An explanation

So here I am in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  I had not intended starting another blog,  however enough loyal readers asked me to continue (one even suggested blackmail) that I decided to start a completely separate blog.  The plan is to eventually return to my original blog and recommence the journey.

Why Riyadh?  If you've been following the other blog for some time you will recall "Big Bad Ben" ran off with a sizeable portion of our money so when I was approached about a position in Saudi Arabia it seemed a good way of recovering our financial loss.

What am I doing here?  I was approached by a Saudi/Western joint venture to assist them start up a new enterprise.

I don't plan to write much about the job.  Rather, I'll attempt to give you an insight into life in Riyadh as a foreigner.  Of course Saudi Arabia is a strict islamic country having two of the most holy sites within it's borders.  But I don't want to get ahead of myself.

It's very difficult to enter Saudi Arabia.  There are almost no non islamic tourists.  Most foreigners either enter on a working or business visa.  It's harder to get the former so I've entered on a business visa.  This cost me 210 pounds.  I then needed to purchase a return air ticket.  Note; you can't enter the country without a return ticket (even if you have a visa).  Two airlines fly direct from UK to Riyadh.  BA and Saudia.  A return ticket with BA was 1100 and with Saudia 320.  Naturally I chose to commence my alcohol free experience 7 hours early and go with Saudia.  I'd done my risk assessment identifying that Saudia have a modern fleet and my aircraft was a reasonably new Boeing 777ER.  I had pre-selected by seat during the booking but upon boarding the aircraft found it already occupied by a Saudi.  Nothing unusual in that as Saudi's have a tendency to ignore most rules (more on that later).  This time I was able to convince the young Saudi male he was in the wrong seat and he moved with out much of an argument.  The flight was 7 hours and a nice evening meal was provided.  I washed it down with a couple of cans of cold lager. Was given a carrot and orange juice drink to go with the fish & rice.  The landing reminded me of my arrival in Tehran.  As soon as the wheels touched the runway a couple of black ghouls flitted past rapidly heading to the airbridge exit at the front of the aircraft.  Then everyone goes frantic hauling huge cases full of illicit burbon and scotch out of the overheadlockers .

I'd previously read Saudi immigration can be a problem with the officials just wandering off or ignoring those arriving on visa's.  Particularly the foreign workers from Pakistan, India and SE Asia.  Apparently the trick is to use your ignorance and higher status as a western to "jump the queue".  Behind the returning Saudi's of course!  What actually happened was there wasn't much of a queue and the Saudi Immigration officials were rapidly processing incoming passengers.  Perhaps it was the fact that we were the only incoming flight at that time and mostly the passengers were returning Saudi's.  Or perhaps it was the lack of migrant workers?

I was well prepared for the customs check.  One suggestion I had read was the officials were most reluctant to rummage though any suitcases containing dirty underwear.  You can read into that what you like!  Having been prepared for a detailed grilling about alcohol, drugs, girlie mags, etc it was a bit of a disappointment for my suitcase to be tossed onto the conveyor belt and go through the x-ray machine whilst the staff stood around talking rather than look at the screen.  Perhaps I look honest?

The 5.00am arrival meant traffic into Riyadh was light and I arrived at the furnished apartment booked for me in good time.  I rather wanted to get my head down having got almost no sleep on the aircraft.  Unfortunately I had anticipated the Saudi's would want me to start work.  The company driver who had collected me from the airport told me I would he collected at 8.00am.  At 9.30 I phoned to ask about my collection only to be advised I'd be collected at 11.00.  the driver arrived at 12.00.  Welcome to Saudi time!

It's about 400 metres from the apartment to the office but in a car the distance is more like a kilometre.  I saw three vehicle accidents on the way.  But more on driving habits in a later post.

Congratulations on finding me.  But please don't post anything here or on your own blog (if you have one) that will link this blog to our original.  The plan is for this blog to be anonymous providing a humorous insight into Saudi life from an outsiders perspective.