Alright I am quit new to the site but then I see that the maximum no. of questions that most people want answers to is basically "what can I do in Saud Arabia?"
A very very valid question. So I have been in Khobar for a year now, and I have done my share of roaming around the city finding new things to do for my bored self. And I thought the I should share what I know.
1. There are a lot of places that are setup for playing pool, snooker, billiards and such. My favorite is Snolardo on King Khalid (?) street, near the corniche. Yes, its a guys only place, and Yes, Its always better to bring your own partner, because well Everybody else does.
2. There is a decent Bowling alley in al Gosaibi hotel. quite a few no. of lanes, and the machines do work. But they have tournaments sometimes during th eweekends, adn You ll have to ewait till they are over. Thy do open @9 in the morning on the weekdays, and then they dont have any restriction for women and such. Go for playing 5 games, that should be 50 a head.
3. ATV on the halfmoon area: keep going towards halfmoon, you should be able to see these two dunes, after which there are a lot of ppl who rent out ATVs. You might have a problem with language, but a basic understanding of Arabic should be enogh to bargain the prices down to around SR 70 for the Medium sized ones for an hour. Ofcourse the bigger the are, the more you ll have to shell out. On wednesdays, even ladies ca come along for a bit of offroad fun. on thursdays ad fridays, the dunes are attacked by 4X4s and if u do have one of those, then You should really find out if your ride can tackle this.
4. Halfmoon: excellent place for bbqs, and in the closed structures that they have made recently, families have the maximum privacy. Also possible to have a camp out. the cops dont mind much unless You start disturbing the locals. Wednesday nights are the ideal nights for this Thursdays see a lot of arabs coming.
5. Malls: well what can I say, thats kinda the same like anywhere lese. Dhahran mall is basically families only during the evenings, I usually shop there during my lunch break!
6. Food Joints: Will have to make a whole new post for that, since I am a big foodie, have been trying out various places here for the past year.
7. Sheeshah bars: some decent places for having a sheeshah (water pipe) in Aziziah area. I am not a big fan of the place because most of the places are dirty and poorly maintained. but some have decent outdoor facilities, and since Kobhar does have some good weather at times, its nice to have a sheeshah (apple is the best!! ) with friends, (again, males only )
As and when I do find something of interest here in Khobar, I should be posting it here. Meanwhile if you find something of interest to do around Khobar please share it here, I enjoy trying out new things anytime.