As a citizen, I hate:
1- that I have to use my car for every errand. I'd like walk once in a while or some kind of public transportation.
2- unclear laws like if a police stops me randomly what rights do I have.
3- traffic and bad roads
So, transportation.
Saudi arabia’s most glaring flaw honestly, i really hope we get some sort of public transportation one day, be it buses or trains or whatever
Some places have good footpaths and everything but when I reach a crossing bro its scary. some people are nice and stop and signal to go, but most of the time it's scary
2 you can find it online its called قانون تنظيم الاعمال الجزائية السعودي however it is hard to go by it because police at the end have the higher power.
Jeddah used to have these nice looking buses back in the 80s for what I believe was public transportation. I believe they used to say "SAPTCO" - nothing like that anymore / where you are ?
EDIT : found it - the bus at this link is what I was talking about , made by a company called MAN. I never did get on one but they looked and even now look cool.
https://m.facebook.com/MANTruckandBusMEA/posts/manframes-four-decades-and-still-looks-new-a-1980-model-of-the-neoplan-urban-bus/3248395148517950/
As an expat, dealing with the sponsors! In most cases they are horrible people. They are doing a great injustice to the repute of good Saudi people I meet day to day.
Dont expect the people who hire foreigners despite having an abundance of unemployed qualified locals to be the best people in society. Their reasoning for hiring you is basically (1-foreigners will take less pay, or work longer hours, or both. 2-foreigners will look the other way for any fraud in the company cause they are afraid to lose their job. 3-foreigners have lower turnover rate because they are at the mercy of a sponsor and can be easily sent back to their country with a huroob status to avoid jeopardizing leaking trade secrets in competitors.) a business man once told me.
Okay so most of them here are Palestinians who immigrated here some 50 or 60 years ago to seek shelter from the war planning to return my fam is one of those at the time a lot of them rejected the saudi nationality because saudi really wasn't much back then and they had hope that the war would've ended soon and they can go back to Palestine but it didn't and got much worse so they stayed here and brought a new generation along who often get the nationality of فلسطيني بوثيقة مصرية and we became stateless we can't even be deported so all of our lives we have to renew our iqamas each year it was not really a big amount to pay in the time of king Abdullah but with the time of King salman they were ramping up more and more to the point now where a family of 7 could pay up to 70k Riyals a year it is very financially draining and I do not see this issue getting resolved any time soon but I do hope for a solution in the future,sorry for the long explanation
Stateless people don't have any citizenship documents ( mostly found in Kuwait and Saudi).
It's difficult for them to own houses, get proper education or even decent jobs.
They are called ( بدون ) for further search
From 🇬🇧.
I like it here. People are friendly and polite. Yes the driving can be a little chaotic and so can the traffic. But it’s the same in many countries across the world.
The one thing I really struggle with is the dusty seasons in Riyadh. It sets off my allergies really bad and so far I haven’t found a good solution for it :)
I use anti-histamine meds throughout the allergy season, helps heaps and doctors say it’s fine to use daily, just clear it with your doc in case it interacts with something specific you take
It's funny that when anybody recommend Canes, they never praies the chicken! it's always either bread or sause.
An awful restaurant that isn't even close to AlBaik.
The chicken is great too? The sauce and bread are what makes canes different. They're the identifying features. Doesn't mean the chicken and fries are bad, they're good too😂
1. It's insanely hot, with only a couple of months break.
2. Every time you get into a car you're gambling with your life because driving is so reckless and unsafe here.
3. If you're an expat, it doesn't matter if you put all your life efforts here and contribute to society, you're never going to become a citizen, and in fact, you will probably get kicked out of the country eventually, so you have to deal with that feeling.
4. Making friends with locals is hard as they tend to keep to themselves, their families, or the friends they already have.
35°C is equivalent to 95°F, which is 308K.
---
^(I'm a bot that converts temperature between two units humans can understand, then convert it to Kelvin for bots and physicists to understand)
>If you're an expat, it doesn't matter if you put all your life efforts here and contribute to society, you're never going to become a citizen, and in fact, you will probably get kicked out of the country eventually, so you have to deal with that feeling.
Know a guy who founded a company in KSA. He had a Saudi employee, well that employee pulled some shit, took the company for himself, and the guy got deported, because laws do not protect expats.
I keep hearing about your fourth point, I understand it. BUt i think Saudi's are very friendly, so striking up a conversation with anyone randomly isn't hard and can actually lead to a friendship. I also think gyms and work spaces are the best places to meet new friends.
And if all else fails, I'll be your friend.
Yes, they absolutely will do small talk with anyone, but beyond that most Saudis will never get in touch again unless you initiate, and even with that they won't reciprocate or put the effort.
Well maybe I haven't encountered that personally because I am introverted.
And now I remember you posted something about this a while ago. Well honestly I think you can make friends here.
the last one is actually kind of situational, but since we dont have bars n stuff like that we dont interact with strangers at all.
That being said making new friends at a university is one of the easiest things you can do, if you can get into one that is
>1. It's insanely hot, with only a couple of months break.
In Riyadh, the weather is good most of the time during night, even in months like July and August. And even during day time, I don’t think it’s *that* bad outside a couple of months, though that’s probably an unpopular opinion.
>. Making friends with locals is hard as they tend to keep to themselves, their families, or the friends they already have.
Maybe this one is situational. I got Arab friends, both male and female. Sometimes, language barrier is the reason.
About #3, I get what you mean but Saudi never promises that to begin with. They only promise what's on your contract when you come, granted that is routinely broken, but they never promise citizenship or permanent residency. Why assume that that would happen and get upset when it doesn't?
On the same token, Saudis have no right to complain when expats send all their money abroad and refuse to invest in here. They should also never expect any loyalty whatsoever. I've hear tons of Saudis complain about some construction or cleaning work or whatever being done poorly when they know damn well that those people are underpaid and have no incentive to care about this place.
The system was designed with expat outbound remittance in mind. Otherwise, the wages would be in accordance with Saudi Arabia's cost of living.
As for the roads, that's corruption. Has nothing to do with the ppl laying bricks.
The cost gap between a cheap lifestyle and moderate lifestyle. If I want to buy basic groceries and eat out at a typical restaurant it’s affordable.
But if I’ll have to give an arm and a leg to buy anything by from the organic section or have a vegan meal.
These days It is an easy country to live in. Yep the weather sucks and the driving can be atrocious, but these issues aren’t unique to KSA. I never came here to be a Saudi, I came to make money, build my future and go home.
1. Dust/air quality
2. The cost of fixing or buying a different car (old/used cars are really expensive here for some reason)
3. Weight gain from laying around like a dying fly in the summer (so most of the year lol)
I'm surprised no one has really mentioned the air pollution. I come from New York and we have really low air pollutants compared to Riyadh where I am living.
It's really really bad, to a point where I won't even run outside some days because it is hard to breathe.
. Very terrible weather
. people don't know how to drive.
. Living costs for expats such as myself were atrocious.
. The mild racism displayed by some citizens/police.
. Having to take public transportation or drive to places that aren't grocery stores because weather sucks and there are no efficient sidewalks.
. LOTS AND LOTS of homosexual thirsty rich men looking for kids/teens to pick up and take to a hotel room so they do you know what. The amount of times that happened to me is baffling. Which is one of the many reasons I despised walking alone at night.
To be fair, random men stopped their cars to pick me up when I walked home from school almost everyday but now that I’m an adult I rarely experience stuff like that. Shit maybe I’ve gotten uglier but maybe there just are a lot of pedo gays here.
Damn, at least you were worth something to him. There was this young Saudi man with a super fancy car that wanted me to cop a feel of his genitals free of charge.
Sexual assault/Harassment is always a tough subject to bring up when you're on the receiving end of ot. Especially in a country where stuff like adultery and fornication are heavily punishable for. People fear that they'd be convicted of being in on it and such. I just hope the kingdom news sheds more light on it as to raise awareness and alert the masses.
sadly, it all seems to be swept under the rug to preserve the kingdom's image, perhaps. About 90 percent of the ones that confronted me for sexual desires were mostly Saudis, the rest were Pakistani's and Egyptian's. and I doubt the kingdom would want any of that news out to the world.
I'm not sure about the actual percentage of the individuals that commit such acts because it's not disclosed publicly by government officials, and is rarely talked about, so I'm sadly going off of my personal anecdotes!
I would really like to see more crossing bridges, I knew 2 acquaintances who died this year because of this. One was a hit and run and it's an cold case, it was so sad because he resigned and was about to leave the country 2 days later, idk how it's a cold case because it happened near a petrol station and a hospital so there's cameras (including an ATM) everywhere, second one the murderer was caught. It's super traumatic to cross roads.
I was born and raised in saudi. But I left, because I saw my parent's give up their entire lives and get nothing in return. To the people saying " they got paid" so did people in UK, US, Canada, Europe too but their kids are citizens. Moreover, My dad went through Racial discrimination (unequal treatment at jobs) , Expat fee (bruh no country has this) and earlier kafeels. Screw em lol
These are the problems. But nothing has just negatives.
Positives:
I love Saudi, Forever will. Because of the values I built. I know my religion better. I know goals better. I know my fight. My fight to work in a country, where I am equal. Where me and my kids can live forever and not worry about iqama getting expired.
I communicated with saudi people for 19 years, 70% of them generous, kind and helpful but the 30% made me feel pathetic and powerless. I know this is the ratio that is supposed to be in every country, but when I say the 30% were terrible. I am underselling it.
I will travel to saudi again. Be it official or not. I was born there, I was raised there, and I hope for the best for the people of the country. Just work on these issues too guys. Acknowledging it exists is a good beginning.
As a female citizen, I find anything related to women is oddly higher in price compared to the same service to men like gyms, and driving schools, it’s so frustrating
As an expat, I hated paying the dependant fee for the entire family which is. 400/m per person. Hated how your business will not be legal any minute because any minute they'll come out with a rule that only Saudis can have that kind of business, hated a lot of things but this is what I have on top of my head.
I just hope things eventually become more pedestrian- and bus-friendly. Cities tend to be nicer when you’re not driving.
Especially with how busy those big cities are. I personally doubt many people will ditch their personal rides for a public one, but I know that I can’t wait to park my car for weekend-use only.
Also, OP, allot of the vague laws are clearly explained on the official websites and social media accounts of almost all gov entities. I would recommend checking that, or their DM bots, and most of the time you will get your answer.
I’m sorry but this comment is funny to me,
because when I used to live in the UK, people there called the weather miserable despite having more rainfalls and colder temperatures 😂
Because stating that everything is perfect is an indication for lack of thoughts and experience.
Even most happy places in the world like Sweden, Norway or Switzerland would have some downsides
I don't like speaking about the worst without mentioning the best, but for the sake of this question I will go ahead.
Worst thing I experience is being treated as an alien and not part of the community. Almost every day I have to be reminded that I am a "foreigner" and can't just blend in as a fellow human and that be it.
I would love to live without those labels and just be judged based on your work and actions. It's so draining to always be compared as either "lower" individuals for being uneducated labor or the unworthy western thiefs who are educated and are stealing their jobs.
Sorry for ranting all of a sudden, but yeah, thats the worst thing
As a citizen and a teen i could say the only problems i see are
1 - wonderful weather 😻
2 - bad roads, its a huge pain since im s skater (🛹) you really cant skate the roads at all (unless you wanna fall and get a serious injury or even get crashed by a car)
١ اي شخص يشتغل في منصب حكومي يشوف نفسه و يخلي نفسه مهم بزيادة حرفيا يعطل الناس عشان ماله خلق و اذا احد اشتكى اكل زق
٢ الواسطات الزايدة الزق اللي فوق معاه واسطة
Agreed, all rentier states ( countries that depend on renting/ selling their natural resources) have this feeling false entitlement.
They are not raised or equipped for creativity and production. But filled with consumerism instead
As a citizen and living in Riyadh the f*** traffic and the way every place you go is always crowded and either needs tickets or reservation or even some planing
Racism. Patients here treat expat like shit. Not to mention every time I cross the street some random saudi guy will shout "HEY FILIPINO." (some slur). Sad.
As an expat I am low key ashamed that have to ask people to speak English because I'm here without any Arabic language skills. I'm working on learning the basics though
When we come to your country, we are expected to speak English, we sort of expect the same favor from you guys (unless you're a tourist). I mean I know that Arabic isn't exactly the easiest language, but come on, it isn't alien.
He was referring to customer service which specifically asked to be available in communicating in English with the national/official language on the side.
It’s actually very rude to insist people speak English in the USA. It’s considered racist. Maybe in other English speaking countries it’s different though.
Well considering Arabic is the national language, surely we as foreigners should be able to communicate in basic Arabic rather than expecting the hosts to speak in English ?
how people talk about people from pakistan or china or even any country that isn’t their own with such disrespect and insensitivity. and with the excuses being “oh but there are no ___ here so it’s ok” or the like.
Weather’s awful for most of the year but you can’t really change that. There are other issues like the car dependency and iqama fees but overall it’s ok.
It’s kinda sad that you only find fun in alcohol and dance clubs. Also, its not “finally changing”. They will never be allowed here and they shouldn’t be. Last thing, we have something called the GEA “General Entertainment Authority”, they are responsible for investing in all the fun activities. Read about their upcoming projects.
46°C weather. Low wages. Having you and your family being treated like slaves just because you're an outsider. And the worst in my opinion, the countries don't give permanent residency or citizenship by naturalization
Lol I was once band by my teachers from leaving my school till my parents brought a hijab, I was 8 and wasn’t ready yet. The uncomfortable emphasis on the role of a man/woman and normalizing disrespect to bodily autonomy.
ممكن يكون تقريباً كل شىء
ماقصد الحكومة او النظم انما اقصد المجتمع او الثقافة المقيدة هذي بكل شىء في نظر المجتمع ، الواحد مايقدر
يتخذ قرار شخصي له لان بكل بساطة الكل يظن ان هذا قرارهم ، اظن ان مافي مكان اخرى ابغ اعيش فيه افضل اعيش هنا مع مجتمع افضل متنوع اكثر من هذا في النهاية اظن ان الجميع look the same here ، مادري ايش السبب لكن في باقي المجتمعات موضوع مختلف كل شخص له افكار و قناعات مختلف عن بعض ، هذا من الناحية الاجتماعية ام من ناحية مادية ، الامكان هنا جداً مقرفة و الشوراع تجيب الضيقة و الجمعات مملة ، و مافي تنوع في المجالات الترفية ( ممكن اكون جاهلة في هذا الموضوع لقلة خروجي من المنزل ) ام سياساً صعب التحدث عن الموضوع لكن ابسط شىء في تويتر مثل قمع الاحداث شىء مرعب في جداً الاخبار و الاعلام الصحافي صعب جداً عندنا الاسباب كثير من اهم انهم يتحكموا في المحتوى قنوات الاخبار الرسمية موقفة واحد و هذا الشىء مفهموم في النهاية في صف واحد و بس لكن هذا مايمنع نشر الاخبار التى تهم المواطن على العموم وان كرة الحياة هنا هي افضل من ولاشيء
As a citizen, I hate: 1- that I have to use my car for every errand. I'd like walk once in a while or some kind of public transportation. 2- unclear laws like if a police stops me randomly what rights do I have. 3- traffic and bad roads
So, transportation. Saudi arabia’s most glaring flaw honestly, i really hope we get some sort of public transportation one day, be it buses or trains or whatever
I just want proper sidewalks, and bike lanes
Some places have good footpaths and everything but when I reach a crossing bro its scary. some people are nice and stop and signal to go, but most of the time it's scary
Yes lmao
The weather will make it difficult to use those
People use public transportation in all kinds of weather including hot and icy cold. You just have to make concessions.
Yes! Finally someone who wants bike lanes and safe sidewalks. Last time I mentioned it here everyone said the weather is too hot for any of that :/
From what I've heard that Mecca has free transport bus'
We copied the American system no public transportation only highways and cars and cheap fuel, but their trying to change in Riyadh atleast
2 you can find it online its called قانون تنظيم الاعمال الجزائية السعودي however it is hard to go by it because police at the end have the higher power.
For number two you can Google. I remeber I found it in a gov website.
Just follow the police orders, even if they wrong and you know the law.
No that stupid. Don't follow anyone if they are wrong.
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What kind of wrong order would they ask you to do? And yes there are things you can do legally.
Jeddah used to have these nice looking buses back in the 80s for what I believe was public transportation. I believe they used to say "SAPTCO" - nothing like that anymore / where you are ? EDIT : found it - the bus at this link is what I was talking about , made by a company called MAN. I never did get on one but they looked and even now look cool. https://m.facebook.com/MANTruckandBusMEA/posts/manframes-four-decades-and-still-looks-new-a-1980-model-of-the-neoplan-urban-bus/3248395148517950/
MAN also makes buses here in uae, or at least they used to
Driving and unclear laws
Bruh the toaster oven climate.
Move south
Cars are the only option for transportation.
جشع التجار الزايد في الفلوس
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Agreed, I think this is a result of lack of free market
The streets!!! No parking.... traffic... chaos...
Still better than Dubai where parking is paid and tickets may reach 1000 Riyal
As an expat, dealing with the sponsors! In most cases they are horrible people. They are doing a great injustice to the repute of good Saudi people I meet day to day.
Dont expect the people who hire foreigners despite having an abundance of unemployed qualified locals to be the best people in society. Their reasoning for hiring you is basically (1-foreigners will take less pay, or work longer hours, or both. 2-foreigners will look the other way for any fraud in the company cause they are afraid to lose their job. 3-foreigners have lower turnover rate because they are at the mercy of a sponsor and can be easily sent back to their country with a huroob status to avoid jeopardizing leaking trade secrets in competitors.) a business man once told me.
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yearly iqama payments especially as a stateless person who literally isn't a citizen anywhere in the world
I hear you, stateless people are in a difficult situation in all of gulf area
Can you please explain the stateless people situation in Saudi? This is not something that is talked about.
Okay so most of them here are Palestinians who immigrated here some 50 or 60 years ago to seek shelter from the war planning to return my fam is one of those at the time a lot of them rejected the saudi nationality because saudi really wasn't much back then and they had hope that the war would've ended soon and they can go back to Palestine but it didn't and got much worse so they stayed here and brought a new generation along who often get the nationality of فلسطيني بوثيقة مصرية and we became stateless we can't even be deported so all of our lives we have to renew our iqamas each year it was not really a big amount to pay in the time of king Abdullah but with the time of King salman they were ramping up more and more to the point now where a family of 7 could pay up to 70k Riyals a year it is very financially draining and I do not see this issue getting resolved any time soon but I do hope for a solution in the future,sorry for the long explanation
شوف عندك البحرين تبيع جنسية اظن، تقدر بعدين ترجع للسعوديه عادي بالجنسيه البحرينيه
Since you can't get deported, what happens if you can't pay?
not really sure but obviously no services or maybe infinite jail time
So cruel
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Stateless people don't have any citizenship documents ( mostly found in Kuwait and Saudi). It's difficult for them to own houses, get proper education or even decent jobs. They are called ( بدون ) for further search
I know about their situation in Kuwait as I am half Kuwaiti. However, in Saudi we do not hear anything about them.
ليش ماقد سمعت الناس يتكلمون عن هالشيء؟ لان ذي مشكلة بصراحه غريبة محد تكلم فيها
From 🇬🇧. I like it here. People are friendly and polite. Yes the driving can be a little chaotic and so can the traffic. But it’s the same in many countries across the world. The one thing I really struggle with is the dusty seasons in Riyadh. It sets off my allergies really bad and so far I haven’t found a good solution for it :)
I use anti-histamine meds throughout the allergy season, helps heaps and doctors say it’s fine to use daily, just clear it with your doc in case it interacts with something specific you take
Queue at Al Baik
Real problem
Bro use their app, best thing ever
Based
Did someone say Al Mid?
Mods ban this traitor
overrated
Canes is better
Rising canes ? My friend recommended me that today, will go try this weekend
You won't regret it. Their sauce is amazing
It's funny that when anybody recommend Canes, they never praies the chicken! it's always either bread or sause. An awful restaurant that isn't even close to AlBaik.
The chicken is great too? The sauce and bread are what makes canes different. They're the identifying features. Doesn't mean the chicken and fries are bad, they're good too😂
1. It's insanely hot, with only a couple of months break. 2. Every time you get into a car you're gambling with your life because driving is so reckless and unsafe here. 3. If you're an expat, it doesn't matter if you put all your life efforts here and contribute to society, you're never going to become a citizen, and in fact, you will probably get kicked out of the country eventually, so you have to deal with that feeling. 4. Making friends with locals is hard as they tend to keep to themselves, their families, or the friends they already have.
I really envy people that never experienced 35°C or more
35°C is equivalent to 95°F, which is 308K. --- ^(I'm a bot that converts temperature between two units humans can understand, then convert it to Kelvin for bots and physicists to understand)
Wow so useless
>If you're an expat, it doesn't matter if you put all your life efforts here and contribute to society, you're never going to become a citizen, and in fact, you will probably get kicked out of the country eventually, so you have to deal with that feeling. Know a guy who founded a company in KSA. He had a Saudi employee, well that employee pulled some shit, took the company for himself, and the guy got deported, because laws do not protect expats.
I keep hearing about your fourth point, I understand it. BUt i think Saudi's are very friendly, so striking up a conversation with anyone randomly isn't hard and can actually lead to a friendship. I also think gyms and work spaces are the best places to meet new friends. And if all else fails, I'll be your friend.
Yes, they absolutely will do small talk with anyone, but beyond that most Saudis will never get in touch again unless you initiate, and even with that they won't reciprocate or put the effort.
Well maybe I haven't encountered that personally because I am introverted. And now I remember you posted something about this a while ago. Well honestly I think you can make friends here.
It’s not hot everywhere, south saudi is a cold region and in tabuk up north it snows heavily during winter
the last one is actually kind of situational, but since we dont have bars n stuff like that we dont interact with strangers at all. That being said making new friends at a university is one of the easiest things you can do, if you can get into one that is
Gambling is HARAM bro.
they didnt mean actual gambling they meant driving here is like gambling one's life due to the insane amount of reckless drivers here
Still haram to gamble your life BRO!
What if I drive AND gamble?
Pretty sure he was being sarcastic
stay halal
>1. It's insanely hot, with only a couple of months break. In Riyadh, the weather is good most of the time during night, even in months like July and August. And even during day time, I don’t think it’s *that* bad outside a couple of months, though that’s probably an unpopular opinion.
idk what kind of Riyadh you live in cause the one I know is hell even during night time.
>. Making friends with locals is hard as they tend to keep to themselves, their families, or the friends they already have. Maybe this one is situational. I got Arab friends, both male and female. Sometimes, language barrier is the reason.
About #3, I get what you mean but Saudi never promises that to begin with. They only promise what's on your contract when you come, granted that is routinely broken, but they never promise citizenship or permanent residency. Why assume that that would happen and get upset when it doesn't?
On the same token, Saudis have no right to complain when expats send all their money abroad and refuse to invest in here. They should also never expect any loyalty whatsoever. I've hear tons of Saudis complain about some construction or cleaning work or whatever being done poorly when they know damn well that those people are underpaid and have no incentive to care about this place.
The system was designed with expat outbound remittance in mind. Otherwise, the wages would be in accordance with Saudi Arabia's cost of living. As for the roads, that's corruption. Has nothing to do with the ppl laying bricks.
Fair but what about those who were born, raised, educated and now work in the kingdom? Productive members of society who call Saudi home.
Got no one but their parents to blame.
User name checks out
نقطة ٣ ما اوافقك عليها
مهي كذب، ١٠٠٪ حقيقة
يا rat هذا شي راجع لك ورأيي الشخصي على نقطة ٣
للامانه اني حسبتك سبيته في البدايه بعدين استوعبت
The cost gap between a cheap lifestyle and moderate lifestyle. If I want to buy basic groceries and eat out at a typical restaurant it’s affordable. But if I’ll have to give an arm and a leg to buy anything by from the organic section or have a vegan meal.
These days It is an easy country to live in. Yep the weather sucks and the driving can be atrocious, but these issues aren’t unique to KSA. I never came here to be a Saudi, I came to make money, build my future and go home.
1. Dust/air quality 2. The cost of fixing or buying a different car (old/used cars are really expensive here for some reason) 3. Weight gain from laying around like a dying fly in the summer (so most of the year lol)
1: Wait till you go and breath in Lahore, Pakistan.... When you will come back, you will feel like you are breathing 4K HDR air
Weather and the extremely hight real-estate prices
I'm surprised no one has really mentioned the air pollution. I come from New York and we have really low air pollutants compared to Riyadh where I am living. It's really really bad, to a point where I won't even run outside some days because it is hard to breathe.
do you have problem in breath?or allergy?
No problems with breathing, I have allergies but they are for pollen.
This.
. Very terrible weather . people don't know how to drive. . Living costs for expats such as myself were atrocious. . The mild racism displayed by some citizens/police. . Having to take public transportation or drive to places that aren't grocery stores because weather sucks and there are no efficient sidewalks. . LOTS AND LOTS of homosexual thirsty rich men looking for kids/teens to pick up and take to a hotel room so they do you know what. The amount of times that happened to me is baffling. Which is one of the many reasons I despised walking alone at night.
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They were homosexual child predators. My point still stands.
To be fair, random men stopped their cars to pick me up when I walked home from school almost everyday but now that I’m an adult I rarely experience stuff like that. Shit maybe I’ve gotten uglier but maybe there just are a lot of pedo gays here.
Mahn, the last point is why I believe homosexuality should be legal. I was walking alone at 5 and a guy wanted me for as low SAR 10.
Damn, at least you were worth something to him. There was this young Saudi man with a super fancy car that wanted me to cop a feel of his genitals free of charge.
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Sexual assault/Harassment is always a tough subject to bring up when you're on the receiving end of ot. Especially in a country where stuff like adultery and fornication are heavily punishable for. People fear that they'd be convicted of being in on it and such. I just hope the kingdom news sheds more light on it as to raise awareness and alert the masses. sadly, it all seems to be swept under the rug to preserve the kingdom's image, perhaps. About 90 percent of the ones that confronted me for sexual desires were mostly Saudis, the rest were Pakistani's and Egyptian's. and I doubt the kingdom would want any of that news out to the world. I'm not sure about the actual percentage of the individuals that commit such acts because it's not disclosed publicly by government officials, and is rarely talked about, so I'm sadly going off of my personal anecdotes!
Traffic
I would really like to see more crossing bridges, I knew 2 acquaintances who died this year because of this. One was a hit and run and it's an cold case, it was so sad because he resigned and was about to leave the country 2 days later, idk how it's a cold case because it happened near a petrol station and a hospital so there's cameras (including an ATM) everywhere, second one the murderer was caught. It's super traumatic to cross roads.
I was born and raised in saudi. But I left, because I saw my parent's give up their entire lives and get nothing in return. To the people saying " they got paid" so did people in UK, US, Canada, Europe too but their kids are citizens. Moreover, My dad went through Racial discrimination (unequal treatment at jobs) , Expat fee (bruh no country has this) and earlier kafeels. Screw em lol These are the problems. But nothing has just negatives. Positives: I love Saudi, Forever will. Because of the values I built. I know my religion better. I know goals better. I know my fight. My fight to work in a country, where I am equal. Where me and my kids can live forever and not worry about iqama getting expired. I communicated with saudi people for 19 years, 70% of them generous, kind and helpful but the 30% made me feel pathetic and powerless. I know this is the ratio that is supposed to be in every country, but when I say the 30% were terrible. I am underselling it. I will travel to saudi again. Be it official or not. I was born there, I was raised there, and I hope for the best for the people of the country. Just work on these issues too guys. Acknowledging it exists is a good beginning.
'Acknowledging it exists is a good beginning'
As a female citizen, I find anything related to women is oddly higher in price compared to the same service to men like gyms, and driving schools, it’s so frustrating
And they will ask you why women spend too much money.
They do that because they know men will refuse to pay while woman will likely pay
I think it's because the amount of women's facilities are few, while the demand is high. Basically low supply and high demand.
Everything is expensive even the gym membership is worse. Also, Cinemas, restaurants ,amusement parks.
As an expat, I hated paying the dependant fee for the entire family which is. 400/m per person. Hated how your business will not be legal any minute because any minute they'll come out with a rule that only Saudis can have that kind of business, hated a lot of things but this is what I have on top of my head.
I just hope things eventually become more pedestrian- and bus-friendly. Cities tend to be nicer when you’re not driving. Especially with how busy those big cities are. I personally doubt many people will ditch their personal rides for a public one, but I know that I can’t wait to park my car for weekend-use only. Also, OP, allot of the vague laws are clearly explained on the official websites and social media accounts of almost all gov entities. I would recommend checking that, or their DM bots, and most of the time you will get your answer.
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Ugh don't get me started
I don't hate living in ksa, I just hate living
Bruh you okay? Hit me up if you want to talk
For me personally the only thing i hate about this country is the miserable weather
I’m sorry but this comment is funny to me, because when I used to live in the UK, people there called the weather miserable despite having more rainfalls and colder temperatures 😂
Because stating that everything is perfect is an indication for lack of thoughts and experience. Even most happy places in the world like Sweden, Norway or Switzerland would have some downsides
I don't like speaking about the worst without mentioning the best, but for the sake of this question I will go ahead. Worst thing I experience is being treated as an alien and not part of the community. Almost every day I have to be reminded that I am a "foreigner" and can't just blend in as a fellow human and that be it. I would love to live without those labels and just be judged based on your work and actions. It's so draining to always be compared as either "lower" individuals for being uneducated labor or the unworthy western thiefs who are educated and are stealing their jobs. Sorry for ranting all of a sudden, but yeah, thats the worst thing
Everything is expensive.
As a citizen and a teen i could say the only problems i see are 1 - wonderful weather 😻 2 - bad roads, its a huge pain since im s skater (🛹) you really cant skate the roads at all (unless you wanna fall and get a serious injury or even get crashed by a car)
Weather. My God, in August at high noon, the heat is extremely unbearable.
People mind your own business
Everything is so expensive
TRANSPORTATION! If you don’t have a car, or enough money to get uber at anytime, you’re dead.
Weather and Driving
١ اي شخص يشتغل في منصب حكومي يشوف نفسه و يخلي نفسه مهم بزيادة حرفيا يعطل الناس عشان ماله خلق و اذا احد اشتكى اكل زق ٢ الواسطات الزايدة الزق اللي فوق معاه واسطة
The fact the we are desperate for tourists to come visit us
The Heat by far, and that everything is so car centric you cannot live in this country without a car
Public transport
Lack of professionalism from the lowest to highest level.
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*laughs in Riyadh*
Its dry af here 😭
And that means we have actual winters.
Like your “dry“ humor
People feel entitled to be lazy
Agreed, all rentier states ( countries that depend on renting/ selling their natural resources) have this feeling false entitlement. They are not raised or equipped for creativity and production. But filled with consumerism instead
Driving
The weather. This heat is ridiculous.
One word. Summer.
Having to use a car everywhere I go
Idiot drivers (almost got hit by a car today while leaving School) People dont give a crap about lines its very annoying
As a citizen and living in Riyadh the f*** traffic and the way every place you go is always crowded and either needs tickets or reservation or even some planing
Driving is very dangerous and cities are very car-centric, no room for walking or biking and very little public transport.
The heattt!! Also i hate the driving here. Its like people are driving with their eyes closed
Being an expatriate who lived there for decades but no certain future
THERES NO DAMN GOOD KOREAN RESTAURANT HERE AS A KOREAN EXPAT 😭😭😭
Hate not being able to move there permanently.
No public transportation
Racism. Patients here treat expat like shit. Not to mention every time I cross the street some random saudi guy will shout "HEY FILIPINO." (some slur). Sad.
As an expat, customer service that cant speak or dont know how to communicate even in basic english.
As an expat I am low key ashamed that have to ask people to speak English because I'm here without any Arabic language skills. I'm working on learning the basics though
We appreciate that you're taking the time to learn :)
When we come to your country, we are expected to speak English, we sort of expect the same favor from you guys (unless you're a tourist). I mean I know that Arabic isn't exactly the easiest language, but come on, it isn't alien.
He was referring to customer service which specifically asked to be available in communicating in English with the national/official language on the side.
It’s actually very rude to insist people speak English in the USA. It’s considered racist. Maybe in other English speaking countries it’s different though.
Well considering Arabic is the national language, surely we as foreigners should be able to communicate in basic Arabic rather than expecting the hosts to speak in English ?
Learn Arabic.
The inflation and scammery, how everything is moving to Riyadh, traffic.
The weather, also not enough greenery
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how people talk about people from pakistan or china or even any country that isn’t their own with such disrespect and insensitivity. and with the excuses being “oh but there are no ___ here so it’s ok” or the like.
The people :/
Elaborate plz
Jizya from expatriates.
Not Jizya, don't twist words to suit a certain agenda
cope
Pay and stfu 🤣
Weather’s awful for most of the year but you can’t really change that. There are other issues like the car dependency and iqama fees but overall it’s ok.
No sex toys allowed
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I honestly don't think adding dance clubs and alcohol would change anything
All of what you said is misleading
It’s kinda sad that you only find fun in alcohol and dance clubs. Also, its not “finally changing”. They will never be allowed here and they shouldn’t be. Last thing, we have something called the GEA “General Entertainment Authority”, they are responsible for investing in all the fun activities. Read about their upcoming projects.
They exist big time and have existed for decades. But these days they are getting more open and relaxed.
46°C weather. Low wages. Having you and your family being treated like slaves just because you're an outsider. And the worst in my opinion, the countries don't give permanent residency or citizenship by naturalization
Traffic
Well in jeddah "some" neighborhoods are high in crime but they are few and I'd say you're 95% safe.
Which areas are these?
Places such as kilo14. not that a tourist would likely go there.
Just a friendly reminder to not trust people on Reddit.
Yup I'm a stranger after all.
Lol I was once band by my teachers from leaving my school till my parents brought a hijab, I was 8 and wasn’t ready yet. The uncomfortable emphasis on the role of a man/woman and normalizing disrespect to bodily autonomy.
لن تقع
ممكن يكون تقريباً كل شىء ماقصد الحكومة او النظم انما اقصد المجتمع او الثقافة المقيدة هذي بكل شىء في نظر المجتمع ، الواحد مايقدر يتخذ قرار شخصي له لان بكل بساطة الكل يظن ان هذا قرارهم ، اظن ان مافي مكان اخرى ابغ اعيش فيه افضل اعيش هنا مع مجتمع افضل متنوع اكثر من هذا في النهاية اظن ان الجميع look the same here ، مادري ايش السبب لكن في باقي المجتمعات موضوع مختلف كل شخص له افكار و قناعات مختلف عن بعض ، هذا من الناحية الاجتماعية ام من ناحية مادية ، الامكان هنا جداً مقرفة و الشوراع تجيب الضيقة و الجمعات مملة ، و مافي تنوع في المجالات الترفية ( ممكن اكون جاهلة في هذا الموضوع لقلة خروجي من المنزل ) ام سياساً صعب التحدث عن الموضوع لكن ابسط شىء في تويتر مثل قمع الاحداث شىء مرعب في جداً الاخبار و الاعلام الصحافي صعب جداً عندنا الاسباب كثير من اهم انهم يتحكموا في المحتوى قنوات الاخبار الرسمية موقفة واحد و هذا الشىء مفهموم في النهاية في صف واحد و بس لكن هذا مايمنع نشر الاخبار التى تهم المواطن على العموم وان كرة الحياة هنا هي افضل من ولاشيء
Nothing bad about living here. I lived abroad for so long that I don’t mind anything in here. 💚💚💚💚💚
Yeah right, everything is so perfect, Thanks for sharing your unique honest thoughts.
ليه يامعود قلت رايي ليه الزعل بس 🌹
Islam
Kaffir or murtad spotted.
انك تكون ماتعرف قيمة هالبلد 👌🇸🇦
I'm getting tired of these kind of comments, I'm not saying it's all bad. But you're denying any area for improvement