Expat Life in Riyadh
General history of Saudi, 1970s till early 2000s – history of Saudi Islamism
Even though I live in the UAE, I first wanted to write about Expat life in Saudi. An American from San Francisco (we worked together in Iraq) once told me “if you have not lived in Saudi Arabia, you can’t claim the title Expat.”
He worked in one of the Saudi oil fields as project manager for more than ten years and the only time he left the compound was when he was traveling back home.
He never saw anything from Saudi, he had no Saudi friends, and he didn’t even know how to say “hi” in Arabic. For him, working in the Green Zone (IZ) – Iraq under fire from bombshells were better than Saudi.
Years later when I worked in Saudi, I was told that life for most western Expats in Saudi during the 80s and the 90s during King Fahad’s era was exactly like that. For location of Saudi Arabia, please refer to my previous post
King Fahad was the longest-ruling King (1982 – 2005),and was one of 45 sons of the first Saudi King.
The founder of the kingdom, King Abdul Aziz Bin Rahman Al Saud (and the country) took the Saudi Arabia name from the last name of the first king Al Saud. King Fahad was the fourth of his six sons who were kings (Saud, Faisal, Khalid, Fahd, Abdullah, and Salman).
I want to elaborate more about King Fahad because he was the founder of the religious fundamentalist system of Saudi, which the kings after him started changing slowly.
When King Khalid died on 13 June 1982, King Fahd succeeded to the throne. In 1986 he replaced “His Majesty” title by the title “Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques ” (خادم الحرمين الشريفين ) to signify an Islamic, rather than secular, authority.
During his era, he gave more power and money to Islamic extremism and used the country’s huge oil income to help create all the infrastructure of Islamism funding in the Arab world, and indeed the world.
He used the state’s vast money income to live an extremely luxurious life and fund the extremist ideology and the close family members (princes) to buy their obedience.
As a result of that, poverty, illiteracy, and corruption were everywhere. The two primary sources of income were oil production and the holy site of Mecca (on the west side of the country), where the religious pilgrimage “Hajj” takes place.
The kingdom opens up to the west (the late king abdullah and the current king salman)
King Fahad spent millions of dollars supporting the conservative Saudi religious establishment, religious education, strengthened separation of the sexes, and power of the religious police.
He was the primary reason for closing Saudi to foreign investments and the whole western culture. When I was living there between the years 2014 – 2018, most Saudi youths did not even know what Christmas was or any general knowledge about any other religions.
Even a simple handshake with me (a Christian guy) was a significant change and a first for many young people. The situation is changing fast due to King Salman’s policies, but it takes time to reverse decades of extremism.
Many of the hatred towards Christians did not come from Saudis, but other nationals (Arabs and others) living in Saudi. I saw most Saudi nationals and young people embracing these changes, but the other country citizens are unhappy.
They of course have no say in local policies, but you can feel the hostility and hatred.
New Development From The Top Of A District Cooling Project, King Abdullah Financial District In The Horizon – Riyadh 2017
Many Saudi friends and coworkers told me that the new Saudi started with King Abdullah (2005 – 2015). King Abdullah started to spend money on infrastructure, high rise buildings, government systems, fighting corruption and Islamism.
He also supported manufacturing in the country while reducing the government dependence on oil, and also started to reduce the role of religious influence. The capital city Riyadh tripled in size during his rule, and he began to build high-rise buildings in the capital city.
King Salman (2005 – present) and his son Muhammed Bin Salman (aka MBS) came after King Abdullah’s death. They started to change the country even faster towards more modern Saudi, following UAE footsteps.
They started opening the country to the west. They encouraged western investment, pushing women’s rights agenda, and trying to create the environment towards a more capitalist economy while not depending on oil.
I lived in Riyadh for more than four years, and I saw the last year of King Abdullah and the first years of King Salman.
Saudi is a big country, the biggest by far from all the other Gulf countries and the most populated (around 20 million) and it possesses long history before Islam, the long trade relationship with East Africa, North Africa, and the northern part of the Middle East.
Many beautiful natural and archaeological sites exist but mostly neglected and inaccessible to most tourists. Overall, my experience in Saudi was not bad, it was much more restricted than the UAE and Qatar. However it was pleasant, calm and profitable.
Working and Living as an Expat in Saudi
Working and living in Saudi is not as bad as it is portrayed often on the news media. If you are an expat with no Arabic language skills it can be a bit more challenging, of course.
Religion
Being a Christian or any other non-Muslim religion does not help either; however, if you are a Muslim and do not practice the faith, that is even worse. Because if you are non-Muslims and especially from the EU or the US the rules can be more relaxed for you, but for Muslims it used to be very strict.
In the year 2015 (last days of king Abdullah), I was buying my travel ticket from my travel agent (a Pakistani Muslim friend), and it was prayer time. During prayer times, everyone should stop work, and all shops closed, and Muslims go to prayer.
I was talking to the guy, I realized the religious police car stopped (they have now been dissolved under MBS’s rules) the police were gesturing to me with his finger to talk to me. So, my agent and I left the shop and approached them in their car.
My friend was terrified, and he walked slower to leave me in front facing the police, and told me to speak only English and never Arabic, which I usually do in these types of situations.
So, the police started asking me where I am from and what is my origin, he was trying to understand if I was a Muslim or not and if I was an Arab or not (basically to know if he can yell at me or no).
I told him I am an American Christian. He didn’t yell at me, but of course, he gave me a lecture on how a good gentleman like me should convert to Islam to secure his place in heaven and told me not to repeat this type of behavior.
He started talking to the Pakistani Muslim guy and started yelling at him and told him to run to the mosque, or he will arrest him and close his business. Sometimes being a non-Muslim in Saudi pays but prepared to be asked to convert every time someone felt like lecturing you about religion, especially if you speak Arabic (which I do).
But people like me prefer Saudi because payment in Saudi is much better than anywhere in the region, and no tax and life are sometimes 50% cheaper than the UAE or Qatar.
Lifestyle
If you want to stay away from locals or other nationalities, you can do that and have your small circle of expats living in a compound. You can live from one vacation to another and have your little limited life in Saudi, either with your significant other or with a companion.
On the other hand, if you want to learn the language and live your life there and create a friendship with locals and different nationalities like I did, it can be an overly exciting life that you will not find elsewhere.
Holidays and Vacation
The country has a lot of religious holidays, and on top of that, by law, you have to have a month’s vacation per year. Besides, it is a slow country, and you can have a lot of off time.
You can use that to experience life in the big cities and go on a few day tours. There are many beautiful archeological sites in Saudi that you can explore. You can vacation on the east or west coast beaches they have or enjoy the vast desert experience with clear blue skies that have not been disturbed yet and the delicious non-vegetarian food.
But of course, no alcohol and no showing affection with your significant other in public.
I have met people who have been in Saudi for long 5 to 30 years, and some even have their sons and daughters born and work there.
They stay on their residency visas and do their small thing on the side, and they don’t want to go back to their original countries (this is something that’s tough to do in UAE and the other Gulf Countries).
I also found people that want to live in Mecca or Jeddah (close to Mecca) for much less, to be close to the Holy site and be able to visit The Holy Site of Al Kaaba regularly.
Women’s life in saudi
I had my Filipina wife (at the time) join me from UAE, she hated the country, and she wanted to move to the US. However, I know many girls and women live and work in Saudi to support their families back home.
For example, all types of medical fields (doctors, nurses, insurance, billing, HR, admin…etc.) prefer female expats, and some businesses like hairdressers, makeup artists, trailers, …etc. have to be females (no men are allowed to interact with women).
I know many women have been in Saudi for 5 to 10 years, and every time they tell me this vacation will be the last, I see them renew their contract and stay a little more.
I met medical consultants, and doctors who have been living in Saudi for more than ten years and do not think of leaving anytime soon.
This, of course, doesn’t mean that women’s life is easy. In some cases, it’s better than their lives back in their countries of origin. Other times, they have a retirement plan, and they work to fulfill that plan.
Women these days can travel alone (local or expats) without a sponsor. This was a dream a few years back, the country is opening fast to make women’s life easier in Saudi, but still, there is a great deal to be achieved.
I met with all types of nationalities, Lebanese, Filipinas, Americans, and British and women from other Arabic countries. Each has a different story and experience.
Touristic places in Saudi
I am sure tourism is not the first thing that comes to mind when you talk about Saudi Arabia.
Religious Tourism
However, there is substantial religious tourism (large business in Saudi) many Muslims would dream of visiting and making their pilgrimage.
I met with people who would go to work on the west coast with much less salary to be able to visit the religious site more often.
Jeddah
There is also another type of tourism for expats inside Saudi and want to explore. There are beautiful beaches, especially on the Red Sea, with a lot of extreme sports activities.
Because of my work, I was able to travel between Riyadh (the Capital), Jeddah (a city on the Red Sea where a lot of officials live, and considered the least conservative), beautiful beaches, beautiful restaurants, and hotels, and big houses with private indoor chilled swimming pools.
Abha
I also traveled to Abha all the way south, close to the Yemen borders (summer capital). It has beautiful weather during summertime, beautiful nature like the one we see in the Grand Canyon in the US, mountains full of monkeys, like the ones you see in Thailand, Nepal and Sri Lanka, and excellent authentic local and Asian food.
Persian Gulf
On the East side of the country, there are beaches on the Persian (Arabian) Gulf, a lot of big resorts with indoor and outdoor swimming pools, beautiful nature and a lot of activities.
Bahrain
You can also cross a bridge to the neighboring Bahrain where you have Dubai-like freedom.
Hotels in Bahrain serve alcohol, and women can swim in swimsuits freely and can walk with shorts like anywhere in the west.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, Saudi still has a long way to go to be able to attract tourism and foreign investments, but definitely moving fast in that direction.
If you decided to work there, you should understand that it is not like Dubai or Qatar, but it is not a desert as well. It is a big country with a lot of potential and inexpensive for the moment.
You can work, live, and have a lot of stories to talk about after you leave.
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