Its day 6, Thursday and start of weekend here. I missed the last weekend cause I flew at start of India weekend and landed here, it was start of a business week. All said and done, what do you expect from a weekend in Riyadh. You dont have Theatres or Musicals here. You dont see concerts here, then what.
Well for starters a book fare is on at this point in Riyadh. Given my lack of knowledge of Arabic, that's ruled out. What else, shopping, well this is the only weekend I have here, so better go and shop. So after a good swim, heavy brunch, some mails and calls, we head out. What do we see as we are out, all shops are closed and its not even time for prayers. We think its just a specific markets weekly off, we enter another shopping complex and alas! even that is closed. We try to check with the guard, he tells us to come at 4:00 evening, thats when the shops will open. In this part given the extreme heat during after noon, shops close for most of the period between 11:30 to 4:00, and the remain open till 11:00 PM / Midnight. Offcourse baring prayer times.
In between from the hotel room could see glimpses of what could have been a sand storm, but there was no forecast of that. It was just a heavy wind which carried some sand across to the city. The sand had filled the air so much that sun was reduced to a status of moon. No light was there, scattered but there, but you could stare at the sun, without worrying about the glare.
So now we are back in hotel, some more mails and calls, and then we head out at 5:00 PM local time still getting the sand in nose and mouth. Shortly, we reach a mall, some shopping and shops start closing again, prayer time. We wait, walk out to our next destination and in between we see Cultural police patrols. Cultural police ensures that people follow local traditions, respect prayer time etc, but seldom say things to foreigners. Only 1 instance I know off, when they asked a expat women to cover head.
Now we had walked enough to reach the next super store, an waited outside for shutters to open. Few minutes and we all were in, scouting for laptops, which a colleague of mine wanted to have. Checked and decided to move to a hypermart. Called a taxi and reached the place in 20 mins. This hypermart looked as if a place for expats only. Very few locals, mostly expats and primarily form Asia and Subcontinent. You could find everything of your need here, right from all Indian brands to local ones as well.
Folks with me brought two laptops, and few toys. Remember we are in a country where there is no Duty. So you do not need to go to a specific duty free store. All stores are Duty Free. There are reasons beyond this that this part of the world is still not a preferred shopping destination. Back to shopping, all women here, even though expats were wearing an Abaya, thats mandatory. Some did not have heads covered, guess more to do with who is around.
Got late in shopping, headed to food court in complex, had food, took a taxi back and here we were back in hotel. Ready to sleep. Well in last few days I have been asked why no photographs. Well thats on advice of a friend and some other inputs. You are not supposed to click random photos in public places. Particularly not of Religious places or women. Now even if you are clicking a building and there are women pacing by and they get in frame (or someone feels, they get in frame) you could be in trouble. May be this is a bit exaggerated, but given the way laws are here, would like to stay out of trouble as much as possible. Lets see what Day 7 brings.
Well for starters a book fare is on at this point in Riyadh. Given my lack of knowledge of Arabic, that's ruled out. What else, shopping, well this is the only weekend I have here, so better go and shop. So after a good swim, heavy brunch, some mails and calls, we head out. What do we see as we are out, all shops are closed and its not even time for prayers. We think its just a specific markets weekly off, we enter another shopping complex and alas! even that is closed. We try to check with the guard, he tells us to come at 4:00 evening, thats when the shops will open. In this part given the extreme heat during after noon, shops close for most of the period between 11:30 to 4:00, and the remain open till 11:00 PM / Midnight. Offcourse baring prayer times.
In between from the hotel room could see glimpses of what could have been a sand storm, but there was no forecast of that. It was just a heavy wind which carried some sand across to the city. The sand had filled the air so much that sun was reduced to a status of moon. No light was there, scattered but there, but you could stare at the sun, without worrying about the glare.
So now we are back in hotel, some more mails and calls, and then we head out at 5:00 PM local time still getting the sand in nose and mouth. Shortly, we reach a mall, some shopping and shops start closing again, prayer time. We wait, walk out to our next destination and in between we see Cultural police patrols. Cultural police ensures that people follow local traditions, respect prayer time etc, but seldom say things to foreigners. Only 1 instance I know off, when they asked a expat women to cover head.
Now we had walked enough to reach the next super store, an waited outside for shutters to open. Few minutes and we all were in, scouting for laptops, which a colleague of mine wanted to have. Checked and decided to move to a hypermart. Called a taxi and reached the place in 20 mins. This hypermart looked as if a place for expats only. Very few locals, mostly expats and primarily form Asia and Subcontinent. You could find everything of your need here, right from all Indian brands to local ones as well.
Folks with me brought two laptops, and few toys. Remember we are in a country where there is no Duty. So you do not need to go to a specific duty free store. All stores are Duty Free. There are reasons beyond this that this part of the world is still not a preferred shopping destination. Back to shopping, all women here, even though expats were wearing an Abaya, thats mandatory. Some did not have heads covered, guess more to do with who is around.
Got late in shopping, headed to food court in complex, had food, took a taxi back and here we were back in hotel. Ready to sleep. Well in last few days I have been asked why no photographs. Well thats on advice of a friend and some other inputs. You are not supposed to click random photos in public places. Particularly not of Religious places or women. Now even if you are clicking a building and there are women pacing by and they get in frame (or someone feels, they get in frame) you could be in trouble. May be this is a bit exaggerated, but given the way laws are here, would like to stay out of trouble as much as possible. Lets see what Day 7 brings.
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