"Working and Living in Riyadh" a Riyadh Travel Page by atufft

Even with all the recent terrorism happening within the Middle East, and occasionally even within Riyadh, the city is still a relatively safe place in which to live and work. Some 35,000 expatriates, many of them Americans and Europeans, live in Riyadh. The oppressive nature of the culture is actually a curiosity for most expates who never tire of chatting about Saudi culture at dinner parties. While Riyadh is a large city of some 2 million inhabitants, the surrounding area quickly degrades into uninhabited desert. A weekend trip camping in the desert is a favorite expat adventure during the winter months. In my tips I have a variety of cultural and nature loving activities, as well as the usual archeological hunts that make the Middle East a great place to go in general. In any case, after reviewing my recommendations here, I am happy to respond to inquiries by prospective contractors thinking about moving to Riyadh.

People watching on the street is entertainment in itself. The city is basically pretty modern and comfortable, but there are many Saudi customs and laws that would appear to infringe upon what is expected within virtually any other country in the world. For example, women can't legally drive, and can't mingle with men on the public bus, and so they must car pool, hire out a cab, or hire a driver for wherever they go. Fortunately, car pooling by expats is more common than back home, cabs are ubiquitous, cheap, and reliable, and the wages for a driver surprisingly low. I had a Saudi driver's license, but mostly I car pooled with colleagues, grabbed a cab, or the flagged down one of the old rusty and overloaded jitneys that ply the main streets. After two years of living and driving there, I learned to put my tires on each side of the dotted lines, drive aggressively, and never give courtesy to other drivers on the chaotic high speed boulevards in the city. Saudi style traffic is peculiar--all men and lots of risk for high speed accidents. Unlike the dull routine of living at home, in Riyadh running errands was an unending adventure. in part because labor rates are so reasonable. After work, I often stopped by my favorite bakery to pick up fresh baked date bread, rushed straight from the oven. I dropped off fabric, or picked up a tailored or dry cleaned shirt on one day, while on another, I dropped off or picked up leather shoes resoled by a cobbler. A trip to the central souk for camping supplies, to the auto parts souk on the edge of the city for Isuzu Trooper parts, or to the farmer's market to buy unripened dates were daily life entertainment unlike any such experience in the USA.

The Saudi's are not strong in terms of the fun life. The sword dance is a bore, and the repeated pattern of drinking tea, cleansing fingers in rose tinted water, and fingering dates was at best a desperate way to beat boredom on the weekends. Sometimes, a student would take me to outside of town where one can smoke a waterpipe and play cards. Nevetheless, our Saudi hosts were quite generous on many occasions, and we found through the cultural exchange activities sponsored by the Saudis an excuse to join with friends. My wife and I found even more stifling the artificial life among expatriotes imprisoned by their exclusive compounds on the edge of the city, and so in general we were grateful for having our domicile within a highrise in the city. At the front door, my wife hung her abaya, and within minutes we could easily take the elevator to the apartment building lobby and be wandering through the streets and air-conditioned malls of the wealthiest neighborhood in Riyadh.