Hang out place in khobar with girlfriend?

Hahaha...that's funny. You ARE joking aren't you? I guess someone didn't tell you that if you are in public anywhere in the Kingdom with a female, she better be your wife, and you better be able to prove it on the spot, in case the religious police or regular police confront you.  Welcome to KSA, and get used to chatting, hotmail, yahoo and FB relationships.

Oh one more thing I forgot to mention. Taking her to dinner. Well, after you get out of your car, she'll need to go into the family section to eat while you go into the baachelor single-man room of the restaurant to eat. I guess you can resume your romantic dinner after you get back to the car.

Oh Brother,
Firstly - Thanks for scaring me !
now secondly, i see Locals passing numbers to girls at malls here in Khobar? and i am sure they all are not married?

About the restaurant when we do go with family dinners with uncle and aunt here, i have seen couples sitting and eating not sure if they are related or not cuz i dont' understand them and their language.
But yeah i just wanted to be sure.

Thanks for advice though

I think maybe a local guy can get away with it (passing numbers) but being a foreigner, you should be real discrete.  Sorry to put a damper on your aaction, but this is the reality here.  I guess that's the key phrase here "be careful."  Enjoy.

ok ... first dont Listen to Dave ,, you can take your GF to any where you want .. just dont kiss her on the street lol

second .. every Restaurant here had 2 Sections  Single Men or Family ,, you can take her to any Restaurant you want ,,,

Romantic Place ?? mmmmmm .... there is " Al Morjan Island " inside it a nice boat with great food 2 !!

and at Dammam City there is some Restaurants on beach they are nice 2 ,, if you want just a great international food go to Al Rashed Big Mall ,,

you can always just take her with you and sit in the family section. but if the police is suspicious they can always pull you over and ask for a marriage certificate. thats when you get SCREWED! because the punishment is anything from having to be forced to get married to the lady (upon her father's permission) OR direct deportation! so good luck trying to dodge your way around the cops while youre out with your lady friend!

Hamza, why on earth do you want to get this young foreign man in trouble?  Hey Riz, you're a big boy, so do as you like but just be careful, man. This is not Canada.

@NadarHamza,

Thanks bro. I would look into this "Al Morjan Island" and will figure something out. Malls and cornish is deffenetively a big NO NO. As, everytime i have visited it - Always saw religious enforcers wondering there.
Basically the bottom line is that people do go out on dates, they just have to be careful-right.


@BornToBeMild:
and what are they going to do, if they find out that, this lady is already married to someone else not me.....    jk

Rizwarsi ,,

im not talking about Khobar Cornish ,,, at the end of Dammam Cornish there is a restaurant that you can rent like a small room and you will have a Minimum Charge " i think it was 100 SR " .. i forgate the name but its a big one and has a lot of trees around it .. ill try to bring the name tonight ...

and yes just Be careful .. and if her skin was same yours " not African will hang out with some Japanese girl " in that way they will never ask you any thing ...

I've found it much easier in the eastern province than in Riyadh. I know that couples often meet up in Starbucks, Aramco, and in malls. Malls are good because oftentimes, you can see the religious enforcers coming; Starbucks is good because that's where business execs meets, and so if anything happens, you're discussing business (a friend of mine got out of trouble that way.. he just happened to have his iPad opened on some news article or something); compounds are just great for everything. If your gf has a brother or male relative and you are friends with him, all three of you can go out together anywhere you like -- this way, if you're stopped, you can say that you were having a guys' night out, but the girl had nowhere else to go to. I've noticed lots of Lebanese and Syrian couples put this one to use in malls like Faysalia.

Don't be frightened, but do be cautious.

lol dave

im not ,, i want him to enjoy his time thats it .. and by the way a born here and i know the rolls VG ,, Maybe coz you are at Terrible City Like Jizan you will think its all same ..

i wish if you visit us here at khobar or dammam you see the Americans , Canadians and Europeans how to live here in this area .. Believe me, here in the eastern region and I think in Riyadh as well as this "category" of non-Arabs living the best life of the Arabs and Saudis themselves

deestrangled wrote:

I've found it much easier in the eastern province than in Riyadh. I know that couples often meet up in Starbucks, Aramco, and in malls. Malls are good because oftentimes, you can see the religious enforcers coming; Starbucks is good because that's where business execs meets, and so if anything happens, you're discussing business (a friend of mine got out of trouble that way.. he just happened to have his iPad opened on some news article or something); compounds are just great for everything. If your gf has a brother or male relative and you are friends with him, all three of you can go out together anywhere you like -- this way, if you're stopped, you can say that you were having a guys' night out, but the girl had nowhere else to go to. I've noticed lots of Lebanese and Syrian couples put this one to use in malls like Faysalia.

Don't be frightened, but do be cautious.

agree 100 % with you

wow! a lot of advice on how to try and get a date with a hypothetical girlfriend!

If either of you is living in a compound, I dont have to elaborate more.
Romantic place, well the desert is open and empty and can be romantic if wanted be. But the risks remain.

Hypothetical girlfriends can be also taken out on hypothetical dates. just use a bluetooth headset to avoid strange stares.
Good luck!

I never got that though.... how can anyone "prove" that they are married on the spot... I don't go around carrying my marriage certificate with me in case of suspicion! o.O

winteryrose1984 wrote:

I never got that though.... how can anyone "prove" that they are married on the spot... I don't go around carrying my marriage certificate with me in case of suspicion! o.O

that will be at you'r " Iqama " ... but if you are non arab no one will ask you lol

NaderHamza wrote:

that will be at you'r " Iqama " ... but if you are non arab no one will ask you

Very true @NaderHamza. I passed through a dozen of police checkposts with GF (my wife now) a couple of years ago; no one ever bothered for Iqama.

Well, I will admit that my advice is based on what I know about the place I live and work at, which is a small place near the Yemeni border.  To try and pull off a clandestine date here is unthinkable. A single western fun-loving, lonely-for-a-female foreigner like me would surely have come up with a way by now, if it was possible here.   Maybe this kind of "hick town" as we would call it in the USA, is the best place for me...hahaha...keeps me out of trouble. I can't go shopping in the malls on "family days," which are Wednesday and Thursday evenings here. Otherwise the security guards won't allow me in. If I go to the food court, security whisks me over to the "bachelor" section to eat my meal and watches me closely. Mutawa's trail me and my co-workers everywhere we walk in the mall here. They stay back at a distance but always watching us.  Anyway I would imagine it's not very romantic looking over one's shoulder constantly, unless maybe it's the thrill of doing something forbidden in public and getting away with it.  I can relate to that, too.

Given the number of cars in Saudi Arabia since its the only transportation method, the number of restaurants and cafe-shops since ppl love eating and hugging out .. Seriously what are the chances of mutwaas or police will pick YOU among others ? 2 % ... okay maybe 5 %.

I wouldn't miss the chance of being in date, specially if i like the guy for 2% risk !!!

life is simple, just live it

Thuraia Yahia wrote:

...since ppl love eating and hugging out ..

hugging out or hanging out?

Thuraia Yahia wrote:

life is simple, just live it

Absolutely!

TheLegendLeads wrote:

Thuraia Yahia wrote:

...since ppl love eating and hugging out ..

hugging out or hanging out?

Thuraia Yahia wrote:

life is simple, just live it

Absolutely!

oops did i say hugging ...

Well, that is also correct....isn't it? hahaha

Thank you guys,

I've done my research too

I've also asked my local (saudi's) colleagues, friend and acquaintances, they all said that as long as one lay low and dont act out too obvious and stupid in public then you are safe.
They also told me that the locals way of getting a motel/hotel is, that they send their gf in first, she gets a hotel on her id and claims she's alone... and the guy walk in like after 30-45 mins. Secondly - Go for expensive restaurants and cafe's for Chilling/Dating.

So yea conclusion would be that "Life is simply - just be happy".

my advice...just dntdo it man, too risky...i happen to know of some cases. its crazy.

Only in Saudi Arabia will we be having this discussion! and Wow! This sort of information that I dont even know if it can shared or given out!

...there's a solution...to this challenge.

I am really amazed that you haven't come up with it on your own.

...first...find out what your company's policy is on -Marriage and Housing...

When I lived in Riyadh...I knew a couple who were dating.

They were compatible but NOT in love.

They went to Bahrain for a weekend and got married.

When they came back...they told everyone about it...except for their parents.

Kathy's photo was added to Tony's (brown booklet) Igama.

What they got was better living accommodations...no more taxis for Kathy...and an annual ticket to Michigan (rather to the UK) for Tony...and they instantly became even more popular with the singles set...because everyone wanted to come over to their villa.

After 3 years....they went their separate ways...

[They met one year into their first 2 year contract.]

Anywhere, it will be simple if you both act normally, but little difficult if her ethnicity is apparently different than yours and her face is not covered, unless if you are A/B/E ……

Im sure you have had the date you wanted. But just for your information Riz, I was born in KSA and have never been asked by Religious Police whether Im with my cousins, female friends or wife.

But...

My cousin who came new to the Kingdom, got seriously interrogated while he took her wife to a family restaurant for the first time.

So ... its all luck. 90% you can get away with it, and  the rest of 10% is what you have to decide.

Hmmmm....gambling may have better probability

hi i am Ahmed from jeddah by this weekend i will be in Alkhobar so i will be glad to have a dinner with you
contact me on 0xxx

Ok