{"id":1554,"date":"2023-11-07T06:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-07T06:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sarahanderictraveltheworld.com\/?p=1554"},"modified":"2024-12-09T23:55:09","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T23:55:09","slug":"letting-it-riyadh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sarahanderictraveltheworld.com\/index.php\/2023\/11\/07\/letting-it-riyadh\/","title":{"rendered":"Letting it Riyadh"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Activity level: \ud83c\udf36\ufe0f\ud83c\udf36\ufe0f\ud83c\udf36\ufe0f\ud83c\udf36\ufe0f\ud83c\udf36\ufe0f<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modes of transportation: \ud83d\ude97\ud83d\udc5f\ud83d\udeeb<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We slept in as much as we could, which, since there was a decent time change, meant we still woke up in time for a normal checkout. We packed up our stuff, dropped it off at the hotel, and headed out for the mall to buy an abaya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sarah attempted to make an appropriate outfit given the limited options in her backpack.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Apparently in Saudi Arabia, it\u2019s only recently legal not to wear an abaya for women, but it definitely gets some stares. We just didn\u2019t want to draw any attention, so we bought a cheap green one (never quite figured out how to properly tie the hijab portion, but it looked fine).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The store manager sold the abaya to Sarah at an even bigger discount than listed without us asking. She must have really not liked Sarah\u2019s outfit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Eric needed some sunscreen, so we went into a supermarket, which looked weirdly American besides the Arabic script on (only some of) the products. Also, since Saudi Arabia is so dry, there was an amazing amount of shelf space dedicated to moisturizer (but almost none to sunscreen\u2026).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We knew we wanted to see some sights, so we got a cab to the King Abdullah Park, which is listed as one of the main attractions in Riyadh. Nearby, we stopped by a well-rated restaurant which turned out to be amazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This meal was incredible! The food was super flavorful, and the manager was excited to have us try so many things. He kept giving us extra things to try \u201cwith compliments.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The manager was extraordinarily friendly when we walked in and helped us order. We got kebabs, muhammara, pita, babaganoush, Arabic cheese bread, and fruit smoothies (Eric got an avocado smoothie\u2014strange but amazing!). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This food was seriously incredible, and the manager even gave us soup (2 rounds of soup for some reason) and free waters. (Side note: he looked at Eric\u2019s hand, pointed, laughed, and said \u201cvery white!\u201d to Sarah. Sarah was pumped that he implied she was tan.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middle Eastern\/Mediterranean is Sarah\u2019s favorite, so, even though we ordered way too much, we got through it no problem. And it all turned out to be about $17 (food and cabs are about the only cheap things in Saudi Arabia).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We made our way over to the park, but the gate was closed. We think there was another entrance, but we looked inside and decided we didn\u2019t care too much (Sarah pet an orange cat also). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We couldn\u2019t find the park entrance, so we found a new friend while we waited for a cab. It was also about 100\u00b0F the entire time, so we were trying to limit walking in direct sun when possible.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We hopped in another cab to the Saudi Arabia national museum, which was pretty neat. Weirdly, it was almost entirely empty while we were in there. They had a lot of great exhibits on the Arabian peninsula, and the very ancient history of the region, including the development of writing. It was interesting, but we had to speed through to get everything in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There was crazy old stuff in this museum such as this cave painting from 3rd millennium BC.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Carvings of an ancient alphabet <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Very early proof of commercial grain milling<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We hopped in another cab to the old region of Riyadh and the Al Masmak Fort. It definitely felt like an old desert town, with so much sand in the construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From there, we walked over to Deera square, also known unceremoniously by tourists as chop-chop square. There were weekly beheadings there up until just a few years ago (they stopped pre-COVID, then had one big one there just last year). Apparently, when there\u2019s a beheading, they shuttle the foreigners to the front to \u201cbring more shame\u201d to the victims. Honestly, it was insane seeing the spot where such a seemingly modernized country still engaged in such a barbaric tradition (until very, very recently). We didn\u2019t stay too long, since we had to make sure we had dinner before the airport (and it was strange to be there).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We weren\u2019t sure how to pose here\u2026 <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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We don\u2019t have many photos, but niqabs were the most common dress for women. It definitely felt very foreign.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We found a place recommended by the tourism board to be a very traditional Saudi dinner, called Najd Village. The food was awesome, and we ate on the floor in the traditional way. We knew we needed to hurry, so we didn\u2019t want too much food; but the waiter suggested a sampling platter for two. It was all very good, but it must have been enough food for 6 people, and we felt bad leaving so much of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This amount of food is allegedly for 2 people.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The mint tea was superb!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Our cab driver to the airport was hilarious. Didn\u2019t speak a word of English, but let us select the playlist (all in Arabic) and showed us all the modern songs. They were actually awesome. He also handed us this sort of pipe looking thing\u2014we think to just show us why the car smelled good. But it definitely looked like a pipe (we did not inhale!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We think this was just an air freshener\u2014but who knows…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The airport was easy to navigate and we got to our gate pretty early, so we headed towards the lounge. Sarah got some help from an influencer (who also didn\u2019t speak any English) to tie her hijab correctly, even though she was going to just take it off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This nice woman in the lounge bathroom spoke no English (aside from \u201cI do not speak English\u201d) but was very excited to show Sarah how to wear a hijab correctly. She kept talking Arabic throughout the process, even though Sarah had no idea what was being said. She did want to take a photo at the end but said \u201cno Instagram\u201d\u2014thus why her face is blurred<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The flight was chill. We both just immediately fell asleep since we hadn\u2019t quite adjusted to the time (the flight was at 9:00 PM also). Who knows if they even served a meal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We fell asleep about 5 minutes after taking this photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We got in very late, but luckily had some smooth sailing thanks to being business class\u2014like a private bus from the plane to the terminal (it was about a 10 minute ride) and an expedited immigration line. (Side note, when we disembarked, many men in suits were there to greet 2 men from from our flight. They seemed pretty important). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once we got our visas approved and into Egypt we fought off about 30 cab drivers while we tried to find our Uber. Sarah did interact with one persistent hawker who insisted he could get us to our hotel for a good price. We showed him the Uber price and he didn\u2019t even come close to matching it (not a great negotiation tactic). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had another awesome Uber driver, who gave us some tips for the city. We couldn\u2019t find our hotel because it was hidden inside another hotel, but our cab driver got out and called the hotel for us to help us find it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Welcome drinks again<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Finally, we made it at around 2:30 AM. Our concierge was extremely nice, and set everything up for us. He also took our laundry to do (for about 13 US\u2014well worth it) and said we could pick it up the next day after our tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our room was ultra cute! Sarah was thrilled we finally got some swan towels (and we didn\u2019t even say it was our honeymoon) and we had a beautiful balcony overlooking a square. And the hotel cost about $30 with breakfast! <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With that, we went to sleep for our early tour the next day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sarah and Eric fit as much as they can into their one day on the Arabian Peninsula<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,28],"tags":[31,29],"class_list":["post-1554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-egypt","category-saudi-arabia","tag-cairo","tag-riyadh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahanderictraveltheworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahanderictraveltheworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahanderictraveltheworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahanderictraveltheworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahanderictraveltheworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1554"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sarahanderictraveltheworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3751,"href":"https:\/\/sarahanderictraveltheworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1554\/revisions\/3751"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahanderictraveltheworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarahanderictraveltheworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahanderictraveltheworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarahanderictraveltheworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}