How to fill an afternoon in Saudi Arabia...

[Insouciant Western People]

My colleague and I will have around seven hours to kill in Riyadh, a week on Friday, before a flight to Muscat.

Absent the option of doing something sensible like going to an air-conditioned bar and getting nicely toasted, any ideas how we could fill our time with something interesting?

I quite fancy the King Abdul Aziz Military Museum and the Masmak Castle. Anyone been? Thesiger, Spec, Belle?

[Belle Lettre]

Never set abaya in Saudi, sorry.

[...]

Lived in Jeddah for two years about 30 years ago, but never went to Riyadh. The joke back then used to be that if Saudi Arabia was the arsehole of the world, Riyadh was about 1000 miles up it.

Are they seriously giving you a transit visa to go into town? Times have changed a lot since I used to live there when the country was ludicrously hard to get into. It was also one of the only places I've ever been where you needed to get a visa to get out of (and that isn't a joke, btw).

In the lack of anything else, your suggestions sound pretty good. Just make sure your paperwork is all in order

[Guy E]

I've never been there, but a walking tour is probably a bad idea.

A couple years ago I went to Dubai for a week and thought I'd take a stroll from the Palace Hotel where I was staying, near the Burj Dubai. The sidewalk started to narrow as I passed the shopping mall (with no pedestrian entrance) and eventually disappeared when I got to a highway. I could see another cluster of buildings about a half-mile away and decided to make the trek. The workmen who saw me all paused, stunned to see a delusional New Yorker on foot along the shoulder of the road. When I got to my destination the area was all under construction with barricades and piles of rubble, but I found a little shopping mart and got some water. Refreshed, I continued my walk and smelled a familiar aroma... hamburgers sizzling on an open griddle night and day. Johnny Rockets. I also espied a newly-opened Metro station and that was the ticket. I bought a pass and toured around by elevated train. When I got back to that stop at the end of the day I took a taxi back to the hotel.

My best luck in Dubai was asking advice from a taxi driver who took me to a district with some good restaurants and shops. It's a car and car only world there. Professionally, it was a very frustrating week working with the local engineering consultants. I did find my interactions with (and observations of) the people to be interesting and satisfying and I saw more gestures of courtesy on the Metro in one day than I've witnessed in 37-years as a NYC subway rider.

[Guy E]

Absent the option of doing something sensible like going to an air-conditioned bar and getting nicely toasted...

I don't know if it will be the same as in Dubai, but the only places that sold alcohol there are in hotels (that presumably cater to foreigners). There are a lot of small hotels with big bars as a result. Alcohol isn't available in restaurants in Dubai, unless they're part of a hotel. And Dubai is a relatively Westernized Emirate.

[Thesiger]

The last time I was in Jeddah was during Operation Desert Shield, I'm afraid. The place was full of GIs and the locals were scandalised by the sight of bare headed women soldiers driving Humvees through the streets. I didn't have time for any tourism, Nick.
You might like to try go karting - http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction ... vince.html

[Tapiocahead]

My dad spent a year in Jeddah in the 80s... he used to give blood a lot.

[Insouciant Western People]

I just realised I never replied to this, so a belated thank you for the advice, and my apologies for seeming ignorant.

In the end I managed to change my flights and travelled to Muscat on a direct flight from Jeddah on the Thursday evening, so I was saved having to find things to do in Riyadh, for which I was mightily grateful.

However I did like Saudi Arabia a good deal more than I expected to. I found the people unfailingly kind, courteous and friendly, and it seemed a very easy place to travel around and do business in, especially compared to some of the South Asian and West African countries I've previously worked in. And with the obvious caveat that I'm a man(and so able to move about more freely and independently than a woman would) it did feel less restrictive and less, well... scary than I'd thought it would.

Riyadh seemed fairly unremarkable apart from its size, but Al-Khobar on the east coast struck me as a pleasant city, and the terraces of a couple of the restaurants along the corniche on the Red Sea coast proved lovely venues in which to enjoy a late breakfast with colleagues.

I'll look forward to going back in April.

I found Dubai more pleasant than I'd remembered it to be, probably because this time I was working more in the older parts of the city, rather than the very glitzy but soulless newer areas.

And Oman was a sheer pleasure to get back to. Friendly and relaxed people, a relatively liberal Arab culture, and Muscat is a very attractive city - clean and with good infrastructure, fascinating history, and edged by beautiful mountains.