finest American
Pastries" - a chain begun by Saudi students who studied in
America
Cheaper yet are the countless curry shops run
by and for Saudi Arabia's large Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi
community, which serve up large thali platters of
subcontinental fare for under SR10. Just don't expect frills like
air-conditioning.
Local cuisine
The Middle Eastern staple of shwarma (doner kebab) is
widely available in dedicated little joints, with SR 3-4 being the
standard price for a sandwich. The Egyptian mashed fava bean stew
foul is another cheap staple, and these shops usually also
offer felafel (chickpea balls) and a range of salads and
dips like hummus (chickpea paste) and tabbouleh
(parsley salad).
Finding restaurants that serve actual Saudi cuisine is
surprisingly difficult, although many larger hotels have "Arabian"
(usually Lebanese) restaurants. Your local Saudi or expatriate host
may be able to show you some places or, if you're really lucky, an
invitation to dinner at home.
- Mandi — Chicken or mutton cooked with rice in
a pot suspended above a fire.
Drink
With alcohol, dancing, playing music in public and mingling with
unrelated women all banned, it's fair to say that nobody comes to
Saudi Arabia for the nightlife.
Coffee shops
Pretty much the only form of entertainment for bachelors is the
ubiquitous coffee shop, which serve not only
coffee and tea, but water pipes (shisha) with flavoured
tobacco. These are strictly a male domain, and in some cities like
Riyadh establishments that offer shisha are banished to
the outskirts of town.
If, on the other hand, you're looking for a hazelnut frappucino,
Starbucks and its legion competitors have established a firm
foothold in the Kingdom's malls. These usually welcome women,
although 2008 saw several arrests of unmarried couples
"mingling".
As for the coffee (kahwa) itself, try mirra,
made in the Bedouin style. Sometimes spiced with cardamom, it's
strong and tastes great, particularly drunk with fresh dates. Tea
(chai) usually comes with dollops of sugar and perhaps a
few mint leaves (na'ana).
Alcohol
Alcoholic beverages are strictly forbidden
throughout the country, although the police generally turn a blind
eye to goings-on inside compounds for foreign expats, not a few of
which have full-size English pubs serving up homebrew beer and wine
on Wednesday nights. However, if they catch people involved in
smuggling or distilling booze in quantity, then expat or not, Saudi
law applies. A foreigner may not get the sentence a local would,
but can expect a few days or weeks jail, public flogging, and
deportation.
Do not drink and drive! is good advice
anywhere, but especially in Saudi Arabia. If you have an accident,
or otherwise attract police attention, the consequences might be
serious indeed.
The locally-brewed white lightning called Arak. In
addition to being illegal, it's also extremely potent (anything up
to 90-odd percent alcohol), remarkably unpalatable and may contain
dangerous impurities.
In Saudi, this non-alcoholic apple-flavored Bud's for you
As elsewhere in the Gulf, Saudis are big fans of various
fruit juices, ranging from the ordinary (apple,
orange) to the downright bizarre (banana-lemon-milk-walnut,
anyone?).
Non-alcoholic versions of alcoholic drinks are popular. Two of
the most common are Saudi champagne, basically
apple juice and Sprite or soda water, and malt
beverages, ie. non-alcoholic beer, always sweet and often
strongly flavored with mango, strawberry, apple, lemon etc
essences. You can even get apple-flavored Budweiser!
Tap water
Tap water in the major cities is considered safe, although it's
not always particularly tasty, and in the summer can be very hot.
Bottled water is readily available and cheap at SR2 or less for a
1.5L bottle. Many residents prefer to buy drinking water from
purification stations.
Sleep
Hotels of all types are available throughout the Kingdom. Most
tourist cities (i.e. Makkah, Medina, Taif, Al Abha) will also have
very affordable and spacious shigka-maafroosha (short-term
furnished rental apartments). Shigka-maafroosha owners generally
loiter in hotel lobbies. Often, they will approach
civilized-looking people (generally families) and make an offer.
Prices for shigka-mafrooshas and small hotels are always negotiable
to a great degree. Smaller hotels will only accept cash, normally
in advance.
Larger, more expensive hotels are abundant in all major cities.
After the lull caused by the insurgency in 2003, prices have been
rising again, and you can expect to pay north of US$200 for a
weekday night at a good hotel in any of the big Saudi cities. In
exchange, you usually get excellent service and the ability to work
around some restrictions (eg. restaurants that stay open through
prayer hours and daytime room service during Ramadan).
Stay healthy
There are no major health risks for traveling in Saudi Arabia:
water is generally drinkable and food is usually, but not always,
hygienic. No vaccinations are required for general travel to the
Kingdom, but for pilgrims joining the Hajj and its extraordinary
concentrations of pilgrims from all corners of the globe, a
comprehensive series of vaccinations is required as a condition for
entry. See the
Hajj article for
details.
Smoking is the one sin that the Wahhabis
haven't gotten around to banning yet, and consequently everybody
smokes everywhere: hotel lobbies, airport lounges, shopping mall
food courts, drivers in their taxis, etc. If this is a problem, be
sure to request non-smoking rooms in hotels.
The Kingdom has a wide-reaching national health-care system, but
the services provided by this program are quite basic. Private
hospitals are often run with the participation of foreign partners.
These facilities range from fairly rudimentary to very advanced and
very expensive. Pharmacies are widely available and prescriptions
are not required for most medications. Psychoactive medications are
tightly controlled and available only through government
pharmacies.
Bottled water is easily available, and as they say, is more
expensive than gasoline.
Work
There are quite a few jobs for expatriates in Saudi Arabia.
While the pay is good, foreigners often find that the strictly
Muslim society and the near-total lack of employees' rights makes
the country a most difficult place to work and live.
To get a working visa, you must have a Saudi sponsor. Then to
get an exit visa, you need your sponsor's signature. This can lead
to major problems.
Stay safe
Realistically speaking, the biggest danger a visitor to Saudi
Arabia faces is the lethal driving — drive or pick your drivers
carefully and buckle up your seatbelt.
A low-level insurgency which targets foreigners in general and
Westerners in particular continues to bubble. The wave of violence
in 2003-2004 has been squashed by a brutal crackdown by Saudi
security forces and there have been no major attacks in the cities
for several years, security remains tight and it is prudent not to
draw too much attention to yourself. Foreigners should register
their presence with their embassy or consulate. Emergency alert
systems using e-mail and cell phone messages are maintained by many
governments for their guest workers.
Four French tourists, part of a larger group that had been
camping in the desert, were shot and killed by terrorists near
Madain Saleh in early 2007. Due to this, mandatory police escorts —
which can be an interesting experience, but can also be annoying,
restrictive hassles — are sometimes provided for travel outside
major cities, in areas like Abha, Najran and Madain Saleh.
While Saudi Arabia has one of the lowest crime rates in the
world, a certain background level of non-violent opportunistic
theft like pickpocketing and purse snatching does exist. Lock doors
and keep valuables on your person.
Saudi society endeavours to keep men and women separate, but
sexual harassment — leers, jeers and even being
followed — is depressingly common. Raising a ruckus or simply
loudly asking the harasser anta Muslim? ("are you
Muslim?") will usually suffice to scare them off.
Violations of Saudi law can bring a visitor into contact with
the local police and justice systems. The Saudi justice system is
notoriously harsh and gives no leeway to non-Saudis, and embassies
can provide only limited help in these situations. See
Respect for how to stay out of
trouble.
Visitors to Saudi Arabia are required to
respect local conventions, in particular regarding Islam. While
first-timers in Saudi Arabia are often regaled with tales of
beheadings, amputations and whippings, the full harshness of Saudi
law is reserved for true criminals like drug smugglers. With a
modicum of common sense you'll be just fine, and should a visitor
accidentally cause some minor offense, the reaction will generally
be amusement rather than anger.
Law and morality
The really important rules to beware of are enshrined in written
Saudi law, with criminals subject to the full strength of the
infamous Saudi penal system. In addition to obvious crimes like
murder (punishable by beheading) and theft (amputation of the hand
for repeat offenders), acts considered severe crimes include
adultery, homosexuality and possession of alcohol or
drugs.
In practice, though, most visitors will be primarily concerned
with the
code of morality, involving things like
women not covering up properly, not observing prayer or (during
Ramadan) fasting times, etc. These rules are enforced by the
infamous
muttawa (pl.
mutawain),
the zealous volunteers of the religious police formally known as
the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of
Vice. Confusingly, the exact rules and their enforcement vary
greatly both with time and from region to region, with the
Nejd region around Riyadh being the
most strict, the
Eastern Province being
the least strict, and the
Hejaz
around Jeddah being somewhere in the middle. However, 99% of the
time, encounters with the muttawa (especially for non-Muslims)
simply result in verbal warnings. The muttawa
do have the
power to detain those suspected of un-Islamic conduct, but — in
theory — must hand them over to the police before interrogation,
and neither can they apply judicial punishments like whipping
without a trial. Reports of abuse and even deaths in muttawa
custody are still depressingly common.
No women at the hotel gym
Everything in Saudi Arabia is segregated by sex to
ensure that unrelated men and women have no possibility of
"mingling" (khulwa, a punishable crime). Under the rules
of segregation, all people are divided into three groups:
- Families. The basic unit of Saudi life,
families consist of women accompanied by their mahrams
(legal male guardians) — father, brother, husband, uncle, nephew —
and children.
- Single men (bachelors). Men not accompanied by
their families. Despite common use of the word "bachelor", it is
irrelevant whether the man is married or not; a husband will dine
in the bachelor section at lunch when alone and in the family
section at dinner when with his wife. It is against the law
to be accompanied anywhere by a woman who is not your wife or a
family member. Religious police pay particular attention
to interracial couples.
- Single women. Women not accompanied by their
families. Anathema to Saudi society, this is by far the most
restricted group. Most of the facilities for families will admit
single women, but they are never allowed in the men's
section. It is against the law to be accompanied anywhere
by a man who is not your husband or a family member. The
punishment will be worse for the woman than for the man.
Typical examples of segregation include:
| Establishment |
Segregation |
| Banks |
Separate branches for men and women. |
| Coffeeshops |
Mostly men only, although a few have family sections. |
| Hotels |
Single women may require written permission to be allowed to
check in. Gyms, pools and spa are generally restricted to men
only. |
| Museums |
Separate opening hours for families, men and (rarely)
women. |
| Restaurants |
Separate sections for families and men. Most, but not all, will
allow single women into the family section. |
| Shopping malls |
Allow all visitors, but often with some days (typically
Wed-Fri) reserved for families and single women only. |
| Shops |
Usually allow all visitors. |
Men
Locals almost universally wear a thobe (white robe with
sleeves) with a ghutra (headdress), but the standard dress
code for foreign men in Saudi Arabia is long trousers and a
long-sleeved shirt. Short-sleeved shirts are unusual, although
T-shirts are increasingly common among rebellious youth, while
shorts are rarely seen outside the gym or beach.
Men with long hair might want to consider a cut before entering
the kingdom; although shoulder-length locks can be considered
reasonable, anything longer can be considered as grounds for
ejection from shopping malls and public places by the muttawa.
Homosexuality is punishable by death. It is
common for Saudi men to walk hand in hand as a sign of friendship,
but it would be unwise for Western men to attempt the same. Sharing
a hotel room as a way of cutting costs is normal, but don't even
think about asking for one bed for two. That said, homosexuality
still happens, only very discreetly, and it's not uncommon for a
foreign man to be approached by an amorous, young unmarried
Saudi.
Women
Women, be they local or foreign, are all required to wear an
abaya, a long and loose black robe. (This is
strictly enforced in Riyadh, but less so in Jeddah and the Eastern
Province.) While a headscarf is optional for non-Saudi females, one
should at least be brought along in order to avoid possible
harassment from the religious police or to be used as a means of
deflecting attention from potentially aggravating men, especially
in case of blondes.
Saudi law prohibits women from mingling with unrelated
men, even if married: for example, many family
restaurants will not (knowingly) allow a married couple to dine
together with a single man. Women may not drive cars, although as
of 2008 there are — not for the first time — rumblings that this
may soon change. In theory, women may not even be driven by
unrelated people (eg. taxi drivers), although this is widely
ignored and rarely enforced.
A woman may travel alone with her mahram's
permission, and in the case of foreign women, even without it.
They may also stay alone in hotels, although hotels may require
written permission on check-in.
While all this legally applies to foreign women as well, in
practice foreign women are not restrained by their families in the
way that Saudi women are, and can have considerable leeway if they
choose to take it. For example, a foreign woman and her boyfriend
(or even male coworker) can simply claim to be husband and
wife, and thus mingle freely — although, if caught doing so, the
consequences can be severe.
A single woman accosted by the police or the muttawa
and requested to come with them does not have to
(and, for their own safety, should not) go with them alone: you
have the right to call your mahram and have them arrive,
and you should use it. However, you may be required to surrender
your ID, and you may not leave until the police/muttawa allow you
to.
Other
Photography is probably the easiest way for a
visitor to inadvertently get into trouble. Do not take
pictures of any government-related building (ministries, airports,
military facilities etc) or any building that could possibly be
one, or you risk being hauled off to jail for espionage. As strict
Wahhabi belief prohibits making images of any living creature, do
not photograph any Saudi men without permission and do
not even point your camera in the general direction of any
women, period. Even government publications avoid pictures of
people and often resort to mosaicing out faces if they have to use
one!
Playing music in public is also prohibited.
However, personal music players and listening to music in private
is fine, and there are plenty of music shops in the country's
shopping malls if you don't mind permanent marker over Britney's
hemline on the cover. It is not uncommon to hear young Saudis
blasting the latest hip-hop music in their vehicles, at least when
the muttawa are not around.
Religious items for religions other than Islam,
including Bibles, crucifixes and any religious literature, are
technically forbidden, although these days items for personal use
are generally ignored. However, anything that hints of proselytism
is treated very harshly, and the muttawa often
bust illicit church assemblies and the like. Public observance of
religions other than Islam is technically a crime in Saudi
Arabia.
Catholic visitors must not be members of the Knights of
Columbus. It is banned very strictly, perhaps even more
strictly than any other fraternal society, under anti-proselytism
law.
The flag of Saudi Arabia bears the Islamic declaration of faith,
and desecration or any other inappropriate use of the flag is
considered insulting.
Insulting the King and the Royal Family is extremely serious in
Saudi Arabia and results in serious punishments.
|
Useful numbers
- Police: 999
- Car Accidents: 993
- Ambulance: 997
- Fire: 998
- Phone Directory (Fees Apply): 905
|
The three mobile operators in Saudi, incumbent
Al
Jawal [17],
Emirati rival
Mobily [18] and
Kuwaiti newcomer
Zain [19] (Vodafone Network) are
fiercely competitive, with good coverage (in populated areas) and
good pricing. A starter pack with prepaid SIM and talktime starts
from about SR 75, and you can sign up in most any larger mobile
shop (bring your passport). Local calls are under SR 0.5/minute,
while calls overseas are around or less than SR 2/min.
And yes, you can bring in your own phone: despite grumblings
from the mullahs, both camera phones and multimedia messaging (MMS)
are now legal.
By net
Internet cafes abound in major Saudi cities, and many shopping
malls feature a gaming parlor or two. Rates are around
SR5/hour.
While Internet in Saudi Arabia is cordoned off by a filter, it
aims primarily at pornography, non-Islamic religious and domestic
political sites in Arabic, and (from the traveller's point of view)
is nowhere near as strict as, say, China's. Google, Skype,
Wikipedia, all major webmail providers etc are all accessible.
By mail
Saudi Post [20] has a good
network of post offices around the country, but offices are closed
Thursday and Friday. Stamps for postcards to anywhere in the world
cost SR4. The bigger problem is actually finding postcards, as the
mutawwa periodically crack down on the celebration of
non-Islamic holidays like Valentine's Day, Christmas or even
birthdays, causing
all cards of any sort to disappear from
bookstores! Your best bet is thus gift shops in major hotels. Mail
coming in to the country from overseas is notoriously unreliable.
Stories abound of thing arriving months after they were sent or
never arriving at all. The are branches of DHL and FedEx operating
throughout the kingdom so a good rule of thumb is to have anything
important sent through those channels.
| This article is an outline and needs more
content. It has a template, but there is not enough information
present. Please plunge forward and help it grow! |
Top topics
Wikis
Quiz
Facts
Map
Misc
Timeline
.jpg&filetimestamp=20060906173724)
.svg)
.svg)
Search
