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SeaDimis

Hallo to everybody
I'm waiting for my visa and then i will be at Jeddah, probably next month. I read the forum in the last two months in order to collect information's about KSA and it is very useful. Keep the good job (and be happy)
I have some questions to make.

I like to bring with me an external hard disk with mp3, books in pdf format, movies, some software, photos of my family and other photos to process (portraits, landscape, sports etc, i'm a fanatic photographer)and of course my personal data. Also a lot of books in epub format in my ebook reader.Any problem with anything from the above ???. 

I read that the voltage is 110/220V, that means that usually are both types available or on of them ???

Is mouth rinse (Alcohol free) available at KSA ? Do i have to  bring an electric toothbrush with me or it is easy ti find one in KSA ?

What are the prices for photo equipment compare to Europe ??

I love photography, table tennis, diving and fishing (deep sea or trolling for tunas, swordfish etc)  and i'm looking forward to meet people with similar hobbies

Thank you in advance

Dave-KSA

Welcome (you never told us your name),

I couldn't answer any of your photography questions but I can tell you that the voltage here is 220-240 everywhere in the country.  Most appliances/electronic devices made within the past 2 or 3 years have built-in in-line transformers in them to handle 110-240 volt. If you have an older appliance/alectronic device, there might be a manual switch-button on the back of it to switch power as you go from country to country.  A good rule of thumb is, if your appliance/electronic device doesn't have the ability to transform the voltage itself or a switch to change it (110 to 240), then don;t bring it with you, as you won't be able to use it. Of course I'm referring to items that you are using in a 110-volt country now.  I brought a set of laptop speakers with me to KSA and I forgot that they were 110 volt and I immediately fried them as soon as I plugged them into the outlet. As it turned out, there was a switch on the back of them to change the voltage but I forgot about the voltage difference.  The mouth wash (rinse) is available here. Of course, it's non-alcoholic or else I would have been drinking it already.  Take care and maintain your positive attitude. This is a good place to engage in hobbies that you never had time for, before you came here.

SeaDimis

Thank you Jizan, my name is Dimitris. Sorry for the delay, i was confused about the voltage because in several blogs that both 110 or 220v is used.
Any information from someone about my question for the files that I'm thinking to bring with me ??

TexasPilot

Dimitris, it all depends on where you're going to live. I lived in a hotel (Holiday Inn) until a couple of months ago and it's all 110 volts AC. The country is old so you'll find everything and anything depending on when the building was constructed.

Regarding buying electronics, when you arrive in Jeddah ask any taxi driver to take you to the Corniche and if you can't find it there then it doesn't exist! Those Indians will tell you to wait a second while they go to someone else's store and get you what you need.

TexasPilot

I forgot to address your other questions. I don't know how prices compare with Europe but when I compared them with the USA most things were cheaper here BUT only if you haggle prices. If you just go up and ask how much for this? they'll give you a price. Don't ever pay the first price they give you. I've gotten discounts as big as 60% off what they originally asked for. You just have to be ready to walk away. They'll stop you as you are leaving and give you another price. You tell them another store gave you a better price and they'll lower it again! They want your business and they also know how much others are selling it for. You can do this with most items but some stores just won't negotiate. You just have to look around and find the ones that will give you the deep discounts. If you're in a hurry you'll pay more so go relaxed and if you don't find it the first time go back the next day and you'll find a better price.

Regarding the portable hard drive, I enter the country every month and always have mine with me. As long as you don't have any porn then you won't have any problems.

This country is super strict against porn, drugs, alcohol, pork, and saying anything bad against their religion....everything else you can do whatever you want and nobody cares.

SeaDimis

Ok no porn or nude woman, what about usual movies and tv series in the hard disk or the usual family and friend photos (including women in vacation etc) ??

TexasPilot

That's all fine.

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