Hi I"m Antony from Shropshire,
I've just recently moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for work.I worked here back in 2003-2007 and some things have changed and somethings haven't. boy I missed a good shawarma. I'm here on my own and i'm looking to chat and get out there and explore. please drop me a message.

Hi Antony,
I'm moving to Riyadh in a couple of months, first time for me, currently living in Dubai. Would love to get any info from you regarding compounds, transportation, activities etc. It's not going to be as easy for me living there (female, divorced, old as the hills) but I'm going to keep positive and try and make the best of it. Hope to chat soon.

Single women can have a good life in Saudi. Not sure about Riyadh though - my experiences were in Jeddah, Dhahran and small-towns like Tabuk and Hafr. Mind you I am not a female !

Hi Scot47 - thanks for your message. I'm just wondering if men & women can hang out to do activities, play golf, trips to the desert etc? I'm not particularly interested in the 'party' life, done that, got the t-shirt, lol. This will be a big transition from Dubai so I'm trying to weigh up all the pros and cons. My firm has sent me a long list of compounds - do you know which, if any, have the best community spirit with lots of things to do? Any intel you can provide will be great, thank you

Best to get up-to-date info from those on the spot.

Ok, thank you.

Good Afternoon Marce,
Sorry for the late reply i've been back in blighty soaking up the rain.
as i'm reasonably new in the kingdom i may not be the best person to ask as i'm still finding my feet myself.
I'm staying at the Areco Al Waha compound, but seeing as its a community spirit you are looking for i'm pretty sure thats not the compound for you as it is quiet (good gym though). the popular compounds seem to be Al Hamra, Al Bustan, Eid Villas, Al Fursan, Al Nahkla etc.. From what i have seen Saudi is opening up for women,it is still very conservative outside the the compounds though.
Ant

Hi Ant,
No worries, thanks for responding though, not many people have. I have more info about compounds from my company now so am feeling a bit better about that. I've lived in the UAE for 10 years so am not a complete novice regarding ME, but KSA is a bit behind the times so to speak, lol. I guess once I land things will fall into place. Marce

hopefully your company won't leave you high and dry at the Airport and will meet you there?