Hi rdan,just sent you a PM!

Just wanting to say a few things ...which some people may not like but i say what i feel so here goes

Saudi isn't the most "happening" place in the Middle East by far but whoever comes comes fully aware that it isn't going to be like living back home... or living in Dubai etc

People seem to be on here and calling Saudi a shit hole and other negative things... i don't get it...did u all think every Friday night u wud go down to the pub and get pissed and have a kebab afterwards??!


I know many expats who have lived in the Kingdom for 10 yrs + ... if it was SO bad would they stay? I doubt it.

One has to come with an OPEN mind and sorry but obviously some people are not open minded at all....they come because they get paid bucket-loads to do so and no other reason!

Im sure the Arabs don't settle in the UK and think it will be like Saudi so why do we all travel around the world and expect every country to cater to our lifestyle??

Most expats don't even mingle with the locals and some hardly even leave their compounds except for work so what would they know of the real life in Saudi??

All in all if you want parties and fun, booze ups and raves, like looking at scantily clad women and can't deal with the heat then Saudi is NOT the place for you.

If you are looking for a new experience, some good money and are willing to accept Saudi for what it is and how it is then good on u ... come and i hope u enjoy it

It was me caling it a shithole and fyi i hardly drink, maybe 4-6 times a year, so there goes your thesis. The problem with Saudi is its a great country with a tin pot dictatorship and extreme religious nutters in charge.
Any country with its income that has starving people in the streets is a shithole.......period. 50,000 princes and various clerics have and continue to bleed a nation dry with one half spending the money on terror the other in europes casinos and bordelos.
There are amazing sights to see in Saudi, its a pity that as an infidel your not actualled allowed to go see them with out an escort and even then only omn a whim
Expats that have spent a long time there and love it in my experience are the ones who live their entire lives in the compounds and it suits them fine. Case in point is the Aramco lot who have a mini America that they live their entire lives in.

OK it may suit some but in all honesty I feel that it is a shithole. Those it suits are also happy and wiling to work in Port Harcourt, Abuga and other shitholes around the globe, they are hardship expats and their welcome to it.
And as for not being willing to put up with difference...bollocks I far prefered the UAE 30 yrs ago when it was about as different from the UK as Saudi is now.


Chop Chop square....nuff said

How about driving on a six lane highway from Jeddah and hitting an exit sign that says that non-muslims must leave here...or two women together being refused entry to a restaurant because they have no male family member with them...or women being served at a lingerie shop by an old man...or being unable to go shopping or eat at a restaurant around lunchtime because of prayers (when the staff take a smoking break rather than prey)...:curse:

the difference is that when Saudis go to Europe they have freedom to worship and dress accoridng to their beliefs and culture. They don't offer the same rights to people visiting their country.

when did you ever see a sign outside a cathederal saying "No Muslims" ?

To be fair , the UK has beggars on its streets too,people who are homeless selling the Big Issue on the streets. Nottingham Council started a campaign to get rid of beggars from the streets as it spoiled the tourist trade. It didn't do anything about the causes, just didn't want to see the symptoms of our society.

Each year we have to have a huge charity campaign -Children In Need - to help serve and protect innocent young children in the UK,as the government do not provide enough money to deliver the neccessary supporting infra structure, we have to do it ourselves.

Each day my wife comes home from her job as a teacher telling of the children she has to deal with, those who are abused on a regular basis, who go home to alcoholic parents, those who do not come to school because they have to stay at home and care for disabled / ill parents - what sort of a childhood is that? Kids as young as nine who are living in crack houses and whose parents are the local drug dealers. Kids who spend the entire evening as soon as they get home from school,locked up in their bedrooms. Kids who have winessed murders and are on a police protection programme.

ASBO's, Anti Social Behaviour, crime, drugs,STD's increasing year by year.

These are true stories - not lifted from a sensational tabloid newspaper

We're talking modern day Britain here. Our prisons are so over crowded, the government is putting pressure on courts NOT to send people to jail as they can't cope. Illegal Immigrants are queuing up to LEAVE the country,not to get in. UK has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies in Europe.

Which country is the shit hole? I don't see hundreds of BE Members running back to UK cos its such a fantastic place to live?

Just because you cannot do the things you did back home, and you can't see a monument you want, there is no need to throw a tantrum and start criticising is there? It still amazes me that some folk still want to perpetuate a certain life style and then get upset when they can't and resort to insults and abuse.

Some folk need to get their head out the ****ing sand.

I have been here for a couple of months
Here are the biggest CONS:
1) traffic – not the traffic jam, but the rules (or the lack of those). You better have a good med and life insurance just in case. I am not kidding
2) shopping for items other than food – total extreme – either very poor in Bata / supermarkets or very expensive in malls. I buy online everything – from bedsheets to bathroom items.
3) Total lack of any information on hands - if you need to find a special store – ask your co-workers. Nothing exist on Internet, and there is no “yellow pages” book.
4) Rising cost of compounds since demands is high, so be sure get a good package from your employer.


PROs:
1) food is cheap
2) gas is cheap


I would NOT recommend to live in Saudi if you like to have a very busy social life, since none exist in the city, and most of the social life on the compounds is gathering and drinking some “self-made” drinks.
This place is for having a good paying job, bringing your family for a couple years (works best for couples with young children when a wife stays at home), and enjoying evenings with your family at Western compounds.

It is definitely NOT a shithole, you just have to know in advance what you are getting into and if it fits your style of life. Just save your money for a trip to outside of Saudi.

PS. I meant "poor quality" items talking about regular things like towels,bed sheets, rugs, and similar. Those type of things you usually need to buy for your house after relocation.

People come after decent salary here (sometime tax free). All inconvenience you describe, someone does NOT encounter every day. I still believe it is worth to come to Saudi just for experience. A couple more decades and a lot of countries will loose their uniqueness. Just to let to know what I compare - I am from the US, and "had to give up a lot" according to some people.

Fair enuf but before i went to Saudi i was aware of this and aware of how it was there.

And sorry but Muslims do not have the same rights as everyone else in the UK , USA etc thats bollox..... just because they are allowed to have mosques and worship and are allowed in Cathedrals etc doesn't mean they are not persecuted and hassled in other ways.

Anyway i think it all boils down to do your research b4 moving anywhere. If you can deal with the differences in culture etc etc good if not well then find somewhere else to go or stay home! its pretty much that simple

I went to Saudi knowing life would be hard, esp for me as a woman...it is....so be it....i deal with it and get on

if you said the same about immigrants in the UK you would be vilified as being a racist. Thats the type of double standards that annoy me.

Muslims have exactly the same rights as non-muslims in the UK. Its part of being a secular state (with the sole exception of blasphemy laws which should be totally removed from the statute books)

knob. did you actually read my post?

Grow up.

Nottingham has become an awful place in the last 20 years. It's sad when I remember going to school there, or my first job there, or the nights in Rock City. Crying shame.

People vote for lower tax - particularly for the richer in society. That lowers the amount the government have to spend. Government spending has been on a shoestring for ages.

The British Crime Survey shows crimes decreasing year on year since 1997. ASBOs are pretty new, so no surprise they're increasing.

The courts have been under pressure to imprison more and more people for years now, and prison building hasn't kept up. Britain's teen pregnancy rates have been higher than those of the rest of Western Europe since the 80s. None of this is really news...

The clue is in the name of the site...

The UK is far from perfect. But however you look at it, Saudi has a long, long way to go. And to their credit, they're working on getting there - but it's going to be a tough journey.

errr i am a muslim who was born and bred in the UK so unless u r a muslim who grew up in a majority non -muslim country u really have no idea...

my mother in law is an white australian of Czech-Scottish descent...yet whenever she travels she is subjected to "random" (my arse) searches and questions and is detained for hours on end....what? just coz she was married to a muslim and has a muslim surname!!! the same is of my husband....please ... i dont see any totally western "white" ppl subjected to this kind of thing ...and i have traveled A LOT ....they may have the same rights etc but wherever they can be persecuted they are ... in whatever manner...

thats the issue....everyone believes ppl of other religions have no issues in the country they live in.... that is just SO not true

ok so Saudi isnt perfect by far....but they have their laws etc and so be it...ppl come here knowing what they are like and what the laws are

its as simple as either u can hack it or u cant