Travel to Saudi Arabia

I've been asked to travel to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for business. My employer has left the choice up to me and made it clear that I can say no to this engagement. Does anyone have any advice or suggestions to offer?

I've read the American and Belgian travel advisories on Saudi Arabia, and they aren't terribly encouraging. But it'd be a unique experience, I'm sure. Of course, if I only ever see the airport, the hotel, and the client site and don't venture anywhere else for security reasons, that wouldn't be terribly exciting either.

Thanks!

If you can understand German have a look at this site. http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/diplo/de/La...itshinweis.html

Germans are encouraged to register with the German embassy in Riad and there is some risk of terrorism.

Earlier assaults were focused on western targets - luxurious residencies, single associates of companies and the last in Dec 2004 on the US-consulate in Djidda.

German:
Frühere Anschläge haben sich gegen westliche Ziele - luxuriöse Wohnanlagen, einzelne Mitarbeiter von Unternehmen und zuletzt im Dezember 2004 das US-Generalkonsulat in Djidda
Allen Deutschen, die nach Saudi-Arabien reisen oder sich dort aufhalten, wird dringend empfohlen, sich bei der Deutschen Botschaft in Riad zu registrieren

I wouldn't go there.

More Info on http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_932.html

Qoute (Lonely Planet)

Foreigners Targeted

Following attacks on foreigners, western governments are warning against non-essential travel to Saudi Arabia. If you are staying in the country, avoid public places where Westerners are known to congregate, ensure that your hotel has a good reputation for maintaining high security precautions and stay abreast of travel advisory updates.

Can't resist this but - don't be a prijk - safety first, turn it down.

HELL NO!!! Especially if you have a spouse and kids. No job is worth it. Save you "travel experiences" for countries where they don't want to kill you simply because you are from the West.

My husband (German) has spent some time consulting in Saudi Arabia over the last 2 years.
If you're interested in discussing PM me and we'll set up a call.

been there loads of times...safe, marriot hotel is nice...normally you paid paid shed loads for being there

depends on how long, for a few days then fine, but a long period of time. I had a buddy that lived in Rihad, taught at the school there, but moved back to Canada after they were bombed at the school and his home 2 times in 6 months. And that was on the expat compound.

It cant be any worse than a Saturday night in Stoke.

I have enjoyed suffered two business trips to Venezuela - Caracas and I reckon nowhere else is as bad as there!

ok I answered on here and sent you a pm...sorry being a prat but an answer to advice given would have been nice

I wouldnt go there any more and I lived there 5 years.

Thanks for the advice everybody. The details of the engagement haven't been nailed down yet, so can't even say for sure it'll happen anyway. It'd only be a week or two, and I'm leaning towards going. I'm young and single. I called my parents and my Dad told me that if he were my age and in my situation, he'd go. So we shall see.

I apologize for not responding between 10:30 and 11:30 last night, but I was already asleep. I did fully intend to post again, even before the flurry of responses last night, but I'm on the road and was still letting the situation play through my head.

Cheers!
Pete

I was provisionally offered a job last year in Saudi and actually met with representatives of the Air Force and the company that was providing people to the Saudis.

Both working and living conditions and expectations of how i was allowed to act were discussed in depth.

Apart from the fact that i was told that under no circumstances should i ever leave the ExPat campus alone and that i should vary routes used it just seemed like i would be living in a prison camp, a very plush prison camp but prison neverthless. Suffice to say i didn't go further with the plan.

If it's only for a couple of weeks, and the Auswärtiges Amt doesn't advise against going, then I'd say: go for it. It's unlikely anything will happen, and you could be unlucky anywhere in the world. I'd say it'll be an interesting experience at the least. If I had the chance, I would definitely go

Yeah, I think you should def. go.

I'm actually heading down to Riyadh too in a few weeks as well, training some doctors at a military hospital there. I never thought of not going I have to admit.

Just go otherwise you will live to regret it.

I was 2 years in Beirut (just after the cival war) and another 2 years in Kuwait (just after the iraq war) and although I experienced events that made you wonder what the f*** are you doing there it was a truly amazing experience that I never regretted.

Just keep a low profile, dont drink outside the camps and you will be alright...hopefully!

No experience of the mid East but suffered a similar decision when offered the chance to go to India for 6 months with work. The basic problem is everywhere looks dangerous when compared to Munich, but despite what you read in the press (who report exclusively what is going wrong) most people throughout the world are decent, kind and generous. Be informed, find out what the risks are, take precautions against them, if there's a risk that you cannot adequately control then don't go, stay alert when you're there and sensitive to local traditions & customs, but if I were young, free & single I'd go.

If that's not enough for you then someone was advertising work in Afghanistan too (although US$700 per day is a shit wage, some people here earn more than that).

go for it. People always make it sound worse than it actually is

Well Mr Rat, have you any direct Middle East experience?

When I left in '99 the atmosphere was getting shitty. The friendliness of the Arabs I knew was disappearing. I actually swam for charity on the Oasis compound where the Khobar massacre took place, and the restrictions to get into places were getting too irritating.

If you go first advice is ask an expat where to join the Riyadh Rovers to get into the desert to see real Arabia. I travelled a lot there in the late 90s in my 4WD Lada Niva. If you get the chance and it is safe, camping in the Arabian desert - and I camped out hundreds of times - is an amazing experience.

hmm.. in one sentence you say its super dangerous, and in the next you say he should get out into the desert and meet some real Arabs..

Nope, it sounds like he will go. Good luck to him.

If he IS going to go then I'd recommend getting out of Riyadh. Far more interesting.

Worked there for a couple of years in the late 90s. If it's only for a week or so then I'd say go, you may not get the chance again.

Well, flight is booked and passport is at the Saudi embassy getting stamped. Wish me luck.

Bon voyage and good luck!

Have a great time, take care, report back!

Enjoy and have a safe trip.

Good luck, chances are it will be interesting...

Edit: Start a blog, let us know where.

Already have the blog, but don't think I'll be posting any updates while in SA. Will probably opt for the big update when I get back approach.

Website link is in profile, if you really want to know where.

I'll also post here after I return. Thanks everyone.

Try to do daily updates. I did this while I was in India for half of last year and never regretted it, and at the time it provided a way of trying to rationalise the weird stuff happening around me. The Mrs even turned my blog entries and photos into a book which is a fantastic souvenir.

Do not bring along any CDs, books or magazines with any women pictures inside. They will be confiscated at the customs.

definitely go, but if you are female please be aware that you must cover your hair, and you cannot drive any vehicles.

Thats generally true in any country

Hahah nice one about the driving Beg Tets. But what is the sotry about religion and covering of the hair, we even have at as Christians, in the way that nuns are forced to cover up. Is there something alluring about the sight of a head of hair that I'm missing and from which men must be protected?

Females can not enter Saudi without accompanied by their husband or father.

Yes, This is conservative Islam religion.it is not nice to show your hair to men outside of your family. It is belived that it will create some sexual tension.

@sharpe:
females can enter the country alone but they need to met at the airport by their husband or sponsor (family member or work colleague)
Perhaps this is also what you meant? (I didn't want the impression out there that no females are allowed to land in Saudi Arabia solo)

well, solo females can not enter country. and last time i checked out only 1st degree relatives could accompany. meanwhile women can not work in saudi (unless it is a totally women staffed office)

This type of Visa I'm getting is very clearly marked as For Men Only. I also had to fill in my religion on the application form. And the passport picture was not allowed to have any jewelry of any kind.

Also, I agreed, in signing the application, that I would not bring any alcohol, drugs, pornography, or religious or political pamphlets with me, whether for my one use or for distribution to others. Fair enough, it's their country. I plan to travel light...

sharpe: then how do the thousands of female Filipino maids and nannies enter the country each year? Surely not everyone is accompanied by a blood male relative?
They are also working in mixed male and female environments on a daily basis in the household.
Ditto for women employed by ARAMCO. I doubt they each travel to Saudi with a male relative and the office is mixed male/female - it's not segregated (my husband was there and witnessed this. Saudi women were in meetings with men and uncovered, no veil)

can only talk based on my experience, i am working for an american company. we have around 100 people working in the riyadh office, all men. not sure about nannies, did not see any. most of the fillipino, indian etc. that works there are men, not women.(in dubai yes, in saudi no). our women employees could not get visa unless accompanied by husband or father. during my time the only woman i saw in riyadh that did not cover her head was an american officer in a jeep (driven by a man). foreigners moslty live in compounds protected by army, where u can do whatever u want, even produce your own beer if u have the necessary devices. When i asked local Saudis working for us, they told me there is no way a woman can enter a metting with man (in the same room)

@sharpe...Sunny is right. U are allowed to the country as a woman, but need to met at the airport , or point of entry, by your sponsor, or someone representing your sponsor.

My experience has been that as a woman visiting Saudi, u have a harder time than being a male.

I was living in Al Khobar, practically on the Bahrain border, and thankfully mutawa (religious police) were not as hard on us as in Riyahd for example. We were also lucky that we were not frowned upon when not wearing headgear, however for safety sake you always had to have your scarfe with you, in case someone protested against it.

There are MANY female expat workers in Saudi, especially nurses.

Before we left for the Kngdom, we were informed nto to wear any jewelry with "religious conotations", e.g cross pendants, or cross earrings. also no bibles allowed to be taken in, but many just covered theirs with the outer cover of a paperback novel.

the worst for me was when we had to hand over our passports to our employer, in order to become an iqama, kind of a pass. We did not get our passports back until we were ready to board the plane out of the kingdom.

Oops. I just called my contact in Riyadh to ask him a question, having totally forgotten that it's currently their weekend. He was cool about it, but I feel bad.

I think the cultural differences are going to be a bit bigger than those being discussed in the American Women dating German Men thread.

some books I found helpful in understanding the region: "Don't They Know it's Friday?" (sounds appropriate for you )
and "The Merchants" ...
the first is practical cross cultural/business tips and the other is more of a history of the Arabian Gulf.

Well, I have returned. It was an experience, for sure. Can't really say that I'd like to go back, though.

Think I could use a beer tonight, though.

Prijks tell us what you noticed. Did you notice how the plane goes silent just as everyone descends to land? Not so liberal anymore!

The anual repat flight from Riyadh to London in summer was always an experience as you'd see the full covered women who got on the plane getting off wearing fancy jeans and expensive perfumes.


Klein1 Where in Khobar were you?

I lived on KFUPM campus near to the US consulate and Aramco.

Dhahran is much easier going than Riyadh.

"I was there when Saddam launched his Scuds
And when Khobar Towers blew,
But once you've ridden in a yellow cab
There's nothing can frightene you."

So was my advice on the phone usefull

Very useful, thanks. Primarily, it helped ease my anxiety, which probably made the trip tons easier on me. But specific bits helped as well, such as watching out for family time in stores and such.

I got home at 7 am this morning, and only managed about two hours of sleep on the plane, so I'm gonna go take a nap real quick here. I'll add more later, but here are some of my impressions of Riyadh:

• Some neat architecture
• Friendly people
• Not terribly hot, but way too dry (I got lucky temperature-wise)
• Not much to do other than shop and look at the fancy buildings
• I did not like having not a single interaction with a woman for five days
• Frustrating business culture

glad it went well

sorry, only just noticed


er, yes

Where BR?

Prijks, you can live a "normal" life and see loads of women if you enter a´ny Western compound, some even have bars hidden away on them.

hmmmm...so I'm told. Wouldnt know anything about those dens of iniquity no not me.