½ûÂþÌìÌÃ

Welcome to KSA

For hotels the location is going to very important..If you travelling by yourself avoid the hotels in the computer market area..the area is somewhat dominated by single men.

There is a Tulip on Mather Road in Nasiraya Area in Riyadh which is decent. If you want to know about other hotels give me a shout.There are plenty of decent and safe hotels in Riyadh.

Gyms in hotels are available, you wont have any problems. (intercontinental hotel gym is recommended by a few ladies)

Scarf - not compulsory, but most (not everyone) does wear them, it will be looked on favourably if you do wear a scarf. (Most business, govt agencies are male dominated.)

Do not offer to shake hands...if someone does offer accept (very unlikely, but there is a small possibility)

You will be expected to wear a black abaya to all meetings.

Generally, its a very male dominated business meeting, very few ladies will attend or lead meeting.

Leave chit chat out or to a very minimum level.

House parties are possible, but local saudi's prefer segregation and actually are very private people.

Going to malls alone is no problem, you will see many women at malls. (most malls do not allow single men to enter) so your very safe.

Secretaries in Saudi are generally (not all but 90% plus) men. Im sure you would prefer a female and for your short-term work here im sure you will get some offers from people fromthis forum.

Anything else please feel free to ask.

serife wrote:

Dear all,
i am coming to Saudi Arabia next week and will be staying 5-6 months in Riyadh and Al Khobar.
I am working for an international magazine and will be doing a project for KSA.
I have lots of questions and i would be happy if you can help me out.

***I will be staying in a hotel so im wondering if you know whats  the best apart hotel? i have checked TULIP hotels and they dont look too bad.

*** Can i go to gym in the hotels? i am gym freak and would love to join one in the 5 star hotels? please let me know if you know any pilates studios or gyms?

*** do i have to wear a scarf? i will be having millions of business meetings with government officials and large companies. what are the dos and donts,  i dont want to upset anyone. Shall i shake hands or not? Shall i wear a scarf to cover my head or i can leave it out? how much chit chat is acceptable and how are they doing business with women?

*** of course, parties? are there nice house parties ?

*** malls, would i be safe going to malls alone?

thanks a million


serife

merhaba serife,

in al-khobar it changes slightly.

you will be free not to wear a scarf and nobody except for the mutawwa will ask you to wear one (and you can safely ignore them). While in a business meeting you "can", depending on the other party, offer a hand shake.

One usefull piece of advise. If you are going to stay 5-6 months in the kingdom, better ensure that you get a multiple exit-re entry business visa. you will be able to get out of this place if you feel the need to, say, wear normal clothes, get a drink, talk freely with all people (men & women alike) on a weekend or so.

cheers
Vicks

ps : can i ask you where in Turkey are you from ? we spent 3 weeks in 2010 driving around turkey (al the places except north east & black sea region bcos we didn't have enough time) and simply loved the country

Khobar is a bit more better when compared to riyadh. and I think Vicks and SaudiUK have given a good idea on verything. I dont know if there is anything for me to add here.

Welcome to Riyadh. Hope you enjoy your stay here. I am sure many of the ladies on this forum would love to assist you in your project?

The Tulip Chain of Hotels are quite good. The most convenient, in terms of access and travel, in Riyadh would be the one located off Olaya Road. In AlKhobar the Golden Tulip is a wonderful place to stay.

Contact Mr.RAGHEB SLEEM, Sales Manager, Golden Tulip AlKhobar, who will do the needful for your requirements.
Tel: +966 3 889 3222, OR +966 3 889 7816

Hi Serife, welcome to the blog and soon to Saudi Arabia.... hope u get into right people and right contacts to smoothen ur project.

and MM, y only ladies?? even i m willing and interested in helping her for the magazine, it was always my interest (in media)... and wats with ur dp sir??

u can stay in  rented Apartments and cook ur own food.

@nabeel, not a good idea

i have 6 months multiple entry visa

Hello Serife,

Welcome to the blog, its good that you found this place, we'll make sure that we make ur stay comfortable.

I think you got almost all the answers to your queries just wanted to add that in Riyadh, there are a couple of female only hotels here as well, with gym, spa and other femaly things
As normally all good hotels (except Faisaliah) have a crappy exercise room for female and they aren't given access to the main gym (for men only)

But if you stay at Golden Tulip Nasariyah, there is a beautiful spa nearby with all facilities by the name of Yibreen Spa, in anycase wherever u stay, there are lots of separate female gyms around let us know the stay location and we'll advice you where to go.

Regarding meetings, there is no such thing as male dominated female meetings, all big companies have also female working at high ranks and even if it is male you can proceed with them as you would anywhere else. They are all well educated.

But the abaya is a must wear everywhere once you move around the city. 

Once you are here, I can arrange female assistant for you as have couple of friends (Arab's) who are recent graduates with some magazine experience and can probably introduce them to u. or pm me your email and i will ask them to send their resumes.

looking forward to see u soon

Hi serife,

Welcome to Saudi Arabia. Sly has shared very good points which would be very helpful if you followed them.

There are a wealth of restaurants here which you may like to try in case you are a foodie. The best chinese in the city is Noodle house on Olaya. I remembered that clearly coz I am still feelings the pinch on my wallet since our last visit there.

Would be better if you can get a driver to take you around the city.

Do let us know about your experiences here.

Ciao

@sly...

@serife:

Alright since riyadh is more or less covered, I can give you some insight about Khobar.

Khoabr, the Golden Tulip has some of the best places to stay at even for a single female. The gym is pretty decent nothing fancy. the other option that  would suggest is the Le meridian, its a bit more pricier when compared to the tulip.

You are writing about the Oil and gas sector. I think I have a fairly good idea of the companies that you are looking at and since i deal with them on a daily basis, I have to tell you "All the best". you will meet Saudi bureaucracy alright!

for the driver, not sure if Budget and other rent-a-car companies provide the service, but that I do know some companies that do at least in this side of th country. i can send it over to you as well.

Well I hope that this is helpful, as you can see from the above, lots of guys here who know some stuff willing to help..

cheers!

I think everything was pretty much covered by the previous posts. All I can say is welcome to the community and I hope you will enjoy your stay here in KSA, when you start your 6 month activity. Cheers.

regarding the driver if you still need one let me know ill message you the info. I use a private car service  thats available 24 hours. There is a lot of these around. Its not dirt cheap like you can get by haggling with some of the local marked taxi's but its clean, the cars are new, and the guys speak ok english. I am from the U.S. and I know some other western expats who use the same service. 

Goodluck in Riyadh cya

Hi there

We can give you the name of our driver twenty years in Riyadh and he drives for other single women here

I worked on the sheraton hotel in Antalya many years ago.

Welcome to riyadh

hope your project goes well

Merhaba Şerife,

Ben Riyad'da Türk ortaklı büyük bir inşaat firmasında kalite kontrol müdürü olarak görev yapıyorum. Geldiğinde ararsan hem görüşÃ¼rüz, hem de sana elimden geldiğince yardımcı olmaya çalışırım. İstediğin zaman çekinmeden ara lütfen..

Sevgiler,

İbrahim ERDOĞAN
İnşaat Yük.Müh.

+966 55 631 0760
erdogani2004@yahoo.com
ibrahim.erdogan.afg (skype)
Ibrahim Erdogan, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (facebook)

@erdogani: English please...

Hi erdogani2004,

Can you please write in English in this English forum.

Thank you,
Christine

The best option for commuting is to use your official company driver and vehicle, in my view.

Dear Christine,

I just replied a Turkish girl's mail in our own language, Turkish.. Apologies if the rules called for English..

Thanks for your tolerance,

Ibrahim

Hello Sherife,

I am currently working as the Quality Control Manager in a big construction company that has Turkish partners, in Riyadh. If you just give me a call while you are here, i could try my best to help you. You may call anytime, with no hesitation, please..

All the best,

Ibrahim ERDOGAN
Civil Engineer, M.Sc.

+966 55 631 0760
erdogani2004@yahoo.com
ibrahim.erdogan.afg (skype)
Ibrahim Erdogan, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (facebook)

erdogani2004 wrote:

Hello Sherife,

I am currently working as the Quality Control Manager in a big construction company that has Turkish partners, in Riyadh. If you just give me a call while you are here, i could try my best to help you. You may call anytime, with no hesitation, please..

All the best,

Ibrahim ERDOGAN
Civil Engineer, M.Sc.

+966 55 631 0760
erdogani2004@yahoo.com
ibrahim.erdogan.afg (skype)
Ibrahim Erdogan, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (facebook)

OMG!!! ya forget to mention your MsN Id

@nonz: he is trying is level best..

nonz wrote:

erdogani2004 wrote:

Hello Sherife,

I am currently working as the Quality Control Manager in a big construction company that has Turkish partners, in Riyadh. If you just give me a call while you are here, i could try my best to help you. You may call anytime, with no hesitation, please..

All the best,

Ibrahim ERDOGAN
Civil Engineer, M.Sc.

+966 55 631 0760
erdogani2004@yahoo.com
ibrahim.erdogan.afg (skype)
Ibrahim Erdogan, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (facebook)

OMG!!! ya forget to mention your MsN Id

how about gmail, aol, ?

And his Iqama number!

well, with that we could still check out how many traffic fines he has to pay....

I didnt know I had so many fans here!!.. feeling touched.. )

we dont use fans or typewriters in Riyadh anymore
Just AC's and Laptops only

please concentrate on the topic.

Thank you for your comprehension.

OK Chris, was just trying to get into the Easter Bunny mode

Dear Serife,
HANCO Rental provides Nationwide rentals with drivers who are know the city inside out.
hanco-ksa.com/
Go to Services
Followed by Chauffeur Driven Vehicles.
Good Luck

SaQiB wrote:

Dear Serife,
HANCO Rental provides Nationwide rentals with drivers who are know the city inside out.
hanco-ksa.com/
Go to Services
Followed by Chauffeur Driven Vehicles.
Good Luck

you can even choose the age of your Chauffeur looooool

musicman wrote:

OK Chris, was just trying to get into the Easter Bunny mode

Hmmmm gettin cozy eh? MM? ;D

Not gender, I guess?

We moved several off topic posts.

Christine wrote:

We moved several off topic posts.

Mod shake up?
Hey you admins..Please don't get offended by our so called "offtopic" statments.
I always try to bring em on for amusement... and to make the forum colourful, afterall it is a social forum not an e-services website.

I was not expecting such remarks from an experienced admin like yourself...you should respect the diversity of our opinions as we are all different and will likely to differ and your job is to make sure all of us get along well...
Offending people is sometimes part of the fun in social forums as it brings the devil out of the people and they can take it on here and relaxe.

With my hand on David Beckham's pants, I hope that you will not get offended and try to defend...

Good luck sweetie

Well, the mods and I are not offended. But the topic initiator (serife) might be frustrated by the number of off topic responses.

it actually just happened this week-end with a discussion called "British girl in Riyadh". Can you remember that one ? It went so off topic that the initiator (a new member) was very upset and asked us to delete the thread !

Well, ½ûÂþÌìÌà is for everyone. Old members, and new members as well.

It's not a matter of offence, it's just a matter of being nice with new members they need help and that's just what ½ûÂþÌìÌà is done for

I'll just add "please don't blame the mods, we are doing our best to serve the (whole) community"