Saudi Arabia
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Visas, Embassies & Border Crossings
There are NO visitor visas. It's not even possible to have a Saudi sponsor apply for the visa on my behalf. Visitors can ONLY visit to work, or for a religious visit.
Speaking of religious visits, people who do this who are muslims, can ONLY visit Mecca and Medina, and that's it. Travel to other Saudi cities is not allowed.
Anon, Canada (Mar 03)
Travel Tips
JEDDAH is a city in constant development. They are either digging up roads or building new homes. I was reminded of a bombed-out city coming here. The roads are the worst I have ever see. And the way they drive on them is nothing like I had ever seen until I went to Cairo. There is no drainage at all so with only one day of rain we get flash flooding that can cut roads off completely. There is also no sewage system. Trucks come by and drain the tanks and then empty them in the gardens around Jeddah. The smell can be off putting when you are traveling on a mini-bus to the beach as you pass a garden round-a-bout that they have just watered.
WOMEN: We wear the abeyya so we get left alone. But even this doesn't work. We get stared at constantly and sometimes things are said. More so now after the September 11 disaster. I have never been barred from any establishment or had to leave because of prayer. Stealing wallets or purses out of expats handbags or backpacks as they walk around is common. We are not allowed to use the public transport.
PHOTOGRAPHY: Sure, film and cameras are everywhere. But, go and try to do a shoot around Jeddah. You will stop traffic, draw untold attention to yourself and if you are really lucky, the police will stop you and then the Matawwa maybe will turn up which is what happened to me. You cannot take photos of people, any Palace or any government building. Now, as all three are everywhere, photography is difficult and not a delight.
EXCHANGING MONEY: Money changers seem to do better business than the banks and at the globally advertised rate. When I first arrived, a bank wanted to give me SR1.5 for my Aus$ when the current global rate was quite obviously at SR2.0.
POST: Postcards to outside the Arab world are SR1.50 and letters up to 10 grams SR2.00, up to 50 grams SR4.50. Finding a post office is not an easy task here. They are obscure little rooms tucked away amongst the buildings with not very good signage.
MATAWWA: If they are around, they will ask all women to cover their hair and generally have the police with them, so this is enforced. I have friends who did not have their scarf with them one night in Balad and the Matawwa made them go to a shop, buy one and put it on while they waited outside until the girls did. Jeddah is not as strict as Riyadh.
Alanna Lee, Saudi Arabia (Jan 02)
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