Here are some pictures i took while am here in KSA, with my comments at the bottom

Main two buildings in Riyadh, Al Mamlaka (at the back) and Al Faisalyah (the one we got robbed at )
There are no other high buildings, most buildings are less than 5 floors.

Al Saraya Turkish restaurant in Talatiny Al Olaya St. ثلاثين العليا
No comment many countries would get offended if i commented on that one

On my first days in Riyadh, i thought that tamwenat is a brand name for a chain of super markets….
Then i discovered that a supermarket is caled tamwenat here
Its very common here, they are eveywhere.

El 7′eyata el regaleya IT IS EVERYWHERE this is where they make the galabeyas and the shema3′
هنا بيفصلوا الجلاليب و الشماغ و الحاجات دى……مع أن الجلاليب كلها بيضاء…بس فى 100 نوع قماش و 100 نوع ياقة و 100 نوع جيب و زراير و حركات.
بس فى الأخربرضو, كله جلاليب

The worlds largest Plasma TV Panasonic 103 inch (HOLY CRAP!!! CAN YOU IMAGE THAT!)
And the price tag says: 270,000SR (yes, thats almost 72,000USD and 400,000EGP)
أكبر تليفزيون فى العالم ب 400,000 ألف جنيه بس,,,يا بلاش!!!! كنت حجيب 2, بس للأسف مفيش مكان فى الشنطة

Al Tahleya St. something like gam3et el dowal st in egypt its where all the youth gather and go out, a lot of shops etc…..except you don’t see anyone walking in the streets (that’s how it is in KSA) and you don’t see any females (damn it! i haven’t seen a girl for LOOOONGGG time now)

Me and Osama in Dr. Cafe, few minutes after this picture, we were thrown out, because prayer time came and they had to close.

The only thing you can do in Saudi Arabia, EATTTTTTT
i think i gained like 6-7 more kilo during my stay here. the pic was taken at Chilli’s

It was a slaughter, thats what remains from the chocolate fudge with ice cream (yummmmyyyyyyy)

Me and Rami, stuck in the elevator

At the Faisaleyah mall, it says Single men are not allowed. You can’t enter the mall on weekends if you’re a single man, families only!!!!!! (holy crap)!!
ممنوع دخول العزاب!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Juice center!!! no comment
مركز عصير!!!! و كمان ماما نوره؟

أبح!!! كان فى حاجات تانية مش لذيذة,,بس قولت بلاش فضايح عالنت

I had many people speak to me, saying that i am not so unlucky and there is no such thing as disasters magnet and that it’s all just a coincidence and that probably me putting all these thoughts in my mind is what causing it.

So i thought to myself, and i was like “Yea, it could be true, i’ll just not think about that anymore”

But here’s what happened:

All the Egyptians in the company working in Riyadh at the moment gathered in the office to watch the final match between Egypt & Cameroon (WELL DONE EGYPT!!! i never really thought we could make it….well done)
Thank God we won, or they could’ve killed me if we didnt

Our office is in a HUGE building called “Al Faysaliah – الفيصلية” which is one of the very few massive buildings in Riyadh.

There are 5 elevators in that building, so after the match we all decided to go back to the hotel and so, we get into one of the elevators and it’s really neat and clean, the elevator is BIG the sign says it fits 15 persons, it’s made by Mitsubishi and it’s really advanced (DOH! it needs an electronic access card to operate)

We were 7 inside it, less than half the allowed capacity, while the elevator moved down, a few shakes hit us, but it’s okay.
Just the minute we are near the ground floor, the elevator stops.

Opps, we’re stuck in the elevator!!!!!

We tried every possible button combination one could imagine, shouting and screaming and everything (the alarm button did not seem to work)

After a few minutes, we called our friends from the office who were lucky enough not to get into the same elevator as us to call the security, just seconds later, the speaker in the elevator worked (looks like that alarm button was working after all )

A saudi speaking guy, saying stuff i didn’t understand, later they translated to me he was telling us to wait, and asked how long we’ve been here.

They try to open the door, they successfully do, but we were afraid to jump, as the elevator was stuck between two floors, if it moves while someone is jumping, it could cut him in half

so we told them to leave the door open for a few mins to get some fresh air in, and to try and move the elevator from the main control unit. To do so , we had to close the door first (so the elevator can move)

But hey! no luck

It was more than 20 mins passed since we’ve been stuck in there, so i was really tired and i decided just to sit on the floor until we get out ( i have some pictures will post them later)

So we decided that if they can’t move it, we’ll risk jumping out of the door if that’s our only choice…. but (why must be always a but? ) they cant open the door again…somehow, for some weird reason, the tool they use to open the door, or the door itself i dunno, became loose and doesn’t want to open.

It’s like, i gave you a chance to escape and you refused it, now you’ll be stuck here forever
Many people decided to sit down like me, as we were all tired

we called the police to ask for help.

After about 45-60mins they managed to open the door again and we all jumped out safely.

You have no idea what looks everyone gave me , you know in the movies, when they catch an evil witch in the 17th century, how everyone look at her? i was the evil witch

So yea, 7 of us got stuck in an elevator for almost an hour

looks like i will have a disaster to blog about everyday, so wait for the series. You know what, the only good thing about this, is that no one gets hurt (so far, ya rab dayman)

After breaking two teeth while am in Riyadh (i don’t know what the heck is wrong with me, is the food?) i could no longer take the pain, i also couldn’t eat anything, specially that each broken tooth is on a different side of the mouth.

I had to go to a dentist, after a few calls to the office, they gave me directions to a dental clinic they recommended, so i took a cab to there.

The place i must say is nice and clean, the girl at the reception greeted me and took my personal information (do not be surprised, YES she was a girl, but she was wearing the moving tent, and convering every inch of her body and face)

I waited for a few minutes, during this few minutes i looke at the price list…and OH OH!!!! am in deep $hit…prices are the same as the prices in Egypt (remember my previous post about dental care pricing?) just multiplied by 2 or maybe 3 so i was scared to death i’d end up paying 1000 Riyal to kill the pain…it would have caused pain in my walled and i cant support that one.

Anyway, i got in, the doctor was Syrian, he was friendly, i told him what happened, he examined my teeth and told me that the temp filling i asked for will probably not last until i come back to Egypt.

But well, knowing the prices, i insisted on the temp filling
I am much better now…i haven’t eaten anything since then…but i *REALLY* *REALLY* hope that when i eat nothing else will break, or the temp filling will fall.

A good solution is to live on glucose w محاليل بقى والكلام دة

أشرف إبن الكاشف…أتسرق يا منزز

First of all, i would like to HATE all the people who did not help us, who ignored us, who robbed us and to the most majority of the Saudi People (i cant say all the saudi people)

It was a wednesday, the end of the week in Saudi Arabia, we finished work, having our rented car in the parking of the place we work at, we put our laptops in the trunk of the car and we head to bring something to eat.

At the mall, (Al Faysaliah mall – الفيصلية ) which is a huge mall and very crowded…we parked and went to get some take-away food.

We spent less than 25 minutes…only to come back to the car in the parking space, to find the window broken and everything is gone

The following stuff  were stolen:

• 6 Laptop computer (mine included)
• 5 Passports (mine included)
• A few hundred dollars were in the laptop bag
• 1 Saudi Ekama
• 1 Book i had borrowed (shame on me)

We were all surprised, we all thought that Saudi Arabia is crime free, specially that they cut the hands of any one who steals.

Wow, what a diet!

We called the police, after almost 20-30mins a very old man came to us, he said that we have to either go by ourselves to the police station, or he could drop us there.

We called our friends here, they came immediately and we all went to the police station, they refused to let us in (we were 7 persons) and they only allowed 2 of us to go in, the rest of us had to wait in the car (for F sake, we all lost our passports, how come you won’t let us in file a report?)

We were in contact by phone, the 2 guys in there told us they are being completely ignored by the police because they are Egyptians, they said it’s expected to take long.

After about 30 mins, they came out, as a Saudi friend came to help and he had some powerfull relations with the police.

Only to find out that they cant do anything as the weekend has started and we can’t do anything until saturday (DOH! the police cant make any reports during weekends…this must be criminals heaven)

So now, i have no passport, not laptop and all the work is gone.

I am pretty sure everything has been sold by now, including the passports.
I guess when i try to come back to Egypt, they will tell me that i can’t go in, as according to their records i am already in Egypt

Looks like i will be stuck here for quite some time..

Just a note for myself in the future…..” I FRIGGIN HATE SAUDI ARABIA NOW!!!! I HATE YOU!!! I HATE YOU!!! I HATE YOU!!!! PISS OFF!!”

This is the saudi version of my 2 cents.

I will just pinpoint a few things i noticed during my few days stay here in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia:

• Fun means: Drive in the car, go to “tahleya” st. and drink a coffee or coke
• Entertainment consists of ONLY the following two items: “eating” and “shopping”
• Being cool means: doing crazy acts with your car, driving a quad(a.k.a Beach buggy) or having a distinguished license plate
• Petrol is cheaper than water
• It is not gay to: have long silky hair under your “shema3′ “, holding hands (with other male) and chewing gums 
• Its very acceptable to sit bare feet at work, restaurants and public places
• It is also acceptable to touch your feets in public, and maybe even eat and shake hands
• Traffic is very organized, or so i thought until the traffic light was not working….let me tell you, it’s far worse than traffic in Cairo…HUGE mess
• Single men cannot go to the mall
• All restaurants have 2 sections, one for singles and one for families, you cant go to families section if you’re single, even if the single section is full.
• You cannot eat/shop or do anything during prayer times.
• If you’re already eating, you either go wait outside, or get locked inside.
• Internet is censored and monitored, many websites are blocked
• It is normal to get random messages on your mobile from bluetooth if you’re in a public place
• There are 2 types of photo shops…. “Women photoshop – مركز تصوير نسائى” and “Male photoshop – مركز تصوير رجالى”
• Even beggars have cars, its ok to find someone asking for money from his Hyundai Accent car
• There is actually a difference between “لبن” and “حليب”
• Its okay to be rude (am still not sure if thats the way they speak, or they actually mean it)

I am currently in Riyah….

No fun there at all….so boring…internet access in unbelielvably slow (I guess its a common problem and thats not always the case)

But anyway, i don’t have much time to blog now…but i will, later on….wish me luck…and pray for me to finish soon to come back home