WHAT I LIKE ABOUT SAUDIA

ha ha ha...all falcons make sure u put on ur falcon hoods to have an excuse if needed

Musicman is totally right!
GMAIL rocks!!!

I dont know how I did it before I even had an Gmail account!!
Its brilliant!!!

Thanks Shahab for you answer about Jeddha.
I'm planning to visit a friend next month or June.
Inchallah I will get a Tourist Visa!!

gmail is ofcourse awesome...i m a BIG fan of google, so have tried almost all the things they offer. Gmail, if used with all its features is just great

thats why its called "G" Mail, G=GREAT

google wave rocks

evrything salman...have u tried out google goggles??

or,

google rocks the waves?

Alliecat, Nonz, Musicman and others

shahab.ali is 'others' 

ya thats wat i was thinkin....will have to meet Iona for that!

LOL

Interesting letter that appeared in the Arab News paper on Apr 10:-

Why not a Saudi vs. the Expats?

I read Somayya Jabarti’s article, “The case of World vs. Saudi” (April 8) and liked the style she uses to describe the difficulties the holders of a Saudi passport come across when visiting other countries.

It was humorous and it was a good effort. Well done and certainly different from the pieces I have read in the Arab News or other local English papers.

Now, with regards to the issues raised in the article, I’m afraid I have very little sympathy. I’m from England and am a lecturer at a university in the Kingdom. I came here with delusions of what it was to live in Saudi Arabia. To my astonishment, the amount of discrimination in this country beggars belief. I refer to the way many (but not all) Saudis deal with expatriates. Ironically, it is the same document that Jabarti refers to in her article — the passport — which is the source of discrimination. Your nationality determines the way you are treated, although physical appearance counts too. Although a British national, I look Pakistani  (my father went to the UK about 55 years ago, whilst I was born in London). When I start speaking in my clear English accent, attitudes suddenly change. When it is realized that I am British, attitude change for the better. Whilst I have the luxury of a Western nationality, which opens doors for me, I cannot help but feel the pain and suffering of those nationals who get the brunt of the discrimination. Why is there no equality?

I feel for the Bengalis, who probably deserve our highest respect for keeping the country clean, and I also feel sorry for those Filipino housemaids who bring up Saudi society’s next generation. What other miseries or injustices are untold? Expatriates who have been here for decades cannot even access government hospitals. Saudi Arabia had truly been built up from the ground by expatriates. We should have a national expatriates day in Saudi Arabia, in which Saudi Arabia makes a point of thanking all of the foreigners for what they have done. But...

What a shame.

I thank Jabarti. She would be doing a great service if she could write about the plight of the expatriates. Maybe she could call it Saudi vs. the Expats.

Although I do disagree with the way Saudis are treated overseas, I sometimes wonder whether they are getting a payback for the treatment here. I’m sure you are familiar with the phrase “you reap what you sow”.

Apologies for the harsh tone. Do not take it personally; I’m merely presenting some well-known facts that also need to be addressed in the same way.

Sohaib Sandhu, Madinah
Apr 10, 2010 23:10   Arab News

Link to Somayya Jabarti's "World vs Saudi" Feature story on Apr 8 2010:-

http://arabnews.com/opinion/columns/art … vice=print

I like the cheese.

Good point!  I like the different cheeses, too.  Also the fresh fruits and vegetables.  Not only are they so much cheaper than in the States, they are also fresher, I think. 

I come to this conclusion because when I buy potatoes, I can have them on my counter for a month or longer and they don't begin to shrivel or sprout 'eyes' like they do at home. Only thing I can figure is that the ones we get in the US have been warehoused for awhile while the ones we get here are straight out of the ground!

hey cat! i think u r wrong. once i was talkin about some fruit with a store keeper and he said they might be some months old as they get them from storage! so forget about getting them from ground or trees, say cheers to the storage companies...it rhymed!

Heres a great blog by Anita Joseph for info on KSA:-

http://anitabejoy.blogspot.com

enjoy, yummy yummy

i think u r wrong. once i was talkin about some fruit with a store keeper

ONCE .. you were talking with 'a' store keeper.. about 'some fruit' .. and you so readily say  I am wrong?!?!

Well I have my personal experience with my potatoes so I think I am RIGHT!

It may depend on stuff thats grown here and whats imported. The bananas that come in from South Aerica and Philippines are absolutely unpalatable when compared to what we pick off the tree back home in Sri Lanka where they grow wild and free using only natural fertilizer, the gloruouis rains, and free warm tropical sunshine. Thety are also green colored skin when ripe and not yellow.

We also have the red colored skin variety which is rare and expensive but has a distinct taste totally different from the rest. I have never, yet, seen them here. In addition we also have a wide range of other smaller varieties which are all yellow skinned and also taste different.

ya musicman, thats not imported here. the ones u r talking about is thin skinned and get rotten very quick...the ones we get here, the imported ones, have a very hard skin and coz of that u dont even find the black spots unlike the ones u have at ur hometown.

i also believe that they use a man-made form of ripening the fruit rather than alowing it to ripe by itself in order to rake in the shekels as quickly as possible.

so sad, indeed.

we sure enjoyed the delicacies of all varieties of fruit straight off the tree back home in the 60s.

ya...even now in our counties, they are using some kinda camphor to ripen the fruits....only colour, no taste

AHEM.  Start your own thread about fruit ripening

not a bad idea at all. everyone loves a peach....

Love a peachy peach

spot on man, ray, you sure know weast you r talking abt
a man who does not live by fruit alone....
heh heh

Jeez... your peach talk killed my thread!!!!!!

try mouth to mouth resuscitation....

I mean Hell-oooooooo    ya guys have raped the topic


What i like abt Saudi is ,u get to meet wonderful girls like Allie and CAf and few more

Psychiatrists claim that both partes are victims in a rape situation...

i wanna say something... but dont know whether to say or not

maybe you should consult your lawyer, shahab?

Or check with the ADMIN

maybe you should consult your lawyer, shahab?

nah...it was bad...no need to consult anyone...

I always appreciate the Donation custom of saudis and i love Ramdhan over here.Malls r open for late and many of needy people get free aftari

The only thing about Ramadan that makes me sad is that the locals turn the night into day and vice versa which defeats the whole purpose of observing the fast during normal working hours and resting at night.

Some of the locals compare how much weight that they have put on over Ramadan by sleeping all day and eating all night. Sad.

Hi All,
I enjoyed your posts of the "good side" of living in the Kingdom.  Now, I can't wait to set foot on "saudi soil".  Should be there before June, just waiting for my visa.  Does anyone live in Dammam, I will be nursing there, and I am curious what Dammam is like.  Thanks very much.

sleeping all day and eating all night

Kinda kills the point of the whole thing.

Hi Cynthia, I hope that you enjoy your stay in KSA. I do not know if you will get any response from here, this is the Riyadh forum.
Good luck.
Dave

From everything I've heard, Damman is much less conservative than Riyadh, so that's a BIG plus for you, Cynthia.  Also, quite close to Bahrain so you can easily have weekend 'get-aways.'

Wish I was in Damman, too

lol