R i Y A D H -- 2 (Last Part)

Part 2 (Last part)

As the background is set now, let me pen down some more experiences –

5) Mamlaka & Fasiliyah

These are the 2 tall buildings which happen to be the only places of interest in the city. Mamlaka (also called as Kingdom Tower) is a beautiful piece of construction and you can go to the skybridge on 99^th floor. Really cool view you get from there. (Link). Nothing special in Faisiliyah though.

6) Muttawa

I had found some company to roam around in the city when 2 guys joined in @ client’s office. They were staying in the same hotel where I was put up. We were a good team and used to go for dinner every day at a mallu restaurant. On a Friday, we decided to head to an area called Batha. This is Hongkong lane (Pune) + Chor Bazaar (Pune) + Fashion Street (Mumbai) type area wherein you can get really cheap deals but obviously without guarantee / warranty.

Time was 6:25pm and all the shops were closed for evening prayers. Like hundreds of people, we were also sitting on steps outside that row of shops. Suddenly, everybody started running around. Ultimate chaos within 2 minutes!

We realized that we were the only 3 guys sitting on those steps. ‘n Whoaaaaa… We saw a guy in Arabic robe and with a thick stick (Small but thick Bamboo) in his hand running towards us. Damn… I think it was the scariest moment of my life! We ran like we were running for a gold medal in Olympics. That Arabic guy was only a few feet away from me. After covering a few feet, I think that Arabic guy found some better target and he went behind him. Phewwww…

Now some bit of information – Who was that Arabic guy? Google has answers of all questions which probably God also doesn’t have! Answer I got – “Muttawa”. They are religious police. Lots of stories are available on net. I’m not sure how true they are. But I suggest you to go through this Wiki Link. to get a hang of it.

7) Settling in KSA

There was a Tamilian guy in client’s team but he was working in KSA for almost 8 years. He had picked up Arabic really well. One day I asked him about his family over the lunch.He said he had not brought his family in KSA and all his folks were in Chennai. I thought it could’ve been easier for his family to adjust in Saudi as he is a Muslim. He told me about the safety factor. Apparently there are a lot of incidents happening wherein families are attacked by people there and they do not get justice from police force as well.

This is all what I’ve heard and I do not undertake any responsibility for correctness of these statements. But I suggest you to take a look at an article that was published in Arabnews.

8) Airport woes @ KKIA

Riyadh’s King Khaled International Airport is country’s one of the main airports in the country and is well connected to main cities in Asia, Africa, Europe. But surprisingly Asians face a lot of problems in immigration queue while flying in the country. Immigration time of 2-6 hours is not a new thing there for Asians. Asians standing in queues where no officers turn up for 2-3 hours is also a common thing! Amazingly, this doesn’t happen with Europeans, Australians, Americans, Nationals of Middle eastern countries. Anyway, this is my view and I COULD BE COMPLETELY WRONG as well.

Well, that’s it guys from my side. Hope you enjoyed reading this second part as well. I’ll be waiting for your comments.

Salaama..!

- Jadeeb