The eagle has landed!!!!!!!

Eagle?  I think you're more of a cuckoo bird!

But welcome to the Kingdom!

Welcome to Riyadh Aliweb, prepare to be amazed.

...lol.

aliweb wrote:

Came on 12th Feb and took me 4 hours in immigration
Total it took me 12+ hours because flight was also late.

Immediately noticed the following:

4. Laban is not milk but "Lassi". Needless to say I learned this the hard way

Funny you should say that.  Made the same mistake Day One myself too.   Luckily I grew up on sterilised milk so I can drink it

A lot of messages about birds landing in the Magic Kingdom these days on EB. Nothing about departures, though...

@allie
You really know how to cut one's full-swing*

*does this idiom really exist in the English vocabulary?

Beakersful wrote:

aliweb wrote:

Came on 12th Feb and took me 4 hours in immigration
Total it took me 12+ hours because flight was also late.

Immediately noticed the following:

4. Laban is not milk but "Lassi". Needless to say I learned this the hard way

Funny you should say that.  Made the same mistake Day One myself too.

I did, too!

aliweb wrote:

Came on 12th Feb and took me 4 hours in immigration
Total it took me 12+ hours because flight was also late.

Immediately noticed the following:

1. Traffic is very fast. I will say it is insane and I have already witnessed a few minor accidents.

2. Traffic jam on many places.

3. Saudis are minority here

4. Laban is not milk but "Lassi". Needless to say I learned this the hard way

5. Falafel is delicious.

Now I am looking for a place to live, preferably in Malaz area.

haha welcome

Welcome aboard man.

Alliecat wrote:

Eagle?  I think you're more of a cuckoo bird!

But welcome to the Kingdom!

=====
hahahaha
I noticed that you are always quick to the punch Allie. Your comments are very funny.

Toscan wrote:

Welcome aboard man.

Alliecat wrote:

Eagle?  I think you're more of a cuckoo bird!

But welcome to the Kingdom!

=====
hahahaha
I noticed that you are always quick to the punch Allie. Your comments are very funny.

Don't encourage me!!

But I knew I'd be okay joking with Aliweb as he's displayed good humor in his previous posts

So, has the eagle crash-landed on Laban?

Quoting www.arabianbusiness.com

"The population of Saudi Arabia stands at 27.1m, of which nearly a third are expats..."

You can't call two third of a population as minority.

Welcome to Riyadh of course

@Alliecat
To tell you the truth, as soon as I started this thread, I knew you would the first to respond as you have the most free time in whole Riyadh.....didn't disappoint

@meem0
One more thing I learned in Saudia:

Roads....high speed
Internet....low speed


@Beakersful
Me too had to drink that 2 liter bottle in three days because I was leaving for Madina and didn't want to waste those precious 7 Riyals I spent on it.

@Bruckner
Departure will come after 3 months when my visit visa expires.

@Sadiq
Find me a place to live dude!!

@Toscan
Thanks man!!

@TheLegendLeads
haha yes it was an emergency landing.
At least they are a minority in Malaz and Hara area

@Everyone
Looks like I got ripped off last night. As soon as I stepped outside of Madina airport, two Saudis came and asked if I needed a taxi. I said yes I need to go to Haram and they said 70 Riyal. I said no thanks I will only pay 50 Riyal. They both were arguing with each other as to who will take me. Not like they were shouting or anything but they were just arguing in friendly manner as they knew each other. Anyway I keep repeating... 50 Riyal.....50 Riyal....finally I think one of them agreed and I went with him in the parking area. Well it turns out it was not a taxi but a private double cabin pickup and he was going to the city so he thought to earn some money. And guess what.......when he started driving he said ... 70 Riyal....I was like what the hell we just agreed on 50 Riyal....he kept saying that a taxi will charge you 100 Riyal so 70 Riyal is better. Anyway I was too exhausted and didn't argue because I had already spent 7 hours at the airport (that's another story) so I said ok fine 70 Riyal!
Besides I am not paying it out of pocket anyway.

Yesterday I learned that there are no taxis in Madina and it came as a surprise. And today I witnessed it first hand.
Actually there are taxis but they only ply between airport and Haram and their number is very few.
So what do people do in that case in Madina? Simply take lift from any vehicle, they will charge you some money for it. So basically every car is a taxi in Madina.
That's what I did when I had to go for a meeting and I couldn't find a taxi. Then I took lift from a pickup truck. The guy was a Saudi and teaches in a school. He was nice enough to disembark from vehicle, go to a shop and get "fatura" from me. Because company is paying me for all expenses so no "fatura" means money out of my pocket. Really nice guy!

Then I got lift from another Saudi guy on way back. Actually he works in the same company where I work but in a totally different department and city (my employer is a huge company) so he dropped me at hotel on my way back.
And he was so so so so nice and gentle that you cannot imagine. I think he is the nicest guy in whole of Saudia or may be whole world
Very educated and well mannered guy. Got me something to eat....it's like a bun with dates in it and it is DELICIOUS!!
Don't know what it is called may be someone know the name here?

But again that guy was very helpful, very kind and very nice.

So basically two back to back nice experiences

as long as you stay away from be bedus (as my saudi workers call them) Saudis are normally super cool and awesome people.

its the uneducated ones that give everyone a bad wrap

aliweb wrote:

Yesterday I learned that there are no taxis in Madina and it came as a surprise. And today I witnessed it first hand.
Actually there are taxis but they only ply between airport and Haram and their number is very few.
So what do people do in that case in Madina? Simply take lift from any vehicle, they will charge you some money for it. So basically every car is a taxi in Madina.
That's what I did when I had to go for a meeting and I couldn't find a taxi. Then I took lift from a pickup truck. The guy was a Saudi and teaches in a school. He was nice enough to disembark from vehicle, go to a shop and get "fatura" from me. Because company is paying me for all expenses so no "fatura" means money out of my pocket. Really nice guy!

Then I got lift from another Saudi guy on way back. Actually he works in the same company where I work but in a totally different department and city (my employer is a huge company) so he dropped me at hotel on my way back.
And he was so so so so nice and gentle that you cannot imagine. I think he is the nicest guy in whole of Saudia or may be whole world
Very educated and well mannered guy. Got me something to eat....it's like a bun with dates in it and it is DELICIOUS!!
Don't know what it is called may be someone know the name here?

But again that guy was very helpful, very kind and very nice.

So basically two back to back nice experiences

Thanks for sharing, it sounds like youre having a really good time.

Im glad to hear someones first hand experience with the people of madinah. Since back un the day they were nicknamed as "the helpers" amongst the arabs. I guess now we know why