Photos from the Riyadh region of Saudi Arabia

A relatively quick trip in Riyadh yielded some great times amongst the many museums and amazing buildings found through the city. Riyadh is very busy with a lot of daytime traffic and tons of people bustling around after the sun goes down. It was dry and relatively chilly at mid to low forties at night and mid seventies in the day. People were very friendly and always a bit excited when I said I was American. Tourism hasn’t fully bloomed in KSA and certainly not in Riyadh yet (compared to their neighbors). The whole Vision 2030 is very palpable in Riyadh, between the giant and extensive posters and advertisements to the thousands of giant cranes building the future cities. The new King is extremely well liked, it seems, and for good reason. The country is now essentially modernized (85% of the population lives in metro centers). Examples are a brand new world’s first of its kind huge metro system (just opened December 1st) and a multitude of new women’s rights, in addition to a whole lot more things that the West and most countries consider normal. From my observation, I would say that women drivers are about 1 to every 4 men. I would say this is a huge succes since it’s only been 5 years since Salman signed it into law.

Perhaps strangely, Saudi Arabia felt like a much more normal country when compared to Qatar and the UAE. These two countries felt pretty fake, or like giant theme parks. Everybody and everything exuded huge wealth, except the workers/laborers, of which constitute 88.5% of the United Arab Emirates population and the same for Qatar population. This seems a strange way to run a country and it’s very palpable on the ground. Except for the many luxurious areas of Dubai/Abu Dhabi, every neighborhood will be either: Indian, Filipino, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Egyptian, and Nepalis with many Sub Saharan Africans nationals spread about, with no local nationals.

The best part is that these neighborhoods offer interesting glimpses into each respective cultures food and ways of living. Besides the beautiful buildings and architecture, this melting pot of people groups is certainly the highlight of Dubai/Emirates. Qatar is similar but smaller.

I’ll do a write up on Oman in a separate post. I loved this country so much and it deserves some critical reminiscencing and analysis of its own.

As for KSA- Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, for me, things felt “normal” there due to much of the population being Arab/Saudi and ordinary people driving ordinary cars. For the record, the foreign work force constitutes 75% of the population of KSA, but they largely work outside the cities in the country’s vast oil and mining operations. Riyadh is clearly just a giant city in which almost a third of the cities jobs and factories are located. It’s the financial, administrative and political hub of the country. To the west of the city are vast networks of wadis (river valleys) and oases that make up the upscale part of the city. This area also includes the old palaces and various unesco sites.

Most importantly, Riyadh can be very proud of itself for producing the closest burger and fries interpretation to In N Out that I have ever found, hands down. In N Out was clearly their inspiration because the menu, ambiance and the food was just about 95% In N Out. I treated it as a a gift from God. The spot is called… The California Burger.

For now that’s a recall of KSA and UAE.

Photos to follow.